Misfit Valley

Monday 3rd September 2001, West Yorkshire

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THE RIVER CALDER appears to be too small to have carved out the broad valley it now occupies. I've heard a geologist describe the Calder as a misfit river. It has been suggested that meltwaters during the last ice age did most of the erosive work here. The river now uses up its surplus energy by meandering about across its flood plain, cutting back into a cliff of its own silty deposits on the outside of a meander while depositing silt, sand and sometimes pebbles in the shallows opposite.

A Thinking Walk

As I walk by a stubble field with a broad view over the valley I'm struck by the way I can't focus my interest on any of the thousand objects in my field of view. I'm entirely wrapt up in a stressful problem and while that runs through my mind I see the valley as a few blurred fragments, as if through a veil, as I stride along.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@willowisland.co.uk'

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