The Dales Way long distance footpath skirts the Scargill estate, on its way from Ilkley to Bowness in the Lake District. It makes for a good walk up the hillside, along a decent track at this point.
Despite the drizzle, it was good to keep stopping to look back - gave me a breather too, as the track is quite steep here. You can literally see the weather coming at you along the valley!
Eventually the track levels out onto a flattish ridge, and here the views are broader as the valley opens out to the south. You can perhaps make out the overhang of Kilnsey Crag in the middle distance of the picture below. An outcrop of limestone, it's a magnet for climbers.
Up here there's also a small patch of limestone pavement, its deep fissures holding ferns and mosses. I always feel like I'm back in my school geography lessons when I'm up here. I can hear my teacher explaining about 'clints and grikes', and teaching us how contours on maps work, by use of a nifty plasticine 'hill' in a tub that she filled up with water, stopping every inch to gouge a contour line in the 'hill'.
I love these vistas!
ReplyDeleteMy kind of walk! Sturdy boots on, raingear ready (but hopefully not necessary all the time), and off we go.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Hobbiton!
ReplyDelete