For my birthday, my fella took me to the Yorkshire Dales. We stayed in a beautiful hotel on the Bolton Abbey Estate, a place I chose because it is near the Strid, which is relevant to a future painting I have in mind.
The Strid is a section of the River Wharfe which is considered the most dangerous stretch of river in the world. It is said to have a 100% fatality rate for those poor souls who end up in it. It is also said to have earned its name from those with a fancy for daredevilry who attempt to leap or “stride” across its banks.
Such striding is possible because, despite the majority of the River Wharfe being 30ft wide, the Strid is a narrow 6ft channel of limestone rock that forces the mighty Wharfe through its stridable gap. Water prefers to stick together and go down, so instead of carving a wide expanse through the limestone, the waters of the Wharfe have carved out a crevasse to a possible depth of 60ft. As the water plummets and churns its way through the Strid, trillions of air bubbles strip away lifesaving buoyancy and cause a tumult so vicious that no tender-skinned, air-breathing creature that breaches its surface can survive.
There are numerous stories of people who have come-a-cropper in the Strid. The most famous being that of William de Romilly whose devouring by the Strid was immortalised by William Wordsworth.
This striding-place is called THE STRID,
A name which it took of yore:
A thousand years hath it borne that name,
And shall a thousand more.
And hither is young Romilly come,
And what may now forbid
That he, perhaps for the hundredth time,
Shall bound across THE STRID?
He sprang in glee,–for what cared he
That the river was strong, and the rocks were steep?–
But the greyhound in the leash hung back,
And checked him in his leap.
The Boy is in the arms of Wharf,
And strangled by a merciless force;
For never more was young Romilly seen
Till he rose a lifeless corpse.
The Strid is terrifying, and approaching it with your wits and the will to live is imperative. My fella and I paid two visits to this kelpie’s abode, and I have say I was mighty pleased when we left. It is a truly ominous place and seeing it will likely be one of those experiences I will never forget.
Another fascinating place we visited was Ingleborough cave. I’d never been in a cave before, so I was completely wowed by the experience. What a fascinating place. The cave, once solid rock, was carved out by water, which eventually found a different route through the limestone, allowing human navigation through the cave. I found being inside it truly inspiring, and will definitely investigate the phenomena of caves further.
We also visited was the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It’s a massive area, and took us quite a while to walk around. To amuse ourselves we had competition to name the sculptures, from which my fella rose triumphant with this pearler: “Harea 51”.
The rest of our trip was mostly spent tootling around the Yorkshire Dales, stopping wherever took our fancy. It is indiscernibly beautiful, and being very lucky with the weather, we were able to see it to its best advantage.
bexODESSA 