Hiking Through the Moors

This weekend Elizabeth came up to visit me and to get away from the city for a bit. The visit also gave me the perfect excuse to not write any of my three papers that are due the last day of April...not that I need a good excuse to procrastinate. Anyway...we spent Friday hiking in Ilkley and on Saturday we hiked through the moors that inspired Wuthering Heights in Keighley (pronounced keith-lee, even though there is no t in the word). I guess now I should probably read Wuthering Heights. I'll just add it to my ever increasing list of books to read.

We really lucked out with the weather because it was actually sunny! Sometimes you could actually feel the heat of the sun. I guess for everyone back home, either Alabama or Arkansas, this isn't an extraordinary occurrence, but it is in England. It was lovely!

Ilkley was such a cute town and we pretty much had the hiking trail to ourselves. We even constructed one of those stone/pebble towers, the name of which I am completely blanking on. Turns out the trail leads all the way to Bradford, but we just took the train.

Keighley was just as beautiful, but the real attraction was all the sheep. We ended up just walking through pastures and climbing over stone fences. Elizabeth tried her hardest to pet a baby sheep and it looked as if it would end in failure, but she somehow managed to do it. Then again I didn't see it so all I have to go on is her word. We also trail blazed through the incredibly hardy moor bushes and made up a new game called "Where's the ground?". Honestly we were walking on top of the bushes instead of directly on the ground. It was such a pleasant day, even including the semi anxious moment I had when the sheep literally surrounded us (I blame Black Sheep for my anxiety).

Of course I couldn't let Elizabeth leave without eating at Ambala (twice!). Unfortunately she eventually had to go back to London and I have to begin my papers.