V is for Verdant Walk (A-Z Challenge)

After completing a long day in my office the sun was still brilliant through my window and I decided upon a walk. Throwing on a light coat and a pair of comfortable walking boots, always ready by the front door, I closed the door of my little cottage behind me and headed down the lane. The evening air had that wonderful cool freshness about it. Breathing it in was like drinking a long cold glass of iced water on a hot day. There was a spring in my step and there was contentment about this simple act of putting one foot in front of the other. I stopped a while overlooking the valley, which dips sharply down towards the river and watched rabbits chasing each other up and down the hill. Beyond, the sheep stood, dotted about a farmer's field. We are well into lambing season, here in the Yorkshire Dales and lambs are everywhere, playing with gay abandon on every hillside. I walked on and soon crossed the old iron bridge, which spans the river. We have had some rain recently and the river was full and fast, its sound like distant thunder, its white froth bubbling and churning. This river runs west towards the sea but first has to flow through many little villages and rolling hillsides to get there. There, the sun was setting; its gold and yellow haze, its gentle warmth on my face. I stopped several times just to stand, eyes closed against the light; the gentle breeze, the bleating of lambs, the song of many birds newly arrived for the spring.

At the halfway point of my walk I turned to look back. The beautiful mountain was bathed in the golden light and its rugged and rocky slopes were accentuated by the low evening sun. This mountain stands behind my village, which nestles in the valley, invisibly from this viewpoint. So I began my return journey via a different route, the mountain peak directly ahead of me, drawing me home. And soon, just around the next bend, the most beautiful and verdant view appeared, as it always does, but still makes me stop and stare. Beyond the dry stone wall, the field, beyond the field a wonderful meadow. Beyond the meadow the rolling hillside dotted with countless sheep. Beyond the hillside, the sky; vivid blue with cotton wool clouds whose edges were pulled by invisible fingers into wispy strands disappearing into the distance.

I stayed at this spot for a while before walking on down the lane towards the valley bottom. Entering my village I was greeted, as usual, by three ponies - two white and one brown - poking their noses through a farmyard gate. Some young people stood feeding them grass and stroking their manes. Almost home I crossed the river again - it is actually two rivers at this point, which join to form the one I crossed earlier. The smoke from the chimneys in the village smelled of wood and sweetness and I climbed up to the village centre near the church on the hill before turning right and back towards the cottage. By now the sun was almost set but I noticed again how much longer the days are now that spring is finally underway. There's an ancient beauty to this place and, as I unlocked my front door, I was reminded again of how lucky I am to be here.

I really enjoyed my verdant walk and just had to tell you about it. I couldn't wait for 'W'.

I is for Ingleborough (A-Z Challenge)

Ingleborough has become one of my favourite mountains. I walk there often since moving to the Yorkshire Dales about a year and a half ago. This photograph was taken recently, on a lovely spring day on one of the many approaches to it. Winter is still trying to cling on in the UK and you can still see the snow on the mountainside. But spring is certainly in the air now.

Ingleborough is the second highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, at 723m and one of a trio of mountains known as the 'The Three Peaks'.  The other two are Whernside (736m) and Pen-y-ghent (694m). I've had the pleasure of climbing all three a number of times. These three peaks are climbed regularly, one after the other, as part of the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge: a 24 mile circular walk ending in a little village called Horton-in-Ribblesdale.

Ingleborough is intriguing in that there are visible remains of ruined battlements at the summit and evidence of ancient round houses. I love the thought that people have lived and died on this mountain for so many centuries. One funny story is of a round tower ,or Hospice, which was built close to the summit in 1830. On the day of its opening the celebrations became so raucous and alcohol-fuelled that the tower was pulled down and partly destroyed by the revellers. It was never re-built and the rest was destroyed some time later. Its scattered remains are there to this day.