Poor old Mary Queen of Scots. Scurrying along the countryside to Leyburn, North Yorkshire, after a nifty escape from captivity in nearby Boston Castle, she dropped her shawl on the escarpment above Wensleydale and thus provided a glaring clue to those in hot pursuit. And well, we all know what happened next. Mean Queen Elizabeth.
The one and a half mile stretch she scuttled along is now called the Leyburn Shawl, and should be a definite destination for those camping in Leyburn, for Wensleydale views, a decent hike and a fist shake at incalcitrant formr monarchs. Mean Queen Elizabeth.
Other decent hikes start around the Shawl and Wensleydale including to the smashing Aysgarth Falls, Hardraw Force and into the Yorkshire Dales National Park; in town, ramble around Leyburn’s Friday market, three art galleries, jewellery gallery and Harmby Road antiques centre for North Yorkshire souvenirs. But if you’d like to keep up the hidden/royal theme, take small princes and princesses to reign at Leyburn’s fantabulous Forbidden Corner’s tunnels and chambers in Tupgill Park.
