Beck Head Bridge.

Daffodils along the roadside and lambs frolicking in the fields.Spring in all its glory.
A perfect day for a drive up to Clapham, in the Yorkshire Dales above Settle.
The purpose for our visit was to buy MrC a new flat cap from Glencroft. A wonderful shop which sells local wool products, and genuine Harris Tweed caps.
Cap bought, we walked through the village and had lunch at The Old Saw Mill Cafe. A beautifully restored listed building where they have managed to incorporate the old workings inside the new cafe. Excellent food and very friendly staff.

From here we then walked along the Ingleborough Nature Trail.The path wends it’s way past a lake along a steep valley through woodland to Ingleborough Cave.
It follows Clapham Beck to the point where it emerges from underground.by the entrance to the Caves.
Stopped for ice creams before retracing our steps back to the village.

We passed “ The Grotto “. A folly built in the 19th century. A place to sit and enjoy the view of Thwaite Scars.
Spied a peacock butterfly looking a bit worse for wear.
Some of the rhododendron were just beginning to flower.
These were planted by Reginald John Farrar who lived at Ingleborough Hall. 1880 - 1920.
He was a great plant hunter. Travelled the mountains of Europe and Asia in search of new Alpine species.
He also planted the rhododendrons and viburnums along the trail.

Clapham was the first village in the North West if England to have electric street lamps. Thanks to the Victorian engineers who installed a system to take water from the lake to power turbines for the saw mill which were then connected to a generator. The surplus energy was used to power a single light bulb in each of the village houses.
That was before “ green energy” was thought of!

We came home with a selection of cheeses from the Courtyard Dairy, and a few bottles of wine from the adjoining wine shop.

As usual took loads of photos and so after deciding on my main one I have made some others into a collage. See extra.

Both feeling tired but very happy after such a lovely day.