Looking over the western Dales from my perch at the trig point near Bowland Knotts I thought about the people I’ve known who are now sadly unable to enjoy such pleasures. It’s good for the soul to remind yourself every now and then just how lucky you are.
The moors up here can be bleak – and they were certainly cold the day I visited this week. But today the Sun is out, and at last there are signs of spring. I can hear peewits (lapwings) calling, back on the higher ground from the valley looking for nesting sites and mates. A less-travelled red grouse shrieks after being disturbed in the heather.
In the distance I can make out the snow-topped Lakeland fells, while directly across Wenningdale the guardians of the Dales line up in defiance: Gragareth, Whernside, Ingleborough, Penyghent and Fountains Fell. While supping tea from a flask I really appreciate what Nature has dished up for me this morning. Top photo: the view of Ingleborough and Whernside from near the trig point.
If you look very closely you can just about see the trig point – follow the wall to the top left. Below, zoomed in on Ingleborough and Penyghent from the trig point.
I watched this coot for a while at Helwith Bridge quarry. It swam into thicker reeds where a moorhen was minding its own business. There was a bit of a kerfuffle, much squawking and splashing of water before the coot took off and made an undignified landing at the other end of the pool.
This waterfall, unnamed on the OS map, only performs after a long period of rain. It can be found just off the road about half a mile from Selside in Ribblesdale on the Horton side.I posted this photo of Penyghent on Twitter earlier in the week – the last time I looked at the stats it had attracted more than 12k impressions. A classic Dales shot, photo-bombed by a crow.There are lambs all over the Dales are the moment. Farmers are still putting out extra feed as the grass isn’t as lush as it normally is at this time of year. For comparison here are photos from this year (above) and on the same day in 2017.
“And this, children, is the view towards Crummackdale – oh, where did that idiot with the camera come from?”
I took this photo of Penyghent on my way to view the previously mentioned waterfall. I upped the contrast a bit and it now it looks more like a painting. I wish I had the patience (and talent) to sit there and sketch the scene.
No, I didn’t head for the coast: black and white seemed appropriate for this shot of the anglers’ quarry at Helwith Bridge.
Let me take you on a little drive around the western Dales. On the one clear day this week I drove along the back roads of Wenningdale from Settle to the Great Stone of Fourstones (pictured below), above Bentham, with the hope of taking some long-distance shots of the Three Peaks and perhaps even the southern fells of the Lake District. Although there was plenty of blue sky above, there wasn’t the clarity. I did manage these photos of the Dales and beyond:
Unusual shot up the spine of Whernside with Ingleton in the foreground; below, Ingleborough seen from Great Stone.
Not the clearest of shots but you can make out the snow-capped tops of the South Lakeland Fells.
From that amazing boulder I drove on to Thornton-in-Lonsdale and through lonely Kingsdale (top photo in blog). Apart from a gang of cavers trooping up to Yordas I didn’t see another soul for miles. Driving the steep single track road towards Dent always makes the heart beat a little faster. For most of the way you’re praying there’s nothing coming in the other direction; that the mist doesn’t come down; or in my case hoping that gawping too long at the view doesn’t mean I miss a tight bend in the road.
View back down Kingsdale from a gate stop.
I double-check my handbrake every time I get out of the car to open and shut the gates along here. A little stroll up the old quarry road towards High Pike is always worthwhile. The views down Deepdale, Dentdale, towards the Howgills and north-western dales are rewarding.
There is a magical little waterfall as you descend into Deepdale – it’s unnamed on the OS map.
Instead of continuing to Dent I took the back-road to Cowgill – apparently I couldn’t have done this the previous day because of flooding. Every time I drive along this lane, passing Whernside Manor, I remember the creepy stories I’ve read of the mansion’s past. Tales of slavery and ghosts, and people being chained up in the cellars can be found on the internet if you’re interested. Believe what you want, but when one site describes Whernside hill as being part of the Howgills, you do start to question the depth of research.
After more stops for photos of the river Dee (below) and the old buildings at Stone House (above), where Dent marble was once produced, it was under the Settle-Carlisle railway at Dent Head Viaduct and on to Ribblehead, before turning down to Settle under the familiar gaze of Penyghent.
I pulled off the Ingleton-Hawes road for this moody shot of Ingleborough.
