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Camping nr Grassington this weekend & the kids love messing about in the water. Anyone got any top tips (away from the hot spots if possible, but not a big deal if not) for somewhere they can safely have a bit of a swim/paddle in the river Wharfe? Burnsall likely to be rammed I'd imagine! Youngest is 4 so no canyoning etc 🙂
TIA 🙂
Burnsall will be busy in the centre but there's plenty of decent spots further up the river towards Grassington. If you cut down by the church you can follow the river path until you find somewhere. Barden is another good place, or Appletreewick. Bolton Abbey by the Pavilion will be rammed but can swallow loads of people. Plenty of spots up towards Kettlewell and Yockenthwaite too.
There's barely anything in it higher up. Lowest I've seen it in 20 years at Otley.
The problem at the moment is that there's sod all water in the river. We rode past the upper Wharfe (above Hubberholme and Yockenthwaite) last Saturday and along the stretch where normally you get loads of paddlers/bathers there were just a couple of very sorry looking pools of water. There was a bit more water around here http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=389037&Y=479848&A=Y&Z=120 not a great deal but you could probably swim a few body lengths.
I've seen shots of Linton Falls next to Grassington and you could probably walk across the river bed dryshod.
Yeah, the general lack of water has already crossed my mind. Basically, as long as they can get wet I think they'll be happy. Take it the stream by Malham cove is similarly parched? Hebden Gill?
Might be worth looking at the Skirfare. There's some access up from Litton and you could probably get to the river near Hawkswick. Don't know how tolerated it would be.
I'll do some google mapping, thanks whitestone
Blast from the past, my gran used to live in grassington at the top of the snake path. Spent a couple of weeks most summers messing around in the river around Linton falls.
I don't think it's sharing too much of a secret spot to say that the Wharfe runs deep under Grass Wood, just up valley from Grassington, and the easy hike down into the ravine will put off most of the BBQ hordes. Water's deep though so you'll want to keep an eye on small ones.
I’ve seen shots of Linton Falls next to Grassington and you could probably walk across the river bed dryshod.
Yep, you can pretty much at Burnsall at the moment!
There are a couple of deeper spots there but it will be rammed solid.
Grass Wood is a good call, there are a few parking spots up the minor road to the east of the Wharfe (north of Grassington) and the birds of prey keep the area free of small dogs and weak children.
Might be worth looking at the Skirfare.
Reckon that still has a splash in it? There is farmer-run parking north of the river and you can walk straight down to the water from there.
Hebden Gill still had some juice in it last time I passed by, but that was a week and a half ago, and things are even more parched now.