Nidderdale Way #3 - Middlesmoor to Bewerley 25/05/17

11.7 miles, via How Stean Gorge, Studfold, West House, Ramsgill, Gouthwaite Reservoir,
 Heathfield, Ashfold Side Beck, Prosperous Mill, Brandstone Beck, and Ladies Riggs.

Long Distance Trail means Selfies!
#3 at Middlesmoor.

Second rest day is used for that expressed purpose, rest, doing nothing more strenuous than taking a drive out to Brimham Rocks, and to get in ice cream at Birchfield Farm, plus there's also laundry to do, by hand, as we may live in an age of free Wi-Fi but we're not going to pay £6 per load to get our clothes refreshed, so as leg #3 comes around, we're ready as the hot days start to pile up in a way that seem most unseasonal. The Parental Taxi is booked for an early start to drop us in Middlesmoor, the remotest parish in Nidderdale, resuming The Way from the car park above the village, at 9.40am, having encouraged My Mum to get out of the car to photograph the view to the south that she wouldn't have seen otherwise, and thus we resume wandering down though a village that seems far bigger than it needs to be at this remove from civilisation. Maybe all these cottages and farmsteads clustered together so that the citizens of Stonebeck Up parish could gather for solidarity and security in a blasted landscape, having a pub, the Crown, and a church, St Chad's, that seem outsized for a corner so remote, a fine place to visit or to summer in, but not a place to dwell in the rotten quarter of the year when the ridiculously steep road needs to be traversed for access. Onwards then, as the day's peak temperature seems to already be coming on with hours of the morning still to come, enjoying the cooling breeze as a field walk takes us away from the high moors and down in the direction of the hamlet of Stean, not quite getting there as our walk is set to pass over and largely alongside the cleft of How Stean Gorge, where the beck has gouged through the surface gritstone to the limestone below to shape a sculpted channel in the fashion of The Strid, albeit much longer. It's not easy to photograph from the lane, as Spring foliage keeps it well covered, and the visitor centre is closed for repairs that involve a very large crane that must have required fun and games to get it here, passing on the meet Studfold Farm, which has been made over as a campsite and activity centre styled to educate and entertain young kids about the realities of country life.

Middlesmoor village, plus frighteningly steep road.

Above How Stean Gorge, with Stean hamlet, and the moors beyond.

How Stean Gorge, best seen in winter, I'd venture

It looks fascinating, almost enough to make me wish I had a family to bring here, rising through it to meet the high Blayshaw Lane and passing the picnic barn, nature trail and fairy village before twisting down over the valley of Blayshaw beck, and meeting the ruined site of Holly Gill lead mine, one of the last in the valley, closing as recently as 1910, with an elevated field walk to come, letting In Moor and Middlesmoor retreat from our company, with Lofthouse and Trapping Hill soon following it. Attention turns forwards, picking up the sights from the previous day on the trail, looking down to Sikes farms and the bridge to West House farm, which we soon meet up close as the path declines as I do my good deed by holding gates for ascending cyclists, and having passed across its gardens, we drop further down the valley side, looking across to Longside House and the plantation behind it, walking our way down past Grindstone Hill house and rough enclosures of bluebells that seem to have thrived without tree cover. The track bring us low, touching the edges of the bows of the curving Nidd, and many sheep are startled from their shady spots away from the heat as we draw in towards Ramsgill, the only village in the upper Dale not yet visited, and it's immediately found to be rather desirable, with cottages and farmsteads clustered around the green down from the Nidd bridge, and opposite the Yorke Arms, possibly the most expensive B&B in the valley. There's also a church to admire, St Mary's immaculately placed at the head of Gouthwaite Reservoir, which is set to be our walking companion again, as we are forced to take the roadside walk southwards as there are no available higher paths to take on this western side of Nidderdale. So wits are kept sharp as we see the many aquatic birds that dwell in its upper reaches, checking off the familiar sights as we progress, seeing Hollin Hall, Covill Grange and the NVLR formation as we check the views from the available platforms and ponder the relative inaccessibility of this quarter that only has buses on every other Sunday and Bank Holidays. Views to the western side are thin, only occasionally revealed by a farm entrance, so we spend much time looking to the dam and across the water before we meet the cluster of farmsteads around Gouthwaite Bridge, which are suggestive of a lost hamlet, but my eye isn't keen enough today to spot if these farms are genuinely old or just very good Arts & Crafts reproduction, whichever way it is, it marks the end of our reservoir walk, more than three-quarters down as we now have a farm track ascent to come.

