Nidderdale Way #2 - Pateley Bridge to Middlesmoor 23/05/17

14.9 miles, via Wath, Gouthwaite reservoir, Bouthwaite, Lofthouse, Limley, The Edge,
 Woo Gill, Scar House reservoir, and In Moor.

Long Distance Trail means Selfies!
#2 at Pateley Bridge.

First rest day of our jollies is used for just that, rest, with no more strenuous activities going on than getting supplies in from the Dales Market store at Bridgehouse Gate, or getting an afternoon brew in the Pancake House in Pateley Bridge, so when the big day on the trail, comes up I feel about as fully charged up as possible, and apt to get some of this slightly excessive holiday diet burned off, and there isn't even great need to hurry as the start line is only a five minute drive distant. So onwards on a northward track for the day, departing from the Nidderdale Way sign at the bottom of Pateley Bridge's High Street at 9.25am, and approaching the River Nidd up close for the first time, and finding that Pateley's bridge is impossible to photograph satisfactorily from either side, turning to Mill Lane and wander past the flood walls (thinking that you rarely hear about this river inundating anywhere), passing behind the gardens of The Sidings and finally making our acquaintance with the riverbank, already looking idyllic in the sunshine. To mix in with our river walking, we also get some railway walking to do, as our path follow the low embankment of the Nidd Valley Light Railway, built in 1903 as a narrow gauge line to facilitate the construction of the reservoirs up the valley by the Bradford Corporation Waterworks, and converted to standard gauge in 1907, transporting men and machinery until closure in 1936 with the completion of the works, having never made as a viable regular line. It gives us a good firm path to follow away from Pateley Bridge, soon retreating into the landscape, with no good sight of the Scott Gate Ash quarries or their incline up the hillside gained as we push on following the riverbank and the river's quiet murmuring, getting very few looks to beyond the south bank, shrouded in trees and continuing on the railway alignment as it drifts from the riverside to offer a substantial retaining wall in the woods between Low Green house, pressing on through the fields of pasture and sheep, far below the high north side of the dale.

The Nidd revealed, at Pateley Bridge.

The NVLR formation and path.

Ponder the desirability of the farmsteads up on the spring line as the embankment continues towards Wath (it seems the Yorkshire has more than one of these), enjoying the evolving valley profile as the path drifts back towards the river bank, and wonder if Sustrans might be persuaded to add another traffic free path into this valley that is already very popular with the cyclists, popping over the lower course of Black Dike by Wath bridge and not getting any closer to the village, most noted for its pub, The Sportsman's Arms. The riverside walk doesn't last long before shifting into rougher fields, rising into the trees as Gouthwaite Dam gradually reveals itself through the foliage, an imposing structure, currently a hive of activity as Yorkshire Water engages remedial work upon it, still holding itself at full capacity behind the massive structure with the crenelated towers, a common feature of other BCW structures. Pass over the NVLR formation to rise to the lane high above the reservoir, and despite the push uphill, it is the best place to go to enjoy its two mile length, even it I'd have preferred to railway walk at the water's edge, and if reservoir history amuses you, this is a good spot to absorb it, as Bradford's reservoirs in Nidderdale are far larger than Leeds's trio in the Washburn, despite serving a much smaller city, entirely because of the thirst of the woollen industry which dominated a century ago. Continue along the lane looking across Gouthwaite reservoir to the edge of the high moor on the bank opposite, as we'll as to the many farmsteads on the road up to Ramsgill, dropping down with the track to shadow the old railway along the bank, eventually coming to the day's first reveal, as we see straight up the valley past Ramsgill to the rise if In Moor, with Middlesmoor sat upon it, and it's always good to get sight of your finish line, even when you still have 10 miles of your day to go. Drift inland, on the lane towards Covill Grange, a farm cluster that seems to have almost grown into a holiday village these days, following its driveway onwards as the landscape gets that bit more wild, looking to the purple fields and the deep wooded cleft of Ramsgill Beck on the far side of the valley, still taking interest in the railway formation as we roll up on Bouthwaite. No explanation as why reservoir and hamlet do not share a spelling, and my route guide has little to say about it, but I find it quite lovely, and its blend of gritstone cottages looking rather fine, with the Grange farm claiming a completion date of 1613, rendering it as one of the visibly older farmstead communities in this corner of the world.

Wath (in Nidderdale).

Gouthwaite Dam, and extensive civil engineering.

Gouthwaite Reservoir, and NVLR formation in foreground.

Nidderdale Reveal #1 to Ramsgill, Middlesmoor and In Moor.

Bouthwaite hamlet.

