The Gunnerside Gill Gambol

There is parking for several cars alongside the west side of the gill.  Where the road crosses the bridge and turns sharp left, turn right and park alongside the wall by the gill.  There is even a bench to sit on and change your footwear.

From Monday to Saturday Dales and District  No. 30 operates a two hourly service between Richmond  and Hawes.  This does not run on Sundays and Bank Holidays when there is the 831 but this only runs twice in the day (see Dales and District services for times).

[1]  Start from the West side of the bridge in the centre of Gunnerside and walk North with the Gill on the right to a large grassy hill on the left.  Go diagonally left between two houses up the steep slope to a small gate in the wall.  Continue up the steep slope with a fence on the right till the slope eases and an path veers left away from the fence climbing gently through sometimes boggy ground.  At a small cairn join a track running from left to right.  If it has been very wet an alternative is to go West from the bridge on the road between the houses and follow this for some 2kms (1.3m) till you meet a track coming in from diagonally right. Turn right up this track until the original route is joined near a small cairn on the right.

[2]  Go right on this track and follow with gradually improving views of the Gill below on the right and the fields and moor of the East side of the Gill.  After 2kms (1.3m) a gate is met, go through and descend to a bridge across Botcher Gill and a short distance uphill to a footpath sign.

[3]  Take the right hand grassy track and follow past the Dolly level (an old mine) on the left hand.  Further on are views of the mine buildings and Friarfold and Brunton Hushes are on the right hand side at the East side of the Gill.  Continue on this track and descend to the old mine buildings at Blind Gill.  Cross the Gill (with care if water high) and go right over the stone slab bridge over Gunnerside Gill (a good place for a break with shelter and interesting remains of the mine mills and store buildings.  If the weather is good and the water low you might like to visit the Blakethwaite Dams just over a kilometre upstream.  If so, stay on the West side of Gunnerside Gill and follow the path with gill on your right as it rises and then falls down to the gill.  Cross the gill (this can be difficult if there is a lot of water) and continue upstream with the gill on the left along a narrow path and over Cross Gill to the dams.  These controlled the water for the machinery in the mines.  Return by the same route with the gill on the right but instead of crossing the gill stay on the same side and climb the path to rejoin the original route above the mine buildings.

[4]  Go round the end of the building and along the side (the building on the right ) and a narrow path will be found on the left zig zagging steeply up the hillside.  Take this and climb steeply to reach a broad track at the top.  Go right on this track and follow it with the Gill below on the right for about 0.5km (0.3m).  When a path is met climbing diagonally left take this and follow till it enters a gully.

[5]  This is Friarfold Hush.  Go left and ascend steeply to emerge onto a lunar landscape with virtually no vegetation, the product of years of mining in this area.  Follow the track to the right and at a junction go right  (the marker for this is a fence surrounding a shaft some 4m. square).  Keep the shaft on the left and descend, the track becoming grassy and swing left (sw) with the Gill coming into view.  Continue until this track joins another track near an old lime kiln.

[6]  Go left here and climb gently and follow for about 2kms (1.3m) past Winterings farmhouse and Whin Hall to reach a gate in a wall with a tarmac road on the far side.  Go through the gate and descend steeply to an electric gate which leads on to the Reeth to Gunnerside Road (B6270).  Go right here and follow back to the bridge.

1.  The Old Working Smithy and Museum in Gunnerside has only artifacts made in the smithy and the records go back to the mid 19th. century

2.  Hushes were the old way of exposing the ore for smelting. Water would be dammed at ther top and then released, washing away all the vegetation and soil exposing the ore. The name probably derives from the sound made by the released water.

3.  Ore was brought from various of the levels to be smelted here

4.  The Blakethwaite Dams controlled the water wich was critical for driving the water wheels which provided the power for the machijery at the mines and the smelters.

5.  The Sir Francis level was the first in Yorkshire  to use compressed air for drilling and venting. See Martin Roe's paper to the Peak District Mine Historical Society for details of this and other mines in the area

6.  The Winterings were presumably where the stock was brought down from the moors for shelter. The Winterings Farmhouse had 4 families in residence in 1841