I like #Reeth. Perhaps a little more than #Haltwhistle. If they could keep all the bloody cars off the village green I would like it a whole lot more. They spoil the intrinsic English village prettiness of the place. Of course, mine was one of them today.

Saying that, on a cool, drizzly, cloudy day Reeth wasn’t looking its best. I was hoping for more from May. The turn out was a bit feeble for this walk – only four of us. We had a cup of tea in a cafe to give us Dutch courage before heading out into the rain.

The walk took us out of the village’s eastern edge before rising up on a lonely tarmac road to meet a footpath across fields towards Fremington Edge. This feature dominates the overhanging fells around Reeth and is a fantastic vantage point to look down on the entrance to Swaledale and Arkengarthdale. On a lovely warm day the walking on the fell top here is magical and even on today’s grey old day it was more than passable. We stopped for lunch in the lee of a stone wall and in the relative shelter of a stone lined depression. As the rain eased off we polished off our sandwiches, said a hearty ‘Hello’ to  passing rambler and continued on our way.

After a couple of miles we negotiated our way down to the valley floor via a wide grassy path and a slippery, winding, rubble strewn track. It was tricky going and a couple of stumbles nearly resulted in ricked ankles. Nonetheless we made it down in one piece.

The return leg to Reeth was easy walking along the banks of the Swale’s sister river the Arkle Beck. We’ve done this stretch a few times on various walks and it is really lovely – a gurgling stream and lush verdant fields with the stone roofs of Reeth beckoning in the distance.

The walk retraces the initial quarter mile out of the village and the last little steep bit can be a trial after 6 miles!