Pass over the Lul Beck bridge behind the farm and work our way up to a higher path, which puts Gouthwaite reservoir behind us and focusses attention forwards, to In Moor and the higher moors above How Stean gorge, a route we will not be taking on this trail, while our actual way forwards hides, and having gained altitude it's a good place to feed and water, behind Longside farm, before rising to the woodland plantation edge behind the former YHA Longside House, nowadays a bunkhouse. Enjoy the shade while it last before returning to open fields and descend down to the road, touching base with the Nidd and not rising with the lane past the pair of Sikes farms, instead joining the NVLR alignment again for the passage across two fields before drifting back to the road, and hating the challenges posed by some of these awkward step and squeeze stiles. Follow the road past the Old Vicarage, and approach Lofthouse (of which we know another, much closer to home), approaching it by a field walk, behind the Waterworks cottages, and through some rather tenuous going on rough marshy fields before arriving in the village by the Memorial Hall and just up the lane form the Crown, offering the last temptation for a lager on a hot day before 8 miles around the valley head. I'll be good, passing though the last outpost on this road, still dressed up for is visit of the Tour de Yorkshire, and it's another charming place that you can't quite imagine trying to live in, as the similarities of Upper Wharfedale and Nidderdale roll around in my mind, passing through to start the ascent of Trapping Hill, conscious that this might now be forever known as the Cote de Lofthouse. The valley head trail starts as we join Thrope Lane, overtaking a pair of ladies who are the only other people to be seen around the valley top today, following the Bridleway behind a number of shady woods and getting more sight of Middlemoor across the valley than to the way forwards, passing below the hillsides of Blue Burnings and getting our second reveal of the day as the Upper Nidd valley appears, or the eastern half of it at the very least. Pause for lunch beneath the shade of trees, watching more traffic than you'd expect on the Scar House Road, following the old Light Railway alignment up the valley, before carrying on though the rolling fields below the plantations of Thrope Edge and dropping down to Thrope Farm, which looks like it might have been one of the major farmsteads in this quarter, certainly one of the nicest down at the valley floor.

The high path by Longside House.

West House farm bridge on the Nidd, near the Sikes.

Lofthouse (in Nidderdale).

Nidderdale Reveal #2, to the valley head on Thrope Lane.

Push on and note that the river has become a dry channel, the Nidd having disappeared into one of the local sinkholes formed in the rare areas of limestone in this predominately gritstone country, the smooth and scattered rocks in its wake are to me inspected as we ford the river to rise above its shaded rapids, which must be pretty impressive in much damper times, for now we still have some sketchy spots to traverse that would surely be no fun at all with the river in full force, a lot colder and wetter than it is right now. Emerge out to meet the farmsteads at Limley, another major agricultural centre at the valley floor, filling out a loop in the dry channel, which we pace through to ford the river again and meet a long twisting ascent to get to a higher path once more, still well below the high edge of the valley, but meeting the spring line at about 280m up to get the best possible mix of views, arriving by Thwaite House, which is having its paths moved as part of an ongoing executive makeover. That might seem an appealing idea, and would explain the delivery vans coming up the valley, but it's isolated as all hell up here at the end of a long driveway and pretty much inaccessible through the cold months of the year, so such fantasies can be some one else's desire, I'll move on along the long, long driveway, looking down the valley to the former railway tunnel at the point where the valley swings westwards, and awaiting the third reveal of the day. It soon comes, as the day turns a bit overcast, and as the path turns around the north-eastern corner of the valley below the elevations of Bleasfield and Kelds, looking straight west to see the dam of Scar House reservoir appear, below its companion hills of Carle Hill and Little Whernside, the perspective evolving to bring in Great Whernside as well as we rise to meet the next farmstead up here on The Edge, Bracken Ridge. An appropriate name as we follow the bridleway at just below the 300m elevation. all attention could be held with this view, so a reminder is needed to check the view to the south, and to look for the other tunnel portal way below, obviously hidden by a retaining embankment, sticking with the good surface past other 'desirable' cottages up here, like Summerstone Lodge, Nidd Cottage B&B, and New Houses Edge. The path quality decays as we pass across the cleft of Turnacar Gill, and the way that the motor traffic gets up here must have been missed, and the feeling that excellent progress being made continues as the reservoir looms larger in the landscape, but then the path pulls a trick on us, as the Way knows that its walkers really want to get much higher to get the full flavour of Upper Nidderdale.

The Nidd's dry channel, drained by sinkholes.

The valley angles above Scar House Tunnel.

Nidderdale Reveal #3, Scar House Reservoir
and its companion fells, from Bracken Ridge.

Looking back towards Lofthouse, from The Edge.
Scar House tunnel concealed in the Landscape.

The Edge, looking back to Kelds and Bleasfield.

