Last month Kathy from Living in a Rapid City posted about a walk round her neighbourhood, I thought it was a lovely idea, it always helps when you can picture someone in their own surroundings. So thanks Kathy for the inspiration, I thought I’d take you on one of my dog walks.
To set the scene, I live on the edge of a market town called Otley, it’s about 12 miles out of Leeds. When I say edge, there’s nothing but green fields and Otley Chevin behind us and it’s about a 20 minute walk into town.
Behind our garden is an old railway line, Otley lost it’s railway station in the Beeching cuts of 1965 and our section has been turned into a footpath, perfect for walking our dogs. This photo is from just outside our gate, with Rosie disappearing into the distance as usual!
A short distance along is what we call The Hump, it’s obviously where there used to be a bridge for the farmer, rather than maintaining a bridge they’ve filled in the cutting and we walk over the top. From the top of the hump there’s a lovely view through a 5 bar gate into the fields beyond, I love this view, with all the wild flowers in front.
Beyond the hump is a long straight path with sycamores, elderflowers, hawthorns and silverbirches to give a dappled shade from the sunshine, always useful with a golden retriever!
The Hump!
Half way down is The Bench, as you can see we are original in our naming of places! Unfortunately it won’t make sense to anyone now as the picnic bench fell apart about 15 years ago!! I always stand here for a short while as just occasionally we see deer in this field. I’m pretty sure they are roe deer, there’s meant to be several hundred on the Chevin, but it’s a special treat when we see one. I was walking here a couple of weeks ago with my OH when I thought I spotted one very near next to the wall, ‘There’s a deer!’ ‘No it’s not, it’s a log!’ says my OH. It was so well camouflaged with the wall that it took a while to see it’s face, before it ran up to the top, showing it’s white bottom!
The Bench!
It’s about a half mile walk to the other end of the railway line, at the end it’s just a short distance up to the road up the Chevin, unfortunately there’s no way through so instead we have to go down to the main road, cross a dual carriageway and walk up West Chevin Road from the bottom. It’s quite a climb up West Chevin Road but that does mean you get the views…
This is near the bottom, you can just see a fence at the bottom of the field, that’s the railway line we’ve just walked along. You can just see Denton Moor behind, last time I walked across there it was so windy we saw a duck flying backwards, literally!!!
Half way up and the views across to Burley and Ilkley are opening up. The moor on the left as a land mass is called Rombolds Moor, but Ilkley moor is the more famous part of it due to the song On Ilkla Moor Baht’at. The song is a lot of fun but actually quite gruesome, it’s all about catching a death of cold from going up on Ilkley Moor without a hat on and how through the natural food chain, we all end up eating them!! My southern friends were quite shocked when I explained the dialect lyrics!
From the top we can just about make out the corner of our house, right in the left hand corner with solar panels on the roof!
Half way up there’s a footpath to the right, it’s just been re-routed slightly and it’s much easier to navigate with dogs now. From there it’s a pleasant meander down through what is probably best described as wooded meadow.
There’s a big marsh here, you can just see the yellow flag irises. Last time Rosie was up here with my daughter she decided it looked a nice cool place to wallow in, luckily this time she walked straight past, maybe she felt eau de cowpat from the field before was sufficient!
We meander down to the old railway bridge, cross it and then drop down the side to get down to the path.
From there it’s a short walk back home, passed a huge mock orange blossom which fills our garden with scent and down the path into our garden. Hope you enjoyed the walk, it’s just over two miles, time for a cup of tea in the garden I think!
What a delightful walk! So lush and green. I imagine it would be a wonderful walk in all seasons though, especially Autumn! Your post is quite timely, as I am just about to post about my walk around the city of Melbourne ~ not nearly as rural as yours!
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It is lovely in all seasons, I love the smell in autumn, together with all the crunchy leaves 🙂
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Pingback: A trip into town | Anne Lawson
I do love a walk where you can say ‘you can see our house from here’ 😉
Having had a golden retriever until a few years ago I smiled at the disappearing rear end of your one. Our Susie was always wandering off ahead (and, in her younger days, off chasing pheasant) and if there was anything to wallow in, she would.
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She loves to wallow, the smellier the mud the better
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Lovely! Makes me very nostalgic for the Berkshire farmland countryside of my childhood. There’s nothing like a nice green lane winding away into the distance to make you fancy a good walk, is there?
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I love walking down the old green lanes, as much for the feeling of history as the enjoyment of walking along them.
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oh yes that was a lovely walk, now, put the kettle on! ^^
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We did, I sat in the garden with a lovely cup of Yorkshire tea 🙂
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So buccholic. It is so beautiful and so peaceful. I can see your surroundings inspire your art. Thank you so much for sharing,
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Thanks Mary, we do live in a lovely part of England and I always appreciate it when I look around our area.
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Amblin’ about the world this morning on several charming tours. Thank you so much for taking me along through your lovely lush countryside with the dogs. Judith in North Carolina, USA
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Thoroughly enjoyable walk, who said west Yorkshire was all mills! I love that old railway lines have become some wonderful places to walk.
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West Yorkshire is definitely not all mills, that was probably said by a southerner who’d never been further north than Watford Gap 🙂
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Absolutely wonderful Margaret! Thanks for taking us along!
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And thanks for the shout out!
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You’re welcome 🙂
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Lovely walk — the photos were a real treat!
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What a GREAT walk! The few times I’ve been to England, the thing I liked best was this ability to ramble on paths all over the place. Property owners in the US would never allow such a thing!
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Ah, you need a mass trespass like the Kinder Scout Trespass in 1932, that’s what earmarked the way for right to access the countryside with the National Parks and long distance walks like the Pennine Way following on from it.
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A really lovely post. Thank you for sharing it!
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I once made a visit to Otley to see an old university friend. It’s a lovely place. I didn’t get the chance to climb the Chevin or the ‘Chev’ as he called it. You photos prove it is glorious and perhaps one day I will be able to return and climb it myself!
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It’s a small world 🙂
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Indeed it is! 😊
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