Outdoor Activities in Yorkshire. 6th August 2014.

Last Wednesday saw the final piece of work with Village Camps in 2014 when once again we met a group of young children & staff who had an outdoor activity booked as part of their visit to Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The group arrived at Brimham Rocks at around 10am and were split into two smaller groups - one going straight off to enjoy an Introductory Rock Climbing Session as in photo one and the other group scrambling amongst the many rock outcrops that Brimham has to offer.

After two & a half hours of rock climbing and scrambling it was time to pack up and drive the eight or so miles to Howstean Gorge in nearby Nidderdale.

Before the group arrived, we all set up the tents required so that the group would be able to spend the night on the campsite here before their departure the next morning.

Upon the groups arrival, they were all kitted out with wetsuits, cagoules, walking boots, buoyancy aids, helmets & harnesses for the next activity that was part of their Outdoor Activity Day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

This involved first abseiling off the bridge over Howstean Gorge as seen here in Photo two. The bridge had two purpose built "abseil stations" and members of the group abseil down two at a time - connected to a safety rope of course!

Once the whole group were safely in the bottom of the gorge we could begin our gorge walking session.

So what is Gorge Walking? Well - the same as Ghyll Scrambling! OK - so what is it? Both are names for the same wet activity - wet because basically, you get into a stream or river and walk (or swim!) upstream or sometimes downstream.

Gorge walking (ghyll Scrambling) is a lot of FUN and is a real adeventure as you scramble over boulders, up waterfalls - never knowing quite what is around the next bend (unless you are the leader!)

The gorge at Howstean is set in Limestone and is up to 50 feet deep in places. Limestone is the rock normally associated with caves and caving sessions and as it happens there are two caves both leading into the gorge.

The final photo from this Outdoor Activity Day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park sees Iain's group as we headed back out from the gorge via Tom Taylors Cave.

This is a short 100 metre long cave reached from either the walkway which traverses through the gorge or from the stream bed and it is long enough to give the children a taste of what caving is all about.

On this occasion - as with all the previous reports related to Village Camps, Iain was working here on behalf of another provider but if you are visiting The Lake District with your family and would like to try any of the activities listed in this post then visit our website here as we also provide all of them. Prices start at £45 per person with discounts applied for children.