WRW #34: A59 River Wharfe Bridge
The cache, a small round black magnetic container, is hidden under this substantial bridge which carries the busy (and dangerous!) A59 Skipton-Harrogate section over the River Wharfe. The original old stone Bolton Bridge is located just to the north.
To reach the cache location: park at the lay-by @ N 53 58.104 W 1 53.610, head north past the location of GC7YACQ WRW#33: Trout and About and locate the footpath heading across a footbridge towards and along the river to the bridge.
The Road: According to a 2004 survey by the AA, this scenic route across the Yorkshire Dales is the most dangerous road in Britain having by far the highest crash rate for cars and vans.
Motorists regularly travel at speeds of up to 90mph on the long, straight single-carriageway. Many tourists use the 19-mile route and are unfamiliar with the numerous partially obscured junctions with minor roads where most crashes occur. There are also several hidden dips on undulating sections.
A quarter of the crashes were head-on collisions, many caused by drivers overtaking recklessly. Hundreds of lorries use the route each day and drivers often become impatient and take risks when overtaking. Many of the crashes occurred at bends on the route where drivers lost control and skidded off the road.
The stretch also has a history of landslips above the road to the west of Blubberhouses at Kex Gill. The most recent January 2016 led to the road being shut for eight weeks.
So, please take extra care when using this road!!
The River: the Wharfe in general, and particularly in this area is a popular fly-fishing venue - rated as one of the best in the UK. The cache GC7YACQ WRW#33: Trout and About covers this sport and the main target fish. However there is another fine fish to be caught in these parts . . .
The grayling (Thymallus thymallus) is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family Salmonidae. It is the only species of the genus Thymallus (the graylings) native to Europe, where it is widespread from the UK and France to the Ural Mountains in Russia, but does not occur in the southern parts of the continent.
It grows to a maximum of 60cm long and 6.7kg and can reach 14 years old. It is a silvery fish with large scales and a pale belly. The most distinguishing feature is the huge dorsal fin, with bands of green, orange, purple and red. It has large eyes, an underslung mouth and as in all salmonids, an adipose fin.
It prefers cold, clean, running riverine waters, but also occurs in lakes and, exceptionally, in brackish waters
around the Baltic Sea. Omnivorous, it feeds on vegetable matter, as well as crustaceans, insects and spiders, molluscs, zooplankton, and smaller fishes, such as Eurasian minnows. Its is also prey for larger fish.
With the Arctic grayling, T. thymallus is one of the economically important Thymallus species, being raised commercially and fished for sport.
The generic name Thymallus derives from the Greek θύμαλλος, 'thyme smell', relating to the fragrance of wild thyme that freshly caught graylings are believed to smell similar to.
It is known as the 'lady of the stream' and used to be persecuted by anglers for the false perception that they stopped trout colonising stretches of rivers and streams. However, research has shown that grayling and trout feed on different prey items and generally prefer different microhabitats within rivers and streams but do occupy similar niches to smaller, less-predatory trout.
In England and Wales, they can be fished for throughout the coarse fishing season (16 June - 14 March), providing thrilling sport on the fly when the trout season is closed.
See here for more info on this fine fish.