With “ambitious” accommodation costs and “challenging” bus timetables, the Yorkshire Dales contribute to making North Yorkshire one of the toughest chapters to complete in the whole GBG. Even if you live there, like our hero Si.
You need to see my trusty Philip Navigator to appreciate the emptiness of Nidderdale, with GBG enclaves at top (Aysgarth) and bottom (Grassington).
But you need your OS Map to appreciate the beauty of the contours round here.
Sadly, my budget doesn’t stretch to those plastic covered OS maps so mine got a little drenched at Aysgarth Falls, as did I.
Which clearly delighted the folk in the austere and rather quiet Aysgarth Falls Hotel, particularly when I took my leakage into the upmarket (by my standards) dining area.
Not much beer being consumed, so the quality of a cool and chewy Black Sheep (NBSS 3.5) is testament to cellarmanship as well as the selection criteria of North West Yorkshire CAMRA. A very similar experience to the one just north of here off the A66, I thought.
Further testament to the variety of GBG entries is just down the hill.
Hendersons looks like the dining option for the caravan park, in much the same way that Holiday Property Bond, that bastion of old folks self-catering holidays, seem to always have a decent pub nearby.
At 1pm, just one family with a dog, and no diners I think the dog was enjoying the R’n’B (probably from Usher) more than the humans.
Another decent drop of Landlord (NBSS 3), but quite how you’d think this the best beer in England I can’t imagine.
So, old-fashioned hotel, holiday park bistro, and now time for the basic walkers pub stuck up a road to nowhere (well, Litton). Isolation brings its rewards.
Apart from the scatter cushions, Arncliffe’s Falcon is another place Pub Curmudgeon would approve of. Bench seating, beer mats, stuffed animals, ill-dressed cyclists, blokes in singlets all present and correct. Actually,a very BRAPA pub.
I was offered the Timmy Taylors Best from handpump or from the jug .A nice touch that didn’t add much to the flavour; pleasant enough (NBSS 3) but not going to move me off the Black Sheep next time I’m here.
Yet another entry in my next blog on outdoor pub loos too.
BBC Weather said we’d escape the worst of the weather. We didn’t.
Finally, we had no recollection of ever having visited Grassington, though the pink pen on the Navigator suggested otherwise. As expected, we were nearly run over by the Silent Death* on entering town.
You know, there are still signs up on buildings from the last big cycle race to pass through here. There were cobbled streets without the flags, though.
I set off toward the medieval villages (site of) before admitting defeat.
Luckily The Foresters is, for a change, open all day.
Just your typical stone built Dales local, then. I had it,and a decent half of Black Sheep, to myself at 2.30, before a few old boys and a family created a bit of a surge. Perhaps the one place in town with an average age below 50.
I found it all pleasant and easy-going, though Simon would have had something to say about the small child demanding “Mummy, can we go on You Tube ?”. Whether this was to watch clips of cats falling off chairs, or to start an acting career, I never found out.
Overall reflection on the Dales; Decent beer in quiet pubs hanging on in the face of another wet summer. And not a drop of craft, for better or worse.
*Cyclists are great but I do wish they’d ring their little bells to warn old folk they’re there.
retiredmartin 
Did you know that the Falcon at Arncliffe was used as the original Woolpack in “Emmerdale Farm” (as it was then)?
Many years ago, my dad and I heard a classic pub tale in the Queen’s Arms at Litton. The regulars were discussing a local character called Rodney, who ran a chip van on Blubberhouses Moor. Apparently, he was in the habit of spending every single night in the pub.
“Rodney,” one had asked him, “have you ever thought of staying in one night, just for a change?”
“Aye, I tried it once,” he replied. “Didn’t like it.”
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Saw reference in the pub, always thought that was in Esholt above Bradford. Never seen Emmerdale. Or Corrie.
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Filming was moved to Esholt in 1976 after Arncliffe became inundated with tourists – see Wikipedia.
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Gripping stuff Martin and weather reports to boot…. you walking?
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A bit of walking, mainly to the north. You don’t need weather forecasts in England at the moment…
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Just assume it will be mostly cool and damp, and you won’t go far wrong 😦
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With regards to the Wensleydale photo; I couldn’t see an ounce of cheese anywhere (bit of a Monty Python reference there).
“BBC Weather said we’d escape the worst of the weather. We didn’t.”
Has the BBC ever been right in the past few years? 🙂
Cheers
Russ(tovich)
PS – Quite like the look of the Foresters Arms
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I did have a dab of Wensleydale for lunch !
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You’re right about viewing an OS map of Aysgarth, but even then it’s a surprise when a short walk south from the village involves negotiating twenty or more squeeze stiles. Did you make it to the Victoria Arms in Worton I’d previously mentioned?
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Not this time ! Still a few to do in North Yorks GBG
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Mudgie is correct about the Emmerdale connection. I remember going there years ago, lots of years – I wasn’t old enough to drink. They served all their ale from the jug then. I can also verify said fact as a friend of ours was one of the original producers. The original ‘Emmerdale Farm’ can be seen on the LHS on the A61 travelling from Leeds to Harrogate, about 1 & 1/2 mile after Leeds Grammar roundabout. The outside locations are now fimed in a purpose built village at the back of Harewood. The New Inn at Eccup is the nearest pub to this location, last time I visited the beer was in good form and they had a reasonable selection that would suit your typical ‘old man pub’ person. If you need any more useless Emmerdale facts then give me a call.
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I won’t. What about Brookside ?
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I once lived in the Dog & Gun area of Liverpool near to Croxteth, which is where they filmed Brookside. I remember them building the estate where it was filmed but I moved to Smithdown Lane before they started filming it?
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You’ve been everywhere !!!
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By heck,you’re getting perilously close to the first pub I ever drank in as a 15-year-old boarder at a public school who should have been safely tucked up in bed but stuffed it Colditz-style with pillows before bunking off and enjoying pints of Tetley’s when it was a proper ale and then,one magical night,an invite back to the barmaid’s flat where the kindly woman guided this stuttering youth to a short but much-anticipated popping of the eternal cherry and then calmed my nerves with a large Vat 69 and some second helpings.
Underage beer and sex in one night.
It’s all gone downhill since then.
Happy days.
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Ha you went to same 4 pubs I did after Hudswell and a walk at Aysgarth Falls. Can’t disagree with any of your comments except I had to return my pint at Henderson’s, think it was Landlord, or maybe Boltmaker, as it was like vinegar. The second option wasn’t much better but there was no third option. Didn’t get offered any beer from the jug though!
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Yes,beer at Hendersons was OK, but it was much to quiet on Friday in the main holiday period to support four pumps, unless it’s a different place in the evening !
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