LEJOG Day 35 – Addingham to Pateley Bridge 20.05 miles. Cumulative 631.88 miles.

Dinner with a view by the tent last night – at least half a dinner, after the other half ended up on the grass. The pan slid off the gas stove, whilst under Lynn’s supervision. Oops!

A dry night, we wake up to a bright morning. A mixture of cloud and sun throughout the day and a bit warmer.

We followed the Dales Way out of Addingham, along the bank of the River Wharfe. The river passes through the grounds of Bolton Abbey, which is owned by the same trust as Chatsworth House and the grounds were immaculately maintained.

We stopped for tea and cake at Bolton Abbey. Whilst there a teacher from a Bradford school was preparing to send some year 12 pupils off on a D of E expedition. He said there would be tears by the end of the day as some really hadn’t grasped what would be required or what they were taking on. He said the year 10s last week had been no problem. As the pupils arrived by minibus he checked their kit and briefed them. Quite a motley crew. Some wore trainers or were using sports bags. One or two had enormous sleeping bags. The odd one seemed to look the part with boots and a rucksack.

We see a lot of D of E groups on our walks and are great fans of the awards scheme. Like the Ten Tors event on Dartmoor it gets young people out walking and learning some outdoor skills. For every youngster it puts off walking for life we always hope it gives others a lifelong love of walking and being outdoors in the countryside.

Further along the river we come across a group of twitchers, who point out a pair of Mandarin Ducks, there are only 2300 breeding pairs in the UK so they were excited to tell us and even let us take a look through their binoculars, they are beautiful birds, particularly the male.

After an easy morning by the river, we have a long climb up onto the fells before dropping down to our campsite, the descent takes us along a heritage trail through some disused mines, an area which now appears to be used for clay pigeon shooting.

Our accommodation tonight is Riverside Caravan Park at Pateley Bridge, we have lots of neighbours for a change, but we are the only tent.

We are now just over half way in terms of the number of days we plan to take, 35 out of 69.