Inn's long history of offering shelter from the storm

For lovers of the Dales, it's reassuring to know that some things haven't really changed for centuries.

Take the White Lion Inn at Cray, 1,100 ft up the steep Kidstones Pass road that links Wharfedale with Bishopdale and then Wensleydale. Okay, it may look like it's straight out of a quaint James Herriot story but these days it has a broadband connection and the now-obligatory website, while its freezers are filled with enough supplies to feed all 15 residents of the isolated hamlet for weeks if necessary.

The old drovers' inn is a now popular halt for thousands of walkers doing the classic Wharfedale Triangle route between Buckden, Cray and Hubberholme (see Page 15). But when snow falls in winter, the White Lion reverts to the task for which it was originally built.

"We've always been used as a safe port in a storm right in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales," says Carole Lowther, who runs the place with husband Phil. "It started out as a place where the old drovers could find a bed if they couldn't get over the pass before darkness when they were heading for markets in Skipton, Hawes or Leyburn. Today, this is still where people come when they're in trouble, and since the bad weather started before Christmas we've had a steady stream of them turning up at the inn."

The most famous seeker of help at the White Lion was a Polish airman, Joe Fusniak, who was the only survivor of a Wellington bomber's six-man crew when it crashed on nearby Buckden Pike during a severe blizzard in January 1942.

Despite being badly injured he crawled through deep snow, following a set of tracks left by a fox. By dusk he had made it to the fellside overlooking Cray and could see a light in the White Lion's window. The landlord's daughter heard him shouting for help and he was dragged indoors in front of the fire.

The big open fire in the bar is still there and, says Carole, there have been a few nights recently when she and Phil have imagined what it was like finding Joe Fusniak out in the snow.

"Thank heavens the people who need help these days are not in such dire straits."

After the first heavy snowfall on the night of the December 17, Carole spent the next day handing the phone to motorists as they walked through the door. Mobile phones don't work up at Cray, and the only customers she saw wanted to use the land line to find someone who could pull their cars out of the snowdrifts.

However, it's one thing being like a mountain rescue post for motorists, walkers and even airmen in distress, but quite another trying to run a business in hard winter weather. Takings have severely fallen since the snow started falling.

On the Sunday before Christmas, when Carole and Phil would usually expect to serve lunches for up to 100 diners as well as have many more walkers popping in for teas, coffees or drinks, her till roll shows that the full day's takings totalled the princely sum of 50 pence.

That was for a packet of crisps, sold to a workman on one of the gritting lorries which tried to keep open the road from Cray down to Buckden in Wharfedale.

Boxing Day would normally be one of the busiest days of the year at the White Lion, with hungry diners queuing for a free table at lunchtime, but this Christmas there were just ten customers.

"It's been even quieter on weekdays," Carole frowns. "We open up knowing damned well there's not much point, but on the other hand we feel we can't relax if we close. I mean, we have to stay open in case there's an emergency out there."

Quite a number of people had to stay the night at the inn after their cars became stuck up on Kidstones Pass, which is one of the highest roads in Yorkshire. One couple from West Burton, on the other side of the pass, have twice been caught out since Christmas and ended up spending nights at the White Lion.

The story of a large party of students being trapped at Tan Hill Inn, between Swaledale and Teesdale, over New Year made Carole envious. "Oh we'd have liked that a lot," she says. "Our problem is, we're not getting walkers through our door, because the car park down at Buckden is snowed over and there's nowhere for people to leave their cars."

More than 70 years ago the guidebook author, Alfred Wainwright, wrote of the lonely pass during his famous Pennine Journey: "Up here, you are near to your Creator." But he visited it in the month of September. In winter drifting snow can block the pass within minutes and make it impossible for snow ploughs to keep open.

Beer and food deliveries can't reach the inn. And when the road is passable, the Lowthers have taken the opportunity to drive down to Skipton to buy fresh fruit, vegetables and salads.

But as a family, it's hard for them to maintain their vital links with the outside world. Carole's youngest son, James, has to travel down to school at Grassington each day and it's hard for him to enjoy after-school social activities.

"He depends on his PlayStation and computer more than I want him to. But what else is he going to do? If he wants to go to the cinema, that involves 100 miles of driving for me. It's another world up here."

Even the smallest items need to be stocked. When a lace in one of James's shoes snapped, Carole had no replacements in a drawer and had to decide whether to send him to school without a lace or use baling twine.

Just a couple of weeks into January, the Lowthers expect there to be more snow before the winter's out, and more stranded motorists walking through the door.

"At least they are able to leave their cars and make their way down here. If they weren't able-bodied, they'd be in serious trouble."

The White Lion is at Cray, on the B6160 between Buckden in Upper Wharfedale and West Burton. www.whitelioncray. com or 01756 760262.