Mytholmroyd to Hebden Bridge in the autumn sun

We've been staying in Mytholmroyd the last week while our new house has had a full rewire. We were best out of the way as it was taken apart, carpets back, everything laid bare and splintery and getting covered in a hundred and thirty years worth of brick dust.

At the weekend we were tasked to strip the wallpaper off so the plasterer could come and stick all the walls back together again. I had planned to make a walk of it so I was delighted to find bright skies, perfect for soaking up the last of the autumn colour.

There are so many ways to walk from Mytholmroyd to Hebden Bridge - canal, river, lane, road and wood and I'm getting familiar with all of them now that I work here. I had my eyes peeled for the kingfisher, as last week I followed one from tree to tree right down the canal. 

I took the bridge over and up into Red Acre woods.

It was spectacular looking up into the sun lit trees

and down onto the canopies of leaves.

You'd be forgiven for thinking these leaves were growing out of this trunk

but follow it up and you'll find an oak!

And on the forest floor there was life going on. Have you noticed these tiny squiggles in the leaves sometimes? They are made by tiny caterpillars (Lucy Lapwing was enthusing about these on Instagram, read her fab post to find out more).

My nephew Otis spotted the first sprouting acorn last weekend. Once you see one, you suddenly see loads. Look at it go! Full of the life energy to become a big old oak tree. 

And as the sun rose I got higher up the hill, 

past the gnarly hawthorn.

Twister anyone?

A blackbird sang a song from the top of the wind turbine,

the horse swished it's tail and said he didn't want to come and say hello today and I saw two deer bounding off down the hillside.

I veered off up the hill, past Dodd Naze and then down into Nutclough woods so I could get a look at it's autumn splendor. 

It is stunning in all seasons.

Then I arrived back to our work-in-progress to roll my sleeves up and get stuck in

The electrician only asked us to take a few inches around each open wound but I got carried away and over the weekend we stripped the whole hall and living room!

Now that the wallpaper is gone the shadows have a wall to cast their magic on. 

You can do a lot when you've had a good walk in the woods!