I devised this route from familiar paths on the map although we have never walked the entire circuit as one walk before. It has been an enjoyable day. Now after about nine miles we’re back in Pateley Bridge and soon we’ll be home in York enjoying our tea.
This the river that gives the dale it’s name. Peaty and deep at this stage. This weir creates a diversion for water to feed the fish farm and a lake we’d just passed near Glasshouses.
From Brimham Rocks we’d descended on a familiar track to Low Laithe and then along the riverbank to Glasshouses and ultimately to Pateley Bridge.
Joan spotted this red toadstool in the undergrowth at the side of the path.
I’ve been coming here for years. These rocks carved put of the daleside by wind and ice are twisted into a moonscape that’s both fun and stunning.
They sell ice cream here too - so we watch the view licking our vanilla cornets and remind ourselves of visits made with our children over the years. “Do you remember being stung in your mouth?” I did and always will. The little National Trust shop wouldn’t let me have anti histamine cream from their first aid kit because it was only for external use only. I said I’d risk it and the sting in my mouth seemed to be dealt with by a generous layer of cream on my gum. Or perhaps it was the beer I’d just comsumed at the same Fell Beck pub we’d visited today that eased the pain. Who knows.
We’re about half way to Fellbeck walking along the Nidderdale Way. Destination, The Half Moon. Let’s just hope we make it before they stop serving food.
This the derelict former parish church of Pateley Bridge in Nidderdale. It’s up a very steep hill. The faithful would have paid a penence every time they attended just for enduring the gradient.
First stop on a walk from Pateley Bridge to Fellbeck. This rock was fenced off as a viewing point for Queen Victoria’s Jubillee in 1887. Still good views over Nidderdale 121 years later.
Originally uploaded by Dawnriser
Here’s the bike computer at the end of my ride. I’m back in
Grassington and completed 110 miles since leaving here yesterday. I’ve
also climbed the equivalent of two and a bit Ben Nevis’s.
I feel good and apart from the odd light shower it’s been fine from
Malham.
I must put in a word of thanks to my bike. Not a puncture or a squeak
all the way round.
Thank you everyone who donated to sponsor this ride on behalf of
Palestinian Young People coming to the Riding Lights Theatre Summer
School next month. There’s still time to donate. The site remains
active for some time yet. www.help.co.uk/ridingbike
Originally uploaded by Dawnriser
It’s cold and bleak up here. The rain’s coming down in torrents with
just a short respite every now and then.
I can feel the damp through to my skin and I’m thinking “what am I doing
up here on this bleak moor?”
I look forward to reaching Ingleton for a break.
Originally uploaded by Dawnriser
The promised fine morning was washed away within a few minutes of
leaving Hawes. The inclines on the road to Ingleton soon warm up my
muscles. No gentle warm up like the one I enjoyed yesterday on the
road to Kettlewell.
So now I’m in Dent. A quaint cobbled street runs through the heart of
the village. There’s a station too - several miles out - and this
viaduct carries the tracks of the Settle - Carlisle railway to it.
