On the loose

I'd already encountered eight young bulls on the Ilkley backroad. They took a bit of negotiating. They were demonstrating in at least two ways, with their backs to me, that they were panicking - I kept well back!  There was another cyclist with me and we'd hoped they'd pause in the small layby - but no. Luckily, a van came along which blocked them from jogging any further down the road. One shot straight through a wire fence at this point but we were able to sneak through the gap and there was a farmer a little further on to pause and tell.

In the patch of light in my blip is a huge flock of calm herdies but, by the time I reached the road running left to right, there were some thirty sheep and lambs heading towards me with not a farmer in sight.  I kept over to one side, some tucked into the wall and a few headed back into the wide open gate.  A little way on, I could hear, and then saw, a farmer on a quad bike rounding them up.  I don't know if he knew he'd left the gate open but he was too far away to tell so I had to assume he did and leave him to it, knowing he'd be there before too long and it's not a busy road.

On top of those minor excitements, the road I'd intended to take between Airton and Settle was being resurfaced so I was a cafe down by here and a bit peckish.  But, I was on a road that I haven't cycled on for a few years and never this way.  The 16% uphill was a bit of a surprise, for a downhill (I'd forgotten about that), particularly with a car behind me! But, it was glorious.  The temperature and breeze were perfect and the sky just kept on clearing.

Hello summer.