Last Friday evening

Me and our Tuss' took our last Friday evening dog walk as Wharfedale residents yesterday. We are off and away very soon now! Ironically we met a couple who told Stef and I to "get a dog if you want one, and don't worry, your lives will change to accommodate it". They were so correct

Autumn approaches

Me and our Tussock

Heaven on Earth

We drove up the dale and then over to Arncliffe in Littondale today. I love Wharfedale but Littondale is at least as beautiful, and generally gets far fewer visitors. We walked around 10 miles including crossing the watershed twice, had lunch at the splendid West Winds tearooms in Buckden and nipped into the Falcon for a pint when we had finished. The heather is in full bloom at the moment. All together a splendid day out 

Wild

Autumn leaves

Autumn in Wharfedale

Autumn is arriving quickly in Wharfedale with dewy, misty mornings and the leaves changing colour. It's a lovely time of the year to be out walking with Tussock, whether it's up the "dale proper", or simply pottering around near home

Stepping stones

My favourite image from our Dales Way walk last weekend

Tussock and I

Tussock and I had a bit of down-time at home yesterday afternoon after a few busy weeks post Christmas, but we're going for a walk up the dale later today with Rich and Jan. Tuss is nearly 17 months old now and has grown into a lovely companion for us. He's affectionate and very sensitive to what's going on around him. We love him!

Parcevall Hall

Stef's started her garden design course now and yesterday we went to Parcevall Hall to look at their gardens. The weather was a bit damp and grey to start with but it cleared up after a while to give great views over to the surrounding fells. There is a variety of different gardens and the hall is well worth a visit

Appletreewick

Last night we drove up to Appletreewick through the Bolton Abbey estate looking out for lambs and little owls. We saw a few lambs in the fields just beyond where you drop down to the Cavendish Pavilion. There'll be many more very soon

There was no little owl where we hoped to see one but I spotted one in a new area. He was amazingly well camouflaged and apparently quite happy to sit staring at us from 30 feet or so away

Appletreewick stands a little away (and above) from the dale. It is the home to a fantastic and highly popular campsite plus two of the best pubs in the county. Tonight we went to the New Inn. Drinks were taken, steaks eaten and cards played by the fire. The village is stunning with barely a brick to be seen and also the most amazingly clear skies after dark. There's very little light pollution and the night sky has to be seen to be believed; especially in winter. It really is a special place

Wales and dales

We managed three runs over the extended weekend (we'd booked Friday off work for Stef's postponed BG). On Friday we had a relatively fast run over our favourite 'four climbs' route between Upper Wharfedale and Littondale. We did our best ever time for this and celebrated with soup and a sandwich afterwards in Zarina's. On Saturday we had a steady run / walk around the LDWA Walden route with Martyn and Helen (23 miles / 4,500 feet climb) in 'mixed' weather conditions, and on Sunday we went over to Liverpool to meet Yiannis for a run out near Llangollen in North Wales.This was the first time I'd been in the area for far too long and as me and Stef were approaching the car after a really good outing we spotted a male hen harrier! A further treat was the wonderful roast beef dinner followed by apple pie and ice-cream that Yiannis' wife Cath provided for us on our return. All in all a most splendid weekend and a good return to some proper training after a few lazy weeks on my part. Totals for weekend were approaching 45 miles and 11,000 feet climb 

Snowy Dales weekend

Stef and I were going to go to the Lakes last weekend for some BG training but the weather forecast put us off so we spent the weekend a bit closer to home in Kettlewell. We stayed (and ate twice) at Zarina's and we were made very welcome. We managed to get out on the hill both Saturday and Sunday but the snow drifts and strong (and bitterly cold!) wind made movement slow

Spring migration seems to be limited to oystercatcher and curlew at present. I've still not seen a wheatear but on Sunday afternoon we spotted a ring ouzel close to where we saw one last autumn in Littondale. There are a lot of curlew in Wharfedale now but at the weekend they were huddled together and dispersion for breeding looked to be the last thing on their minds

Afternoon up the dale

I managed to secure a half day holiday at short notice yesterday so around lunch-time went up to Kettlewell with Stef to do a long hilly run. We started off by climbing Great Whernside by the fell race route past Hag Dyke. There was a decent amount of snow on the top but we got up (not a lot of running to be be honest) and back down (all ran) okay. After nipping in the tea shop to buy fruit cake it was over the hill into Arncliffe (in Littondale), back into Wharfedale at Starbotton and then back the way we went into Kettlewell by reversing the two climbs and descents

The route sounds contrived but is much more 'organic' when you're doing it than you might think. On the tops above the two dales there was fairly heavy snow, which was settling nicely above around 1,200 feet and conditions were 'interesting' at times. The run totalled about 15 miles with 5,500 feet of climb and we were moving for a bit under 5 hours

On the way home we called at the Craven Arms at Appletreewick and met a nice couple there who have friends who'd done, among other things, the West Highland Way race, the Fellsman and a BG. It was a great way to round off a memorable  afternoon and evening

Hobbling

The Haworth Hobble has long been one of my favourite events and this year was my eighth since joining Keighley and Craven back in 2004. The 'best' run I've had was in 2011 when a group of pals and I joined together and ran round under 6 hours. Last year was a real struggle off no long runs for months and some of the worse cramp I've ever had!

On Saturday I ran with Stef as planned as a pair (the event was traditionally pairs only) and we did alright. Stef had an abdominal problem which stopped her in her tracks a few times around the 21 miles mark (between Stoodley Pike and Hebden Bridge) and that cost us some time but she dug in very well and we finished strong including running a good chunk of the tarmac up to Penistone Hill (a first for me). I was a bit disappointed with our time of 6 hour 16 mins when we finished but felt really well on Sunday so with hindsight I'm pleased with what we achieved 

We managed a walk in the dales on Sunday (10 miles / 3,700 feet) in absolutely Baltic conditions so had a decent weekend's training. The Fellsman and Lakeland 100 (plus Stef's BG) are getting nearer and we aren't in bad shape as I thought

Hebden Gold

Our 'streak' seems a long time ago because both Stef and I have been struck down with vile colds (flu actually in Stef's case) and we've done very little running since last weekend. Yesterday however we did manage a short walk in the Strid Woods and a drive up to Hebden to finally see Andy Hodge's gold postbox. While we were there it seemed rude not to pop into the Old School tea-shop across the road, where frothy coffees were taken along with an enormous slice of fresh-cream Victoria sponge cake 

Bluebells

Photograph taken yesterday on my phone just as you enter the Strid Woods and a prime spot for pied flycather

Wharfedale Bank Holiday birding

Stef and I have done a couple of lovely short birdwatching walks over the Bank Holiday weekend with Stef's parents. Yesterday we parked in Starbotton and walked up to Buckden and back via the excellent West Winds teashop and today we did my old favourite Barden Bridge to Cavendish Pavilion loop

We managed to see all the classic Wharfedale specials I'd hoped we'd see including wood warbler, pied flycatcher, dipper, kingfisher, mandarin duck, all three species of wagtail including a stunning male yellow wagtail, redstart, treecreeper, common sandpiper, nutchatch and sand martin. I was chuffed with a male redstart yesterday and a female this morning in particular, because redstart is a bit of a bogey bird for me!