What a difference a Dales day makes
The trip was a contrast to the previous day when I’d driven on t’other side of Penyghent towards Halton Gill from Stainforth. Typical of this part of the dales, water was pouring off the sodden fells, filling the becks and waterfalls which feed Penyghent Beck before splashing down into Littondale. I was wet but the noise and the freshness were exhilarating:
Fountains FellPenyghent
The clouds opened up briefly to reveal a surprising vivid sunset last night. I didn’t have time to pop up to higher ground but these from around the village show the intensity of the colours – no filters used here.
More cloudy and foggy Dales weather doesn’t mean we retired folk just lie on our settees drinking hot chocolate and watching Homes under the Hammer every day. I managed a few pleasant strolls in the misty Dales this week. One was alongside the River Wenning from near its starting point where the becks of Clapham and Austwick join together. There’s an old saying about ‘when gorse blooms, it’s kissing season’ … the inference being that the lovely yellow flower blooms somewhere in the UK 365 days a year so you’ve no excuse not to be kissing. There was plenty of blooming gorse in this part of Wenningdale, even on a miserable, cloudy January day. Sadly, no blooming kissing.
Top photo and these two I took on a trip to Malham Tarn
By Friday I was itching to get out again and drove along the single track road up to Bowland Knotts. I walked across the squelchy, peaty commons to the trig point, which stands at 1,114ft on Crutchenber Fell, in the full knowledge that visibility would be very poor. But it’s a dramatic landscape whatever the conditions. I could just about make out the Three Peaks in the distant mist; Stocks Reservoir was barely visible. The surrounding brown, brooding moors looked formidable. Unseen over the first brow is the River Hodder, the traditional ancient border with Lancashire.
Above and below, part of the view from the trig point.
I’ve ‘collected’ quite a few trigs in my time but never recorded my visits. There are folks who do, and like some train spotters they are meticulous in their attention to detail. Out of interest I looked up this one on the interweb-thingy and found this anorakic description: “Pillar completed 25th September 1949 costing £17.15s.10d. Computed as tertiary triangulation station SD96/T8 in 1951. Levelled for height in 1953. Last maintained by the OS in June 1976. Pillar in good condition. Spider centre plugged with tar. Flush bracket faces northwest, ~329°. Vented through three sight holes, SW face plugged, pillar bolt photographed. Full 360° panoramic view includes Whernside, Ingleborough, Pen-y-Ghent, Pendle Hill and Longridge Fell.”
Well there you go.
Dales sadness
Sad news about Gayle Mill (see link below). My late brother Peter, who lived in Gayle, helped with the restoration. I hope for his memory the necessary work can be carried out and that the important Dales project is not strangled by red tape.
View of distant Penyghent on my walk in WenningdaleI stopped off briefly in Chapel-le-Dale for this sultry pic of IngleboroughYes, that is blue sky you’re looking at – a brief interlude by the Ribble near Langcliffe Locks. Below a shot showing the nearby mill pond with Stainforth Scar in the background.
Interesting that the Tories are choosing now to make political promises about the environment – perhaps they fear the eloquent and intelligent Green Party leader Caroline Lucas more than any other opposition. You’ll notice that they have guaranteed nothing immediate and that they are reluctant to commit anything to the statute books. I don’t think they’ll want us to look too deeply into their ‘northern forest’ idea. The cost of this 25-year project they claim to be around half a billion pounds but what they haven’t shouted about is the fact that government will only be contributing £5.7m and expect the rest to be raised through charities. They don’t tell you either that their High Speed 2 rail folly project will destroy around 100 ancient, irreplaceable woodlands, or that permission to destroy other precious woodland for fracking exploitation has been granted despite much local and national opposition.
I also wonder if the proposed woodland across the M62 corridor will include reforesting the swathes of land denuded by the landowners who over decades have purposely prevented trees from growing so they can preserve their shooting estates? This action has helped cause devastating flooding in nearby villages and towns for many years and created a totally unnatural and unbalanced landscape. Good piece by Patrick Bamford here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/08/promised-northern-forest-diversion-hs2-shale-sherwood-forest
I took a financial risk yesterday and invested £2 in a lottery ticket. I lost. Money I’ll never see again. Lots of better-off people took a risk buying shares in Carillion – who just so happen to win a contract to build HS2 – hoping to rake in loadsa profit for doing nothing but gambling. But it’ll be ok for them, the taxpayer will probably help them recoup some of their brass. Investors should not be bailed out but those who work for them should.
Sorry to go all political. Here are some odd-ball pics taken this week to lighten my mood:
When we had an outside loo, Mum told me not to be afraid of the spiders. Don’t think she had this one in mind (at Malham Tarn Field Centre).Unusual Dales wildlife by the Wenning.This sign in Langcliffe was probably defaced some time ago but I’ve only just noticed it. The school it refers to closed ten years ago.
