Walks near Ravenstonedale
Contributed by Kathy Trimmer. (See also Walking in Smardale)
The fells and footpaths that surround Ravenstonedale are a paradise for walkers, whether your idea of a good walk is a stiff mountain climb or a meander along a gentle valley. Ravenstonedale stands at the northeast corner of a group of fells called The Howgills. Approximately eight miles from the furthest southerly point to the furthest north point, a sort of strawberry shaped triangle. Sedbergh stands at the south and Tebay to the west. In all there about 30 named tops, none are particularly high but they are quite steep, many of the slopes being 45-degree angles. The valleys mostly run north to south and the longest of the valleys is Bowderdale, which is very easily accessible from Ravenstonedale.

If you follow Bowderdale Beck to it's source you will find the path that will take you to the highest point of The Howgills, a rather disappointing pimple called Calf. Should you continue on in a southerly direction you would soon find yourself in Sedbergh, but if you're going to tackle this as a one way walk, leave you car in Sedbergh and take the bus to Ravenstonedale to begin your walk. Otherwise you could miss the last bus, which leaves Sedbergh just before 5.00pm, and be stuck for transport home.

If you are going to walk at all in The Howgills you will need a 1-25,000 map and a compass and know how to use it because there are no way-marked footpaths and all the hills and valleys look very similar. Although you might start out in clear visibility, clouds can appear from nowhere and reduce visibility to a few yards in just a few minutes.

If this was to happen and you did get lost, the best thing is to find some running water and follow it down, avoiding precipices of course. You might not end up where you wanted to be but you should find 's better than getting out your mobile phone and calling Mountain Rescue. Remember, if you call them out because you're lost it means that they won't be available for someone else who might be severely injured.

Footpaths around Ravenstonedale itself are mostly way-marked, but again, you will need a 1-25,000 map and know how to read it.

The reason I stress it should be a 1-25,000 map (yellow cover) is that the 1-50,000 map (pink cover) doesn't have walls marked on it. This makes it virtually impossible to use for finding your way around on a footpath if you don't know where the footpath crosses a wall.

Always remember when you are out walking, that your 'playground' is the farmers 'factory floor' and be prepared to wait patiently if you come across a farmer moving sheep. It goes without saying that dogs should be kept under control and on a lead in enclosed land, whether you can see sheep around or not.

The local farmers are generally a convivially natured lot, but don't take kindly to 'townies' trying to tell them their job. You might well find a sheep with a limp or it's head stuck in a fence. It's called attention seeking and, while you might help a sheep by pushing it's nose back the way it came, it can cause a lot of damage, both to the sheep and the fence if twenty people descend on it, screaming, and yelling and causing it to panic. Chances are, if you ignore it, it will probable free itself as soon as you turn you back.

The other emotive subject between farmers and walkers is gates. One simple rule - if you opened it, you shut it. You are the only one who knew how it was fastened, hold on to it, see other members of your party through it then shut it.

If you see other walkers approaching it, either see them through as well or fasten it as you found it and leave them to open it for themselves but never shout and tell them to shut it and then walk away. There could well be a sheep hiding behind a wall that you didn't notice and could walk through the gate as soon as your back is turned or the other walker could be the first of a large group and by the time the last person gets there, no one knows whether it was open or closed and no one can find the string, bit of wire or other obscure fastening mechanism that secured the thing.

Likewise, if you come to a gate that is open, please leave it. Often, even a small party of walkers can get spread out at if everyone is obeying the 'gate rule' and you are the last of the group, you know not to shut the gate.

Also, if you were the first to a gate you are probably one of the stronger walkers in the party and can afford to wait for the slower walkers and still be able to catch up. If poor 'tail end Charlie' has to keep stopping to close gates it will leave him or her struggling even more to keep up.

If you are guiding a walk, wait at the gate for the first of your party to get there and assign them to do the gate duty. Believe me, it works and it is the only method that does. There is nothing that winds farmers up more than parties of walkers shouting back and forth with 'was it closed/open/fastened messages. I re-iterate, if you opened it, you close it.

Of course, the other way to get to see the very best that the area has to offer to walkers is to consult a local. We are not at all as bossy as we sound.