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Contents :: NIDDERDALE WAY :: Day 1                 INTRODUCTION       DAY 1       DAY 2       Day 3         DAY 4         DAY 5               THE NIDDERDALE WAY FORMS A CIRCUIT ENCOMPASSING ALL NIDDERDALE     NATIONAL TRAIL GUIDES UK           Day 1 :: A Good Beginning :: Ripley to Pateley Bridge :: 14 miles           Today was an awesome day to start our walk of this long distance footpath. The sun shone brightly upon us, forcing us to squint as it shone into our eyes. Tourists were out in force, gathering around the market square in Ripley, where this footpath began. There was a general buzz and excitement in the air and people seemed happy, milling about and browsing the shops. Almost adjoining the market square is Ripley Castle. It was tempting to enter the grounds and walk around, but we had 14 miles to cover today, and wished to get on with it. We left the village by taking the road out, past the Boars Head hotel, to join the main road running to Harrogate in one direction and Pateley Bridge in the other, and it was in this direction that we were travelling. We turned left along the road for a short distance and walked along the grassy verge and almost immediately crossing the road to take a small road opposite leading uphill.               Boars Head in Ripley Market Square   Path from Scarah Bank to the Kettle Spring Farms           Near to Birthwaite Farm the road changed to an unsurfaced track and took us to the left of Sir Henry Wood. We walked along this wood and then crossed through a short adjoining woodland and crossed the Cayton Gill, to recross it 10 minutes later over an attractive arched bridge, and then continued forward, bearing left to pass into Barsneb Wood, and directly away from the medieval village of Cayton. Following this leafy track we emerged onto the road leading from Ripley to Sawley and turned left along Scarah Bank until reaching a farm access track leading to Low kettle Spring Farm and High Kettle Spring Farm. We took this track, entering it through a metal gate. It was a metalled track with hedgerow on one side and open fields on the other. As we walked along it hedgerow birds filtted in and out, and there was much trilling from unseen birds. The azure blue continued to dominate the sky, with the occasional puffy white cumulous and cirrus clouds. We passed some farm and silage buildings and then, on our right, the farmhouse of Low Kettle Spring.               Low Kettle Spring   Carol showing the way           Shortly after the farm the track became a bridle way with woodland each side. We then passed High Kettle Spring on our right and continued walking along the top edge of grassy fields, with a stone wall and trees on our right. The path then cut downhill into a large field, and we then turned right to follow a stone wall until reaching 2 gates. We passed through the left hand gate, following the wall. Part way along this, at a junction of paths, the Nidderdale Way is signposted to the left and downhill. Carol is showing the way in the photo above. Ah bless!               Crossing the Fields   Following the wall boundary into Shaw Mills           We crossed down a beautiful meadow with sheep idling in the shelter of trees. In each direction there were terrific pastoral views of fields, trees and the odd farmhouse. We continued to a stile at the side of a wall at the bottom of the field and turned right to follow it along its edge to join a minor road on the fringe of Shaw Mills and a signpost directing us to turn left along the road.             Entering Shaw Mills   Leaving Cowgate Farm         Shaw Mills was a pleasant town with a preponderance of scented and colourful garden flowers. We peered into many gardens while in Shaw Mills, admiring what we saw. The village was very small and we were soon outside it, passing over a bridge over the Thornton Beck, and turned up a drive on our right at a road chevron sign. This led us up a long drive, passing some attractive new houses on our right that had been converted from an old mill, and on to Cow Gate Farm. We kept to the right of the main buildings and turned left through a gate, passing between some small buildings and a group of young farmers working some machinery. After only a short way we turned right, with a newly mown meadow on our right, from which issued the wonderful aroma of freshly cut grass, wafted to us on the pleasant zepher breeze. We walked along the top of an attractive field passing a small but dense copse on our left. The track we were following petered out but we were already aware that we were to head down the field to the edge of another copse which hid from our view the disused Mill Dam.             Angling in towards Mill Dam   Double Spring         We walked diagonally towards a likely looking copse, picking up a barely visible trail, passing sheep dozing in long grass in solitary tree shadows. Eventually the trail picked up again and angled towards a wall at the far end of the copse. Just when we thought we had followed the wrong track because there was no sign of an exit from the field, we spotted a stepped stile over the stone wall and shortly thereafter came upon a stone trough being filled by two different springs. We then followed the path, clinging to the left of a stone wall and then cutting across to the wall opposite and passed through a gate in the wall, and immediately crossed over a wooden bridge over the Thornton Beck. On the other side the vegetation closed in on us as we followed the track to a stile and into a field to the right of Black House. This brought us to a stile onto a drive leading to Black House. We followed the drive for a reasonable distance until reaching a road, where we turned left The drive and road were both festooned with colourful wayside flowers. As we walked towards Woodfield Mill we took time to notice cattle milling around a muddy mire of cow swill at the side of one of the fields, and a beautiful buttercup meadow on our left.             Cattle enjoying cow swill   Buttercup Meadow         We passed the disused Woodfield Mill on our right and then went on to Woodfield House, passing between its buildings and turning left along a signposted wall along a field full of tall silvery aerials. We walked along the field edge to a copse of trees and then crossed the Thonton Beck on a small bridge and then took a grassy track uphill along a stone wall. We crossed a stile over the wall and joined a drive leading from Park House, on our right, turning left to Brimham Lodge. This took us to the right of the main buildings and we then turned right until reaching a minor road. We left the road immediately, turning right along the course of Monk Wall in the direction of Riva Hill. We soon found ourselves on a grassy track between stands of gorse and then passing through a stile we were on Brimham Moor.             Entering Brimham Moor   Midway through Brimham Moor         At first we walked through long grass and sparsley growing trees, but this soon changed to rough heathland. Our path continued through Brimham Moor for a considerable distance, and we could often hear the voices of children at play on Brimham Rocks. We eventually came to a road running through the moor and turned left upon it for a short distance, until reaching the boundary of Brimham Moor, where we turned left between ferns to a gate, and from thence along a grassy track with fields on our left and ferns on our right.               Edge of Brimham Moor   Approaching High Wood           We were now approaching High Wood. It was particularly pretty here, with the sunlight dappled on the ground, passing through the light green leaves of the canopy to our right. After passing through High Wood the path emerged onto open fields and then joined a panoramic drive that took us to Low Wood House where we turned left and shortly after joined a minor road, where we turned right into Smelthouses. Many of the houses in Smelthouses were very attractive and had beautiful gardens. We now had the choice of either continuing on the minor road to join the main road into Pately Bridge, about 2 miles distant, or to continue on the Nidderdale Way by detouring north west through some woodland and then turning left to angle into Pately Bridge along the ridge top of Ripley Bank. As my feet were badly blistered we chose the former route, which was about a mile shorter than the latter route. However, walking along the main road was uneventful and in retrospect we ought to have continued along the Nidderdale Way. We had parked in Pately Bridge and once arriving there we drove back to our cottage to nurse my wounded feet.         Day 1 Day 2       Author - Roy McKee Copyright © Roy McKee 2006