On top of the world

I usually feel driven to get out for some brisk walks at this time of year, not so much because I've overindulged at Christmas (I don't tend to) but rather as an antidote to all the sitting around and the sense that I no longer know what day it is. Add in a lovely blue sky and the need to get out is overwhelming. If I really want exercise, climbing the hills either side of the Aire valley is just the ticket.

I took these photos from the high point in Northcliffe Park. (You can go higher still if you want to, but after this point you have to follow the road so it's not such a nice walk.) The photo above is looking north, across Saltaire to Baildon and Hope Hill. The chimney sticking up at the bottom right is the top of Salts Mill's big stack, which is near the start point of my walk. You can see how deep it sits in the valley. From there it's a steady but inexorable climb uphill that took me about 40 minutes. Never mind, it's downhill all the way going back!

A slight turn to the left at this viewpoint affords a vista up the Aire valley. That's the town of Bingley in the valley bottom (below). There is one block of 'the three flats of Bingley' still standing (see my post of yesterday), about one third in from the right, looking like a white box as the sun catches its side. The dark hill on the left is the Bingley St Ives estate, where I often walk too.

I tried a pano shot with my phone. It does slightly weird things to the perspective, elongating the foreground, but it does show the sweep of the view from Northcliffe's top meadow - and my own shadow!