Today was the last full day of our Yorkshire stay, and we had a couple of places to visit that we needed to tick off. It’s been a waterfall-filled week, what with Aysgarth Falls and Hardraw Force earlier in our time here, and we completed the week with today’s first stop, Linton Falls.
Linton Falls is one of the easternmost features of the Craven Fault
A stone’s throw away from us in Threshfield, Linton Falls are just outside Grassington in the village of Linton, and are where the River Wharfe spills over a discontinuity in the limestone rock. An impressive fast-flowing sight, we thought they were much more impressive than Aysgarth Falls. I don’t really know why, though; maybe because you can get much closer to get those dreamy, blurry waterscape pictures, which we came away with again here.
And here’s a tip – early morning (around 10am, early for a holiday anyway) is the best time to see them. (Park in the National Park Visitor Centre car park in Grassington and walk through – there was hardly anyone around at the time of our visit this morning.)
Next, we pointed the Polo north east along the B6160, the A684, and the A6108, which eventually delivered us to Masham, the home of the Black Sheep Brewery. Established in the town in 1992 by Paul Theakston, and rubbing brewing shoulders with Theakston’s just down the road (owned by other members of his family), the old Lightfoot brewery building takes its new name from the town’s annual tradition of sheep markets held each September.
Black Sheep Brewery in Masham will give ‘ewe’ a warm welcome
We took one of the brewery’s ‘Shepherded Tours‘ (Black Sheep has cornered the market when it comes to all sheep-related puns), which at just over an hour in length, is a fascinating look into how Black Sheep uses traditional methods to brew its beer, and includes trips around the brewhouse and fermenting room. Starting with the aroma and taste of English hops and malted barley, and going through the brewing and fermenting process, the tour ends up back in the Black Sheep Baa…r, where a pint of any of the company’s six award-winning cask and bottled ales can be sunk.
If you’re even remotely interested in how beer is brewed and find yourself in the Dales, then a visit to Black Sheep is a must. With a more than enthusiastic guide, the tour tells you everything you need to know about large-scale beer brewing. After a quick pick-up of a few bottles of Black Sheep’s finest, it was late afternoon, so we took the unclassified road south of Leyburn at East Witton, and drove back through the beautifully picturesque Coverdale to the village of Kettlewell and onto home.
Coverdale is one of the most scenic dales in the Yorkshire Dales
This 10-mile stretch of road winds up and down and in and out of the tributary Coverdale valley, and leaves more then enough memories to take home with you to remember the Dales with. Stopping the car, it was eerily quiet, and as the sun peeped through the low clouds and lit an area of the landscape like a halo in front of us, we reflected on how enjoyable the week has been.
A busy but fun one, we have many happy memories and many beautiful places and landscapes etched onto our minds. The Polo BlueMotion has been a more than accommodating and comfortable friend, too, even though as an economy special, it might not have been best suited to the steep inclines which almost seemed to appear around every corner.
The Polo BlueMotion and Yorkshire Dales. A perfect combination?
With a stream trickling gently below us, the air still above us, and the sun deciding to let our last day end on a bright note, our thoughts turned to just one question; when exactly we’d be back in the Dales. There is still so much to see, so many more three-bar gates to open, so many more cattle grids to ‘g-g-r-r-n-n-g-g’ over and so many more places to explore.