Studfold Farm, and the Cote de Lofthouse.

Down Nidderdale, West House farm on this side, Longside house on the other.

The Yorke Arms, Ramsgill, a very expensive B&B.

Gouthwaite Reservoir, again, looking south.

Gouthwaite Bridge and a lost hamlet?

It's sharp pull after all that road walking, rising away from the reservoir and having not gotten us close to the well lit end of Gouthwaite Dam, rising to the pair of houses below West Wood, and passing into the plantation beyond, enjoying the stillness and birdsong among the conifers and finding a knoll to sit on for lunch time, having something that isn't pizza, sandwich or pastry for a change, consuming much pasta and sauce as we start to get rid of all the food we don't want to take home with us. Set off again, just as the traffic starts to arrive on this deserted lane, rising to a high vantage point to get us another view back the way we've come from, the Dam appearing down at the valley floor and passing along the conifer fringed lane up above Pie Gill farm, with the downstream view gradually revealing itself as we run into the hamlet of Heathfield, with Pateley Bridge finally revealing itself from an elevated vantage point. Heathfield itself is as modest as hamlets come, having only a few cottages and farmsteads on this hillside, with a small chapel and Leng House, the outdoors centre for the Leeds Battalion of the Boys Brigade as its interest point. The way continues as it rises through the trees and into the fields around Highfield farm, the last outpost of agriculture on this hillside before the moors take over to the west, descending along the field boundaries as the view downstream improves, down to the town and up to Guise Cliff, but the reality of the day is we're not that near the finish line and still nearly half of the day to go, as we drop to Spring House farm and pass into the into the side valley of Ashfold Gill. There's more activity down by Ashfold Side Beck than you might expect, as this seems to be the static caravan district in Nidderdale, with the Westfield site stretching quite a way up the valley beneath the cover of trees, not the sort of holiday park that would appeal to me, but undeniably popular judging by its extent, but it's not an aesthetically pleasing environment, with the sole point of interest being the cottage built out of a very old railway carriage. Eventually, the track rises with the valley, with the beck reappearing deep below, as we pass along the edge of the agriculturally viable fields with thick woodlands on the bank to the south, rising up and feeling further and further from civilisation as we move away from the main body of Nidderdale, as if we might be making an impromptu trip towards the old lead mines further up the valley, or on to Grimwith Reservoir and Grassington Moor if we were to miss the path down to the crossing of Ashfold Side Beck, which we don't, thankfully.

West Wood & House, above Gouthwaite reservoir.

Heathfield hamlet, with BB retreat and chapel.

Down Nidderdale to Pateley Bridge and Guise Cliff, again.

Westfield Caravan park, in Ashfold Gill, not my sort of holiday retreat.

Ashfold Side Beck, dominating the Gill.

