Richmond to Hudswell circular walk

Saturday 12th March 2022

A walk from the lovely market town of Richmond (The gateway to the Dales), crossing The Green Bridge and then walking alongside the River Swale until turning upwards to the village of Hudswell via its very own staircase (Hudswell Steps).

A lovely beer and lunch in the Fox and Hounds before heading back to the Swale and then to Richmond on the other side of the river.

The Southern side of the river is predominantly woodland although in places very muddy - apparently this is the case for most of the winter months. A summer visit for us next time though as those boots will take some cleaning.

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Distance: 5.75 miles

Duration: 3:45 hours

Ascent: 973 ft

Difficulty: Easy/Moderate

Accompanied By: Christine

Weather: Dry & Mild

3D outline of route

Parking

Nuns Close Car Park on the Reeth side of the town.

Christine standing on 'tippy toes' to get a view below - not easy when your vertically challenged.

Easier for me at 6'4" The nearly 1000 year old Richmond Castle stands guard over the River Swale

Looks like a nice flat dry path for our walk today (little did we know !)

Looking back towards the impressive Green Bridge (1789)

So far so good - picturesque and flat, just the way Chris likes it and a pub en-route - even better

A few slippery steps to negotiate as the path gently meanders up and down through the Billybank Woods

Views back in the direction of Richmond can be gained with the breaks in the trees

We spent a while watching a couple of Yellow Wagtails enjoying the sun on the river

Things started to go downhill as we got closer to Round Howe

Apparently it was my fault that it was muddy - this was indeed tricky in trainers - I wish I could have uploaded the video I took, but you will just have to imagine how she got through this

Hudswell Woods, maybe a tad drier ?

Better, but still obstacles to negotiate

A brief stop at Hudswell beach

Walking alongside the fast flowing Swale

Just when things were really looking up - We were really looking up.

Hudswell has it's own staircase - 'The Hudswell Steps' A tiring pull up a 100m or so, but this would have been awful without the steps.

"This pub had better be worth it"

Actually it was. This Community owned and run pub was superb. The beer choice was the best I have seen for a country pub for a long time and our Chicken Kebabs and chips were exceptional. A nice friendly pub and we really enjoyed our lunch there. Right back to the mud !

Slightly challenging route that runs parallel to the Hudswell Road out of the village, in hindsight we should have walked along the road for 1/2 mile before turning left and re-joining this path. Having never done this walk before I was unaware. So more grief for me !

But Christine did spot this deer keeping an eye on us.

A temporary improvement in the path as we traverse along the top of the Hudswell Woods.

Even better as we enjoy a bit of the Spring sunshine

Round Howe Bridge. We crossed here to get onto the Hurgill side and the dry tarmac !

The road goes through a caravan park before heading uphill back to Richmond

Think that used to be the 'Coast to Coast' corner shop - remember coming down that road a couple of times as I arrived in Richmond from Keld or Muker. Looks like all has changed for that place now. Anyway - there's a bit of sun, so we headed for a beer garden and discussed my wife's favourite parts of todays walk - after 20 seconds we chatted about other things.