[CENTER]Ripon – Thursday 20th April 2017[/CENTER]
Ripon lurks on the Eastern edge of the Dales National Park and on the left hand side of the A1. A Cathedral City, it stands at the confluence of the river Skell and river Laver which both flow into the river Ure, and was the start of today’s walk. I have done this walk once before, but due to some questionable navigation the route wasn’t followed as closely as perhaps it should have been, something I hope to correct today.
It’s about an hour’s drive from where I live to Ripon, that is assuming you will successfully cross the main east coast railway line [Kings Cross to Edinburgh] at Shaftholme [Interesting name] where waiting for five trains to go by is not unusual. As a postman I used to go this way to work, it was a teeth clenching moment crossing the line without getting stuck. Should you be unlucky enough to find the barrier down, it would be possible – on a bad day – to read the whole of the New Testament, that is, if you were a religious person, which I’m not, and would be demonstrated by the bad language and blasphemy that came from the realisation that once again I would be late for work.
Because today didn’t matter if I got held up, I sailed over the level crossing without a hitch I think that’s referred to as ‘Sods Law’… So I managed to make Ripon in just one hour. The car park was just two quid for twenty four hours, but I expected to be back from an eight mile walk a lot sooner than that. After making use of the car parks toilet facilities, a rumbling tum was the next urgent business to attend to, and in the past I have devoured some excellent bacon sandwiches at Sainsbury’s just next to the car park.
Unfortunately, times have changed and was presented with a half cooked fatty piece of bacon wedged inside of some crusty bread. I was too hungry to mess about, so after performing a biopsy of all the fatty bits down it went, all washed down with a nice cup of Yorkshire tea. Mrs Fox sent hers back to have another go in the grill.
We left Sainsbury’s and crossed the busy market square, it was market day and we had to weave our way through the mass of stalls. Mrs Foxes eyes lit up in excitement and anticipation, but I managed to shepherd her safely through to the other side without too much delay. We were soon making our way down High Skelgate, Low Skelgate and finally into the quiet suburbs of Borrage Lane. It was quiet and peaceful as we walked underneath the trees that lined the riverbank, with the occasional sound of trickling water as it danced over the rocks. Although the sky was heavy with cloud, rain was not on today’s forecast and it was warm for the time of year. We followed the river all the way to Hell Wath Cottage and the lane that would take us to the village of Studley Roger.
As we approached the ford and kissing gate we met a Dad and his two children cycling along the lane, as we passed, a large handsome looking black cat appeared from the undergrowth and sidled up to us for a cuddle, apparently, the cat belonged to the family and would regularly accompany them on their countryside excursions. How extraordinary! After leaving Studley Roger we entered the Studley Royal Estate deer park with the entrance to Fountains Abbey at the far end, we walked down past the lake to the cafe’ and car park, it was very busy here and all of the outside tables were occupied, so we decided to eat back in Ripon at the end of the walk.
We traversed the valley of the five bridges – A limestone gorge cut deep into the countryside with the river meandering along its base. Before we reached the end of the valley the river disappeared underground, only the dry rock strewn river bed was any indication that there had ever been a river there, I suspect that in periods of high rainfall it would turn into a raging torrent to continue its erosion of the valley floor. As we shuffled through a large kissing gate leaving National Trust land behind, I realised that this was the place where previously my navigation skills had deserted me, not today though, after careful inspection of the map I realised the mistake and guided us onto the right track.
Climbing out of the valley onto the high ground rewarded us with some breathtaking views over to The North Yorkshire Moors, silhouettes of hills I was instantly familiar with, even the sun broke through the clouds and illuminated the surrounding countryside. From here the track turned into a lane, and the lane into a road that led us back past Plumpton Hall to Studley Roger. Partly retracing our steps we eventually crossed the bridge over the river Laver on to the main road that would take us back to Ripon.
After a quite passable Spanish Omelette at one of the local cafe’s we once again found ourselves motoring down the A1. The only downside with today’s excursion was the bacon sandwich and a car covered in bird poo, that serves me right for parking under the trees, that’s probably why the car parking fee was only two quid…
I did stretch myself once and managed 9 miles … but that was because we got lost