mytravelbugbite

The town of Bingley is located near to Shipley and Bradford. It is an old, industrial town on the banks of the River Aire and was where I started my walk. Free parking was not easy to find, there were pay and display car parks and lots of permit holder only areas. After much searching I did finally find a side street that I could stop on but having done the route I would say the St Ives estate looked a good bet to start the walk from there.

I began in the town centre and took a path from near the White Horse pub along the banks of the river out past a couple of farms. This part was fairly flat and on an untarmacked road. Upon reaching the second farm I turned left away from the river and started a steep climb towards the top of the hill. The higher I got, the narrower the track became until it was just wide enough for one person.

Upon reaching the brow of the hill I turned back towards Bingley and followed a wall until I reached Druid’s Altar which is an outcrop of rocks. The view from here is pretty nice and the area is similar to Ilkley Moor or Otley Chevin except for the fact there wasn’t another person around when I got there, and it is significantly smaller.

The next part of the walk went into the grounds of St Ives where the route winds between the golf course and through wooded areas. It is fairly easy going along wide paths down towards the entrance of the estate.

From here there is just a fairly short path across to the town centre again. There is one point where you go down to cross the river over an old cart bridge which is rather beautiful and then it is through the local park and back to the main street.

Overall I would say this is a fairly easy walk with just 1 steep area and there is varied scenery throughout.

Have you been to Bingley? Any favourite things to do?