Walking the length of a river to its source, as explorers have been doing since the earliest of times, is always a magical prospect. The Swale Way , which traces the course of the River Swale from its confluence with the River Ure in the Vale of York to its source in the windswept hills above Swaledale, is particularly enchanting.

From the old coaching town of Boroughbridge , the Swale Way begins by following the banks of the Ure to Swale Nab, where the Swale empties into the Ure. Then it meanders through tranquil farmland to Thirsk, an attractive little town with a large cobbled Market Place. Thirsk was the 'Darrowby' in James Herriot's stories of life as a Yorkshire vet. His surgery in the town is now a popular museum. The trail also visits Brafferton, where St Paulinus baptised 10,000 people in the waters of the river; Bolton-on-Swale, where an obelisk commemorates Henry Jenkins, England's longest-lived citizen, who died in 1670 aged 169; the magnificent ruin of Easby Abbey, founded in 1152 by the 'White Monks'; and Richmond, one of the most beautiful towns in England. Next, the Swale Way follows paths running along the top of the valley, which provide wonderful views across Swaledale, before descending to the attractive little town of Reeth, the 'capital' of upper Swaledale. From here, the trail returns to the river and follows footpaths linking pretty stone-built villages dotted along the dale to the hamlet of Keld and the gathering grounds of the Swale, through a landscape of drystone walls, flower-filled meadows and tiny field barns.