Cows must be dodged to hit the path up the side of Thornet Gill, a twisting and tough ascent that pushes us up close on 100m, offering an evolving view of the reservoir and the site of the former Scar House village, which grew to house over 1,200 people during the construction of the reservoir in the 1920s, the bases of multiple buildings clearly visible at the roadside, and we rise above a freshly made plantation to rise almost to the height of the shooting hut before we split off to the high moor track westwards. High up here on the southern edge of Masham Moor, which stretches all the way over to the many lesser branches of the River Ure, and the less Dales-y parts of Wensleydale, has you wondering why Nidderdale is only an AONB and hasn't been incorporated in the wider Yorkshire Dales National Park, as the terrain feels pretty wild as a stiff breeze blows across it from close on 400m up. After gaining a brief view back down the valley past Gouthwaite Reservoir to Guise Cliffs, the path twists, down to pass across a pair of intervening becks, over Twizing  Gill and the larger Woo Gill, which has recently gained a new bridge, that makes you wonder just how much shooting traffic might come up here to the hut, and we soon get off this inconvenient detour to get back to the westwards path. Rising back up to 380m to pass behind a high plantation, we get a much closer reveal of the reservoir as we skirt Carle Fell side, with the high flank of Great Whernside beyond, and Angram Reservoir of 1919 hiding below it, too far away to fit into this trail, and we descend towards the sparkling surface, down among the sheep and fields of moorland grass to meet the tracks that rose to the quarries that provided the stone for Scar House Dam, clearly still scarring the upper faces of Carle Fell. Descend then to Scar House reservoir, finally arriving after wanting to come this way after it featured on Travels with Pevsner (with Janet Street-Porter!) back in 1997, and it's a place well worth coming to, the dam and reservoir forming a special sort of composition below the trio of high fells, a monument to engineering on a grand scale within a blasted and remote landscape. It's a place I'd linger if I had the time, or even stop completely as we've hit the halfway point on the Nidderdale Way, but the dam must be crossed to get to the closing stretch, with all its towering and crenelated features noted and loved as the shift with the sunshine switches the water's surface from silver to blue, hoping that it might not be another 20 years before I get up here again.

Scar House Reservoir from the Masham Moor edge.

Woo Gill, causing a significant path wandering.

Woodale Scar and the remains of Scar House village.

Scar House Dam, from the north east.

The Whernsides, Great and Little, from Scar House Dam.

The village site and the old NVLR alignment will similarly have to wait, as the trail picks out a route southwards over the moorland, and that means rising on the rough track below the scars that must surely have named the House that named the Reservoir, passing behind what must be one of the few survivals of the Navvy Town to make an ascent of nearly 100m to get onto the high expanse of In Moor, a lung-burster and knee challenger that I could have done without at this juncture. Still elevation gives us a last look at Scar House and the massive cleft of Upper Nidderdale, before making tracks across the moor, as Carle Fell, and Little & Great Whernside retreat from the immediate attention, as we now look over towards the lump of Meugher and the elevations above Conistone that provide the reminder that we are now on the other side of the moor that rises above Wharfedale and Grassington. Pause for final feed and water before we hit the enclosed moorland track, enjoying the solitude and the company of the Moorland birds, notably the Curlew and Dunlin, and passing over the day's and trail's summit at over 430m altitude, as we start the downhill push with the lower portion of Nidderdale being revealed all the way down the valley across the path walked earlier today. A decline to end the day is most welcome as I feel like today was a mile longer than it needed to be, passing below the moor's trig point and above grouse butts as we get closer to a civilised altitude once again, approaching a clump of trees that can be seen from along way off, and catching sight of Middlesmoor from a long way off. So attention drifts to the west, pondering the plausibility of a number of routes between Wharfedale and Nidderdale, and looking down into the lush and wooded valley of Stean How Beck, which looks most appealing after the moorland paths of today's late going, and once mature trees arrive by the path side we get a firmer surface to go on, meaning the end is near. Middlesmoor is only one junction and one farmstead away from the moorland road, and my Parental Taxi is found in the car park above the village, the only place to stop on this village that is on a slope for its whole length, and I'll not get broken up about missing it out on today's trail as it can be the debut feature for the next leg, and after the obligatory pause for selfies, it's a wrap at 4.20pm. Admittedly later than I'd hoped for, but as Spring weather has finally arrived it's been good to have not been beaten by the heat, even though the wind has been sufficient to require the long sleeves to have been worn all day, giving you the feel of having risked frostbite or sunstroke within the same day, you've just gotta love Spring in the North Country, eh?

Scar House Dam, from the south west.

Masham Moor edge, where Wensleydale lies beyond.

Across How Stean beck to Meugher and Upper Wharfedale's moors.

In Moor Lane, returning us to Nidderdale, looking very familiar.

Middlesmoor, as close as we'll be getting today.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2766.4 miles
2017 Total: 201.4 miles
Up Country Total: 2522.1 miles
Solo Total: 2511.1 miles


Next Up: We start on the Way downstream, with a detour for some Lead Mining history.