Hardraw Force
Picture: Frank Knowles
O.S. Explorer Map OL30
Catch the Vintage Bus from Leyburn Station at 10.40 or Leyburn Market place at 10.45 arrives in Hawes Station Yard at 11.45. Catch the Vintage Bus back from Hawes 15.05 arrives back in Leyburn 16.05.
Please note bus passes are accepted on the bus, but a donation would be appreciated.
This walk is suitable for anyone coming on the first train from Leeming to Leyburn.
1. Walk up Brunt Acres Road, on the left hand side, to a gate, with a sign for the Pennine Way. Walk on this paved path, across a meadow to come out just before Haylands Bridge. A.
2. Cross the bridge and then turn right, going uphill, on a footpath towards Sedbusk. B. Cross the road, and go through a gate stile and up the field path to come out at Sedbusk Lane. C.
3. Cross the lane and go through a gate stile and turn left, and go forward, following the meadow footpath, through gate stiles in the walls, coming out at Simonstone.
4. Cross the road bearing slightly left, going through a signed stile and walking in front of Simonstone Hall. D. Go through a gate stile on the left, and follow the footpath downhill, coming out at Hardraw, just before the Green Dragon Pub. E. To visit Hardraw Force, you must go through the pub and pay a fee. Those who do not want to visit the falls can sit in a little garden, just over the road from the pub and to the right.
5. After visiting the falls, cross over the road, and follow the signs, over meadow paths, to come back onto the road, just before Haylands Bridge and return to Hawes. Half an hour walk back to Hawes 4.5 miles in total. Catch the vintage bus back from the station yard at 15.05.
Risk Assessment. An easy walk, suitable for beginners, with a reasonable amount of fitness. Quite a steep climb up to Sedbusk and lots of stiles to negotiate.
Points of Interest
Turner sketched Hardraw Force, reputed to be the highest unbroken fall in England on Sunday morning 28 July 1816. He had stayed at the Green Dragon Inn overnight.
A. The paved paths around Hawes were made by the men who worked at the stone quarries in Hardraw and Burtersett. The farmers were tired of their meadows being trampled by the men, on their way to work, so the quarry owners provided the stone and man power, to make these footpaths in the 19th century.
B. There are fine views of Wensleydale, looking towards Hawes and Gayle from the farming hamlet of Sedbusk.
C. Sedbusk Lane was part of Lady Anne Clifford’s Way which goes to Kirkby Stephen. She was High Sheriff of Westmorland in the 1660’s and she travelled from Skipton with a huge retinue of people, visiting all of her castles.
D. Simonstone Hall was built as a hunting lodge in the late 1700’s. It is now a Country House Hotel and a popular venue for weddings.
E. Another claim to fame for Hardraw Force was that it was the place where Kevin Costner took a shower in the 1991 film “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves”.