Meeting on Ilkley Moor on Good Friday (22nd April) is a Wharfedale Vineyard tradition. Last year 120 people gathered in beautiful sunshine for a cooked breakfast on camping stoves. Easter eggs were found hidden in the heather and another kind of eggs (raw) made an interesting game of catch! See
photos from previous years.
Wear strong footwear and warm clothes – it can get quite cold up there.
Meet at the
car park in Wells Road, Ilkley at 10.30am. It is a short walk up to White Wells. If you arrive late, meet us on the hillside just above White Wells cafe.
Bring drinks, bread and something to fry (sufficient for yourselves and a bit extra), or money to buy refreshments (e.g. hot chocolate) at the Old Spaw Baths tea shop.
If you can bring a camping stove and frying pan, please let the office know using the form at the bottom of this page. Please do NOT bring tin-foil barbeques as they are a fire hazard.
As usual, the morning will include a very brief stood-on-a-stone talk before the eggy fun commences. Weather permitting we will also go for a short walk - alternatively. If we have mixed ages etc we can split into an easy one and a
more vigorous one. Little ones (or those laden with stoves) can simply walk back down the hill, most of walking age will be able to manage a 3-mile circuit (route described below) that includes the Cow and Calf, a tarn and a labyrinth. Click the pic to see the routes. There is a further option for some to extend the walk another couple of miles to the Twelve Apostles standing stones, and/or I hear some are planning a geocaching expedition by the river in Ilkley in the afternoon.
As an alternative to the walks, all ages are welcome to join the team giving away easter eggs in Ilkley at 1pm.
Walking route:White Wells, Rocky Valley, Cow and Calf Rocks and the Tarn: Allow 2 hours for the 3 mile (5km) walk. From the cattle grid on Wells Road, go past the paddling pool up the steep hillside to the white buildings of White Wells. Follow the track behind White Wells that goes through Rocky Valley - bearing left at the steps. Cross Backstone Beck over some rock slabs and across (half left) to the top of the Cow and Calf Rocks. Keeping height, turn left along the edge to a wooden stile among the pines, then descend to a lower path and a wooden bridge, which takes you to the tarn. The tarred path from the tarn leads back to Wells Road.
Response
To help us plan, please let us know if you are able to bring some cooking equipment up on to the moor on Good Friday. No need to fill in the form otherwise: just come (and bring your friends!)