Of all Yorkshire’s Dales, Kingsdale probably makes me feel the most relaxed. It’s such a peaceful place; small but perfectly formed. Kingsdale doesn’t belong in the 21st century and is much the better place for it. With Gragareth rising steeply on the west and Whernside to the east, this most secluded of dales can seem very lonely on a darkening winter’s eve. But on bright autumnal days with sun shining on the limestone, and glistening on the beck as it cackles over water-worn pebbles, Kingsdale is heavenly.
I have a well-read phamplet that was printed by the Craven Herald in the 1930s, called Kingsdale the Valley of the Vikings. It was written and published by Frederic Riley of The Book Stores, Settle. In it are many photos of scenes which if I captured again today would not look any different whatsoever.
One day this week I parked in a lay-by on the narrow road from Thornton-in-Lonsdale to Dent where there is a classic view of Kingsdale. Should I head to the west of the dale and walk up the steep path through loose rocky limestone, or go east up the gentler slopes of Twisleton Scars? Thinking that my old knees would handle the latter much more comfortably I headed for the path up which I’d not been for more than 40 years, towards Whernside. Years ago, probably during a Duke of Edinburgh Awards hike, we’d camped in Ingleton and walked up Twisleton Scar and along the spine of Whernside (pictured above) before camping again somewhere near High Birkwith. No such trek today as I wandered around the fabulous limestone pavement where a few stunted trees leaned with the prevailing westerly wind towards Ingleborough. Here, odd weathered stones balance precariously which along with the trees present some classic (or should that be clichéd?) shots of the surrounding dales landscape. A lovely walk with extensive views over Wenningdale towards the Bowland Fells.
My granddad’s brother, Reuben Hepworth, survived the horrific battle fields of Flanders only to be killed in action exactly one month later on 11th December 1917 while on duty in Italy. He was just 24 and single. His mother Hannah, already a widow and with four children, received £105 10s 2d in April 1920 when the government finally sorted out his will. While we rightly remember those who died fighting for their countries we should also bear in mind the trauma felt by families back home.
I have Reuben’s Memorial Plaque – sometimes known as the Death Penny or Dead Man’s Penny. They were issued after the First World War to the next-of-kin of service personnel killed as a result of the war.
A couple of shots from around Langcliffe in Ribblesdale taken on another bright day this week.
Like me, you were probably totally surprised to hear this week that some rich people get richer by avoiding tax. What shocking news. They’ll be telling us next that there are people on benefits who shouldn’t be – and folk driving round in cars that haven’t been taxed. Ah well, life just wouldn’t be the same in Little England if we couldn’t go ‘tut-tut’ about something, would it?
I captured a couple of shafts of light while on the Silverdale Road from Stainforth – one beneath Penyghent and the other on trees near Stainforth.
Dales churches
This week’s church is in the Mallerstang valley in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. St Mary’s chapel at Outhwaite has been around since the 14th century. The small low building contains a 13th century bell. Above the porch is a stone recording the restoration of the church by Lady Anne Clifford, who owned the nearby Pendragon Castle and lived in Skipton Castle, no doubt avoiding tax.
Towards the end of this week in the Dales I started think that those few glorious sunny days were to be the ‘last of the summer wine’ (in my bobble hat I do look a bit like Compo). In Ribblesdale, sunny fields of buttercups at the start of the week were followed by dull grey outlines and mist-covered Three Peaks. I dived for cover in the car at Ribblehead then watched the heavy storm pass overhead near Clapham on Wednesday. I’ll let the pictures tell the story …
Whernside outline from inside my car on WednesdayPic of train in vain in rain on Ribblehead ViaductStorm heading over Wenningdale from Clapham
Mike’s sweet music to my ears
I had a snigger the other day at a Facebook post by Mike Harding who was complaining, partly tongue in cheek, about noisy lawnmowers disturbing his relaxation in the sun. Yes, it’s the traditional sound of summer in England but like Mike I think that too much grass cutting goes on. It’s not so much the noise that frustrates me (although the electric and motorised ones can be ridiculously loud – over to you Mr Dyson for your inventive juices to get to work) as the fact that some people want their lawn to look like a snooker table. It’s completely unnatural. I was walking by the church in Settle this week and watched a guy driving his mower around the graves chopping the heads pretty daisies, buttercups, clover and a host of other plants. What a waste of Nature, depriving bees, butterflies and insects of nectar, and our own senses of the smell and sights of summer, just to satisfy some man-made vision of neatness. By the way, if you like folk music do look up Mike’s great free podcast at www.mikehardingfolkshow.com
Penyghent looking warm this week
Waste of money
Unfortunately I don’t have a garden, only a tiny patch used mainly for herbs. I tidied up a section of the path around the house this week and put the odd bits of soil, small stones – general garden rubbish into a box which I dutifully took to the council tip. “You’ll have to pay £3 (something-or-other) for that, mate, and we only accept credit or debt card.” WHAT!? After a couple of expletives I requested details of whom I could complain to, then took my rubbish back home. I’ve emailed North Yorkshire County Council’s waste management services to register my disgust (I’m really getting the hang of this grumpy-old-man routine). I also told them I’d put the rubbish into bins bags and deposited them in dustbins for their employees to pick up. Perhaps they’ll sue me for putting garden waste in with household waste. It’s no excuse, I know, but I’m not surprised more people are tipping waste around the Dales.
