Broad and narrow

The River Wharfe, having churned through the narrow Strid, resumes a broader, shallower and more leisurely course, round a small island, then down past the Cavendish Pavilion and on to Bolton Abbey itself.

Half a mile upstream, it's a different story. The Strid is a slender chasm, only a few metres wide but deeper than than two double decker buses! The mighty River Wharfe is channelled through it at a wild speed, causing fierce undercurrents that have sucked unwary people - those fools who thought to try to leap the gap and those who unfortunately lost their footing on the slippery rocks - to their deaths. When the trees have no leaves, you can get quite a good view of it from the high-level path on the eastern bank of the river. It's hard to believe the two views are the same river!