A Chevin in Otley

Would it rain or stay fine? Should we stay in, head for the coast or go inland? Choices on a bank holiday are normally more straightforward than this (ie the rain decides for us), but as the weather forecasters didn't seem to know what it was going to do today or where it was going to do it, we had a decision to make. One option was to head to Formby for a walk along the beach and a look at the red squirrels, but the crowds usually head to the coast on a bank holiday so this didn't seem such a good idea.

Instead we decided to try to follow a walk published in the local newspaper which was centred on Otley over the border in Yorkshire. The author of the article often depicts 'strolls' around the countryside and usually overestimates the distance considerably. So when this walk was described as 5 miles, we guessed it would be more like 3 or 4 and fairly leisurely to boot. Hmmm, perhaps not...

Clock tower, Otley town centre

The clues were there of course - it does mention a steep path, and a 'surprise view', but what we hadn't appreciated was that the 'surprise' was that the slope of the path was unrelenting straight up The Chevin, the biggest hill for miles around.

It's steep, but at least there's steps!

Anyhow, we made it to the top eventually, had our lunch on the top and marvelled at the view, which was less than spectacular due to the haze. Even so, it was much more civilised than we'd imagined with ice creams for sale (and very good they were too).

The Chevin, Otley

The path back down was less dramatic and we were soon back in Otley, where, once we'd recovered, we took a pleasant stroll by the river in the sunshine. On the map the walk turned out to be 3 miles at most, but the hill made it feel like 5!

Check out my walking blog for the route: The Chevin: the walk