The Little White Bus in Wensleydale in the glorious Yorkshire Dales

My friend Wanda and I thought we’d have an adventure and catch the Little White Bus to Askrigg and then on to Hawes. Wanda, from sunny Scarborough, has stayed in our holiday cottages before and felt like a trip up the dale.

So having studied the timetable off we went from West Burton village shop at precisely 10:10. We were soon whisked to Askrigg where we alighted and first stop, not bus stop this time, was Humble Pie for coffee and cake, always excellent and we were made so welcome. We knew the next bus for Hawes came at 12:25 so that gave us nearly two hours to potter. After we were sustained we headed to the pop-up Craft Shop opposite, what a treasure trove of lovely things. Of course we were in spending mood and came out with quite a few purchases!

A little walk along Mill Lane behind the church and then as we came back into the market place we noticed the doors of the Methodist Hall were open and, lo and behold, a Christmas Fair was on! Hot footed down the hill, £3.00 entrance fee which included mulled wine and mince pie, which you can imagine added to the giggles, and emerged from there with even more purchases!

Back up the hill to the bus stop and we didn’t have long to wait before our next chariot appeared. Again we were speedily taken to Hawes where my first destination was Flares and Graces at the bottom of the town. Asking the bus driver if there was a bus stop here he said he was happy to drop us just wherever we wanted to be, such is the feeling of all the bus drivers as we found out during our day. Having raided Flare and Graces, White’s was the next port of call, two pairs of boots later for me! Then time for a bit of stroll and then to outside The Board at 13:17 to catch to bus back to Askrigg. On the way to The Board, in the middle of Hawes, a Little White Bus was parked facing up the town, I asked the bus driver if he was on his way to Gayle, thinking Wanda might like to travel up there instead of waiting. The driver said he wasn’t, his was the Garsdale bus, but he would take us if we would like and bring us back! But we decided that if his bus wasn’t the one we were to eventually catch then we might miss the one that we intended to go back to Askrigg on (phew, if you get my drift!) Anyway back to Askrigg we went and there to meet my husband, Geoff, and off we all went for a delicious lunch at the King’s Arms.

We did cheat a bit as Geoff took us home but there was bus back down to West Burton at 17:42 which is perhaps too long to stay in the Kings Arms but on a nice day more time could be spent in Hawes and even a trip down to Leyburn and then back up to West Burton if you so wanted. Or get off in Carperby and walk back to West Burton over Aysgarth Falls, it’s a lovely walk with wonderful views and not too far, well maybe three miles.

We both thoroughly enjoyed our day, it was great fun and now I feel quite addicted to travelling by Little White Bus and do so at every opportunity!