As the title suggests we decided to try our luck on Ilkley Moor, I found a route on the Internet but it didn't have an actual map, never mind, we can buy one in Ilkley before starting the walk, this was the first mistake as we could not buy a local OS map in the town.
Undaunted we set off to the Cow and Calf car park, the Cow and Calf are 2 rocks on the side of the moor, with a quarry behind them. We set off on a track to the left of the quarry and took a track that led up to a ridge our first target being the haystack stone, as we neared the top of the ridge, i discovered my 2nd mistake, I had left my asthma inhaler in the car, I normally do not need it but I do tend to panic if I know I dont have it with me so only one thing to do, back down the to the car. As I prepared to return we discovered mistake no 3, we saw the haystack stone on the ridge opposite. So I set off to return to the car while my walking partner set of to walk across to the haystack, where we would meet up again.
Eventually after a trip down the hill and back up the correct track, we met up again at the haystack. The haystack is a rock standing on its own not surprisinging shaped a bit like a haystack. On the stone are various carvings which date to about 2500 BC, and are late Neolithic or Bronze Age. Now we were on the right track and we set off along the track up to the ridge we had originally almost climbed to.
Ilkley Moor is a popular place so there were plenty of people about and we followed a popular track along the edge of the moor heading towards the main route from Ilkley, not a great deal to see on the moor but the views over the surrounding countryside were fanastic, we could see the "golf balls" at Menwith Hill and right through to Ingleborough in the distance. bird wise the only things we saw here were sky larks and meadow pipits, although there were plenty of shooting butts so I hoped to see some grouse.
We now joined the main route which led onto the moor itself, fortunately the paths were dry and easy to walk although as we got further onto the moor there was a path became a kind of boardwalk over wet land and small pools. One disappointing thing to see on this part of the walk was the number of dogs being allowed to run free, a one point we passed a couple with 3 dogs which were upsetting a sheep and it lamb which we running franticaly away from them, happily they vanished into the undergrowth and the dogs stopped chasing them. We eventually reached a lone standing stone, not prehistoric but a boundary marker..
Just after this stone we came to a small stone circle, 12 stones called the apostle stones, although apparently there used to be at least 20 so what they were called then I dont know. This circle was probably druidic in origin and another example of the prehistoric life that took place on the moor. There are other circles, cairns and standing stones on the moor but we did not passed them on this walk. Apart form the prehistoric stones there were several examples of modern rock art with piles of stones and more modern carvings, (I assume they are modern , I dont think Tracey was a name used in the Bronze Age).
We now came to a fork in the paths, with a cairn (age unknown) at the fork and we headed eastward. we were now facing the direction of Leeds/Bradford airport and plenty of planes passed above as they climbed tinto the air we could also see the city in the distance a right over the Wharfe valley. We headed down a broad path and soon saw a small tarn or reservoir close to the road, we also at this point saw a pair of curlew in the distance. This part of the walk was a lot quieter and we walked past the tarn and uptowards a rocky outcrop where we detoured to see another stone circle but we could not find it,
Returning to the outcrop we could not understand the route directions and eventually set off on what we though was the right track, and descended to another small tarn, when we reached this tarn it was obvious that we had made mistake number four and now had the choice of returning up to the outcrop or continuing on the route we had taken. We could see that over a valley there was a track going in the direction we wanted so we continued onward until we saw a patch leading into the valley. We took this path and as we descended finally saw a grouse as it broke cover in front of us.
We reached the valley bottom and climbed up the other side, where we saw another grouse and also more curlews. We decidee to take a break as we sat down I could hear a curlew behind me, I looked around and saw not one but two curlews stood on rocks about 20 yards away making strange noises, as I watched them through the binoculars I also saw a couple of grouse among the foliage on the ground. One of the curlews flew around us, very close and landed opposite. I guess we were near a nest and they were trying to distract us.
The walk should have been four and a half miles but with the detours and returning for my inhaler I would think I walked around 6 or more miles. It took us just over four hours mostly reasonable going but with a few climbs the steepest being at the start of the walk. it was enjoyable despite the mistakes we kept making, the weather was mostly sunny quite windy in unsheltered places. It was really nice to see Curlews and Grouse as well as the ubiquitous skylarks and pipits that we see and most walks, not much in the way of wild flowers though which is unusual for out walks.
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