A squelch up to Silverwood

Yes, a squelch. Plenty of mud around now, and I certainly fetch plenty back with me on my trousers and boots from every walk. It's all part of being in the great outdoors, so I don't mind too much. Bit embarrassing if you have a bus or train to catch after your walk though, as we often do.

Not today though; I saw blue skies out of the window so decided on a nice, longish local walk. I try to take advantage of pleasant days during the dark half of the year as there will no doubt be many days ahead when I will want to just rush round the wood for an hour with Sybil in the cold wind and snow. I don't mind rain too much (luckily, as we live in the UK) but Sybil's not too keen.

Silverwood

All of which is rather unfortunate, as not long after we reached the final bend on the path to the former colliery the heavens opened. We quickly took shelter in the small wood next to Dalton Brook until the worst of the rain had passed. I might not mind the rain too much but I was concerned for my camera, which I'd quickly buried in my non-waterproof bumbag (I'm so trendy). Sybil, meanwhile, had decided that a family of squirrels was hiding up a nearby tree and was barking shrilly, even though not a critter was in sight.

Blue skies!

The rain wasn't showing any signs of stopping so, mainly to give my eardrums a rest, we continued on our squelch up the hill to the top path. A quick glance to my right showed an exciting patch of blue sky slowly heading our way, or more rather taunting us as the rain continued. Eventually though the deluge stopped and we headed round to the lake.

Silverwood lake

It didn't take us long to dry off as we completed a circuit of the lake, then headed up another hill to a grassy stretch where Sybil loves to tear around like a mad thing. The rain must have released a load of scents from the grass as she spent most of the time with her nose down, pretending to be a scent hound rather than the sighthound I think is in her blood. If she picked up an exciting scent, perhaps of a small rodent not long departed, her tail would wag madly from side to side and she would bury her nose frantically in several places.

Having a sniff

We came back down to the lake again. I noticed that the swan family seemed to have split up; earlier in the summer there were two adults and four cygnets. Today there were only two cygnets on the lake. No photos, as unfortunately they swam to the opposite side, where there were dense reeds.

As is to be expected in autumn, there were a few fungi about. 

Shaggy ink cap

Unidentified mushy object

As we turned left onto the last path before heading home, a man appeared with two spaniels and a bird of prey on his fist. It looked a little like a Goshawk, although I'm certainly no expert. We gave him some space, as Sybil's speed is enough to frighten any bird. She's never shown much interest in birds and especially not today, as she was still walking about with her nose scraping the ground.

A pretty girl

I noticed some flowers had been tied to one of the fences and a new memorial erected. The plaque said it was in honour of the men who had worked here, particularly those who had lost their lives.

Memorial

I think it's fantastic that a piece of land that was previously used in a way that was probably quite harmful to the environment can be given back to nature like this, with a lake that is well-used by birds and trees that are currently heaving with berries.

Autumn in Listerdale Woods

Autumn has definitely arrived here in Yorkshire: plenty of wind, rain and, well, mud. The heat of summer is over and (touch wood) Sybil's leg seems to be fine now, so I'm hoping for plenty of long walks this season. Here's one to whet your appetite.

Autumn colours

Our normal daily walk takes us from the Brecks Lane entrance of Listerdale Woods, past a footpath leading up to Dalton Magna, up a hill and a right turn towards Wickersley and back again. It takes us almost two hours, depending on how many squirrels Sybil finds to bark at.

Barking up the wrong tree

I busied myself taking photos of the different leaf colours and fungi while Sybil enjoyed herself running back and forth. She is so easy to tire out; I always go home with a happy, tired dog.

  

A lot of the fungi had been nibbled, possibly by snails and slugs. The only mushroom I could identify was a Fly Agaric, and I wasn't sure if any of the others were poisonous so I was careful neither Sybil nor I touched them.

Can you see it?

There were quite a lot of Fly Agaric in the woods, which surprised me as I didn't know they were that common. I've always been interested in fungi and it was nice to see so many different types, even if I couldn't identify any of them.


I quite liked the fungi on this tree I had to duck under; again I don't know what variety it is but it looks nice:

A closer look

A few more leafy pictures: apologies for the quality, but my photography technique is shocking. I just point and shoot.

A rowan, or mountain ash I believe

Golden leaves in a still mostly green woodland

 

Yorkshire Dales: Pen-y-ghent and Ribblehead Viaduct

We've been on no decent walks for a while as Sybil's leg has been playing up again, and after several vet visits I found that her knees aren't as good as they should be. After medicine and building her walks back up, we decided to hop on the train to the Yorkshire Dales yesterday. I've only ever been with school years ago and Sybil hasn't been at all so it was an easy choice for a new walk.

Looking back towards Horton

We left the train at Horton-in-Ribblesdale. The plan was that this day trip was to be a whistle-stop tour of the Dales, with a quick peek at Pen-y-ghent and then back on the train to gaze in awe at the Ribblehead viaduct. The weather forecast wasn't good anyway, so no major walks were planned. However, we headed towards Brackenbottom Farm and up towards the hill until we got our first glimpse:

Pen-y-ghent (!)

And decided that to head back now would be rather defeatist. As we couldn't see the hill properly, I decided that we should climb it. A foolhardy decision maybe as the wind was already bad enough that I had my hood drawn around my head and ears and Sybil was wearing her jacket, but nonetheless we started to climb. 

Not far now

One excellent thing about this walk, and possibly due to the weather, was the lack of sheep. Sybil was off-lead for most of it, which was great to see as she hasn't had the best of walks lately due to her leg. Several people admired her jacket which she was happily showing off, while accepting fusses from other walkers.

The last push to the top was the worst, as it was an almost vertical scramble up wet and slippery rocks with the wind threatening to blow me somewhere I didn't want to be. Sybil made it look incredibly easy, darting up the rocks like a nimble mountain goat while I huffed, puffed and slowly crawled up.

A very windy summit

But I made it! Several people had overtaken us on the way and were nowhere in sight when we reached the top, wisely deciding not to hang around. We settled down on a bench out of the wind and had a quick bite to eat while recovering. The views were nothing like as promised with only cloud as far as the eye could see, but we didn't mind. After this it was an easy but long descent back into Horton along the Pennine Way, eventually coming out of the clouds and wind to blue skies.

Rainbow over the Pennine Way

Back in Horton I popped into the cafe for a delicious hot chocolate before walking back to the railway station, where luck would have it the train to Carlisle was running forty minutes late. We boarded the train until the next stop, Ribblehead, and had a gentle walk up to the viaduct.

Getting tired now

We stopped at the burger van and shared an egg sandwich before boarding the train back to Leeds, and onwards to home. Result? One amazing day out, and one very tired collie-cross.

River Ribble in Horton