While visiting family and friends over in Yorkshire, I took the opportunity to head out for a walk in the Wolds, a familiar stomping ground from my youth. I parked up at the new car park at Huggate, and walked through the village and down to Rabbit Dale.
It was a warm but breezy day and the sky looked rather threatening though in the end the rain didn't amount to anything.
As I turned into Harper Dale, a large, dark red shape took to the air. The size and colour gave me a moment of cognitive dissonance, when I couldn't process what I was seeing. Very quickly the shape resolved itself into a red kite, which calmly made its way, quartering the valley.
Horse Dale was all headwind. Having passed the sheep, and just sharing a friendly word with them, I looked up to see a hare bounding up the hillside. Although I see hares in the Peak District, I see them most reliably in the Wolds.
The woods in Tun Dale are always impressive, the trunks soaring up like columns in a cathedral. Sadly all the ash trees in these plantations showed signs of dieback.
The route took me into the lovely Millington Dale.
And then up Nettle Dale.
More Nettle Dale.
Nettle Dale again. I'd stopped for lunch.
The final section took me along Hawold Bridle Road and to the road back into the village (by which I mean the Wolds Inn).
