Swartha & Brunthwaite

This morning it had kept raining then fairing up and just after lunch it was fine.  Although there were still plenty of rain clouds about so I didn’t want to go for a walk high up in case another rain cloud burst.  Also it was quite breezy.

I’ve only done this walk once before and it was a couple of years ago. It’s not very long so I thought it would be good for a day like today.  Parked up in Silsden on one of the back roads and headed off down to the canal.  Down some steps by The Bridge Pub which is closed down now. Walking along the canal side the houses on there are pretty, some of them are fairly town houses.

As I came to the first swing bridge I had to refer to the little book.  Good thing I did cos this wasn’t the one to cross – directions were stay on the path and cross at the Brunthwaite swing bridge. This then takes you up a track by a farm and eventually you pop out onto Silsden Golf course.

I was surprised the weather was horrid but there were lots of golfers out there having a game.  As I walked alongside the course following the green and white poles as instructed there was a nice shiny golf ball just showing among the brown winter leaves.  (Someone had definitely hit their ball off course).  The greens didn’t look too bad to say we’ve had so much rain, someone must spend a lot of time looking after them.

Eventually I left the golf course and came out onto a small back road.at High Brunthwaite. As you cross over and look across the valley the views are lovely.  Eventually I turned down into a path through trees – and hidden away in there is a tall double arched aqueduct – this was to carry water from Barden Reservoir to Bradford.  A nice hidden gem.

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Eventually the path brings you out  onto a road which takes you to the hamlet of Swartha.  Following grassy paths to eventually pop out on Bolton Road.  After crossing this road I took the back lane back down into Silsden.  A lovely walk of about 4 miles.

Walk Around Swinsty Reservoir

It was another fine day, maybe not quite so warm as yesterday but nevertheless warm enough for a walk with Melanie, Jo and the children.  We got to Swinsty around quarter to three.  Mabel had been to a party in the morning so it was a late set off. 

The car park at Swinsty was full we had to crawl around slowly looking for a space. Eventually parked up and geared up for our walk.  Albert was in the buggy today and this is a good push chair walk.

As we set off the outlets from the reservoir were overflowing, I can’t ever remember seeing so much water coming out. 

 It was very loud too. It was a little muddy as we went around but not too bad.  Aggie and Mabel ended up with stones in their boots.

  

In between being bored George said some things were good, the fungi on tree stumps were pretty impressive and the daffodils were adding splashes of colour as we walked around.

 As we turned back up the other side of the reservoir back towards the car park we came across the old pump house, always interesting to see all the workings inside.

  As we continued along the driveway the reservoir house came into view scaffolded up – must be some major work going on.

 As we crossed the embankment the second outflow was impressive too – so often we have come here and it’s been dry with no water at all coming down it.  Today it would have knocked you off your feet if you’d tried to walk across it.

It was a good 4 mile walk around and we’d all worked up an appetite for our chicken and dumplings tea.