August's Pictures

Another month has passed and here are the pictures taken each day during August.




Aug 1 - Sundial in Wharfemeadows Park, Otley







Aug 2 -New White Budlia in the garden.







Aug 3 - First batch of courgettes out of the garden.







Aug 4 - Move of location for Slimming World to the URC church hall in Otley.






Aug 5 - View across lower Wharfedale taken on the way home.







Aug 6 - Park at Pateley Bridge.







Aug 7 - New lawnmower.







Aug 8 - Dreamboats and Petticoats at The Grand in Leeds that we went to see on the Monday night.






Aug 9 - Walk on Ilkley Moor (This photo was used the following night on the Look North Weather Bulletin).






Aug 10 - Wharfedale from Askwith.






Aug 11 - Fields near Grantham where I had been on business that day.






Aug 12 - Toad in the yard after we moved the recycling bin.








Aug 13 - Bush trimming.







Aug 14 - View down Nidderdale after a walk up there.







Aug 15 - Moor Lane during an evening walk.







August 16 - Church foyer decorated for George Tyerman's funeral.






Aug 17 - Floral displays outside The Junction.







Aug 18 - Midsummer meal at our Church Minister's house with the 1812 Group.







Aug 19 - Sheep in the field near Addingham.






Aug 20 - Darwen Tower on the walk with the Wainwright Society.







Aug 21 - Playing for morning Church service as our regular organist was on holiday.







Aug 22 - Pitman Painters at The Grand theatre in Leeds - a great play!






Aug 23 - Site at the old Alexander's Garage being cleared ready for new house building.







Aug 24 - Haymaking in the fields near Eccup on the way home.






Aug 25 - U Boat on the Canal in Leeds which was featured on Look North.






Aug 26 - Trip to Sheffield from work meant I had to go past Hillsborough.







Aug 27 - Walk at Greenhow where I met the farmer and his sheepdogs on the latter part of the walk.





Aug 28 - Hedge cutting.








Aug 29 - Walk up at Norwood followed by Cream Teas at the Chapel on Bank Holiday Monday.








Aug 30 - Repairs to manhole in the yard.






August 31 - The family and Phil Maud. Phil was my Best Man and is Chris's Godfather. Phil's father had sadly passed away and we all attended the funeral over at Horsforth.

Ilkley Moor

Ilkley Moor is a long ridge of millstone grit, immediately to the south of Ilkley. Synonymous with the famous “Yorkshire Anthem”, with or without a hat, Ilkley Moor is a special place, not just for walkers, but for lovers of archaeological relics too. These extensive heather moors are identified on maps as Rombalds Moor, named after a legendary giant who roamed the area. But, thanks to the famous song - Yorkshire's unofficial anthem - Ilkley Moor is how it's always known. My walk on a lovely evning took me from the centre of Ilkley out over the moor to a number of these archaeological stones.

To the north end of the moor, where the moor drops steeply down towards the village of Ben Rhydding are two millstone grit rock climbing areas: Rocky Valley and Ilkley Quarry. Ilkley Quarry is the site of the famous "Cow and Calf", a large rock formation consisting of an outcrop and boulder, also known as Hangingstone Rocks. The rocks are made of millstone grit, a variety of sandstone, and are so named because one is large, with the smaller one sitting close to it, like a cow and calf. Legend has it that there was once also a "bull", but that was quarried for stone during the spa town boom Ilkley was part of in the 19th century. However, none of the local historians has provided any evidence of the Bull's existence.

According to local legend, the Calf was split from the Cow when the giant Rombald was fleeing an enemy, and stamped on the rock as he leapt across the valley. The enemy, it is said, was his angry wife. She dropped the stones held in her skirt to form the local rock formation The Skirtful of Stones. The name of the giant Rombald is likely to be a retrovention, due to the name of the entire 'Rombalds Moor', which is most likely to derive its title from the de Rommilles, who held the honour of Skipton in the thirteenth century.

July 2006 saw a major fire on the moor which left between a quarter and half of it destroyed. Located on the Woodhouse Crag, on the Northern edge of Ilkley Moor there is a swastika-shaped pattern engraved in a stone, known as the Swastika Stone This stone is, however, just one of a great abundance of carved rocks on the moor, well known others include the 'Badger Stone' and 'St. Margaret's Stones'. These are earthfast boulders, large flat slabs or prominent rocks that have cups, rings and grooves cut into them and thought to date from either the late Neolithic or the Bronze Age. While some carvings consist of simple cups, others such as the Badger Stone, Hanging Stones and the Panorama Rocks have complex series of patterns (or motifs) combining many different elements. Indeed Rombalds Moor can boast the second highest concentration of ancient carved stones in Europe, with carving as far away as Skipton Moor. There is also a small stone circle known as 'The Twelve Apostles' which I visited at the end of the walk.


The edges of the moor.






Heather in bloom






View of the whole of Ilkley (Rombalds) Moor taken from Askwith.






Views over to the Cow & Calf












The Swastika Stone







Heber Ghyll Reservoir and the Cow & Calf in the distance.







Photo that appeared on Look North weather the following night after I had emailed it to the programme.








View up Wharfedale.






More heather.






White Wells, one of the spas that made Ilkley famous.





The moon appearing over the moor.












Sunset to the west.






The moon and jet trails.






The Twelve Apostles Circle.
























New footpaths being laid on the moor.