Trip 10: Pateley Bridge, July ‘24
Our journey to Pateley Bridge took us 3 hours but we managed to miss any big hold ups on the A1, although south bound was a different story.
We chose a spot and quickly set up before eating our lunch. After an hour or so of reading we went for a walk into the town and finished off at the Crown Inn for a beer.
While we were drinking a guy came in dressed as a Walker, ordered a beer and sat down to read The Guardian with a Guinness. A lady came in a bit later and wanted an ice Cream, which were not to her liking. The man and the woman left and then the landlady realised that the man had stolen his Guinness glass.
They were very clever in the way the lady shielded him from our sight while his back hid him from the customers next to him. They were German we think judging by their accents.
We returned to the show ground and sat outside reading . The sun made brief appearances. Tea tonight is pulled pork in buns with sausages.
Day 2:
It was colder and overcast today but we set off for a walk to the old lead mines. After some very steep hills where we could look down into Pateley Bridge.
We eventually found the area where lead mining took place many years ago. Today all that remains are huge chunks of rocks and holes in the moor.
We then headed out across Low moor to the Plumpton Way. Here we came across a lamb on the wrong side of a fence to it’s mother. We herded the lamb back along the track and the mother followed on the opposite side of the fence until we came to an open gate and they were reunited.
We continued to head down the trail towards Pateley bridge. We joined a narrow lane and around a corner we met another walker, he was from Eastern Europe and he had quite a strong accent. He told us a bridge further down the road that had teeth embedded in the road on the bridge.
We found the bridge and after a search we found the teeth which were like a set of human dentures embedded in the concrete. We now need to visit the tourist office to find out the full story.
The farmer who built the bridge in the 1800s placed the teeth in the road to make people smile. Everytime the bridge has been altered or repaired the teeth have been put back.
The footpath went through an iron gate and headed up into a wood, after a few hundred yards the path opened out onto a lake.
Around the lake we could see benches so we picked one and sat down to eat lunch. We were instantly joined by about eight mallard ducks. Two of the ducks would actually take food from my hand. We had just finished lunch and a flock of twelve young mallard arrived. These guys were around our feet and picking up crumbs with no fear whatsoever. Luckily we had finished eating or I am sure they would have been on the bench with us.
We walked on to the village of Bewerley and followed the lane back to Pateleley Bridge, stopping at the Royal Oak pub for a beer before heading on to the showground campsite.
Day 3:
Today we walked along the river Nidd and followed the route of the old narrow gauge railway. This took us to very near the Sportsman Hotel. It looked very posh so we carried on to the Gothwaite reservoir. The dam looked very impressive but because of the trees we could not get a decent picture. We walked further on but there was nowhere to get to the reservoir. We settled for sitting by a stone wall out of the wind to eat our lunch.
We walked back to the road and met some other campers who had gone to the Sportsman and they related how expensive it was. We said cheerio and followed the country lane for a mile, dodging the odd car, until we reached The Bridge pub. Unfortunately the pub was closed so we found the footpath that took us back to Pateley Bridge where we stopped at the Royal Oak for a beer.
We got back to the campsite only to find one of the stewards holding the Quest room down. The wind had literally ripped it out of the ground with the four corner tabs ripped out and the three wind straps broken at the connectors. There is also a hole in one side.
The picnic table is crushed but I may be able to straighten it. The motorhome cab has a deep scratch and a couple of minor ones where the quest crashed against it. The stewards reported that they had had gusts upto 50mph..
Sue and I eventually got the quest into its bag and all the other kit packed away. We will do a damage assessment when we get home.
So it turned out to be an expensive beer. Without stopping for the beer we would have been at the van when things started to go wrong. Never mind, it was still a good 6 mile walk, and we may be able to save the quest.
Tea tonight will be cooked inside.
Day 4.
Today we followed the river Nidd out of Pateley bridge along what was once the railway line. The path followed the river until we came to the bridge used by the railway.
We continued to a footbridge and we crossed the river and headed back on the opposite side.
This footpath was marked but it was not as used and a bit overgrown in places.. Eventually the path joined farm land and the going became easier.
We reached the mill and rejoined the footpath that ran beside a lake, continuing past the weir and back to Pateley bridge. We made our way to the coop where we bought a bottle of wine for the stewards as a thank you for saving the quest room from damaging nearby campers.
Our last day so we went to the Royal Oak pub for a beer and we met the man from another campsite who we had met every day at the pub. We had a beer and returned home with the idea of sitting out in the sun.
It was too cold in the wind so the afternoon was spent inside reading before tea.
We had a good 4 nights here but we still did not get to see the correct lead mines. There will be another trip here next year.
Iona’s Travels 