No weather for sheepskin coatsSummer glory in LangcliffeThe minor road from Langcliffe to Settle was blocked by fallen branch on Tuesday. I fought my through, Bear Grylls style.
Unwelcome views
This week I dropped a couple of groups from my Facebook account. I’ve been sharing my photos with thousands of the groups’ members for a long time, quite happy to let people see the Dales for free. However, a minority of viewers have started to hijack my posts to spread their own opinions – mainly comments about race and immigration. Yes, I can block the bigots but many members won’t, which means I am unwittingly providing a vehicle for those twisted views. If they want to express their opinions they can get themselves a website like this one, or they can go post on more appropriate Facebook groups. The situation has been worse recently because immigration has become, quite wrongly in my view, the main issue in the Euro debate (which you’ll be pleased to learn I’m not going to go into here). Perhaps I’ll return to those Dales groups when the referendum circus has left town. Here’s a photo of several animals living in perfect harmony, just to remind people that land can actually be quite easy to share.
I’m out and about in Ribblesdale again. Even though I’m not capable of any decent walking yet, I’ve been able to drive round my ‘patch’ a bit more this week. Monday proved to be a surprising day of great contrasts in the Ribblesdale area. Late afternoon I set off on the old road from Settle towards Bentham before turning up to the wild moors of Clapham Common. I wasn’t hopeful of many long-range landscape shots because of distant mist but the bright yellow gorse proved useful along the way.
There was a bit more clarity as I climbed up the Slaidburn road to the grouse-shooting butts near Bowland Knotts. The Three Peaks dominate the northern landscape as you look back across Wenningdale. I tried some hand-held zoom shots and achieved some surprisingly decent results. Note to self: go back here with tripod on a clearer day. The top shot in the blog is of Ribblesdale to Penyghent and one of my all-time favourite views.
Ingleborough and Whernside seen from Clapham Common
Later I took minor roads back to Ingleton and over to Ribblehead where the shadows were strong. Chapel-le-Dale was moody, with just the top of Ingleborough lit up and the viaduct looking shady. Always on the look-out for new ways to shoot the magnificent structure, I reckoned this one might make a change to the norm…
The evening drive back home down Ribblesdale brought some of the most intense light I’d seen all day. I just had to take some stock shots around Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Here’s just a couple.
The previous day I was annoyed at having to turn down an invitation to a book launch at York’s National Railway Museum, so I was determined to try get my sciatica-troubled left leg into shape. About a quarter of a mile up a local track, with no shots in the camera, the leg collapsed and I ended on my knees. Embarrassed and frustrated I turned round and hobbled home. A friend’s suggestion that I could borrow his mother-in-law’s zimmer wasn’t appreciated.
The book I mention is for children and is the third in a series about The Cones, written by Chris Madeley. Her husband Keith, the indomitable ‘Mr Yorkshire’ www.mryorkshire.com provided this photo. Keith tells me he is busy (amongst 1001 other things) being filmed for a ‘Mr Yorkshire’ TV documentary. See more details of the book on my reviews page
Welcome addition to the Dales park
A while back I was a little disappointed that the lovely town of Kirkby Lonsdale wasn’t corralled into the revised Yorkshire Dales National Park. Mustn’t be greedy I suppose. However, most of the landscape seen from the town’s famous ‘Ruskin’s View’ (above), features the Dales side of the river Lune which will lie within the new border. Kirkby’s St Mary’s church – originally Norman but altered and extended greatly down the centuries – and its grounds, which contain a wildlife haven, are a must-see. Other interesting buildings and alleyways abound and there are some lovely shops, pubs and hotels. I’m starting to sound like a tourist guide, sorry, but I do recommend a visit even though it is just beyond the Yorkshire border – no passports required. Conditions weren’t brilliant when I visited this week.
