PATELEY BRIDGE TO BRIMHAM ROCKS
Ian and Hannah.
The weather was good on Tuesday and Hannah and I wanted to go out for a walk but were a bit short of ideas. We had the afternoon only so it had to be fairly local, and we weren't interested in anything particularly taxing. I looked in a dales walking guidebook* - hitherto an unused present - for inspiration. We settled for Walk 23. Brimham Rocks was something of a childhood memory for Hannah, and I'd never been so off we went.
We followed the guidebook to the letter and parked at the site of the old station by the river (cost £1). We then put on our boots and set off up High Street. Quickly we left the roads behind and gained a little height on the north side of the valley, following walled paths. These give onto a variety of pleasing paths, tracks and fields; sometimes following the Nidderdale Way and sometimes walking parallel with it. We stopped for a packed luch on a large gritstone boulder built into one of the field walls. Carrying on, we descended gently to cross Fell Beck, and then rose again on the approach to Brimham Rocks and our high point of the walk (290m).
We had a sit on the grass and looked back along our walk thus far before going off in search of the highest pile of rocks we were willing to climb. A lady on a nearby, lower, rock seemed disappointed when she saw us on ours! We wriggled down and carried on the walk south along Brimham Rocks, and briefly along the road before turning west and heading down to Smelthouses by a steadily descending bridleway. From here it is a short hop to the River Nidd, the banks of which we followed all the way back to the car.
Having kicked off our boots and dumped the daypack, we walked along to High Street again to have a cup of tea and a scone in the tea room. Delightful. Our walk was nine miles and took us a fairly leisurely four hours. The book describes it as a modest walk - it was thoroughly moderate in every respect, apart from our enjoyment.
*Pathfinder Guide, Yorkshire Dales Walks,
www.totalwalking.co.uk/pathfinder.cfm
