One of the features of our travel this year is the amount of work I have been doing as we tour around. I am fortunate that much of it can be done remotely; sitting in the awning in front of my keyboard is not too much of a challenge. Occasionally I can tie in meetings with our travel and today I spent a couple of hours with a client in Ripon.
It is mid afternoon before we head off for a circular walk, from our site at West Lees Farm CL, that I am hopeful will end with a sharpener in the village pub in Kirkby Malzeard.
We start our walk by heading down the farm drive and turning right towards Kirkby Malzeard. After a couple of hundred yards we take the turning on the left to follow the lane to Laverton. This is a quiet country lane and pleasant walking.
In Laverton we cross the bridge (Laverton Bridge) and follow the road to a T-junction where we turn right continuing along a road.
After a mile we turn right onto Belford Lane. Here we spot one of the mosaics from the crackpot trail, this one depicts a Curlew.
We continue down the road, but where it sweeps to the left we carry straight on along a farm track. This steadily leads downhill to a footbridge over the River Laver. Close to the footbridge is another Crackpot Trail mosaic; this one shows a Brown Trout.
Whilst the boys take a refreshing drink in the stream I am bitten on the arm by some nasty bity creature, (possibly a Horsefly), I can react badly to bites and usually carry antihistamine cream to apply as soon as possible. But today as we are only on a short stroll we are minus the rucksack.
Within minutes the bite is painful and swelling, Lynnie tells me to calm down. These are similar words to ones she uttered over thirty years ago when I was complaining about a sting on my arm which ended with a middle of the night trip to casualty, an armful of injections and three days with my arm in a sling!
Our walk now assumes a sense of urgency so I can get back to the caravan and apply the cream and take Piriton. We continue up the track and after about half a mile reach a road where we turn right. This is a long straight road, with no traffic, after a mile and a half we reach the outskirts of Kirkby Malzeard. Our original plan was to turn left and pop into the Queens Head for a pint. But that plan is scuppered, instead we turn right and walk back to Laverton and retrace our steps to West Lees Farm.
We have walked just over six and a half miles. The first half (until the bite on the arm) was most enjoyable, the second half was just a dash to get back for medication. Hopefully the applying of antihistamine cream, ice and Piriton will soon calm things down.
To view this walk on OS Maps Click Here
To follow this walk you will need Ordnance Survey Explorer Map 298 –Nidderdale
22nd June 2016
© Two Dogs and an Awning (2016)