The Otley Chevin. Autumn on a Friday.

Otley Chevin on a Friday morning. 

First we drank a lot of tea. I had been out early already. Then I got onto my laptop and and applied for a better mortgage rate, followed by contacting a broker to find me a completely new deal with a different lender. I left all of this under way whilst we walked Monza the dog. After his walk we brought him home. He would not behave well in a public place. I have learned this over the ten years since we adopted him.

 I was still mad as hell about the mortgage fiasco that has gone on and on. I am lethally mad, which means that I am calculatingly mad and just want to get what I want. And I will. 

Though this day I did not let it cloud my enjoyment of a good walk on the Chevin and a poke  into local history.

This day we were going to yet another part of the Chevin...we usually stop at "surprise view" to day we walk the sculpture trail were the sculptures are the work of local artist Shane Green.

He also  the head of art at Prince Harry's Grammar school in Otley. Born, in the area where he now lives and works. And he created these sculptures In the school holidays too.

They are carved from 350 year old wood of sycamore and beech. the trees fell in the storms of 1997 and were then stored by Leeds city council. Who were unwilling to destroy wood so old. The carvings are spread over a one and a half mile walk, which we did today. the rain was threatening but did not actually happen, though I was wearing my favourite white skirt. Parts of the walk were muddy and other dogs could not resist me either.

Mud........... there was a lot of mud.

There has been a lot of rain in the last few days and wind, not to mention the hurricane of course.

 I keep coming across other works from this same artist............. Previously this week I went to see the printing press sculpture at Tittybottle Park Otley, and in the centre of the town a large piece for the Tour De France. When photographing this one I heard a voice

"It is by the same artist that made the sculptures on the Chevin!" I turned to look at the artist himself as he passed on by. 

The photo above is a tribute to Turner the painter Who stayed and worked in Otley. There are many of his paintings in local collections and Turner used many of the storm skies from Yorkshire in paintings of other subjects. A huge canvas of  Snow storm; Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps  . 

JMW Turner 1775-1851. oil on canvas displayed at the Tate gallery.

Hannibal is here leading his armies over the Alps to attack Italy. The sky here is in fact The Otley Chevin, which inspired Turner. Yep! the weather does look just like that too.

Turner stayed with the Fawkes family at Farnley Hall . Turner was a special friend of Walter Fawkes.(Walter Ramsden Hawesworth  Fawkes)......

in 1810 his son recalling the storm that inspired Turner...... 

"Hawkey! Hawkey! Come here! Come here! Look at this thunder-storm. Isn't it grand? isn't it wonderful? - isn't it sublime?" All this time he was making notes of its form and colour on the back of a letter. I proposed some better drawing-block, but he said it did very well. He was absorbed - he was entranced. There was the storm rolling and sweeping and shafting out its lightning over the Yorkshire hills. Presently the storm passed and he finished. "There Hawkey," said he, "In two years you will see this again, and call it Hannibal Crossing the Alps."^[4]

Most of the land of this Chevin was owned by this family who bequeathed it to the public and still donate to up keep and art today.

In 1942 most of the trees on the part of the Chevin known as the Danefield were felled to provide timber for the war effort. This is why the trees on this area are young, comparatively

In August 1944 Major Legender G.G.W. Horton-Fawkes of Farnley hall who's family had owned the land since 1780s gave the Danefield estate to the people of Otley. It became open to the public for the first time since the land enclosures act of the 1780s and the Chevin park began to be created..

 Yesterday in Otley as we walked around the charity shops and visited my fave the 20p shop it was raining with a vengeance. We popped in to the city council office to see if there was any work on the notice board for Lee. There is also a cabinet full of artefacts and old photos that I like to keep a check on....these are all items from the Otley Museum, which closed. But there is different displays...so I keep an eye on it. We found no work......but I picked up a map for this walk. I wanted to go immediately, but weather did not allow until today.....the last time we walked this way I still had Casper.Dog with me.!!!!

