Bingley Moor

I'm never quite sure where Bingley Moor morphs in to Burley Moor and then in to Ilkley Moor, suffice to say we have a lot of moor!

I decided on a longer local walk this morning and thoroughly enjoyed the first two thirds, across the blustery moor first then thwarted by a herd of cows around the footpath stile on the estate side.  That resulted in a detour, at which point I realised my initial plan would take me significantly away from the woodland at which I was aiming.  That's what comes of choosing a route which is on the corner of four maps!  

I dropped down through a field, hoping to find a stile which would take me in to Transfield Woods or Druids Altar Woods.  No joy, so I shinned over a wall, with apologies to the farmer, but it was a sturdy one so I wasn't going to do any damage, and landed on the footpath.  At this point I had not passed anyone in just under an hour.  Sadly, as soon as I entered the estate it was as if all the world and his wife were taking in the breeze.  It was manageable until I reached the path coming down past the golf course.  There was nowhere to go to maintain a distance and there were families and dogs, golfers and runners all across the path.  It's funny how you can grow used to being in isolation such that 'crowds' which I would normally have weaved my way through, suddenly seem scary.  At the first opportunity I picked up one of the lesser used paths away from the main thoroughfare and, with relief, encountered no one as I dropped down through the wood and on to home.

The views on my route were once again long distance and the skies constantly changed from light to dark.  The long grass in the fields was a sea of green waves in the wind, buttercups completing the scene.  I had blipped a solitary hawthorn in bloom, hit by sunlight with a heavy sky behind, but sadly it did not work as well as I had hoped.  So I've gone with this view across the Aire Valley.