NIDDERDALE WAY – D1 proper

Up and at it early – Breakfast provided by some excellent facilities and hosts ‘chez Burling’ before out the door by 9 am

500 m down the road … ‘gotta sort out my layers’ 🤭

A day of Bluebells – lots of them in lots of woodland along the way

Walked through to Ripley Castle. Next bit of info courtesy of a kind old man who chatted to us while we were enjoying the view of the river : dam.

“Been up for sale for a year…was priced at £15MILLION… Now reduced to £7.5M … if you’re interested … current owner had to deal with two lots of inheritance dues (his father’s and his grandfather’s)… impossible to make ends meet … that over there is the old pump room … there’s another lake you can’t see.. etc”

Fascinating .

Talking of bluebells … illegal to dig them up you know.

“Bluebells are an essential part of our natural heritage. Almost half the world’s bluebells are found in the UK and colonies of this delicate wild flower take a long time to establish – around five to seven years from seed to bloom. They’re considered so important that they’re a protected species in the UK. It’s against the law to intentionally pick, uproot or destroy bluebells.”(NationalTrust.org.uk)

It is actually illegal to dig up any plant anywhere without the landowners permission

E.g

Wild garlic

Wood anemone

Lesser Celandine

Just FYI – Carol was on the button this morning naming all the above correctly (whereas Henrik said ‘white flower with yellow middle’ and ‘yellow flower with yellow middle’ 🤣🤣🤣)

We digress- Onward

Standard ‘horse’s hoof’ that I had to take a photo of

Onward to Brimham Rocks

… and making new friends

We have worked out that today is a two sandwich day – stop every 2-2.5 hrs for sandwich and snack …. And to use the ‘ facilities’ if they become available …

Farmers debris

BRIMHAM ROCKS

Ref : NationalTrust

“Brimham’s rocks are largely made from millstone grit. The North America and Eurasia plates collided 400 million years ago, creating a huge mountain range to the north of the Brimham/Nidderdale area.

Around 335 million years ago, the UK was located over the equator where warm, tropical seas dominated. Approximately 15 million years later, erosion from the mountain range transported silt, sand and pebbles by fast flowing, powerful rivers, periodically flooding this tropical paradise.

The grit included crystals of steel-hard quartz and softer crystals of feldspar. The deposits by the rivers were compressed and hardened over time to form the millstone grit rocks of Brimham.”

Great for a picnic stop, before heading off for the last 5 miles to Patel’s Bridge , hopefully avoiding the coming rain …

… but we didn’t miss the rain – only got mildly damp though

Slippery wet stones .. how should we cross?

A. Did Henrik offer to put his cloak down like Sir Walter Raleigh ?

B. Did Henrik just push Carol across?

C. Did Carol push Henrik across?

D. Did Henrik give Carol a piggy back?

E. Did they both hold hands and gingerly stepped across?

F. Did Henrik just cross over and walked on leaving Carol to fend for herself?

Answer on a postcard please 😜

Then it was all downhill , including helping a dog find their ball in the nettles (or more accurately helping the dog owner find their dog’s ball in the nettles)

Talbot house bed and breakfast was our end point …. Shower , change , and a hearty dinner at the Royal Oak

A good first day 👍💪