Seeing photos of bluebells and wild garlic on tinterweb over the last few days has made me long even more to get out and wander around the local woods in Ribblesdale. This time last year I was walking from Malham to Gordale and witnessing this glorious sight beside Malham Beck near Janet’s Foss. Wait for me, please!
The car’s air conditioning was useful for all the driving I’ve done this week. But it’s not a modern luxury, as I discovered near Clapham…
Standing on top of Great Stone of Fourstones, which marks the Yorkshire border with that other county whose name escapes me, you can enjoy one of the best ‘driveable’ views of the south-western dales. The Three Peaks, Gragareth, Howgills and the distant jagged teeth of the Lakeland Fells are laid out before you. The 16ft-tall glacial deposit is the only one of four large stone outcrops remaining on this spot on Tatham Fell, near High Bentham – the others probably having been broken up for buildings and tools. I wanted a view but not a trek on Wednesday and this monolith once again proved an ideal location. With a 200mm zoom lens I was able to make out the layered-cake effect of Ingleborough and capture Whernside looking particularly dominant above Twisleton Scar.
After writing last week’s blog on Sunday I wandered up Ribblesdale and on to Stainforth Foss where dozens of people were on salmon-leap-watch. I wondered whether there would be any conflict here today, as just a few yards down river from the falls were two anglers … salmon fishing? Poaching? I didn’t stop to find out, but headed further downstream to Langcliffe where the colours on the riverbank and millpond stood out starkly against a drab sky.
I reckoned this week would be one of the best for capturing the changing colours and I was right. On Monday I took a stroll around Malham Tarn – almost ignoring the tarn and concentrating on the surrounding bogland, shrubs and trees. The last time I’d been in this woodland I’d been startled by a deer but there was no sign this time.
The blue sky came out later and I got some good shots of the eastern side of Penyghent. I was also able to snatch some great scenes around home later that day in the evening sun.
St John the Evangelist in Langcliffe might not have the history or ancient architecture of older dales churches but it is certainly a pretty Victorian building within well-kept grounds and it looks a picture when caught in the evening sun.
At this time of year I like to raise my eyes above the area’s wonderful landscape and take in the ever-changing autumn sky. It’s been a treat this week with a variety of clouds, shades, and sunsets. On Friday I sat above Winskill and watched an invasion of aliens beaming up all before them … I woke up Saturday morning with ‘REJECT: Beyond Best Before Date’ stamped across my forehead.
Yesterday, after strolling by the Ribble in some glorious changing light, I drove up to the old road between Settle and Feizor to watch the sunset. I also waited as long as I dare for an unsteady hand-held night shot, to capture an outline of Ingleborough.
Driving up out of High Bentham towards Slaidburn today I had to stop to admire this view back over Wenningdale towards Whernside and Ingleborough. It was such a change to see an all-too-brief glimpse of blue sky. Looking the other way (below) was also a pretty scene (even though I briefly dipped my toes in Lancashire). I called at Stocks Reservoir after Slaidburn and wondered why there were cars parked outside rather than inside the small car park. They’ve started charging, that’s why. For years United Utilities who ‘own’ the land boasted about what lovely people they were in allowing the public to enjoy ‘their’ facilities for free. But now it seems that the profit of £607m the company made last year, much of it through rates we pay for letting them utilise what was once public land given away by government, is not enough. What’s the betting that the next time I visit Stocks there’ll be ugly yellow lines down the country lane along with ‘no parking’ signs.
Looking over the western Dales from my perch at the trig point near Bowland Knotts I thought about the people I’ve known who are now sadly unable to enjoy such pleasures. It’s good for the soul to remind yourself every now and then just how lucky you are.
I watched this coot for a while at Helwith Bridge quarry. It swam into thicker reeds where a moorhen was minding its own business. There was a bit of a kerfuffle, much squawking and splashing of water before the coot took off and made an undignified landing at the other end of the pool.
I took this photo of Penyghent on my way to view the previously mentioned waterfall. I upped the contrast a bit and it now it looks more like a painting. I wish I had the patience (and talent) to sit there and sketch the scene.