The main interest point in Ashfold Gill is located at the valley floor, the remains of Prosperous Smelt Mill, the centre for smelting lead ore mined from the numerous shafts and adits further up the valley, and active between 1814 and 1889, according to research, with some significant building remains down by the beck, with some machinery still in situ, remarkably, and looking like no one took much of an interest in them since their partial demolition. It's been a scheduled ancient monument since 1979, and there are extensive spoil heaps above the site, remnants of the Providence Lead Mine, still rough and exposed as the soil can't even support moorland grass, and it's hot as hell with all the reflected sunlight, like Grassington Moor but all condensed into a single plot, and the way through it isn't obvious, as we choose the most obvious path winding among the ruins and spoil to get to the top, where the view across the site is both horrific and beautiful in a way that only old industrial scars in the countryside can be. Depart this well concealed post-industrial gem and resume the way as we meet the access track at the top of the site, swinging around to a more rural landscape again and getting a look up toward Green How hill, on the elevated road over to Wharfedale, as we join the road that lead up to Providence farm, which descends us down from the moorland fringe on a shady track to cross Brandstone Beck in a landscape quite different from the one a mere mile away. Press on along West Lane, in a virtually straight line to the east, among sheep and stone walls taking rather too much interest in looking over the hillside between the two becks to see where we've already walked today, rolling up on Hillend and Low Hole Bottom cottages as we take a sharp detour around a beck that cleaves through the hillside, and spot the further temptations of the local industrial heritage trail before we rise above the pastures onto the relative promontory of Ladies Riggs. Passing the farm of the same name we see the way to Bale Bank farm, tending the rock strewn fields below the high moor edge to the south, and crossing over the top we get sight to Spring House farm and the way down into Ashfold Gill, which renews the common theme of the whole way, namely taking long routes to locations relatively nearby and getting fresh views if sites passed only days or hours previously, with a direct path off the hill potentially leading us straight back to Pateley Bridge.

Prosperous Smelt Mill, from the beckside.

Prosperous Smelt Mill, from the spoil tips.

Brandstone Dub Bridge, on Brandstone beck.

West Lane and Ladies Rigg.

The last look to Upper Nidderdale.

That isn't going to be our course today though, as The Way knows better, as we stay on the lane to pass Riggs House farm and to find it's not well suited to being shared with tractors, and thence among the sheep and cattle that are doing their level best to keep themselves shaded from the heat, passing into the well manicured woodlands that surround Eagle Hall, a prominently located large Victorian house complete with its own fake farmstead that looks to have had the executive makeover treatment. The heavy canopy of deciduous trees does have a pleasant cooling effect, soon lost once we arrive to cross the B6265 Street Lane, the road across Nidderdale from Grassington to Ripon, right among the outermost houses of greater Pateley Bridge above Bridgehouse Gate on the west bank of the Nidd, and we'll pass on the lane as it continues into Bewerley, as the loop of the trail doesn't need to be closed just yet. Spot my first Nidderdale Llama grazing in its field as we enter the village, still a distinct entity, separate from the town across the river, looking good in that shade of Gritstone that retains a lot of its yellow shades rather than being bleached grey by the hardships of the North Country's weather, and it's an old settlement too, suggestive of being a hive of cottage industry before it became the local suburb where it would be possible to have a house with a back garden that faces to the south-east creating an afternoon suntrap. It's notable grange might have gone, as have so many other of the farms once owned by the numerous monastic establishments in North Yorkshire, but the Grange Chapel has endured, dated to 1494 and lovingly restored as one of the six churches in the parish of Upper Wharfedale, four of which having been met on the trail's passage, and the last notable feature before we roll down to the Turner Bridge junction. This close to our base it would be foolish to not walk on to Bewerley Hall farm, only ten minutes distant down the road to Glasshouses, below Nought Bank and Guise Cliff, and among the buttercup strewn meadows, and whilst the hall that names the farm might have gone, its grounds endure as parklands and a home to the equestrian farm and outdoor education centre of some renown. Finally arrive at this utterly lovely farm that has been our base for the week, finishing the shortest day on the trail at 3.05pm, way overdue for the distance, slightly overdue for the elevations, and right on time considering the heat of the day, far too late to join my parents for a post lunch brew, but in the right spot for a drive into Pateley Bridge for cake and ice cream at Wildings tearooms.

Woodland shade is most welcome on a day like today.

Bewerley village, making gritstone look pretty.

Bewerley Grange chapel.

Bewerley Hall farm, a fine home from home.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2778.1 miles
2017 Total: 213.1 miles
Up Country Total: 2533.8 miles
Solo Total: 2522.8 miles


Next Up: The heat continues and the Loop of the Nidderdale Way closes.