SLAB HOPPING ON ILKLEY MOOR

With pace being of little concern yesterday  I thought I would have a rare run on Ilkley Moor;  get nearer to  the cloudless blue skies and hopefully enjoy some magnificent view of both Wharfedale and Airedale.
  It would also give me a chance to test run the newly laid stone slabs which I mentioned in a previous post when Pat and I walked over them.   A massive haul of flagstones was helicoptered onto the moor earlier in 2011 after being recovered from a demolished mill in Lancashire.  Some of red paint used on them in their original situation can actually be seen on some.

 They've taken a while to put in place as plans to lay them on a very popular  route across the top of the moor were  put on hold, for fear the work could disturb the breeding season of ground-nesting birds such as grouse and lapwings.
 Pictures taken today show clearly how they are saving walkers and runners from sinking into thigh deep mud and water which can be seen to left and right of the flagstones.  The path project involved more than 1,000 flags, each of which weighs around a quarter-of-a-tonne.

  I ran on them  from Whetstone Gate in the west to Trig Point towards the east of the moor but have yet to check another path  I read  will run north from Dick Hudsons pub at the southern edge of the moor, replacing an ageing wooden ‘boardwalk’ route.  The aim of the new paths  is to  protect the moorland’s fragile peat areas and encourage the regrowth of vegetation either side of the stones.  However I'm sure many purists will object to paths on the moor being made "roadrunner friendly" considering going over the knees into peat to be all part of the fun.   The work on Ilkley Moor is costing £120,000 and is being    supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Following a deviation out and back along the track from COWPER'S CROSS (pictured above)  to bring the distance up to the planned 5 there was just time for a final shot before shooting down the track, said to have been neatly constructed by our Roman friends when they popped over from Italy to show us how to build straight roads.
  Check out the length of my legs. Useful for running or what!