Walk Description

After a wet week, Steve and I agreed to venture into Yorkshire again and meet up with Dave Josie at the Cow and Calf at Ilkley.  The weather was mixed and included an extremely heavy shower. The sunny intervals brought out the colour in moor and really brighten the day.  Ilkley, Yorkshire was once a renowned spa town and its hydrotherapy pools have attracted famous names such as Charles Darwin. The popularity of the town at this time brought with it a certain degree of wealth, and as a result the fine Victorian architecture that sprang up during this period can still be seen today. Today, we weren't visiting the town but were off to explore Ilkley's famous moor. 

We arrived at the car park about 30 mins before Dave and used that time to explore the Cow and Calf rocks.  Legend has it that the Calf became separated from the Cow when the giant Rombald stamped on the Cow before leaping across the valley in order to get away from an enemy.  Some say the 'enemy' was actually his wife! 

Once we were kitted out, the four of us went to look at the Ilkley Moor quarry.  Steve decided that he was going to take the short cut and scrambled up the back wall.  Dave, Josie and myself decided to take the more sedate route and walked around the outside of the quarry and up onto the moor.  Not long after we all met up again, the heavens opened and we rushed to don waterproofs and shield cameras from the torrential rain.  Thankfully the rain only lasted a few minutes and we were treated to the sight of a rainbow over Askwith.  The dark dramatic skies and sunlit fields made for some interesting views.  The rain had swollen Backstone Beck and the usual stepping stone was almost underwater. 

We continued heading roughly southwards until we reached the crossroads at Lanshaw Lad.  The Twelve Apostles stone circle is not far from the crossroads.  This is a neolithic stone circle.  It is thought that the stones could be more than 3,000 years old.  After spending a little while looking at the stones we took the path heading eastwards towards Burley Moor.  We then joined a good path that took us towardfs a large hut.  Here we left the main path and made our way down towards Coldstone Beck.  We crossed the beck fairly high up and contoured above the ravine.  Part way along this path was a large stone trough.  Steve decided that the weather was a little cold for out-door bathing and he would postpone his ablutions until the summer, when hopefully the water would be a little warmer.  We continued along this path until we met up with the Dales Way Link, here we turned northwards and followed the path along the edge of the moor back towards the car. 
 
It had been an interesting walk and although a little damp under foot in places the paths had been easy to follow.  In actual fact the moor is riddled with paths and path finding is more a case of checking you are on the correct path rather than finding a path. 

The walk took about two and three quarter hours and despite the late start to the walk we were back to the car by approx 2pm.  Thanks to Dave, Josie and Steve for their company.

 

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Walk Profile

The route map shown here should not be used as a replacement for the appropriate map(s). Before attempting the walk you should check the suitability of this route in relation to your capabilities and experience.