By Sonja Allen
The walk started off in glorious sunshine up a steep climb out of Pateley Bridge until we reached St. Mary's church and churchyard, a historic site set in a wooded area overlooking the town. Now in ruins, St. Mary's was the parish church of Pateley Bridge until 1827. A little further on, we reached a viewing platform which gave us a magnificent view over the Nidderdale. As we continued our walk, we later had to cross a field with llamas and alpacas belonging to a farm that offers llama trekking. The animals were very friendly and seemed to have no fear of us humans, so we had quite a close encounter sparking discussions if llamas and alpacas actually spit or not.
In contrast to the short walkers, the long walkers extended their walk to take in Brimham rocks. The weather then seemed to get worse and a very light rain set in. At first, we did not pay much attention until suddenly, shortly before we reached Brimham rocks, the heavens opened and a hail like rain came down without any warning, so we got thoroughly wet before we were even able to put our waterproofs on. Fortunately however, this was a relatively short sharp downpour and once it was over, we seemed to dry again very quickly. The rest of the walk then led us down to the Nidd valley and along the river back to Pateley Bridge where the long walkers met the short walkers again who reported that they had had no downpours at all on their walk. Back in Pateley Bridge some of us relaxed over tea or coffee at the terrace of the tea room near where we parked before finally heading home to Selby.