Pateley bridge and Brimham rocks.

04/02/2018.

I always found it odd that Nidderdale was excluded from The Yorkshire Dales National park when it was designated in 1954. The reason given was that the three reservoirs,  in the upper reaches of the valley had spoilt the natural environment. In a way I suppose this is something to cheer about as exclusion from the park has left the valley much quieter than the vast majority of the dales. It has however been made into an AONB [An area of outstanding natural beauty] and anyone that visits this beautiful dale can instantly see why. Our walk today was to explore the mid reaches of the valley around Pateley bridge and Brimham rocks. We parked up beside the river in the showground car park £1.80 for the day which I thought was reasonable. We sat in the car for a few minutes waiting for the wet snow to stop. It didn't last long and we were soon booted and off.

Walked up the main street, stopping at regular intervals to clear up after Alfie, why do they always show you up like that?..We headed up to the old church of St Marys high above the town. Now just a shell the old church is worth a visit, having great views above the town and across the dale. We picked up the path that is known as the Panorama walk, a popular walk in Victorian times apparently. Its a nice walk [dry],we were soon well away from the town.

After leaving the lovely tarmac of the panorama walk, we soon entered another world...a world of mud, never seen so much and we slipped and slithered along the Nidderdale way, a 52 mile circular long distance walk. I wouldn't mind walking it in its entirety, maybe in summer,allowing time for some of this mud to dry up.Before long we came to a farm that was a bit unusual as it was a place where you could go trekking with Llamas..i wondered if you had to clear up behind them like you do dogs?...At £39 for a 2 and a half hour session I don't think I will be walking any Llamas in the near future.Bloody cheek,why don't they walk their own Llamas.

We pressed on heading uphill towards Brimham rocks. Snow showers came and went. we could see the rocks on the skyline.

It was snowing quite heavily as we made our way up to the rocks, but upon reaching them the snow stopped and a fine mist came down,it was most peculiar and quite creepy, thinking back now I can remember the silence. It felt like people or things were watching us from the rocks. These are not just rocks but I cant quite put my finger on it, they reared up all around in every direction. It felt strange, not really scary, just strange....I remember feeling like this a few times before, notably on Stanton moor, Bodmin moor and at the Stiperstones in Shropshire.

There are paths going off all over the place up there, its quite a big area. We picked a path and suddenly all changed, all around were people, a visitors centre, a refreshment kiosk and dogs, loads of them charging around, rolling in the snow, letting off steam. After a butty break we carried through more rocks, weird and wonderful rocks. Many of the rocks have wonderful and weird  names such as The Camel, The Sphinx, The Turtle and The Dancing Bear...All good stuff.

We walked through the car park on the way out, £8 for the day [ well that's the national trust for you].

Downhill all the way now to Smelthouses and Low Laithe where I noticed lots of Dafodils in bloom Couldn't believe it as its only the 4th of February, I suppose our winters are getting shorter. A bit like my legs.

Back in the valley bottom now all that was need was to follow the path alongside the River Nidd back to Pateley bridge via Glasshouses. Its been a good walk, Nidderdale has really left a good impression.