- A Yorkshire Trip to see Family   -

Date & Time: Saturday 17th November 2007. 3.45 pm start.

Location of Start : Maxwell Road, Ilkley, Yorkshire, UK. ( Map Ref: SE 129 471 )

Places visited : Hangingstone Road, White Wells Tarn, the Cow and Calf Rocks and back.

Walk details : 1.75mls, 425 ft of ascent, 1 hr 20 mins.

Walked with : Peter and Mary Hiley, Pam Galloway, Stephen, Elaine and Tim Hiley, Ann and the dogs, Toby, Harry and Bethan.

Weather : Cool, overcast and rather grey. Threatening rain but it stayed dry.

We were in Ilkley to see family so a walk just before the light went was chance to exercise ourselves and the dogs,

and to see some of the local surroundings.

Taking a hat as advised in all good traditional folk songs as we ventured out onto the edge of "Ilkely Moor".

A grand name for a road - it's the one that leads out of town, up to the Cow and Calf Rocks.

We took a moorland path away from the road in the direction of Ilkley Tarns.

Stephen couldn't recall a name for the distant cantilever rock. I'm informed that it is called the Neb Stone on Ilkley Crags.

The square building used to be Ann's old college, but is now been converted into residential flats.

It was nice to see the building is still in use, and the sight of it brought back many memories for her.

The Lower Tarn at Ilkley.

This area was landscaped in Victorian days and was one of the places that the visitors promenaded after taking the Spa Waters.

Today there are more Mallard ducks than people promenading.

~ White Wells ~

The building with the flags is on the site of one of Ilkley's Spa Water springs and still has a small plunge bath if you care too brave the cold waters.

Nowadays it is a cafe serving teas and coffees, and is open whenever the flags are flying. I believe you can still drink the water if you want to.

Walking back the opposite direction now, we look back on the old college as we make our way along the 'pipeline path'.

Family photo . . . my two brothers, a sister, two sisters-in-law, a nephew plus my good lady wife in no particular order . . .

Tim, Elaine and Stephen, Pam, Mary and Peter, and Ann.

We're up in Grit stone country, but the light is starting to fade.

Stephen has climbed the Calf Rock.

Over the years steps have been carved out of the rock to make the climb easier.

A slight wobble due to the time exposure but there's the Cow and Calf Inn.

The cars lights create red streaks and the white light in the sky is a jet taking off from Leeds Airport.

A heavy application of photo-shop rescued this feint image from my photo of the larger 'Cow' rocks.

Too far away for the flash to have a significant effect during this 1 second exposure, it turned out virtually black on the camera.

Climbing up onto the top of the rocks we found the whole area covered with signatures carved into the rocks.

More modern ones were scratched in, but these older ones must have been painstakingly chiseled by hand.

Ilkley Town from the Cow and Calf Rocks.

The outdoor sports centre at the bottom end of town next to the River Wharf, in Wharfedale.

A Five-legged dog !

It's been a long day, the dogs crash out for a well deserved sleep after we had travelled home !

- - - o o o - - -

Technical note: Pictures taken with a Canon G7 Digital camera.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . . a nice sociable curry afterwards.

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Previous walk - 15th Nov 2007 A Frosty start to Maiden Moor

A link to a local Wharfdale Walking Group I've heard of : The Olicana Telephone Company

Next walk 23rd Nov 2007 Sale Fell before - George Fisher's Guided Walk