The Dales Way, Oakbank

Yesterday's packing paid dividends today as we were able to take advantage of the much nicer than forecast weather and get out for a wander.

I figured an amble along the river Lune would offer pooch some relatively level ground and opportunities for drinks and paddles if it was too hot. Parking again at the Crook of Lune Bridge the water was noticeably higher and moving at a pace, no sandbars to stand on today - but as we set off South there was a welcome breeze and a lot of dappled tree cover, it was perfect wandering weather.
As we made our way along it was still quite shocking to see extensive reminders of the December'15 floods with debris in the trees above our heads - this is a large river - to have been at that level must have been terrifying to see. Fortunately that was soon forgotten as the path wended its way past huge expanses of purple creeping thistle, some impressive stands of monkey flowers and lots and lots of vetch and meadow cranesbill, but the most stunning of all were the nearly 4ft high giant bellflowers (Campanula latifolia*) with their large flowers looking a lot like lilies next to the river.

Arriving at the broad bend just before Oakbank I was struck by how still the river looked especially after all the rapids we'd passed at Bowers, and today's blip was found. All that was left was to go find ice cream.....

*See extra. Key id tips; they're large, they have single stems and the flowers open from the bottom. The nearest similar plant is the Nettle-leaved bellflower, but the flowers open from the top with that.