Babs Boot 2nd Eyelet RFM Blue Line Walking with Theo

 

Babs Boot 2nd Eyelet 

RFM Blue Line 

Walking with Theo

15/04/26

    

On a windy, cloudy, typically Pennine spring day we set off from Baildon Moor to go onto Ilkley Moor as far as the 12 Apostles. This is a tough little walk 1 biggish hill but starting high up so the views from the off were long and satisfying. Theos always good company on a walk and he is fit enough to keep up with me. It looked wild and uninviting but there were some great little encounters and events on this muddy walk.

The starting point near Baildon golf club.

The views from the start were great if a little dark. I think the Brontës would have called this a lowering sky, and it was.

We headed down the golf course to pick up the Dales High Way at the point Nev and I left it last week.

We crossed the gallops and headed off towards Birch Close farm alongside one of the tracks. Picking our way through the farm buildings and converted barn we literally were walking past people's kitchen windows. There is a lot less privacy on some of these rural properties than there is in the town due to rights of way. The gallops seem to be made up of old shredded cotton cloth of all colours and shades. I'm sure the race horses love it. We did not see any race horses on the gallops on this walk.

In the far far distance we could see the outline of Leeds.

Our last view of the area used by the race horses was this practice starting gate.

Near Weecher reservoir we saw the Belted Galloways in the rough pasture and the odd looking black and white sheep relaxing in the longish grass.

These chaps at the res were getting out their radio controlled model yatchs to sail on the water. It was windy enough to be exciting but we didn't see them sailing.

We crossed the busy road and headed up onto the moor leaving the farmland below.

It was all up hill but on a relatively benign slope but a long slope so the legs were feeling it. The underfoot was patchy mud and water dominated in places and in others the path had dried out.

As we climbed the stratocumulus  clouds seemed to be getting closer as they were. I threw Theo a nugget explaining what stratocumulus clouds were and how the base of the clouds was the place where the atmosphere started to form clouds also known as the dew point. We could see that this was a uniform low height and above it was considerable turbulence. 

As we got higher we got more and more into the centre of Ilkley Moor and the long distance photo of Leeds revealed even more high buildings.

A Grouse entertained us near the path, perhaps it had a nest nearby.

We had the moor to ourselves today. Its bleak, big and awesome.

We watched a plane descend to the airport and a bright patch on the hillside over towards Oxenhope.

We reached the marker stone where originally this route would have returned down the hill but we had already decided to carry on to the Apostles to make next week's walk easier. The domes at Menwith Hill, to the north north east were easily visible from this high point. 

We reached the 12 Apostles and I told Theo that they were only a couple of hundred years old but on Googling them I find I was wrong and they are actually a 4000 years old Bronze Age monument. I'll put him right next time I see him. 

We took in the views and then set off back down the moor. Its hard to explain how lonely it is to be up there with no other walkers we seemed to be miles from civilisation.

We passed a couple of Kites hunting on the moor. Our view at the time was much better than this photo and we could see their forked tails. Theo remembered from a previous walk that I had explained to him how you could tell a Kite from a Buzzard. Little nuggets.

It was quite a rapid descent but part of it was tromping over wet heather with no visible path. It did get much better but the path was wet and sticky.

Some Greylag Geese shared our path but they got out of the way as we approached. A lovely encounter. Normally I see them on lakes so it was a surprise to see them on the moor.

As we left the moor the smashed up excavator looked out of place. Graincliffe Res looked nice.

Then it was down the slope at Eldwick to the back of Dick Hudsons pub where we dropped onto the road. We could smell the dinner time cooking, it smelt good. Thyeo explaind this was one of his mum's favourite pubs to visit.

A short walk along the busy pathless Otley road was unpleasant but necessary for us to join the Dales Way Link Footpath. Every footpath seems to need a name. To be fair if it keeps them open and encourages ramblers, I am all for it.

This field provided an interesting problem. We needed to go down into the corner and then along the bottom wall to the stile. But the field was full of big horses. I did my normal risk assessment and decided it was ok but we needed to be careful. This was arrived at because Theo spotted a pair of walkers crossing the field as we descended it and the horses were calm. We passed a pair of Oystercatchers and started to approach the horses. 

We had discussed our approach to the horses: to avoid eye contact with them and to walk calmly and slowly so as not to spook them. Hopefully they were more interested in eating grass than our passage.

It all went well except one very big stallion was hugging the path at the bottom so we had to walk between him and 2 other horses to pass. It was ok they ignored us but watched us carefully. It was only as we left that I realised that these were all stallions.

Theo showed great calm and positivity though I know like me he was wary. Well done lad.

About a mile from the end going down a lane to the golf course the weather turned and it started to rain. So it was a bit if a trudge up the hill back to the car. Theo was full of beans and fairly zipped up the hill with me plodding on behind. 

What a great walk with lots of bird life, a horse encounter, views a plenty and landing aircraft. It had it all. I threw out a few nuggets and Theo described some of the places he know in the landscape. Mutual learning. 

Next week Ilkley to the 12 apostles and hopefully 2 more walkers to accompany us.

We did talk quite a lot about Babs in postive terms and it was comforting and helpful for me in this most difficult of all weeks.

A good distance at nearly 8 miles and a reasonable ascent at 750 feet made this a challenging but doable walk. Too long for our other 2 walkers but they will get there eventually. More walking practice makes these walks possible. I call it miles in the legs if that makes sense.

OS Map

https://explore.osmaps.com/route/31510451/babs-boot-2nd-eyelet-rfm-blue-lines?lat=53.88475&lon=-1.83171&zoom=12.1097&style=Leisure&type=2d&overlays=os-obstacles-layer