ilkley

A solo english mountain day.

I suppose even in central pa they should be considered 'rather impressive hills' and not really mountains, but its all relative. This morning i decided i would have my mountain day and, if only for a few hours, leave the city for more approachable countryside. From the leeds train station it was only a 40 minute trip at the cost of a cheap pint before i stepped off the platform in Ilkley. I gathered directions online which were scratched onto a sheet of paper in my pocket, but still managed to 'explore the village' quite a bit before finding Wells road. Ilkley is even smaller than york, but i feel it still has quite a bit to offer. the main streets are lined by coffee shops and small stores that one could wander in for hours. I think there are darwin gardens? too, but will save those for another day.This afternoon i was much more interested in the surrounding hills and continued my quest for the cow and calf rock formation advertised on the ilkley website. I wandered up the street through a residential area and onto the pedestrian footpath before turning to walk along a worn rock and mud trail leading towards, as it was dubbed in my directions, the white buildings of white wells. they were nice, and offered a scenic view of the village which was mostly obscured by fog. the trail however continued on and so did i. I've discovered this intense desire within myself to continue just over the next ridge, and when i get there, just over the next ridge. on the muddy path i ran into a number of others enjoying the trail. everyone from the dog walker to the afternoon strolling couple to the vest wearing, hiking stick in hand, fanny pack totting...well the more serious hiker. Somewhere along the trail i vowed to name my dog (one day) Maggie. i'll call her in an english accent and claim thats how you pronounce her name.
i stopped for lunch on a pile of rocks that had no resemblence to a calf or a cow or any other barnyard animal, but who am i to judge? sheep grazed on the hillside above me and i took time to admire early 20th century grafitti carved into the stone. descending the hill i took pictures of the ducks in a small pond for jon and for posterity. I stopped for coffee and a quick breeze through the local second hand stores before heading home. a successful mountain day.
This is only my very limited opinion, but i feel like leeds is not so very different from any other city anywhere in the world. I've really enjoyed getting outside the city to small towns with typically english architecture rising above rose gardens and grazing sheep not far from local pubs. If i were just traveling without the wonderful inconvenience of my studies, i think i'd spend the majority of my time in the smaller towns; ilkley, guiesley, warfdale, skippton, york.


i found this in a paper left on the train...
http://www.historymatters.org.uk
the headline read, bloggers' chance to make history.
very boring or entirely interesting? such is life.

next weekend i travel to liverpool. maybe i should listen to only the beatles this week as a sort of reverent dedication.