Richmond and the Coast to Coast Walk in the Yorkshire Dales
The Yorkshire Dales has long inspired walkers, artists and storytellers alike. With Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk now recognised as a National Trail, I’ve re launched a series of Yorkshire Dales art prints inspired by places like Richmond, Swaledale and the landscapes that stay with you long after the walk is over.
Not just the walking of it — though that’s no small feat —
but the stories that cling to it like mud on your boots.
Now officially recognised as a National Trail and renamed Wainwright’s Way, it feels like the right time to pause…
and remember that this route has never just been about distance.
It’s about people.
Richmond in the Yorkshire Dales – Where Something Shifts
For many, Richmond North Yorks (the Original Richmond in fact) is where something changes.
You arrive road-worn and weathered…
and suddenly the landscape softens into the rolling patchwork of the Yorkshire Dales.
It’s a place walkers stop. Take stock. Regroup.
And if those cobbled streets could talk, they wouldn’t whisper —
they’d spill.
View my Richmond Castle art print here.
The Stories That Pass Through
There are the legends, of course.
The tunnel.
The drummer boy.
Footsteps that don’t quite belong to anyone.
But it’s the real stories that stay with you.
The ones that arrive unannounced, usually a bit windswept and slightly undone.
The Honeymooner
Years ago, when I was working at The Station arts centre in Richmond,
a woman limped in off the Coast to Coast.
Australian. Sunburnt. Exhausted.
Fresh off her honeymoon.
She told me her new husband had been nothing more than a speck on the horizon the entire walk.
Always ahead. Always gone.
No slowing down. No turning back.
She, meanwhile, had blistered her way across the country.
When she finally reached Richmond, she didn’t want romance.
She wanted:
- a proper bed
- a decent meal
- and a divorce
And honestly…
you couldn’t blame her.
Why These Stories Matter
That’s the thing about this trail.
It doesn’t just show you the landscape —
it shows you people as they are.
Tired. Hopeful. Stubborn. Funny.
Sometimes on the edge of something ending… or beginning.
And that’s what I find myself painting.
Not just the barns, the sheep, the dry stone walls —
but the feeling that something has happened here.
Something ordinary.
Something life-shifting.
Something half-told.
The Yorkshire Dales Collection
To mark the recognition of Wainwright’s Way gaining the new title of National trail , I’ve brought together a collection of my Yorkshire Dales paintings —
drawn from time spent sketching, walking, and quietly observing.
These are for people who know that:
- landscapes carry memory
- and that places like this don’t just sit still — they hold stories
The Wild beauty of the Dales has also inspired some other prints have a look👉 Explore the Yorkshire Dales Collection
A Quick (Honest) Note
I’ve kept UK delivery free on my artwork for as long as I could.
But from the end of May, I’ll need to start charging for postage.
If you’ve been hovering over a piece, now’s a good moment to take a look while it’s still included.
No pressure — just keeping you in the loop.
Because in the end,
it’s never just about the walk.
It’s about what people carry with them…
and what they decide to leave behind.
