Sunshine at Shipley

 

I'd been watching the weather forecast all week hoping for at least one sunny day to get out and about, and at last on Thursday it arrived.

It was much colder than previous days, but I'd rather walk in chilly sunshine than warm(er) rain.

Being a last minute decision, we decided to go to Shipley Country Park, which doesn't need any pre-booking, and found that lot of other people seemed to have had the same idea. I was amazed how full the car park was for a chilly afternoon in mid-November! The paths are good and wide though, so there was space for everyone. 

The sky was still clear but shadows were getting longer even as we arrived and headed up the hill and through the beech trees on Horsepool Hill, kicking up leaves as we went.

And by the time we'd finished the circuit of the old hall's grounds the sun was definitely setting.

At home the sunset is obscured by houses and trees, but at Shipley there's an open view across fields, so I decided to sit and wait for the sun to sink below the horizon, while a crow cawed in a nearby tree and an owl hooted somewhere over the fields.

Back at the car park, there was just time to catch the last daylight reflecting in the reservoir before heading home.