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| Leaving Clint on Shorts Lane |
I went for a very familiar walk yesterday afternoon. It involves a short drive out of the city. Once again I parked by the stables at the end of Shorts Lane, donned my boots and set off on my circular route. It takes exactly an hour to do if I keep walking but of course stopping to take pictures lengthens the time involved. See a previous post from March 2015.
It was a lovely, summery afternoon as I set off on the path that leads to Blacka Moor. Over Blacka Dyke then up Lenny Hill and before too long I am out of the trees and marching in sunshine along Strawberry Lee Lane towards Totley Bents.
I passed two houses at the tiny hamlet of Old Hay that are currently up for sale. I noticed them on "Right Move" last night and the asking price for each of them is £1million (US $1,338,000). Then through the gates to Avenue Farm and along through the meadows to Redcar Brook.
I have never encountered another walker by this stream. There was a sudden flash as a nervous grey heron flapped away. I didn't have my camera out but two minutes later with camera in hand I noticed what at first I thought was a cow on the opposite bank. Biut it wasn't a cow, it was a stag! He was grazing and he hadn't heard me coming. I guess the sound of the babbling water must have smothered the sound of my footsteps.
With foliage overhanging it was hard to get a decent picture of this wild beast. I had heard that there were a few red deer up on Blacka Moor but this stag was very close to houses on the edge of Dore village. It was a rare privilege to see him. When he finally noticed me, he ran up the slope and for a brief moment stood at the top like The Monarch of the Glen before darting into the trees.
Soon I am back on Shorts Lane, strolling back to Silver Clint who has been dozing in the shadows having consumed far too much petroleum on his last visit to the Sainsburys service station. I wish he'd switch to soda water.
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| Returning to Clint eighty minutes later |
I have to walk or ride the same trails many times. we have a couple hundred Km of trail so there's a lot of repetition.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to walk the same path in different seasons and different weather conditions. There's always something different.
DeleteSorry we missed you on our holiday. Time and distance got the better of us and I saw from your blog you were very busy with Bosh stuff. We enjoyed lovely Grassington and did some lovely
ReplyDeleteL O N G walks there. The love affair with England continues !
I am so pleased to hear this Helen. I really meant to come up to The Dales to see you. I had even earmarked a holiday cottage in Wensleydale... but while you were in Grassington we had the Bosh! launch in London and then Shirley had to work the next few days. So pleased you enjoyed your time here once again. Say hello to Tony for me.
DeleteWhat a pretty walk and how fabulous to see a stag right there!
ReplyDeleteI must have walked that circle 150 times and I never saw any deer before. It was indeed fabulous.
DeleteThanks for sharing your walk with us, Yorkie. Great photos.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Strawberry Lee
How on earth did you get that lane named after you? I am "staggered"!
DeleteWell, after they named the song after me...they realised I had a softer side..
DeleteExactly my kind of walk! That meadow full of buttercups is my favourite picture of the lot. And what a privilege indeed to have met the grazing stag along the way!
ReplyDeleteThe building beyond the buttercup field is Avenue Farm though no farming activity happens there any more.
DeleteAye. A good walk indeed.
ReplyDeleteI bet that on The Isle of Lewis you have stags coming to your kitchen window for snacks!
DeleteI read that we have wallabies here in Sussex, beat that, lol
ReplyDeleteBriony
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Wallabies? That's nothing. Here in Yorkshire we still have woolly mammoths and sabre toothed tigers.
DeleteI wish you wouldn't describe yourself that way, Yorkie!!
DeleteNaughty girl!
DeleteA wonderful photo of the stag, it's not often you can get that close to one.
ReplyDeleteThank you Sue. It is the closest I have ever got to a wild stag.
DeleteAnother picturesque walk! I love all the wildflowers. What are temperatures like there at the moment? It's already too hot here for daytime walks unless you go very early.
ReplyDeleteIt was about 20 degrees centigrade which is 68 Fahrenheit. I remember a few day walks in Thailand when the temperature was well over thirty degrees centigrade or 86 Fahrenheit. It was tough.
DeleteLovely walk and lovely photos, little brother.
ReplyDeleteI had a young deer on my mountain yesterday just sitting between two of my five lilac bushes (which are a challenge to grow here, of course) for most of the day. Then this morning, I noticed someone had trudged through my only flower garden. Musta been him! Grrrrr!
Thanks for the lovely walk on a very beautiful day. Some of the roads were hard to follow on Google, but I managed to get back to Clint before nightfall.
Some of the walk was on paths. I am happy to have taken you there Big Sis. Did you enjoy the picnic we had on Lenny Hill? You should have left some strawberries for me! Greedy girl!
DeleteThe English countryside is beautiful. I like the cottage with the buttercup field. Clint had a good snooze in that lovely shaded Short lane.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
I had to shake him to wake him up. The cottage beyond the buttercup field is in fact a substantial house. If I had a lot of money I would try to buy it. It's called Avenue Farm though it is no longer a farm!
DeleteI like that, ”the cottage beyond the buttercup field”
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It sounds like the title of a romantic novel in which an Italian beauty goes running barefoot through the buttercups before falling into the arms of The Lord of the Manor.
DeleteSounds like a great walk, and I'm glad you got a picture of the stag. I can't believe houses in that village cost a million pounds! Why so much?! Those are London prices!
ReplyDeleteThe two houses are big and desirable with several bedrooms and extensive grounds. In certain parts of London I am sure that the price would be in excess of £5 million.
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