Pateley Bridge & Brimham Rocks

Pateley Bridge - Brimham Rocks & Back, 29th November 2008

High Street, Pateley Bridge

It's a while since I was last in Nidderdale, so it was nice to do this 8-mile walk to Brimham Rocks and back from Pateley Bridge. I think the last time I actually walked from Pateley Bridge was in 1984 as a 15 year-old cadet on an adventure training weekend with the Air Training Corps. Back then we'd been unexpectedly kicked out of the minibus at the top of the High Street (we were returning to our base at Blubberhouses Hall after completing another activity), given a map and a grid reference and told to make our way to it for a rendezvous. Our two accompanying adult observers ("ignore us, we're not here") were utterly dismayed when they saw that I (alone amongst my Bradfordian colleagues) knew immediately exactly where we were, thus negating the first part of the exercise (thanks Mum & Dad for all those trips to How Stean Gorge). They were also far from impressed that the route I chose to the rendezvous made use of metalled roads and firm tracks rather than the footpaths which were like quagmires after recent rain, resulting in a slightly longer but much faster journey. When we beat the rival group (dropped a quarter of a mile ahead of us, who had used the paths) to the finish it was all too much for them - nobody likes a smartarse. My refusal to play ball earned me some poor marks. It was about this time doubts about my suitability for a military career began to set in...

Frost on a wall at noon

Hard paths were to be the order of the day nearly a quarter of a century later too, whether we liked it or not. High Pressure lingering over the country meant freezing nights and not much warmer days, in glorious sunshine. The mudbaths we'd been wading through after another wet summer were frozen solid.

Along the Nidderdale Way

We followed the Nidderdale Way for most of the way to Brimham. This afforded good views of the Nidd valley, and some superb photo opportunities. Nidderdale is an Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), which is a protected area one step down from a National Park. Looking at a map, one wonders why it wasn't part of the adjoining Yorkshire Dales National Park on its establishment in 1954. I suspect that it is Nidderdale's tamer, more wooded and less bleak nature that excluded it. This isn't very rough country like The Dales, its reservoirs and woodland giving it a far more refined feel.

Frosty Leaves

"*Sigh* hurry up and take the photo..."

Frozen mud

Jo and frost-covered vegetation

Brimham Rocks is another place full of childhood memories. Picking bilberries amongst the strange gritstone formations, answering questions from puzzled Americans based at nearby Menwith Hill as to why we were doing it (Dad made wine with them, Mum made pies). Climbing cat-like up the knobbly rocks, then (equally cat-like) being unable to get down again and requiring an elaborate rescue, which usually required a half hour - though it seemed longer - of gentle coaching and ego-boosting as to my abilities and a promise that I'd be caught if I fell (the mortal danger would nowadays most definitely be the catcher's).

Formation at Brimham Rocks


Jo, me & Di (Photo: Ian Bonham)

This was also the scene of Air Training Corps activity for me - a terrifying 1983 abseil over a large overhang, following a not-so-terrifying earlier abseil down a sheer face. I decided at this point that I loved climbing, but hated descents - about as much use to a budding mountaineer as excellent take-offs but poor landings to a pilot. Oh well, back to the drawing board...

There were a couple of gangly young men in woolly hats wandering furtively amongst the formations, behaving rather not unlike those shifty-looking individuals you see trying car door-handles at night. They then started to climb - no ropes, no pitons, nothing. Yes, climbers ARE different. One of them let go and fell an awful long way, landing with a crash but got up unharmed. It transpired that he had a crash-mat. I initially thought that they were free-climbers, but in fact this activity is known as bouldering. I could have done with one of those mats 30 years ago...

Di & Ian

What does this remind you of?

Ewoks?

On our return along the Nidd we came across some strange-looking animals in a field - it took a moment or two to realise that they were actually sheep. They resembled Ewoks (of Return Of The Jedi fame) on four legs. I've been told that they look like Ryeland sheep, but I'm not sure. Certainly we watched them for a while, just in case they built an elaborate contraption from logs and rope to destroy any mechanical interlopers.

"You lookin' at me?"

Ewoks - The Movie (George Lucas will probably sue me for this...)

Darkness was already falling by 4pm when we returned, a sheet of ice beginning to form across the small reservoir between Glasshouses and Pateley Bridge.

It was a surprise in the evening to find that Pateley Bridge now has only two pubs in the centre, just as well they're both good ones. At least it spared us from too many trips out into the cold on a crawl!


Pateley Bridge at night

Di & Jo keeping warm whilst Ian withdraws some cash...