Week 27 14th to 20th April

We are still in the glorious Yorkshire Dales this week, and although the weather is proving difficult, appreciating this areas beauty is not! Enjoy!

Monday 14th April – day 170

We are off to explore Bolton Abbey and the Strid today, and so far the weather is with us! I have memories of this tourist draw from childhood, so I am interested to see how much it has changed, but I am unprepared for how much! I expect that it is inevitable that with so many people tramping over the land, it has to managed, and there is money to be made – we paid £5.50 to park, and were shocked at first, but then for that we got to explore the ancient Abbey,

and walk a well maintained, and mostly wheelchair accessible 7 mile round the Strid forest. I am sure this must be progress and I expect those with limited mobility are glad of improvements like these, but (rather selfishly I know) it was rather too manicured now, and the joy of rambling over rocks and narrow windy paths could only be a distant memory.The Strid itself though was still stirring to the senses, as the wide shallow tumbling River Wharfe reached unforgiving hard stone and was squeezed through a length of very narrow gap, and great swirls of foaming water were sent rampaging over stony outcrops. The sun stayed with us, and we were delighted along the way by glances of foraging Nuthatchs, playful Great Tits and Blue Tits, fighting for a last little piece of fat ball, and we also saw our first bank of violets, just as I was beginning to wonder whether we had missed them this year. As we reached the car, the desire for tea took over, so we headed for the truly delicious Devonshire Arms. The interior reminded me rather of the Old Bell, Malmesbury, a place that holds very happy memories for us. We had wandered round a little until we found a settee - just squidgy enough, by a fire - just warm enough, and drank Earl Grey - just fragrant enough, before it was all too much and the ol’ Mint put his head back and was gone – solid gone (but quietly on this occasion fortunately!)
Our final jaunt was a quick trip into Skipton to do some emergency provision replacing, and Morrisons gave us just enough time to do a grab and dash! We did though decide to revisit this lovely old town to explore further. Like Bolton Abbey, it is a place of my youth, though more forgotten than remembered.

Tuesday 15th April – day 171

Rain, rain and more miserable rain, made worse by the fact that I think the rest of the country are basking in spring sunshine, so we stayed in till mid afternoon when it cheered up enough to tempt us out for a trip to Grassington, where we went to at Christmas for the Dickensian Fayre. And how glad we were to have made the decision to go! Grassington itself was a lot sleepier than at Christmas for obvious reasons, but we wandered along the lanes until we came to signs for Ghaistrill’s Strid which needed further exploration. We walked through the field to the river, as the clouds ahead of us darkened. In a breath we were being bombarded by huge cone shaped hail stones, which made the whole setting very atmospheric. This Strid was not quite so dramatic as yesterdays, but there were still some great views to be enjoyed! We returned back along the river bank and carried on further down in order to get back to the village, spotting along the way, a pair of Oyster Catchers, Grey Wagtails and a lovely little Wren which would not stay still long enough to be photoed! Just before we were due to leave the river we came across a magnificent weir followed immediately by the impressive Linton Falls, which further delayed our return to the car, happily, as we stood for an age just watching the water tumble over the rocks! If we had known what weather was ahead of us, we might not have lingered! We had not been in the car very long when it started to hail again, big fat balls being hurled horizontally at the car. By the time we had reached the tops by Grimwith Reservoir we were in the middle of a foggy snow storm, visibility was poor and the road was slippy and sludgy. We had to take great care to complete the journey, and exciting though it was we were glad to be back in the warm and dry.

Wednesday 16th April – day 172

We decided to mix business and pleasure today and returned to Skipton to wash up our filthy walking trousers, fill up our empty food cupboards and to have a nosey around the antique shops, to see if we could find a little something to add to our growing collection of memorabilia. Skipton was bigger than I remember, but it was surprising how many of the shops were the same, even the “Wild Oats” café where we stopped for a little tea and tiffin! We spent too long looking round the antiques market and didn’t leave enough time to walk all along the canal, but we did manage to come home with clean trousers and full Morrison’s bags!!

Thursday 17th April – day 173

It seems that a pattern is emerging; the mornings recently have all been bright clear and fresh, but by lunch time the clouds descend and the wintery rain sets in. For that reason we decided to take a road trip through the dales up to the northern most areas of Swaledale and Arkengarthdale, and what a fabulous day we have had. The route that we took started in Wharfedale, and we drove from Grassington to Kettlewell amidst delightfully soft and pastoral scenery along side a wide tumbling river, the hill sides were patchworks of stone wall lined fields dotted about with little barns, that were once so important to the local economy which is centred round sheep farming. We stopped for a wander round Kettlewell as the sun was still with us. We had forgotten, but this delightful little village is where the film Calendar Girls was shot, (though the real calendar girls came from Rylstone!) but it seemed not to have become too stage struck!! We moved on from there up a very steep little road that took us over the tops to Coverdale. By now the scenery had become much wilder and dramatic, but even in the rain and mist it still had a glow about it, it was quite magical especially as we only had the sheep for company for most of the way to Leyburn. We did not stop here although it also looked very charming in a traditional Yorkshire market town sort of way, but went straight on to Reeth, the “capital” of Swaledale. Had the weather been with us we would have parked and walked for a while, but as it was pouring we stopped instead at an arts and crafts centre to see if there might be something to add to our collection, and although there were plenty of tempting treats, we left empty handed. We set off to drive along Swaledale and round to Arkengarthdale. Again we were delighted by a landscape of patchworks of small fields, but here the field barns were in much greater abundance, and as we stopped to take this photo, all we could hear was the baaing of sheep, again much as it must have been for generations! By the time we arrived back at Leyburn it was gone 6pm, and thoughts of returning home for supper had almost reached the top of our “to do” list, but we still had enough enthusiasm to see one more dale so opted to return via Nidderdale, which was a little like Wharfedale, the tops were still wild, atmospheric and remote, but once we were down in the vale it was softer and gentler again.

