George Wilkinson' visits Pateley Bridge
On my 'office' wall I have a pinboard map of our part of the north-east. Blue pins mark walks done, red - walks planned, yellow - ideas, and black - blackspots.
Pateley Bridge now leads with four blue pins, a record number of starts. I promise it's not just the cheap parking.
In my regular caf I asked about the weather, "What you see is what you'll get", she said, pouring out the tea. Sun and wind, fine for our airy run to the west.
Pateley looks good at street level, and good on this circuit. If you like the place you'll like this walk. To start, we climb through a number of pastures.
To the right, a distant mile or so of Nidderdale flows away north, lush and half-wooded. To the left, stone walls divide a crease of green and prop up foxgloves. Eagle Hall, a large eyrie, is skirted. We reach the Nidderdale Way.
Tarmac, but narrow, and only one car passed me over the next mile or so. Climbing continues, but very easily, with a smallish valley or two for company and rock-skimming raptors when the trees fade out.
A sign says 'maximum three miles per hour' which is OK by a dawdler like me and we're heading, along with attendant and shallowing side valleys, for a hollow.
I didn't dip right in, but from my arcing up-and-away route it looked lovely, hot and sheltered, with a yellow circle like a boggy heliport of something flowering.
It's short grass and drystone walls up to the Greenhow road and the same down to Gillbeck Farm, but with the day's best views of Pateley Bridge nestling in Nidderdale.
Near the farm is a Woodland Trust wood and a meadow CSS site to explore. There's concern hereabouts over a proposal to reopen, 'after sixty years', a sandstone quarry just across on the moor edge.
A mile of sound track takes you down to the pretty Fishpond Wood where a kingfisher flashed through the bulrushes, and I finished my stroll through Pateley Bridge's pleasant outskirts.
DIRECTIONS
When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.
1. From High Street, over bridge, right up alley after fuel station and before Park View Stores, right to road, 20 yards.
2.Track on left after Cuckoo Cottage, gate/fieldgate, fieldgate at barn, left side of field, ignore private gate to Eagle Hall, gate, keep to left side of field.
3. Wallstile on left (near fieldgate)and immediately right fork, 20 yards, right to Tarmac (Nidderdale Way).
4. At bend 100 yards before road dips steeply to Low Hole Bottom (house), gravel track on left uphill (i.e. leave Nidderdale Way).
5. Pass gate to house (gable end of Ivin Waite), keep garden wall on left till at garden wall/field corner then 1 o'clock (125' mag), keeping fieldwall on left. At wall kink, right for ten yards then left, ignore gateway, wallstile, keep wall on left uphill. Cross fallen wall, squeezer/wallstile, stile then squeezer and road (footpath sign).
6. Cross road to fieldgate, straight over field to squeezer, 11 o'clock (wall on right). Wallstile at wall junction, 10 o'clock (pulling away from wall on right) to 50 yards above far corner of field, wallstile, right, 50 yards, ignore small gate, downhill keeping gully on right, 200 yards, gate in dip, left.
7. Kissing-gate 20 yards above and to left of farm, path 20 yards, left to track. Fieldgates. Footpath forks right off track for the last few hundred yards before road.
8. Left ten yards before road to footpath into wood (signed), gate/stile, ten yards, fork left, waymark, left at pond, single plank bridge, left, 50 yards, gate on right, uphill, small gate, 1 o'clock downhill.
9. Gate and right to road. Left at T-junction (pavement), right at T-junction, bridge over River Nidd.
FACT FILE
Distance: Nearly five miles.
Time: Two to three hours.
Start: Pateley Bridge
Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.
Date walked: Friday, July 23.
Road route: Pateley Bridge is on the B6165 Knaresborough road.
Parking: Short stay, up to four hours 50p. Over four hours £1.10, £1 in long stay.
Lavatories: Car park.
Refreshments: Cafs and pubs.
Tourist & public transport info: Harrogate TIC 01423 537300
Map: Based on OS Explorer 26, Nidderdale.
Terrain: Long, steady climb, good surfaces.
Footwear: Walking boots.
Points of interest: Views, especially of Pateley Bridge. Woodland Trust wood. Pond and bogs.
Difficulty: Moderate.
Dogs: Suitable for dogs on leads or under close control.
Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast on 0891 500 418 Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.
Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.
PICTURE:River Nidd at Pateley Bridge
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