 Caley hall and deer park.  Caley hall was an impressive house built in the 1500s by the Fawkes family as a hunting lodge   and secondary residence to Farnley hall. It was on land near the Wharfe below Danefield estate and Caley Crags. 1780s the land closures started to happen and what had been common land was fenced off for private use and those who grazed cattle or collected bracken and wood for fires could no longer do so.....
The Fawkes family owned Caley Hall and the ajoining lands up above Caley craggs. This was previously known as Pool Common.
In the early 1800s this became known as Caley Deer park and not only deer, and boar romed free there was also Zebra. (yes ! I thought that too) One of the plantation woods here is called Keepers wood as this is where the gamekeeper's cottage was sighted.Caley Hall was used as a hunting lodge by the Fawkes family. It was demolished with the coming of the modern roads in 1964.
There are native wild Roe deer that still live here. they are not farmed. They are wild animals that live here.

 Roman Chariot.......The Romans of course had a settlement here and the Roman roads can still be seen. They are the only straight ones!....A Roman road ran along the top of the Chevin, as part of the road that linked York(Eboracum)  Tadcaster(Calaria) and Ilkley(Olicana), perhaps near the road , Yorkgate.

This sculpture of a Roman chariot is the type from the 4th century AD, there is no evidence of any like this found in the area......romantic though is it not? to find a roman chariot in the Autumn woods on a trail of discovery.

Bronze and iron age...the development of tools enabled farming of the land for food and people were able to settle into communities and permanent dwellings. Two locations on the Danefield estate have been discovered that indicate enclosures and remains of hut circles. These would have been for holding cattle and sheep at night. early farming.....

Stone age Steve! yes he is called this. From about 8000BC there were people wandering across Britain on a seasonal basis following wild horses, deer and cattle. Hunting with stone and flint tools and living from camp to camp.....so here he is.....at the foot of the carving he has his tools too...just in case he wanders off to his next camp.

 he does look a little like he moves to me.......

 These two are " the chevin today"........this one is what looks like part of a tree. i can not work much else out. possibly from the tree clearance for the war.....

 Up to this point I had avoided most of the mud, and only got messy on my feet area. I stopped to look at this last sculpture! and sure enough a Spaniel covered in mud and obviously having enjoyed the stream too took a fancy to my white skirt.

 Lee was convinced it was going to rain. So was I for that matter. we were about half way around the walk and decided to take a short cut in the hope of not getting too wet. we arrived at this sculpture which is the last one we found this day.....a bike! cycling is now so popular here more so since the Tour De France passed through Otley and the Yorkhire's own Tour De Yorkshire now.......

We did not get wet but we did discover that Lees shoes had no grips and that my boots leek. We parked the Fonz car in the first car park we found, and not the one on the map we were supposed to follow.

 We then proceeded to ignore all the instructions and set off cross country on to muddy paths. following the main paths would just have been too simple!

 We found some other sculptures......not sure what this is, but it looks like a throne.......

 We crossed the beck and marvelled at the colours of Autumn

 The Chevin was quiet except for bird song and the sound of the wind, which was just picking up speed as we reached the high points.

 Ancient are these old trails and trees......

 Now a public park . and here are some shelters that have been built by campers. Yes people do camp up here.It is not something that apeals to me.....but yes the scouts and guides all get their orienteering training here.

 Autumn. I always love this time of year...I love all times of year. Autumn and Halloween are faves as I love the colours and stories attached to this time of year. Like the story of the Gunpowder plot which inspired November the fifth and firework night.

 An Ent tree. If you are into Lord of the rings (as you know I am) this is the place to be. Gandalf could apear on his white horse at any point.........Will I find Aragorn as a ranger looking out over the view for the approach of the black riders!???

 No. but it is fabulous is it not!? this is where we discovered that the wind is really getting up and another storm is on the way....

 Do not be fooled by the sun.......

It is now Sunday morning and the storm really hit again last night and rages this morning.
OI am not going to have time to finish this blog so that is it for today. I have to go and earn a few pennys,