A Day out at Pateley Bridge & How Stean Gorge

Ruby has always been the kind of dog who enjoys a day out. Particularly if it involves a ride in the car and a swim in the river or canal. So what better idea than to spend the day in and around Pateley Bridge?

Above, you see her sitting patiently in the car, waiting to set off.

The real reason we headed for Pateley Bridge, was that the Meriva was due for  service, and as Nidderdale Motors had been so helpful during the purchase of the car I decided to take it back to them for its first service. Again they were most accommodating and said if I had the car to them for 10.30, they would do the service there and then and I could collect it at 12.30.

So we de-camped from the car and I headed for the village itself, whilst Dot and Ruby went on a riverside walk (and as far as Ruby was concerned a swim!)

The park at the bottom of the village looked quite picturesque in the sunshine.

The following shot is looking up the Main Street, and in the next shot you will see the flower display in the centre of this shot.

Just past this flower display, on the opposite side of the road is a small alleyway which leads into the very picturesque King's Court.

We usually have a bite to eat in the Coffee House on the right of the photo above, but decided to have a snack (Coffee and some chocolate crisp), so we sat and ate the chocolate crisp and drank the coffee on the circular bench.

After her long walk and swim in the river Ruby was ready for a long cool drink!

How Stean Gorge is situated about about eight miles up the Nidd Valley, and is spectacular whatever the weather. It is known as Little Switzerland. The view above is looking down the gorge towards Pateley Bridge.

This is the view looking up the gorge. You can arrange to do all sort of adventures here, such as wading through gushing water, traversing on ladders and beams, abseiling down 60 feet, sliding through spouts and sitting under waterfalls, rock climbing, caving and canoeing. You can even camp adjoining the Gorge!

We thought the Red Indians had landed when we saw these teepee's in the field!

The is a super cafe here and we always call in for a meal when we are in the area. The food is highly recommended, tasty and extremely good value for money.


On the way back to Pateley we noted how low Gouthwaite Reservoir was. At this part you could have walked across the reservoir from one side to the other!

How Stean Yet Again!

I went up to Pateley Bridge on Friday afternoon and called in at the Help the Aged Shop to donate them 38 LP’s, some CD’s, DVD’s and Audio Cassettes too.

I also called in to Nidderdale Motors to take in the necessary paperwork to swap my personlised plates from the present Zafira to the new Meriva. Personalised plates sounds rather “posh” and I always used to say that people who had personalised plates were “show offs”, and if I wanted some I only had have my car registered in Oban. However, when I retired I was “hoisted with my own petard” and presented with a set of personalised number plates as one of my leaving gifts!

As I had not had any dinner I went up to How Stean Gorge Café for something to eat. How Stean Gorge has been described (very aptly) as little Switzerland, and is well worth a visit. The gorge itself is spectacular, particularly after heavy rainfall!

As we pulled into the car park Ruby (our labrador) spotted a spaniel and as soon as I opened the back of the car up she was out and chasing merrily with the spaniel. At first mine host (Stan) didn’t recognise me – he was busy throwing a stick for the spaniel to chase, and Ruby was excitedly joining in the fun and games.

How Stean Cafe from the Car Park - the bridge is over the Gorge


Stan (mine host) seated far side of the table, outside the cafe.

Eventually, after we went into the café he recognised me, and persuaded me to tickle the ivories on the Yamaha Claviolina. By the time I had played a Bach Prelude & Fugue, Trumpet Voluntary, Country Gardens and Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring, my meal was ready! I took the option of the tasty cheeseburger and chips. He very kindly threw in a free drink (non alcoholic – as I was driving!) with my meal.

A warm, friendly and welcoming greeting awaits you.

Notice the Claviolina to the right!

Stan tells me he has found my blog site, so I had better be careful what I say! I did promise him at least one photo of How Stean Café on my blog!

A Saturday Afternoon Out

Yesterday (Saturday) we were going to go over and visit Nana, but she decided we were not needed, so we twiddled our thumbs for a bit and then decided we would go out for a ride. After mulling over the various possibilities we ended up deciding to go to Pateley Bridge.

On the way there the weather turned to sleet, but not being put off we continued on our merry way, after all we could go to the Miner’s Arms at Greenhow for a good meal and thaw out there, and Ruby was always welcome too.

We spent a little while in Pateley, which resembled a ghost town, it being “off season” and only the locals were likely to be doing a bit of shopping. I called in the “Help the Aged” shop, but didn’t find any books CD’s or DVD’s that took my fancy, whilst Dot went up the High Street, but on meeting up again declared that there was nothing of interest in the shops for her too.

After a bit of racking of brains we decided to have a look in the shops by Nidderdale Motors, and it was just as I was parking there that Dot saw a Vauxhall Meriva and a Vauxhall Zafira on the forecourt, so we ambled across to have a look at them. They were both about three years old, and the Zafira only had 10,000 miles on the clock. It turned out it had been a Motability Car for an elderly person, and had obviously been well looked after, as well as having a low milage. NO, WE WERE NOT TEMPTED TO BUY!

Then we went for a short run up to How Stean Gorge,

and had a snack in the Café there.

Our intention was to have a meal later at the Miners Arms at Greenhow, but when we eventually got there, the Miner’s Arms was shut and boarded up – having apparantly gone the way of a goodly number of pubs. We came back via Skipton, and were going to eat at the Craven Heifer on Grassington Road, but there was nothing that really appealed to us on the menu, so we returned home!