Ilkley moor

On Friday I had the opportunity to spend a day walking from Steeton, near Keighley. I readily planned a route northwards to Addingham High Moor, down to Ilkley and back via Ilkley Moor and the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

Near a footbridge over Holden Beck

The ascent was generally easy-going although with twists and turns through farms and their associated land. The view from the moor wasn't great due to low laying mist, which persisted all day. From the old bathhouse I descended into the town for a coffee and to buy some fresh socks as, for some reason, the right sock seemed to be at risk of causing a blister. I suspect that my brisk descent of the steps initiated an ankle problem that I noticed later.

After a break and a spirited march back up to the moor I crossed the potentially wetland without problem. Lengths of stone pavers have been laid making the walk far less swampy than one might expect. Even the gloriously named Yellow Bog was dry underfoot.

Pavers and grass on Yellow Moor

There was more road time than I'd have liked to reach the canal in the Airedale valley but the historical development of industry and housing has built a border between the moor and valley. The canal path has been opened up as a national cycle path which means it's well maintained, but one must keep an eye for cyclists at speed.

Autumn appearing along the Leeds-Liverpool canal

After a few, again easy, kilometres I turned off to retrace my way to the car in Steeton. The last 10km were uncomfortable as I'd noted a gradually worsening pain in my right ankle, or perhaps shin. As mentioned earlier, I wonder if the steps between Ilkley Moor and the town had overload something. I've no better explanation. Ironically, I'd decided to walk rather than slow-run so as not to tire myself before a potential Saturday run. I've not done that, instead taking it easy with ibuprofen gel applied liberally.

It was a lovely 31km walk with a range of terrain and landscape, probably not what many people imagine for the outskirts of Bradford.

Another area of paths completed

My ongoing quest to walk or run all of the local Rights of Way has moved forwards another step today. I've completed those around Barlow at last.

It's taken a number of visits, sometimes from Dore, sometimes from Sheepbridge, to achieve this. The network is fairly dense and a high proportion of paths branched so it's not been easy. This morning I focussed on the southwest of the A61 and determined to fill in the gaps.

There's still plenty to do across the map...

Parkwood Springs

I still have many more miles of rights of way (RoW) to walk or run within the boundary of my local map. Today I took a tram to Hillsborough so that I could explore the network of paths at Parkwood Springs. The area is post-industrial and includes a completed landfill tip and a disused dry ski slope. It doesn't sound lovely perhaps, but it was more picturesque than expected, and with some interesting local history.

I set out from Herries Road towards Wardsend Cemetery where the path passed directly under HV pylons.

It's uncommon for a RoW to be through the ;legs of pylons

The hillside has a fair gradient and in the course of the walk I ascended twice to cover all of the paths. The hill gives a good view across the city with Shalesmoor in the foreground.

Looking Southwest from close to the derelict ski slopes

The ski slope used to be a popular sporting site, and then a night club, but after a fire it became derelict. The land, like the tip is being reclaimed by nature, and even though there are remnants of the ski material on the ground, these are hidden by wildflowers and scrubland.

Even as the bushes are turning orange, Michaelmas daises are flowering

The Pit Stop Cafe served an excellent coffee and after covering all of the RoW I took the long walk home. The parkland has many paths additional to the RoW so I can see myself returning here.