Not far from the madding crowds!

Nestled in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales on the banks of the River Wharfe, Bolton Abbey is regarded as Yorkshire's best day out - and judging by the number of people there that day, it is a sentiment shared by many!

At 10 quid a pop for parking, the locals aren't shy of fleecing the unwitting day tripper. Fortunately we squeezed the car onto a tiny bit of verge off the side of the main road for no cost, and with a sizeable chunk of the car hanging out into the road, set off to explore the walk along the River Wharfe. 

We did a loop walk from Barden Bridge to the Abbey and back, along a different side of the river each way. The walk was about 6 or 7 kilometres long, and took us through the 'Strid', a narrow rocky gorge where the river tumbles through rapids and waterfalls. Not quite the Zambesi through Devil's gorge, but still pretty spectacular. The day was hot, and the water warm enough for Pepi, Timmy and Levi to have a bit of a swim in the river just above the Strid. The views from the top of the gorge, across the valley to the ancient Abbey ruins are impressive - is there anything more beautiful than a view over English countryside on a sunny day?

Just before the Abbey, in the grassy fields along the river is a picnic and BBQ area that seemed to have attracted every terraced housing resident in Yorkshire and Lancashire to come and set up their 'terraced' picnics and BBQ's in a 'mosh pit' of cars, smoke and noise. The  £10 a car fee is obviously not a deterrent to everyone! Despite its proximity to the mosh pit, the ruins of the Abbey itself were surprisingly peaceful and hauntingly evocative of medieval England, shrouded in the mystery and mists of time.