A bus service to the very top end of Nidderdale will restart for the summer 2023 season this weekend.

The DalesBus 821 service to Scar House reservoir in Upper Nidderdale will run from Keighley and Otley via the Washburn Valley to Pateley Bridge, then continues updale past Gouthwaite Reservoir to Ramsgill, Lofthouse and Scar House Reservoir every Sunday and Bank Holiday until October 22, 2023.

Buses leave from Pateley Bridge at 11.15am and 2.15pm, returning from Scar House Reservoir café at 12.45pm and 3.45pm.

Connections are available on DalesBus 24, leaving Harrogate Bus Station at 10.20am or 1.20pm.

All single fares are just £2  (£1 for under 19s) as part of the national Get Around For £2 initiative, which the government has just extended until the end of October.

Scar House and Angram reservoirs lie at the top of Nidderdale and supply water to Bradford.

Nidderdale DalesBus 821 is run by the Keighley Bus Company, with financial support from Yorkshire Water, as part of the DalesBus network, which is managed by the volunteer-run Dales and Bowland Community Interest Company.

It joins DalesBus service 822 between Ripon, Pateley Bridge and Grassington, which is already running on Sundays and Bank Holidays for the summer season. Buses leave Pateley Bridge at 11.15am and 3.25pm for Hebden and Grassington, and at 12.25pm and 4.25pm for Fountains Abbey and Ripon.

Full details of the bus to Scar House Reservoir are available online at www.dalesbus.org/821.

Read more:

• Dales Bus summer service to return this weekend
• Photo of the Week: Top of the dam at Scar House Reservoir
• New 4G mast will boost mobile coverage in Upper Nidderdale

About 400 people are expected to take part in tomorrow’s annual Nidderdale Charity Walk and Run.

The event, which is being held for the 29th year, has raised over £900,000 for charities since it started.

People will meet in Pateley Bridge from 7am before completing either four-mile, eight-mile, 15-mile, 22-mile or 26-mile routes.

The shortest route is around Wath while the longest is a challenging hike around Wath, Bouthwaite, Ramsgill and Lofthouse before returning via Scar House reservoir.

Registration is from 7am

Many participants are being sponsored to raise money for voluntary organisations, including Dementia Forward, Disability Action Yorkshire and Harrogate Homeless Project, while others just want to enjoy some of the country’s finest scenery in spring.

The routes are signposted and include checkpoints with medical help.

Brian Stuttard, chairman of the walk committee for the Rotary Club of Harrogate, which organises the event, said:

“About 320 people have registered so far and we expect another 100 or so on the day.”

Mr Stuttard said 40 junior soldiers from Harrogate’s Army Foundation College would be taking part in the four-mile route for the first time.

Nidderdale awaits

Registration begins at 7am and those taking part in the 22-mile and 26-mile routes are expected to depart by 8am. The shorter routes can start later.

It costs £10 for adults to enter (£5 for the four-mile walk) and you can enter on the day.

Read more:

• Fundraisers prepare to take on Nidderdale Walk this weekend
• Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet visits Nidderdale pub for dinner

An Oscar-winning actress made a surprise appearance in a pub in Upper Nidderdale at the weekend.

Kate Winslet visited the Crown at Middlesmoor for a meal with her family, much to the surprise of landlady Angela Snow.

She told the Stray Ferret the Hollywood star said she had been out walking around Scar House Reservoir before stopping by the traditional village pub, which had just a couple of patrons in at the time.

Ms Snow said:

“To be honest, I wouldn’t have known. I was in the kitchen cooking when my bar lady Megan recognised her.

“As she was leaving, I asked for a photo to put up behind the bar. She said she usually pretends to be someone else, but she said she would because it was such a nice pub.”

As well as winning the Oscar for best actress for her performance in The Reader, Kate Winslet has been nominated a further six times. She has won three Baftas, two Emmys, a Grammy and five Golden Globes.

She first came to prominence in the mid-1990s in films including Titanic and Sense and Sensibility, and has more recently been seen in the second Avatar movie.

Angela said she was “starstruck” by the actress, though the pub is known to attract celebrities on occasion. Among other visitors has been cricket legend Ian Botham, who often visits the area.

The Crown is not the only local to attract famous punters in recent weeks. Last month, Harrogate drinkers were stunned to see musician Morrissey enjoying drinks with friends in the Harrogate Arms on Parliament Street.

Read more:

• Heaven knows what Morrissey was doing in Harrogate
• Comedian Alan Carr spotted filming in Harrogate today

This week’s photograph was taken by Heather Middleton, capturing the reflection across the Scar House Reservoir.

Heather Middleton

Photo of the Week celebrates the Harrogate district. It could be anything from family life to capturing the district’s beauty. We are interested in amateur and professional photographs, in a landscape format.

Send your photographs to letters@thestrayferret.co.uk for a chance to be featured next week, we reserve the right to adjust and crop images to fit into our format.

Up to 1,000 Nidderdale residents, businesses and visitors are set to receive 4G phone coverage thanks to a new mast at Scar House reservoir.

The EE mast, which Yorkshire Water installed in partnership with BT, was erected primarily to enable water quality to be monitored remotely.

Yorkshire Water, which owns the reservoir, has installed monitors on water courses feeding Scar House.

Data transmitted by the mast will allow scientists and engineers to proactively select the best available water sources for transfer to its water treatment works.

Weather, temperature, and the condition of the moorland can impact the quality of water sources, as they can influence things like the amount of peat found in the water.

Managing water at its source is a more cost effective and environmentally friendly approach than traditional energy intensive and expensive “end of pipe” treatment solutions.

The better the water quality is at source, the less energy it takes to process at the treatment works, reducing Yorkshire Water’s carbon footprint.

Ted Rycroft, Yorkshire Water’s product and process manager, said:

“Water coming out of customers taps will continue to be the high quality that it always has been – the key change here is that the water coming into the treatment works will be of higher quality, and therefore require less treatment.

“That helps us to keep costs down for our customers and our operational emissions to a minimum, while maintaining our high standards of water quality.”

Ashish Gupta, BT’s managing director for corporate and public sector, hailed the project as “the perfect example of using tech to work smarter – benefiting both local people and the environment”.

Read more:

• Pateley Bridge road finally reopens after landslip repairs
• 24 bus from Pateley Bridge to Harrogate saved

Landscape photographer Bernard Smith has shot a magnificent series of photographs capturing the beauty of Nidderdale.

Mr Smith lives in Sherburn In Elmet but spends a lot of time in the Yorkshire Dales, Nidderdale and the Lake District with his camera.

He kindly sent us images of the war memorial at Middlesmoor, Scar House Reservoir dam and a landscape shot taken between Middlesmoor and Scar House.

He said:

“I’m a keen amateur landscape photographer, this helps me combine my love of the great outdoors, walking and exploring.”

Scar House Reservoir dam. Pic by Bernard Smith

Between Middlesmoor and Scar House. Pic by Bernard Smith

If you have any photographs of the Harrogate district you’re proud of, send them to us at contact@thestrayferret.co.uk.