Leave Station car park at 9.00am Start below Fore Gill Gate where there is plenty of room to park beside the Ford (GR: NY 993 009) at 10.00am. 12 Miles. Moderate. £7 (£6 if all 6 stages booked)

Those with a long memory will recall the ford at our starting point from the opening credits of the original James Herriott TV series. The area was lead mining country until the start of the 20th century, with a major vein running under Great Pinseat. Though the tracks we use are now important for farming and particularly shooting, their origins lie in the extraction of lead. A brief road section takes us above Surrender Mill before we take a turn up to the Old Gang Smelt Mill. An example of a self-draining mine entrance is passed, along with the peat and explosives store and remains of the flue. Leaving good tracks we traverse rough and boggy moor to the trig point at Great Pinseat at 583m before descending the post-industrial spoil to Whaw in Arkengarthdale. A pleasant riverside path takes us to Langthwaite (toilets available). A final ascent up Fore Gill returns us to the start.

Sponsored by: The Sirius Group

Leave Station car park at 9.00am. Rendezvous at Reeth Village Green outside the Burgoyne Hotel (GR: SE 039 993) at 9.30am for private transport to Keld and our start. 14 miles. Hard. £7 (Includes the minibus transfer to Keld which is free thanks to support by Richmondshire District Council).

This linear walk takes us from Keld to Grinton. For much of the way we will follow the traditional route of the Corpse Way down Swaledale, and then onwards to Reeth and our starting point. Until 1580 Grinton was the furthest point up the Dale with consecrated ground for burials, and a number of routes existed in the upper part of the Dale that were used to bring coffins to the church. Our route is based on the main artery of the Corpse Way starting in Keld.  As well as the history of the route and some of the stories attached to it, you will, of course, be passing through some of the very best scenery in the upper dale. We start our walk on the bridleway from Keld, round the side of Kisdon Hill, to Muker. Leaving the traditional route for the next stretch allows us to avoid some road walking and take in the delightful riverside path along the Swale. We will also visit picturesque Ivelet Bridge, which is on one of the side branches of the Way, and see one of the coffin-resting stones used in those times.  We regain the main route as we follow the old road along the side of the valley to Gunnerside. Continuing down the valley we pass Blades, with the remains of the Coffin House used as an overnight resting place, and on to Healaugh where we drop into the valley bottom and walk to the lovely old church at Grinton.  A walk through the fields and alongside Arkle Beck takes us back to Reeth.

Sponsored by: Purple Creative

Leave Station car park 9.30am. Start at Aske Stables (GR:NZ 180 037) at 10.00am. 7 miles. Easy. £7

We are pleased to be able to take you into parts of Aske Park that are off rights of way and therefore unknown to walkers using the public footpath through the Estate. Almost as impressive as Aske Hall itself is the former Stable Block.  It is here that we will start and finish the walk.  The first part of the walk takes us into the private part of the estate, through woodlands and along tracks until we reach High Coalsgarth at the half way point of the walk.  From here we return to the Hall using public footpaths returning across the racecourse and the golf club before regaining the Park. There will be time to look round the imaginative Stable Block conversion into a thriving business and retail setting including an excellent coffee shop, Mocha, and for those in need of an improved night’s sleep – a visit to Kiss the Moon.

Sponsored by: Purple Creative

The Station, Richmond DL10 4LD. 11.00am – midday. £8. Café/restaurant, bookstall, disabled access.

All the world's cultures have special relationships with trees and forests.  They have drawn on them for shelter, food, medicine and materials, and for spiritual inspiration.  From wood working they learned how to become technologists and to master their environment. In a lively illustrated talk, Max Adams, the archaeologist, woodsman and inveterate walker, explores some of the fascinating stories from his 2019 book, ‘Trees of Life’, and from his new book, ‘The Museum of the Wood Age’.

Sponsored by: The Station

Richmond Town Hall, DL10 4QL. 7.30pm. £15. Refreshments, bookstall, disabled access.

Trailblazing journalist Nellie Bly circled the world faster than anyone ever had in 1890. Travelling alone with just a Gladstone bag, she shattered the fictional record of Phileas Fogg, returning in 72 days. Awed by her achievement and shocked by its present-day obscurity, Rosemary J Brown re-traced Bly’s global voyage 125 years later. Their journeys are captured in ‘Following Nellie Bly: Her Record-Breaking Race Around the World’. London-based journalist Rosemary is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 2019, she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research initiatives in Greece and Ireland helping refugees to rebuild their lives.

Jacki Hill-Murphy MA, FRGS, is an explorer, writer and speaker who has travelled to some of the most inhospitable places on earth to re-create the journeys of daring women adventurers from the past. In tracking valiant women, like Mary Kingsley and Isabella Bird, she pays tribute to their invincible spirits and achievements. Jacki’s journeys in the footsteps of Victorian explorers have taken her across the Digar-La in Ladakh, India; to the summit of Mount Cameroon; by public transport from Moscow to Siberia; Eastern Nigeria; and from source to sea along the Amazon River.

Sponsored by: Millgate House