N.B. It's too time consuming to go into all the details of the walks on these days, so I'll try and give a short explanation with each group of images.
Monday the 21st of May
Grassington to Hebden
Not a great nights sleep, but I'm up for a good walk.
It's one of 'Cragface's and the teacher is leading todays walk.
We head on up through a quiet Grassington.
We're on the Yarbury road north.
One of the ladies in the group investigated a strange noise at the side of the road.
It turned out to be a mobile phone. Eventually the farmer who had lost it was in contact with us, and was relieved in a great Yorkshire accent to retrieve it. (bottom left above)
The next group of pictures were all taken around the area of the disused Grassington Lead Mines.
We only saw a small section of what was once a mining boomtown.
Here's three websites that give plenty of information on them.
We have to retrace our steps a little back towards Grassington to regain our path to Hebden.
Cragface's walks, as well as having directions tend also to have accompanying photographs, so are fairly easy to follow. The cattle couldn't care less.
A Curlew and a Songthrush were just a few of the birds we saw and heard.
Downhill to Hebden.
Not sure what this is but it's a cracking profile.
The pub was bypassed for the cafe.
Scottish money was reluctantly accepted.
From here, Cragface's walk meant catching a bus, or going back overland. The teacher decided we should take the short walk to the River Wharfe and return along the river bank.
It's not long before we're down by the Hebden Suspension bridge and stepping stones.
Needless to say we tarried and had fun.
Sheep, rabbit and pheasant in one picture.
Heading back towards Grassington and another set of stepping stones.
The wee dog wouldn't cross, so the man had to make a detour via the Linton bridge.
I caught up with them later............
......................I got over, and no wet socks. That's me heading for St Michael's and All Angels.
I still didn't know about the Saxon Cross, but there's plenty of interesting headstones.
Back on Linton Bridge after saying hello to the man and dog, his wife and other dog.
The above picture's title is called 'Spot Scoop', she's in there somewhere.
We're soon back at the house after another lovely walk.
Takeaway fish and chips from the Black Horse concluded an enjoyable day.
Tuesday the 22nd of May
Malham Cove, tarn and Gordale Scar.
Malham eh ! This is my first visit here.I remember when the kids were small and bus trips with the school.
I'm finally getting a look at this geological oddity.
Digital Malham
Wikipedia
We pay the £4 per car to park. It helps to maintain the paths.
It's a lovely day as we head through the village.
They're filming a cycling group as Scoop nosedives to the ground. ( A protruding rock while photographing)
She's ok, but none of the athletic male cyclists offer her the kiss of life, though the film crew were very concerned.
There's a nice trout specimen just below the bridge.
It's a gorgeous walk to the cove.
This is our walk, but we're doing it in reverse.
Another ten seconder under the limestone.
Our Cumnock lady spots something flapping in a tree.
It's a young owl which must have fallen or been kicked out of the nest, and still as yet unable to fly...........
...............It finally drops to the ground.
The couple behind us are going to alert the National Park rangers.
It's a climb of 400 odd steps to the Limestone Pavement on top.
Clints and Grikes rule up here.
We take a while just taking in the views up here. It's another fabulous day of weather.
Now it's quiz time. Top left, why is our Cumnock lassie different to the other four in the picture.Answer later.
Cairns, settlements, hut circles, limestone crags and drystane walls get us to our lunchspot..........
.......................overlooking Malham Tarn , and Malham Tarn Field Studies Centre.
This is where Charles Kingsley in 1863 was inspired to write 'The Water Babies - A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby'
While having lunch, a topless trio walked by. Our ladies were quite unimpressed with the 'Manboobs'.
After lunch we're heading east and south.
In this are the OS map is littered with Shake Holes.
Best to stick to the paths folks, or you might just disappear for ever.
Apparently this is an 1986 single engine (2500-D1) two seater Grob.
Just over this dyke is the path down to Gordale Scar. It's a bit of a climb down, then we have to come up again. (looking into it, i've found we could have followed it all the way down)
I'm reluctant being quite weary, but I'm persuaded to descend.
I've no problem with descents, that's me at the front.
I don't go all the way down, but make my way along a craggy ridge to take all the above pictures.
The pictures with people show the scale of Gordale Scar. I'd like to go back and ascend at my own pace.
A winding path over New Close Knotts (bottom left above) gets us down to Gordale Bridge.........
.....................where refreshments are thoroughly enjoyed.
I didn't ask, but perhaps this school party are from my kids old school ?
The rescue helicopter passes over.
Following Gordale Beck, Janet's Foss is next on our way back.
Our own 'Water Baby' was soon paddling happily.
We pass another wishing tree.
Open and farming countryside and the Pennine Way get us back to Malham............
......................where the Buck Inn is a welcome retreat. (Note the top two pictures in the above collage, perfect synchronized drinking)
The group's a little split up at the end as the other two blokes are in another pub, while the other two ladies have fallen behind due to the attraction of the waterfall.
We're soon all reunited though.
Quiz Answer:- Four blue tops versus one pink.
Back at the house, Scoop prepared the evening meal of Pizza and Salad which was washed down with excellent wine.
A really enjoyable day and I slept a little better that night.
Extra Photos
Extra Photos
Added the17th June
Poor wee owl! Trying to repress the part of me that says that that was a great photo oppotunity - I do hope it found it's way back up the tree (or one of the rangers helped it up).
ReplyDeleteYour mystery bird with the cracking profile is a lapwing.
Hi Sandy, yes I 'm sure the couple behind us were already attempting to contact a park ranger about the owl before we moved on.
ReplyDeleteI should have recognized the Peewit, having been raised watching them in the Fife fields of my childhood.........it's an age thing.
"Scottish money was reluctantly accepted."
ReplyDeleteI've experienced this once when we had been touring around in Scotland and then our next stop was London. I was stared at if I was some kind of an extraterrestrial visitor and words were exchanged whether they can accept my payment in Scottish money or not! That was back in the 1980's and it felt weird - but now in retrospect it feels even more so as we here in the euro-zone pay with whatever coins we happen to have from any other euro country (the notes of course don't differ from country to country).
Hi Maria, I suppose if there was only Bank of Scotland notes it would probably be easier for us, but we also have notes of the Clydsdale Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland. To compound the issue further we also have Northern Irish banknotes circulating and there's four of them.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that there's much more forgery of Bank of England notes, the £20 note being the favourite.