Rawthey Bridge to Sedbergh via The Calf

The weather looked promising and we were looking forward to some spectacular views but unfortunately the weather closed in as we got higher resulting in poor visibility for much of the walk.

From Rawthey Bridge we joined a footpath which took us to the south of the River Rawthey. The path went through the edge of the wood then negotiated a ford accompanied by a few murmurings of complaint about wet feet. Several paths met at Narthwaite, a farm, but we took the path down to Backside Beck, across another ford and even more murmurings, on to Access Land , where we stopped for a tea break. From here the path took us close to the river, with Ben End on our right, until Cautley spout came into view on our right, an impressive view despite the mist. Here we turned right and continued on the east side of the Cautley Holme Beck with the mile long Cautley Crag an imposing feature on the left.

Cautley Spout up ahead.

The path climbed gently at first on a grassy path but as we got nearer the waterfall the path became steeper. We reached the top of the waterfall using a very steep but well made path up the right side of the waterfall, pausing several times to admire the view and pause for breath. At the topby Swere Gill and overlooking the valley we stopped for a tea break.

The path continues here, although not shown on the map, with Red Gill Beck on the left. After passing a sheepfold we got a bit "off track" and continued up the side of Bram Rigg Top to reach the main path coming from Calders. In retrospect we should have continued on the path past the sheepfold which would have taken us closer to the main path leading to the Calf. Anyway we now turned right to reach the trig point on The Calf. I'm sure the views from here would have been spectacular but unfortunately visibility was poor, the cloud was coming down and rain was beginning to fall.

Cautley Spout

From here we followed a well defined stoney path, not the nicest to walk on, on to Calders then continued to the left of Arrant Law, not visible because of the cloud. The intention had been to visit the trig point on Winders where the views over to Sedbergh would have been wonderful but by now it was raining steadily, the visibility was getting worse and suspect I would have a mutiny had I suggested it. After Green Mea and before Winder the map shows a left fork leading down to Sedbergh. We came across track which may have been this path so we decided to follow it because if it wasn't at least it would meet up with the path above Settlebeck Gill. This turned out to be the case. Just before leaving the Access Land we came across some seats where we stopped for a tea break then went through a kissing gate then followed the path, Settlebeck Gill still on the left, down to Sedbergh.

Here we had the usual difficult decision to make as to which pub to go in. Dalton led the way and took us to The Bull Inn where we met up with some other members of the club to compare walks.