Weather or not

SUMMERBRIDGE was not summery. The rain arrived two hours before predicted, but you don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and it was slashing saturated across lower Nidderdale.

So we cut down on our plans for the tops, added more miles down by the riverside, checked with some locals on the status of the river crossings and then set off to pitying looks and smiling glances.

We passed the Flying Dutchman, chugged up the lane out of town and on to a bridleway, a nice route of beech and oak and large mossy boulders of gritstone.

A drystone wall runs each side and there were leaves underfoot. Views were muted; there was a little colour in the yellow gorse and the silver birch.

The climb had warmed us, but the high grasslands were raw, the sheep jammed together in lines, tight up against the dark walls.

A bit of back road brought us to an isolated vicarage. Nidderdale generally was as gloomy as a bishop's broom cupboard as we headed head-down over pastures into the valley, our target the River Nidd, a snaking line of trees.

The first thing we saw when we hit the woods was an ice-cream sign nailed to an ash tree. Then we met the ice-cream cows, Jerseys wishing they had overcoats, and then another beast, with horns and which inadvertently guarded the bridge over the river.

The path runs close under the bankside alders, as the Nidderdale Way, a route even, steady and quick, like the river. The Nidd was clear, probably would have been for another hour or so, but coloured water was already gushing in from side streams. It was almost idyllic for a mile.

Our only company was a dipper that dived into the middle of the flow, surfaced after about ten seconds, whirred for a skimming white flashing 20 or 50 yards up river and then dived again. And so on time after time. But the little bird didn't offer its characteristic and callisthenic curtseys, not that there were more than a couple of rocks to dip up and down on. Until that is the stepping stones, which may be an option some day for some summer silliness.

Instead, for a change and because the path was here tight to barbed wire, we diverted to the nearby abandoned railway line, caught some views of the valley, gained shelter through woods and made good time to emerge with Summerbridge just across the valley.

Just half a mile to do, by the good looking Royal Oak, the houses of Dacre Banks and the grand stacks of tree trunks and timber at the riverside saw mill. That evening the weatherman referred to the day as 'awful', but as the Norwegians say, there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing.

Fact file:

Distance: Five miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: Yorkshire Dales.

Start: Summerbridge.

Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.

Date walked: Saturday, November 29 2003.

Road route: From York via Knaresborough.

Car parking: Roadside in Summerbridge, or public car park opposite the Royal Oak in Dacre Banks.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Inn at Summerbridge and Dacre Banks.

Tourist & public transport information: Harrogate TIC 01423 537300.

Map: Based on OS Explorer 298 Nidderdale.

Terrain: Upland pastures and riverside.

Points of interest: The dipper, cinclus cinclus, swims underwater using its wings, and walks on the river bottom. In winter it feeds on the larvae of flying insects, and starts breeding very early in the season.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Dogs: Suitable.

Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 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.

Directions:

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. From the Flying Dutchman, up Hartwith Bank (road), gate on right to path (signed bridleway/Stripe Lane), 150 yards, gate into field, keep wall to right, gate and path rises gently up by edge of wood, becomes walled and curves left uphill.

2. Right at paths junction (4-way fingerpost). Right to road.

3. At left-hand bend, fieldgate on right after Old Rectory and across field (churchyard c150 yards to left), fieldgate, 1 o'clock across field and then by wall to right and down to fieldgate in farmyard.

4. Track straight through farmyard then downhill.

5. Left to main road (verge) for 100 yards, fieldgate on right (signed), across grass and right to track, right fork in woods (boulder).

6. Out of wood, gate on left, diagonally across field to gate by barn, right to walled track which swings left, left of fieldgates, by wall to right to path to trees to river.

7. Footbridge over River Nidd and immediately right to riverside path.

8. Stile and white post and diagonally up 150 yards, right to old railway line.

9. Before track enters cutting, fork 1 o'clock down across field to gate in wall between houses. Track/road to Dacre. Right after green and back to Summerbridge (pavement).

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 16:32 Friday, December 05, 2003