New words

Running a Lowland Leader for my friend Tom this weekend over in Ilkley. 
Tomorrow the infamous Moor, today we headed to the glorious North. 
We encountered a legally closed public right of way (good learning point), some utter bog, and some seriously badly thought out new fencing which we'll be reporting to the rights of way officer as it will cause an accident without new signage

Lovely bunch, but by late afternoon I could tell theyd reached capacity, silly errors crept in, feet were clearly tired, so we put away complex tasks and went for a wander. Redirected attention is restful for a tired brain. 

In doing so we found the wells we were looking for and came across Middleton Calvary. I've not a single religious bone in me, but I can appreciate the beauty of these 12 Italian stone carvings that portray the last hours of Christ. Be cause I have one of those brains that has to know, and we also live in times with a near magical access to knowledge... This was erected by the Middleton family in the 1800's. Apparently they were rich enough to escape the repercussions of being recusant* but this was still originally hidden deep in a wood on their estate, today it's gradually being looked after, but it could do with some tlc. Still a marvellous find.

* apparently a mostly Northern refusal to accept the imposed authority of the Church of England, though now used for those who deny specific authorities.