LEJOG Day 36 – Pateley Bridge to Aysgarth 22.51 miles. Cumulative 654.39

We had a lovely meal at Olley’s Italian restaurant in Pateley bridge last night.

A dry but overcast start to the day, with a bit of rain for our last hour of walking.

A long day faced us as the campsite we were planning to use doesn’t open until 1 August, so we found alternative accommodation a further 10 kilometres along our route.

We set off following the Nidderdale Way, along the Rivet Nidd , initially a low level walk before a steep climb up the side of the valley.

A ridge walk and climb take us on good paths to Masham Moor, at which point our onward path disappeared. We tried using GPS to find the path to no avail. In the end we had no option other than to pick our way across the gorse in the right general direction. Easier said than done if you have small feet and stumpy legs like Lynn, who had two mishaps, one leg disappeared down a hole up to her knee in water and later a tumble saw her flat on her back like a marooned whale. Eventually we found a track which took us in the right general direction and we dropped down to West Scrafton for a lunch break.

Another uneventful up and over took us to The George and Dragon B & B at Aysgarth.

We arrived at 1650hrs and the pub was shut, on checking our booking confirmation our check in was between 1700-1800 hour, so we sit outside and wait. Eventually at 1710 the landlady wanders out from the house next door and says ‘you can’t stay tonight’. We establish she has no insurance, so cannot open. We point out we have have nowhere else to go and even if we did, we had no car to get there, she said she would sort something out and disappeared. In the meantime other guests arrive for dinner and accommodation and we have to explain what has happened. Not confident she will actually do anything, we try other B & B’s within walking distance to no avail.

Luckily we managed to find a small campsite just down the road and they had room for us. A lovely site with good facilities and very warm welcome. Steve was able to buy dinner at a petrol station shop in the village.