Words & Photos Ian Battersby

December 03 2009

This trip, early in the year, was mainly an excuse for a wander up to and over Guise Cliff. The lower slopes run steeply up from Nidderdale to a notable precipice that overlooks Pateley Bridge and Brimham Rocks. Ancient woodland dresses the slope, and deep within it lays a secluded and secretive pond.

This is all packed into a small area, so to give my legs a longer stretch, I decided to include Ashfold Side, and return along the young Nidd, a move that brought navigational challenges, hidden valleys and spooky dark river pools.

I began from Gill Beck Farm, leaving the highlight of the wooded cliff to the end. The path’s little used and, as I navigated the bog grass, snipe erupted from it, escaping in frantic flight. Weak sunshine caressed the bracing slopes of upper Nidderdale, making snow-bearing boughs of wintry trees blush a little, and here and there dark gritstone outcrops pierced the white blanket to bathe within the barely warming rays.

A more sizeable outcrop rises sharply at Nabs, creating two small, secluded valleys, where icy streams tumbled gently toward the Nidd. The remains of collapsed buildings give a flavour of the past, now remembered as the Industrial Heritage Trail. Nidderdale was owned in the Middle Ages by the Bishop of York, as well as the monks of Fountains and Byland Abbeys. In the 18th century breweries, quarries, and flax mills were the basis of the local economy, before being discarded for agriculture in the 20th.

Weirs tame the Nidd to a deep, dark presence that drifts lazily beneath overhanging birch, beech and ash. It’s not until it happens upon the model village of Glasshouses that it’s unleashed, trundling happily back to life. I left it for the highlight of Guisecliff Wood, packed with holly in the lower reaches, and pierced by a myriad of tiny paths, easily lost beneath a covering of snow or leaves. Put away the GPS and get happily lost among its secrets in your quest for the pond at its centre, and you will discover an enchanting world of haphazard, mossy boulders sprouting spindly trees, sometimes well spaced, sometimes densely packed and laced with bracken and bilberry, before hopefully finding the mirror of dark water, guarded by a steep rampart, and calmly reflecting the surrounding tranquillity.

It’s only a short haul up to the top of the cliff, which supports rocky pedestals that overlook the wood and provide fantastic viewpoints, each one offering a slightly different flavour of the Nidderdale scene. Below York’s Folly you’ll need to resort back to technology, whether it be the trusty compass or GPS, to find the way through the heather back to Noonstone Farm.

Distance: 10 miles/16km Ascent: 1800ft/550m Time: 6-7 hours Start/finish: Noonstone Farm, 2km SW of Pateley Bridge (GR: SE 145638) Maps: Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 99 (Northallerton & Ripon, Pateley Bridge & Leyburn); OS 1:25,000 Explorer sheet 298 (Nidderdale) Information: Pateley Bridge, 01423 711147

Technical Spec
N then NW passing Gill Beck Farm, B6265 and Ivin White. Follow Nidderdale Way NW to Ashfold Side then E past caravans to Corn Close. Follow Nidd SE through Pateley Bridge to Glasshouses. Path S into Guisecliff Wood. The pond lies W of the main path. SE then SW up to Guise Cliff, and follow it WNW past Yorke’s Folly to road. Head SW to stream (no path) then NW back to Noonstone Farm.