Last week started with great news that my Physio was happy enough with my progress to put my appointments on hold for three months. That doesn’t mean I can stop the exercises and take it easy though, and I have no intention of doing so. Our walking distance has been increasing and for my Hip and IT band rehab he wants me to build up my endurance. My IT band is still niggling but I decided to try some of the Physio’s suggestion and attempt a swim.
I’ve not been swimming properly for years, with the whole hip debacle and two kids it’s been messing about in the water rather than swimming lengths. But with a new determination I made it into the pool and managed nearly forty minutes doing lengths. I had jelly legs coming out and my arms certainly felt it the next day but I feel pretty pleased with myself I actually did it. There’s nothing stopping me now!
The weather forecast was pretty rubbish for the weekend after what had been our first really hot week of the start of Summer (!), so we decided not to venture too far from home and just have a short walk.
I spent most of my late teens and early twenties frequenting the market town of Otley as I grew up just a few miles away, but had never for some reason ventured up onto the Chevin for a walk. The whole area has so many beautiful places to walk you can be spoilt for choice. We headed for Otley Chevin Forest Park, parking in one of the three free carparks. We had no route in mind and were happy just to pick a path and see where it took us.
I’ve not been swimming properly for years, with the whole hip debacle and two kids it’s been messing about in the water rather than swimming lengths. But with a new determination I made it into the pool and managed nearly forty minutes doing lengths. I had jelly legs coming out and my arms certainly felt it the next day but I feel pretty pleased with myself I actually did it. There’s nothing stopping me now!
The weather forecast was pretty rubbish for the weekend after what had been our first really hot week of the start of Summer (!), so we decided not to venture too far from home and just have a short walk.
I spent most of my late teens and early twenties frequenting the market town of Otley as I grew up just a few miles away, but had never for some reason ventured up onto the Chevin for a walk. The whole area has so many beautiful places to walk you can be spoilt for choice. We headed for Otley Chevin Forest Park, parking in one of the three free carparks. We had no route in mind and were happy just to pick a path and see where it took us.
The park boasts woodland, heathland and meadowland and there are a variety of paths and routes that you can follow. Handy information points are situated regularly and although we didn’t quite know where the path would bring us out exactly we never felt lost and we could plot as we went. We recorded our route on my Viewranger app on my phone and you can see our route here.
What I loved about this walk was the variety of different things we came across and the different environments. At times we felt deep in the woodland and played games trying to scare each other by hiding and jumping out, ever so often there were wooden carvings and the kids loved looking at these, we also found ourselves on the top of crags and rocks with spectacular views across the Wharfe Valley. There’s also a pond area and we spent some time here with the kids trying to spot Tadpoles and pond skaters.
What I loved about this walk was the variety of different things we came across and the different environments. At times we felt deep in the woodland and played games trying to scare each other by hiding and jumping out, ever so often there were wooden carvings and the kids loved looking at these, we also found ourselves on the top of crags and rocks with spectacular views across the Wharfe Valley. There’s also a pond area and we spent some time here with the kids trying to spot Tadpoles and pond skaters.
The weather had started out quite misty and as the photos at the beginning of our walk show, you can only just see into the distance. By the time we stopped for a picnic it had cleared a bit and we had some brilliant sunshine. However, as we made our way down a very rocky path back to the carpark the raindrops began increasing. Were we in for a soaking again? No, not this time!
For us this was quite a short walk, although we could have gone further into the park, but the varying terrains from smooth easy paths to rocky climbs meant that we all felt that we had done some exercise and I think the humid weather played a part in that too. We piled hot, sticky children into the car and made for Grandma and Grandad’s house with the promise of cups of tea and Cake!
I’ll definitely be taking the kids back here to explore again, there were so many paths that we hadn’t gone down that I’m sure we could have another walk and not be bored.
All views are my own and I’ve received no financial incentive to write this blog. If you like my blog why not follow me on Bloglovin just click on the link below.
We’re always on the lookout for walk suggestions so comment below or make a suggestion on my Facebook page where there are more photos of our adventures.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
I’ll definitely be taking the kids back here to explore again, there were so many paths that we hadn’t gone down that I’m sure we could have another walk and not be bored.
All views are my own and I’ve received no financial incentive to write this blog. If you like my blog why not follow me on Bloglovin just click on the link below.
We’re always on the lookout for walk suggestions so comment below or make a suggestion on my Facebook page where there are more photos of our adventures.
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
What a great walk! There is a little bit of everything. I love that photo of you looking over the distance too. Thanks for linking up with #YorkshireFamily