Callum Comes Calling…

Callum Comes Calling…

There’s a brilliant village in Wharfedale called Appletreewick, there’s a brilliant campsite in Appletreewick called Masons and there are two brilliant pubs in Appletreewick called the The Craven Arms and The New Inn. It all sounds like the perfect place to spend an October weekend with friends, particularly when one of the pubs is running its annual Beer Festival, and so it proved, although Callum did his best to rain on our parade. It was unfortunate that some of our friends couldn’t make it this year, but not to worry, there’s always 2019.

We’ve all been to the Beer Festival quite a few times, although we gave it a miss last year, in a weather aborted attempt to take over The Cud Life near Ripon. Rain definitely stopped play in 2017.

This year we were made of stronger stuff and Storm Callum wasn’t going to spoil the trip. Alison and I were booked in on Thursday with a plan to get a copy of the New Inn’s menu to arrange dinner for all of us on Saturday night, but first we stopped in Burnsall for a photo opportunity.

The plan worked well, even though it involved us having a couple of beers in the pub, which is never a bad thing. It rained a bit on Thursday night but nothing too bad. The wind and more rain was saved for Friday and the river Wharfe grew higher and higher throughout the weekend.

Friday was my birthday so I was treated to Bucks Fizz and Crumpets for breakfast, as well as some great presents from Alison.

We spent Friday night at the Beer Festival, but it was pouring with rain when we headed back to the vans at midnight. We had wind and heavy rain all night and Saturday morning didn’t bode well for our annual walk along the river to Grassington. By 11am, though, the rain had stopped and a hardy few set off to walk along the Dales Way. The water was really high and we were wading at points and climbing up the bank on other occasions. It was still great fun though, and so lovely to see our friends again.

Once in Grassington, Alison and I grabbed some breakfast and had a potter around the town before meeting up with the others to catch the bus back to Burnsall. It was nice to see a Boris tribute in one of the shops in town.

Along the way back we came across a farmer trying to hold the tin roof on one of his sheds. About 10 minutes earlier, two huge branches had been blown down from one of the Horse Chestnut trees in his rear paddock and he was struggling with a ladder and some string (charlie band) to maintain control. Mike gave him a hand and with some rope we managed to lash the roof down as a temporary repair. The chap must have been in his late 70s or early 80s and he’d have had an issue without some help.

Onwards, then to the campsite and, if anything, the river was even higher, with more wading involved to get back to the vans.

I’d shot some video on my phone on Thursday evening showing how peaceful it was down by the river behind the site, so we went back down to show the contrast in conditions after some rain. The video is here:

The meal in the New Inn on Saturday night was excellent – good pub grub, all served hot and with excellent service. We enjoyed a few more pints, then headed back to the Beer Festival for a final one, before walking back to our vans.

We stayed until mid afternoon on Sunday before making our way home after another great weekend.

Things we’ve Learned

Friends are great

Wharfedale is beautiful

A walk in GOC is hard to beat

Overhearing a large walking group discussing their bra sizes is a bit weird, even for me

There’s a full set of photos here: Flickr