My Visit To Ripon. The Cathedral City Of The Dales

A visit to the city of Ripon by many travellers and tourists has for years been taken for granted, up until it had the new bypass completed in the mid 1990s. Before then and due to the closure of the railway in the late 1960s, Ripon became a very severe bottle neck of heavy road traffic. Although very busy today, it is now a more pleasanter place to visit with its market in the midweek, and a tour around its narrow streets such as Kirkgate and a visit of the Cathedral, rounds off a morning visit nicely towards lunch. The Afternoon can be spent on a nice day, walking the restored canal, with a excuse to visit Fountains Abbey and the attractive gardens of Studley Royal. Ripon is the Northern Gateway to Nidderdale and the lower parts of Wensleydale. It is also I think the third smallest city in England and is a very good touring base for the Yorkshire Dales and East Coast, being 2 miles West of the A1 Motorway. The village of Ripley featured on the 7th and 8th pictures is also a visit not to be missed. It is an estate village steeped with history, regarding the castle and also the start of The Nidderdale Way and is situated 3 miles north of Harrogate, on the A61 main road to the City.