Gorilla Stone

I've been saving the last leg of the Bradford Millennium Way for August, when I could be sure of strolling from Ilkley across to Baildon when the heather was in full bloom. Today seemed a good day for it, so 9yo and I headed up to Ilkley on the train and then climbed up to White Wells where I'd last left the route of the walk, on March 11th.

After another short stretch up hill, the route took us through Rocky Valley, a spectacular little spot where a landslip has created a fine set of gritstone crags and outcrops. It was here that we found this gorilla staring out at us from the rocks.

After a brief stop above the Cow and Calf rocks we traversed the edge of the moor to Burley Moor. Things started to go wrong then, as my glasses decided to dismantle themselves, such that I had to retire them for the rest of the walk. I am extremely short sighted, so although I was able to continue to enjoy the purple surrounds I had to leave it to 9yo to spot the trail markers and to point out things in the distance. This was a pleasing role reversal, but it did slow us down a bit, so once we'd ducked past the Hawksworth Moor grouse shoot, we decided to return directly home, leaving the last couple of miles of the Millennium Way to be finished another day.

This situation also made photography a challenge, but I did take a few speculative shots , composed on impressions and shapes in the landscape and executed with the trusty auto-focus. That may be an experiment worth pursuing again, as would trying to capture through photography the blurred world of the short sighted.

The finest Mr Magoo moment was saved for the stretch of farmland that lies between Bingley and Baildon Moors. While trying to follow a vague path across to a vague stile 9yo looked to our right and found a previously unobserved large horned bull standing quietly under a tree about ten yards away. "Please don't see red, please don't see red," muttered 9yo as he crossed his arms over his reddish hoodie. We cautiously tiptoed on and reached the safety of the next field without pursuit. After that, the final walk home was uneventful.

So a good day. Not quite the completion of the Millennium Way that I'd hoped for, but I can probably sort that later in the week. My one wish: if only the rock were schist rather than gritstone, for then we could have had a Gorilla in the Schist.