Semer Water
9½ miles/15km
WEST ALONG WENSLEYDALE we go; as far as Bainbridge. Flitch left here and we disappear into Raydale, one of the shortest but most intriguing of the Yorkshire Dales.
It’s home to Semer Water, and the legend of Yorkshire’s Atlantis. The story goes that Raydale was once home to the prosperous town of Semer, and its small pond, Semer Water.
One summer’s evening, an aged beggar arrived in Semer and went from house to house in search of food, drink and shelter, but was shown none. Only in a small cottage on the hillside did he find any charity, in the shape of an old shepherd and his wife. The next morning, as he made to leave, the beggar revealed himself as a powerful sorcerer (in some versions, an angel).
Turning to the town below, he raised his arms and cried out: “Semer Water rise and Semer Water sink, and swallow the town all save this house, where they gave me food and drink!”
Sure enough, the waters of the pond rose, consuming the town and drowning its miserly inhabitants, but leaving the kindly couple and their hillside cottage completely unscathed.
It sounds like pure bunkum, but it might not be: during a drought in 1937, archaeologists took advantage of the diminished water level and unearthed evidence of settlements within the lake bed dating back to Neolithic times. People were here, now they’re not. Yikes.
The classic Raydale walk goes out of Bainbridge on the Cam High Road (it’s dead straight, guess who built it?) almost as far as the summit of Wether Fell, before plunging down into the valley (past some contenders for the hillside cottage, of course), to meet Semer Water at its outflow, the River Bain. At just under 2½ miles from lake mouth to the Ure at Bainbridge, the Bain is a claimant for the title of Shortest River in England, but those are 2½ miles of deepest joy.
Just make sure you’re nice to anyone you meet along the way. Not sharing your Rolos can have dire consequences round here.