Not doing that again

Saturday afternoon saw us do a 'insta-pack' of the van as we loaded with food for the next 24 hours, a change of clothes and dog food/bed/lead/toys/towels/poop bags - almost like packing for a toddler!

Himself wanted to try a quick overnighter in an area we know but have never actually stopped at. It did not take long to arrive at our site - a farmer's field in the village of Askwith in Wharfedale not far from Otley, Ilkley and Burley in Wharfedale.

To be honest, first impressions were not that positive, although the field itself was lovely and flat with a thick and green lawn, the farm itself was messy and piled high with various 'streams of income'. Huge piles of wood, stored containers, mounds of demolition debris and discarded building materials. Vehicles, vans and static homes were stored all along the outside of the field and their owners popped in and out fairly regularly. Quite off putting and difficult to find a pleasant view from the van as the hedges surrounding the fields were rather high so any long distances vistas were non-existent. The farm was also under a flight path of the Leeds and Bradford airport .... sigh.

So we 'turned inward', put on the radio quietly, cooked and chatted and stared at the sky and identified the aeroplanes as they flew overhead.

On the plus side, we watched buzzards and kites hunting in the surrounding fields. We were greatly amused by juvenile jackdaws testing out their wings in a huge tree alongside us and in the evening we listened to barn owl babes hissing and wheeting as their parents soundlessly scoured the area for prey. We decided that there were two nests of barn owls and one of a tawny owl.  A Mr and Mrs Pheasant trundled around the camping field with pheasant jnr and the blackbirds were garrulous and argumentative with beakfulls of berries. Then, just before we eventually turned in - we were treated to a rather odd display across the valley of a drone all lit up and going up and down flashing green and red. 

The next morning we decided to walk early-ish to avoid the heat and we followed a trail with the delightful name of 'The Welcome Path' .... ummm. It was so overgrown and impassable in places that we quickly felt let down by the lovely name. We managed to blunderbuss our way until a stile rescued us and took us into a field. Phew we thought ..... until we realised the path took us towards another farmstead with a large family of cows and calves and a £*<%!/& enormous bull - who, alerted by the cows who'd already spotted us, stood up and turned to face us - no, not again. I am not doing this again...

So Himself turned us directly into the farm yard where it was made very clear that it was not a right of way - hollered to a 'Mrs Farmer' that we were coming through because he did not want us to walk through the bull and cows. The 'Mrs Farmer' dithered and yelled at all her barking dogs and kept repeating ...'Are cows and the bull there? are they there? He's not to be trusted that one' Himself kept marching firmly through the yard as she twittered on about the bull being 'a bit of a one' and 'not to be trusted' Jeez.

Any hoo, it took me a bit to stop shaking (a number of scarily close calls with bulls or cows and calves in the last few years have been enough for me to take evasive action immediately) and we resumed our walk. At this point it improved greatly and by the time we'd got down to the river Moss was very ready for a swim. And swim she did!

Our return to the van was pleasant enough with no mishaps and when we arrived back at the van, we moved it into a bit of shade and had lunch and watched the planes, the jackdaw babes and a recently arrived caravan being set up. Time to go. We'd had a break - with adventures 👀🐂and Moss got a walk and swim, so not all bad. 

Will we go back?

No.