Corpse Road

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Road from Hawes looking down into Swaledale

He wondered how many other dark tales the valley of Swaledale held beneath its heavenly bed of grass and wall, river and tree, how haunted the beauty of the place truly was by a past no one now remembered.

Gunnerside

Harry handed the dog to Jim and climbed out of the vehicle and spotted just a little way off the smallest village green he had ever seen in his life. On it sat three wooden benches facing inwards. It was dotted with flowers and he was sure that in the bright light of day it was actually rather pretty.

Gunnerside

‘I’ll have to bring you out here during the day,’ Jim said, as they wound their way at last into the small village of Gunnerside.

Kings Head Pub, Gunnerside

‘On my way back from the King’s Head,’ Gary said, then flicked a look over to Jen. ‘It’s the pub in Gunnerside.’ He brushed the hair back from his face. ‘You ever been?’

Gunnerside Gill

‘How long till we get there?’ ‘About another twenty minutes,’ Jim said. ‘Then we’ve a bit of a trek at the other end, up the beck along Gunnerside Gill. It’s pretty special. My dad used to sing a song about the place.’

Gunnerside Gill Foothpath

The rest of the team were making their way over to them after the walk up the gill from Gunnerside. Fly was with them and clearly loving every moment of being out in the hills in the fresh air.

Gunnerside Gill

Mine Ruins, Gunnerside Gill

‘You’ll need your boots, not shoes,’ Jim said. ‘We’ll be out on the hills, like. Up by the old lead mines above Gunnerside. It’s not exactly muddy, but chances are you’ll snap your ankle if you go up in those.’

Murder scene...

At thirty-seven years old, and not exactly in the best of shape, Kirsty Emily Jackson was, for the first time in her life, pitching a tent.

Looking down to Gunnerside

And so, with the ruins of the old lead mines around him, and the beck skipping its way ever onwards in front, Harry turned away and walked back down towards Gunnerside, every step feeling as though he was heading further and further back in time.

Marrick Priory

In front of him, he saw a plain bungalow to his right and directly ahead, the tower of what he assumed to be the old priory. Although, it had more of the look of a church about it than anything so grand as a priory, he thought.

Marrick Priory

A mile or so on from where he had left the main road, Harry came to the priory, a building set in a dip just on his right, down from the road. A wooden barred gate blocked the way in, but there was parking just nearby so he pulled in next to an old Land Rover.

Start of the road over to Crackpot

Harry sipped his coffee, the liquid burning his lips. The maps, he noticed, were of the whole of Swaledale, and on closer inspection, he saw one covering the area around Crackpot, and another the mines above Gunnerside

Swaledale

Opening her eyes, Kirsty took another deep breath, then stared out at the view in front of her. And what a view it was, she thought, briefly wondering why it had taken her so long to get to where she was right now, gazing out across the hauntingly beautiful landscape of Swaledale.

Keld Lodge

Ahead, Matt saw the road fork and just beyond it, on the left, stood Keld Lodge. ‘Just pull up in front,’ Matt said, and Jen eased the car off the road, up against a drystone wall.

Start of the Corpse Road

‘I’ll head over to Keld,’ Jen said. ‘The Corpse Road starts there, and there’s a hotel there, so I’m guessing that’s where she left her car. And I reckon a Porsche is going to be pretty easy to find.’

Corpse Road

‘The Corpse Road is a well-used footpath,’ Rebecca explained. ‘We found plenty of footprints from that day, but nothing stands out.’