Buttercup Meadows

I managed to turn my head off completely today. I'm not sure I've experienced a more perfect day for cycling in the Dales. The sun shone almost the entire time I was out but the temperature was always pleasant, warm enough to be comfortable throughout in shorts and sleeveless shirt but never so warm that dehydration was a problem. Visibility was perfect with just enough clouds around to make the sky interesting for photography. Best of all, though, were all the wild flower meadows, especially the buttercup meadows.

I got chatting to a local fellow (James) in Aysgarth late in the afternoon. His family (Pickard) has lived in Wensleydale since the time of the Normans. They have never moved. I guess that kind of constancy must be common here where people are so wedded to the land and farms get handed down through the generations. But I digress. The point is that I asked him about the profusion of buttercups, and just about every other wild flower, and he could never remember seeing quite such spectacular displays as we are enjoying this year. He put it down to the cold Spring and now all this sunshine. Everything seems to have emerged all at the same time.

Some of the fields literally took my breath away today they were that beautiful. The yellow of the buttercups was dazzling in intensity. I kept having to stop to take pictures but I find that none really do the colour justice. It's a damned hard thing to photograph. Combined with the daisies they served to soften the landscape wherever you looked, like a furry down on almost every field. Swaledale was utterly spectacular, beautiful in an almost unreal way today. Talking to another local (Bob), it occurred to me that the sun always shines in Swaledale. It's such a trek from home that I only ever get this far when the weather is good.

For the record the ride was a bit over 100 miles, Ilkley-Bolton Abbey-Burnsall-Kettlewell-Buckden-Hawes-Muker-Reeth-Redmire-Castle Bolton-Aysgarth-West Burton-Cray-Kettlewell-Grassington-Hebden-Appletreewick-Bolton Abbey-Ilkley. There was a lot of climbing and my legs are completely stuffed. Just posting this before taking a soak in the bath.