Cool Nidderdale

2019 has been a very busy year with no time at all for walking in the dales. The summer has almost flown, but at last on the August Bank Holiday Monday we made time to go walking in the Yorkshire Dales. However, we were in the midst of a heat wave, the Friday, Saturday and Sunday had temperatures soaring to the high twenties and even up to thirty degrees centigrade, not weather for tramping over moors in the full force of the sun. So the challenge was to find a walk in shade.

We drove to Brimham Rocks where the car park was full and an overflow carpark in a farmer's field already had a hundred and more cars. But we left the crowds behind and set off down hill. Starting on the Nidderdale Way we quickly descended (not always good if later you have to ascend) and had this splendid view into Nidderdale.

We were soon into woods, so lovely and cool, and the rest of the walk was mostly through woodland just like this. The path was rocky with lots of tree roots to try and trip you up, and we were still going down hill.

Here and there were clearnings with tantalizing glimpses of glorious Nidderdale. We were heading towards Smelthouses. The name of this tiny hamlet is a reminder of Nidderdale's industrial past when lead mining was an important part of the economy.

Little patches of silverweed with their sunny flowers brightened the way. We came out of the woodland path onto a road and turned left to go up hill for a few yards past a house with a curious weathervane (which looked the worse for the weather, being toppled on one side). I hope the cat catches the mouse. The we turned right onto a good track through woods again towards Low Laithe. We came down hill and saw these sheep silhouetted against the cloudless sky and then turned right onto another rocky, tree rooted path along the bottom side of the wood.

We came down to a road near Knox Hall and met the Fell Beck. This is a lovely beck which chatters over stones and little waterfalls and we followed a track upstream to Little Mill.

Here we had a welcome break for a few minutes. There were signs which invited us to view an artist's studio. A lovely lady has converted part of this old water mill into her studio and we admired her beautiful paintings and prints. Her husband was then keen to tell us about the building and gave us a guided tour of the rest of the mill and the garden. The waterwheel is still intact in the middle of what is now their home, and the rods and gears for taking off power extend across their sitting room and kitchen. Outside he sensed we were interested and explained in great detail how the water was diverted from higher up Fell Beck and the engineering involved in diverting it to the wheel. Evidently this mill had been part of an enterprise that made rope.

A few yards part Little Mill we were back to the tarmac road in Smelthouses,we crossed over the bridge and turned right onto a very narrow path with nettles at head height, rocks, and tree roots to trip you up again, but below us the Fell Beck chattering away with glimpses of lovely waterfalls. We then followed the beck upstream for two or three miles. I love moss and thought this rather beautiful.

We did get lost once (we always do), when Ian said "A quad bike has been along here" and set off along the quad bike's tracks rather than the hard to find footpath. All this meant was that we ended up missing a footbridge and had to jump over the beck but we ended up emerging out of the woods at North Pasture Farm. The heat suddenly hit me and I had to sit under a tree for a while before setting off through the farmyard and over a couple of fields until we were back into scrubby woodland. This is the view from under the tree and shows where the farm land meets the high moors.

Suddenly hugh rocks loomed above our heads and it was a steep scramble up to Brimham Rocks. The path came out behind the Visitor Centre where there are spendid views. There was a heat haze which obscured the very distant views of York but we could see nearby Harrogate and the Menwith Hill golf balls. We had hardly seen a soul all through our walk, except the lovely couple at Little Mill, so it was rather a shock to see hundreds of people all over Brimham Rocks. All I wanted to do was have a cup of tea and a sit down.

The kiosk was doing a brisk trade in ice cream but I had the most wonderful mug of tea and scrummy cake. The benches were really too hot to sit on, it was twenty eight degrees centigrade, but I was not moving ! We had walked five miles and for almost all of the walk kept in the shade of beautiful woods.

After people watching for a while we made our way back to the car park. A lovely walk and just right for such a hot day. I hope it is not so long before we get the walking boots out again.

You can click on any of the pictures to make them larger. I hope you will visit Nidderdale as well.