Ice Cream & Cake
April saw the first full run of the new season and Neil and Janet tell us about it. Sitting in the sun with an ice cream is the best way to end an entertaining day! Nine members of our club left the Old Stone Trough in five cars heading over towards Harrogate. With long stretches of scenic countryside in evidence, we passed through Lothersdale onto Carleton and towards Skipton. The A59, as always, was a busy road as we made our way across the Blubberhouses but we left it behind as we turned towards ‘West End’. Then the road became narrower and our views stretched across Nidderdale with the ‘Golfballs’ of Menwyth Hill rising up out of the countryside. Within a short distance we reached Thruscross Reservoir where we sat around with coffee and cake before exploring the dam and bridge across the river Washburn that feeds this expanse of water. A few miles further on we pulled into ‘G and T’s’, the family run café and ice cream parlour, who gave us a warm welcome and excellent food for our brunch stop. Plenty of talking and catching up to be done – so a leisurely time before getting back to the cars and restarting our run. Pateley Bridge and The Nidderdale Museum was our next destination. Parking locally, we explored this gem of an attraction looking at the history of the area. Certainly worth £5 a head and pleasantly staffed by helpful volunteers. So now to where we began, a short walk to the ice cream shop in the village before heading home. And the sun still shone!
