Airedale

I had an appointment at the hospital this morning and it was here at Airedale.

After seeing PaulaJ's blip about the one river project I thought it was an idea I might like to follow and coming here this morning seemed to confirm it as Airedale is named after this area and the River Aire that created this valley.

Beyond the hospital buildings you can see the flat basin of the river valley. It is the hub of transport with the railway immediately behind the hospital and the Aire Valley trunk road built as a by pass in the '70s, beyond that.

On the hill to the right you can see the church of the small village of Kildwick. The river passes below it and you have to cross over it on a bridge to access the village from the bypass. Just behind the church is the Leeds Liverpool canal which follows the river basin all the way from Leeds.

Beyond Kildwick the river turns towards Skipton through the Aire Gap and runs through Craven towards Malham which is its source.

This valley acts as a flood plain and I was surprised to see that not much of the land is inundated at the moment as we have had some spells of heavy rain.

We live in a village in Airedale, just above the Aire Valley with the river and the canal passing through our nearest town, Bingley. The village stream, Harden Beck is a tributary.

So a rather tedious morning at the hospital has made me decide that the River Aire is going to be my 'One River'.
(I know I'm not the first to do,this as I have seen some views on Sgwarnog's journal but I'm sure we can share its delights!)