On miserable weather days like today I tend to dip into my photo diary to see what life was throwing at me during the same week in the past. In early October 2011 I was strolling through Gisburn Forest, near Stocks Reservoir, where I took this picture. Being alone in a large wood can feel eerie or other-worldly. Don’t get into that frame of mind – let it embrace and comfort you. At first, all seems deadly silent but if you stop and stay still for a few minutes you’ll soon become part of the forest. Listen to woodland birds chattering; you may even hear small mammals dashing here, there and everywhere. In light autumn winds the trees sway gently, leaves sink slowly to carpet the floor and branches from neighbouring trees caress each other. Yes, this can be a great time of year to crunch your way through a forest and admire the changing colours… but not today.
During my travels around the Dales I’ve noticed an increasing number of farm buildings being left to go to ruin. In most cases farmers can’t afford their upkeep and planners won’t/can’t allow permission for their redevelopment. I realise that reusing some of these ancient buildings as homes won’t go very far in solving any housing shortage but it could certainly help save many historic Dales buildings – and also maintain the attraction of the region. I wonder what a similar dilapidated barn to the one above in Widdale would fetch if it were for sale in the Cotswolds or Surrey?
Excuse me for this blatant self publicity… my latest book, Little Book of Yorkshire Curiosities, is now on sale. It’s part of Dalesman’s successful ‘Little Book’ series and the third I’ve compiled. This one’s full of strange curiosities, myths and legends about our great county… like the one about the bloke from Selby who sold his wife for a pint of ale, and the fact that the first Yorkshire pudding recipe was written in 1737. Amaze your friends and bore the pants off non-Yorkshire folk for only £2.99… you can buy direct from www.dalesman.co.uk/shop/the-little-book-of-yorkshire-curiosities or pick up at any half-decent bookshop. ISBN 9781855683174.
‘Best book I’ve ever read. Can I have that fiver now dad?’ – William Jackson
When I’m out and about with my Box Brownie (for those not old enough to know, this is a term for a basic camera, and not a nickname for a friend or in this case something to eat) I’m generally pointing it at the landscape. But sometimes the minor detail, which when all added together creates our fabulous Dales scenery, is worthy of attention. Zoom in on a small section of drystone walling for example and you can see art far superior to some of the pretentious guff on show in posh galleries. For the top photo I focused on a tiny section of an ancient footbridge over the beck at Cowgill, between Dent and Ribblehead. You quickly lose count of the number of species crowded together here but they successfully exist together in their little primeval ecosystem. Shame us humans seem incapable of doing the same.
Someone chucked a huge grey blanket over north Ribblesdale today. The forecasters promised so much – surely they can’t be that wrong? I got into my grey car, caught the reflection of my grey hair in the window, and headed off into the gloom searching for inspiration…. “T’blog weean’t write itssen,” I thought, in my best West Riding twang. I was momentarily transported back some forty years to my earliest days in weekly newspapers when on a Monday morning the grumpy editor would poke his head around the reporters’ room door and bark something about there being “God knows how many column-inches to fill” and that they wouldn’t be filled by reporters sitting on their backsides in the office. Those were days before lifting stuff from t’internet and readers with mobile phones helped filled the space – reporters were paid to go out into the streets, courts and – all in the line of duty – pubs to seek out the local tittle-tattle. Back to today. Someone stealing the Three Peaks would have made a good tale for the newspaper… they were definitely missing on my journey to Ribblehead Viaduct where even the tea wagon hadn’t bothered to turn up. Limestone grey walls and limestone grey buildings against a grey backdrop. Even the sheep looked grey. The National Park won’t allow anyone to use their imagination and paint something bright red by way of a change; I’m surprised they allow cyclists to ride on the roads wearing those luminous tops. I love seeing bright red post boxes and telephone kiosks dotted around the Dales, but try making your garden gate the same colour and some jobsworth or a haughty neighbour will be on your case before the paint’s dry. Anyway, back once more to today. Anyone who’s lived in the area will tell you that there are times when it seems every dale has its own weather system and so it proved on this little adventure. Dropping into Wensleydale was like waking from a coma… there was blue sky, fluffy clouds, tourists in T-shirts and alfresco drinkers on the setts by the Black Bull. I walked along to Cotter Force where bright red rowan berries (are they allowed in the National Park?) added some extra pizzazz to a beautiful rural scene. High on Buttertubs Pass, peering down on upper Swaledale (pictured), everything became crisper and clearer; the contrast with dowdy Ribblesdale could not have been greater. Perhaps it will be Ribblesdale’s day tomorrow.
I know it’s not that unusual but I watched the sun rise this morning and set again tonight. With more than a tinge of envy I took two friends to Manchester airport for one of those ridiculous ungodly boarding times and waved them off to Cuba. Never mind, I thought, I’ve still got my bit of Yorkshire. In the evening I watched a couple of hang gliders (or should that be gliderers, or maybe glidists?) floating effortlessly above Victoria Cave near Langcliffe, then I witnessed a glorious sunset. By messing about with the camera settings (I MUST read the instruction book one day or go on a course) I captured this shot over Ribblesdale which I rather like for some reason. Who needs foreign lands anyway?
Lovely Littondale seen from above Halton Gill. I can sit here for hours watching as the clouds paint a changing picture without me having to do a thing.
There’s beauty all around Yorkshire – much of it off the main tourist routes. Here I’m stood on the ridge above Cowling near Airedale where there are magnificent views all round. This would be a perfect spot for one of Ashley Jackson’s ‘frames’ @AJacksonArtist
A great idea by Ashley Jackson @AJacksonArtist see #puttingyorkshireintheframe Where do you begin? Yorkshire has so many gob-smacking viewpoints and each dale has its own distinctive feel. How about some recognition for the minor dales like the three here… views down Silverdale, above Garsdale and from Kingsdale over Dentdale.
Watching the clouds over Ribblesdale last night – yes, I know… Saturday night… get a life Jackson – was like seeing a drama unfold. To the east (above) a cloud was forming into some kind of enormous alien spaceship. It was moving quickly and gobbling up all the light blue sky before it. To the west (below) were layers of different, overlapping clouds. The sun was setting and rays of light kept coming and going, creating patterns in the sky and on the landscape. Hard to believe these two photos were taken less than ten minutes apart. A great display and far more entertaining than all that guff on Saturday night TV.
