Crossing the Beck

Small rivers in Yorkshire are often called Becks. This one is Harden Beck which runs through our village down to the River Aire in Bingley.
Today corinthian columnand I did a test walk entitled Harden Beck. It was interesting both because there was a mixture of green meadow and left over snow, now compacted and icy, and because it went through lots of familiar places but often by routes that were new to me.

This is Beckfoot Bridge - the old packhorse bridge into Bingley. Alongside it is a ford notorious for being on the route often chosen by SAT NAV to reach the A650 Aire Valley Road and for people in 4x4's getting stuck in it!

I like this as it isn't the usual view of the bridge, and it shows the cobbles and snow on the bridge itself. A more familiar view is this taken last Spring when we started the Millennium Way. -Look at that weather, hope we get another good Spring. The rough track back to the village down Sandy Banks was very treacherous as the sun had not penetrated through the trees to melt the snow and lots of vehicles (probably 4x4's again) had compacted the snow to ice.