Adventure 16 - The one with ghosts and ghouls

Where: Aysgarth Falls, Yorkshire Dales National Park (England)

When: October 2016

My Adventure Companions: Mr Map, Mini Monkey and The Giant Baby 

“Do people really live in National Parks here?”

We had just discovered another major difference between English and Australian National Parks. In Australia, National Parks are wilderness areas and people don’t live in them. In England people lived in the area long time before the National Parks system was established. We went to explore the trail next to Aysgarth Falls in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and found it had been ‘spookified’ for Halloween. I’m not sure who it was set up by but it was great fun. There were stuffed owls in the trees, fake tomb stones, ghostly spectres and giant spiders in enormous webs. Despite the lingering jetlag making him a general grumpy-pants, Mini Monkey was surprisingly enthusiastic for the duration of the whole walk.

We visited both the Lower and Middle falls. At the Lower Falls, we were able to get up close and personal to the water, exploring in the foots steps of Robin Hood. Ok, not ‘the’ Robin Hood because he lived in Sherwood Forest, many miles from Aysgarth, but this was where some of the iconic scenes from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” were filmed. Being able to walk next to the Lower Falls felt, for want of a better phrase, closer to nature. Many of the falls we visit have viewing platforms and, whilst they provide great views, there’s nothing like being in amongst it to generate a little bit of awe.

Comments from Mini Monkey: Don’t touch the spiders (I’m glad that some of what we say sinks in!)

Website: http://www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/visit-the-dales/discover-the-dales/water-features/aysgarth-falls

Opening Hours: Never closed (toilets and visitor centre open 10:30am-5pm)

Cost: Free (parking fees apply if you use the car park)

Bonus Adventures (all North Yorkshire)

A ramble around Byland Abbey

Threw sticks in the river and looked for squirrels in the trees on the Nidd Gorge Walk

Walked alongside Ribbleshead viaduct (the one from Harry Potter) and saw a real train on it