Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: ferns

Photos taken locally of the start to the changing of the season on Harden Moor above Keighley in West Yorkshire. The parking and entrance to the moor is across the road from St Ives Estate and is easily accessible and has a myriad of footpaths. You can make walks on the moors as long or as short as you want.

At this time of year the moor is awash with heather and I have done a separate blog of this. On Harden Moor, sandstone was quarried for at least three hundred years to build local buildings and dry stone walls. The Yeadonian sandstone was a rough rock and rough rock flag type, used to construct buildings in Saltaire and other local towns and villages. The last operational quarry on the moor, Midgeham Cliff End Quarry, supplied a type of sandstone called blockstone for local housing and closed around 2012.

None of these photos were taken anywhere near the quarries, if fact the were taken at a natural fault in the area called Deep Cliff Hole, across the road from St Ives Woods.

Changing Seasons

Deep Cliff Hole

I usually miss the autumn colours in Middleton Woods but this year I appear to have been a bit luckier. Maybe they would have been better a couple of weeks ago, its hard to tell. Its difficult getting any really good photos in these woods because they are so congested, I don't think there has ever been any wood management so the place gets too overgrown. Plus, muddy ground underfoot and inadequate footwear also limited me to where I could go so I just stuck to the main paths.

I more or less had the woods to myself though, maybe the people of Ilkley were still in shock after England's World Cup Final defeat because as I drove back in to Ilkley, I saw lots of sad faces coming out of the local Rugby Club and the town's pubs.

My next visit to the woods will be in bluebell time next spring when, once again, I will bore the pants of of everyone with bluebell photos! See you then Middleton Woods.

Autumn Colours, Midddleton Woods

Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.

Autumn Arrives Early

Autumn time, Middleton Woods

Wensleydale Waterfalls

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