Friday 18th April – day 174

Well it does not look like rain today - cold and windy, but no rain! Which is just as well as the wrinks are joining us, for a look round Brimham rocks and a visit to Fountains Abbey. They arrived in good time for coffee, and then lunch, and after a long leisurely sit we went for a wander up round this geological master piece of rocky boulders strewn higgledy piggledy across the hillside in some interesting shapes and stacks, it was a joy to investigate these old relics! We went on then to Fountains Abbey for a cup of tea, and we left Ma and Pa in the warm and dashed off for a quick explore of the ruins, and we were so glad that we did, for this huge 12th century Cistercian Monastery was so intact it was not difficult to visualize its original form in places. The refectory, which included a seating area for its lay workers, was at least 100 yds long and had a wonderful ceiling, and on the way back up we saw our first display of Bluebells, spring is definitely on the way – despite the temperature! Once we had located our own spring chickens we headed back to the caravan for …….. more food, and a very long slide show …………. no, PC picture show (ah how sweet revenge does taste!!!)

Saturday 19th April – day 175

Well, today was a weird one, we are off to Ma n Pa’s for supper to welcome Al and Vic back from France, so we decided to visit the west side of the Dales, including Ingleton and Settle. The problem is that this is the route that takes us between Ambleside and Clitheroe, so it is familiar yet unexplored, and it didn’t go too well, we headed first for Ingleton to visit the Falls, but we are really beginning to understand why the Yorkshire folk have the reputation for being canny with money, as the admission charge to visit these natural delights was a mere £4.50 per head! Now for that we knew that we would be able to walk on a carefully prepared path round a carefully manicured route, but it rather goes against the grain in this whole area of rugged paths stretching across miles of outstanding beauty, however we do understand that it helps maintain and develop this beautiful area that is visited by so many of us so often. We mooched around Ingleton for a little but decided to head off for Settle as we had no map to plan another walk. Settle was much as I remembered it, but the Watershed Mill Craft centre was a con, as it was more like a mini factory outlet shopping centre. We were just too late to visit the Folly so went to a café instead, good choice I say!
We made our way back to Clitheroe by the scenic route, and were at the wrinks by 6.15 ready for supper and holiday photos – no not ours!
Sunday 20th April – day 176

We were determined not to let the weather affect our plans for walking today, but fortunately for us it was dry. We drove back through beautiful Wharfedale, alongside fast flowing streams coursing across mossy stones, up over bleak windswept moors, past Kettlewell and finally (and slowly) into Hawes. We had a wander round the town, into, and quickly out of, a frighteningly expensive antique shop, and took a quick forage round a second hand book stall. It took a more than a little cajoling to move Chris on from the packed shelves but we were soon ready for our picnic, followed by a planned circular walk up to Hardraw Falls and round along the fields back to Hawes via Sedbusk. As usual we had the paths mostly to ourselves as all sensible people had returned to their cosy warm sitting rooms but the lambs (who did keep us company) were in an absolute abundance and a joy to watch as they leaped, frolicked and sucked ferociously giving their mothers some GBH of the back end! Their noisy baaing accompanied us all the way round, and in one field they were so used to seeing the farmer come at tea time with some treat or other that as we entered their field they all careered towards us, at an almost stampede like speed, baaing insistently, until they saw that it was not their feeder, and we had nothing to offer them, and I’m sure that their baaing took on a disapproving note as we scurried out before they got cross!
We arrived at Hardraw Force and were further assured of the Yorkshire entrepreneurial spirit, as we came across a large sign saying “Hardraw Falls entrance through Inn” so we paid the required £4 and having walked through the beautiful old 17th century pub called The Green Dragon, took a 5 min stroll to see their bit of the falls - a 50 foot high narrow and noisy cascade of water onto rocks by a pool – not quite what we had expected, and it was not until we had walked up to Simonstone and into the very dingly-dellish Scargill woods did we really get to enjoy the Falls in their entirety, as the water fell over several shallow wide steps through its woodland setting – much more photogenic to us! It was here that we also had our second sighting of a beautiful little wren today, they are such chocolaty brown charmers, but will not stay still long enough for us to photo them (yet!)
We journeyed back through the patchwork of field to the company of madcap field hares and stupid but colourful Pheasants, we arrived back to the car feeling that we had been completely entertained by the locals!