How Stean Gorge

We camped at How Stean Gorge for a few nights, but didn’t partake in any of the activities that they offer (although we have resolved to go back to try some of those out).
I’ll cover off some of the things that I know will be of interest to campers before I move on to some more general bits, so if you’re not a camper you probably want to skip ahead a bit.
The site is actually pretty hilly, which made finding a spot to pitch our (actually rather big) tent quite difficult. In the end, we plumped for a pitch at the top of the hill on a bit of a slope. It wasn’t too noticeable until we went to bed — it was like trying to sleep on a slide! There weren’t really too many places that we could have put ourselves to avoid that, so be warned.
The toilets were clean, but had an interesting foible. At night, it was quite difficult (in the mens at least — I didn’t venture into the ladies — there be dragons) to get the lights to come on. They were on an infra-​red sensor, and, unless I’ve somehow lost my soul, it just wasn’t sensing that I was there. If they’ve not resolved this, a torch would be a wise companion if you need to make a trip in the night (or, given that there are no windows, the day).
There’s a washing up area you can use, with some nice hot water which is good, and makes things a lot easier.
Lastly on the camping front, I’d suggest that you take plenty of bottled water or a filter, because the water smells and tastes like satans’ bum-​hole. They’ve got a sign up from their local council saying that the water has a very high sulphur content, but if you’re not used to that, you’ll get a horrible surprise.
The site got busy over the weekend with quite a few people staying and doing the activities (which all look good) so if you’re bothered about where you pitch, you’ll want to get in early.
There’s a very nice little café with a bar on site, which does your basic meals (I had a tasty ploughman’s lunch) and Black Sheep ale, as well as a small shop with some of the camping basics and ice lollies. The staff were all really friendly and were very helpful — they let us freeze our ice blocks with the ice-​creams!
On a side note (and speaking of Black Sheep) you’re only 20 minutes away from Masham and not one, but two brewery tours, including one of my favourites, Black Sheep.
I’d camp here again — it’s a great location with some very fun looking activities — the price wasn’t too high, and everything was clean and tidy. All round a great site.

How Stean Gorge is a magical place, a river running through a gorge packed with slippery huge rocks, a beautiful place of wonder. You can traverse it via paths and bridges, but some of these are as hair-​raising as hopping from rock to rock! I confess at some points I squeezed my eyes as tight shut as my grip on the handbridge rails. Fortunately safety helmets are provided.
My other half and his dad are still amused at the mere thought of my adventure hopping from one rock to another: I knew damn well it was too far for me to make the jump, but at OH’s urging I made the attempt — and we have the camera footage of my splashy, wet landing!
There is one deep cave that is accessible only if properly equipped with waders etc. I didn’t attempt this and never intend to! The day held quite enough excitements for me without it.