The forecast was for rain after lunch, but we put our waterproofs on and went out anyway.

We parked near Aysgarth falls, and had a quick look in the local church. The rood screen had been rescued from Jervaulx Abbey during the dissolution of the monasteries.

We walked on down the river. Although we could hear the falls, the banks were thickly wooded, and we couldn’t see much!

Then our path turned away from the river and across farmland, up to the top of a ridge, with exhilarating views…

We dropped down into West Burton, which has a very impressive village green (no pics, as it was raining quite hard now) and a village pub which did a very impressive burger & chips (no pics of that either, sorry!)

As we were finishing, yesterday’s Morris Dancers turned up, so we made a quick exit. Across more fields to Aysgarth itself  (top tip: squeeze stiles are fine in the dry, less fun when everything is wet).

We made a quick tour of the Limestone Rock Garden, which is just constructed in a normal back garden – the neighbour’s garden is just rough paddock.

We headed back along the river to the car park. The cafe was still open for tea & cake, then we crossed over and looked at the falls properly, from the other side.

When we got back to the car it was time to put some dry clothes on, head home to York, and check Andrew had coped without us!