Tag: Attermire Scar

Why life’s just hell in the Dales (12 pics)

My old milk-bottle legs got an airing in the sunny Dales yesterday. Shorts were donned for a walk around Warrendale Knotts just up the hill from home in Langcliffe. From the top of any of the limestone knolls you can enjoy great views east and west. The mighty scars here are as impressive as any along the Craven Fault, and the limestone Dales landscape contrasts greatly from the neighbouring gritstone area where Black Hill and Rye Loaf Hill loom darkly. In the west, Ingleborough and Penyghent look down on Ribblesdale. Top photo shows Attermire Scar with Black Hill and Rye Loaf Hill in the background.

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View from Warrendale Knotts towards Victoria Cave and Penyghent
Off to Hell
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Hellgill Force in the Yorkshire Dales National Park

 

Earlier in the week I drove through the Dales to the Mallerstang area, captured a steam train crossing Dandry Mire viaduct and took a trip to Hell. Well, Hellgill Force, to be precise. Sometimes this waterfall can be nobbut a trickle while other times it’s a truly spectacular sight when water cascades down from the steep fells. Hell Gill forms the boundary between Yorkshire and Westmorland and is where the water chooses which way to head to the coast – either west along the Lune and Eden route, or east and on to the North Sea via the Ure. This ‘Hell’ has nothing to do with that devil chap, in case you were wondering – the name stems from an Old Norse word ‘hella’, meaning flat stone.

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The grass seemed greener than green along Silverdale road between Stainforth and Halton Gill – the colour is just down to the reflection of the sun.

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Robin Procter Scar and Foxgloves down a shady lane at Wharfe near Austwick on Saturday.

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A quiet moment in the Dales sunshine in Langcliffe
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End of a perfect week – sunset over Ingleborough seen from Winskill, Ribblesdale

Limestone cowboy

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I just managed to catch this panorama before the clouds closed in from the west this lunchtime. This limestone area of Attermire Scar and Rye Loaf Hill, above Settle in Ribblesdale, always reminds me of the American Wild West. But let’s not carried away, the highest point here is around 1,800ft.

Motivated Yorkshire folk in their seventies

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Lying in bed this morning sipping my life-inducing pot of Yorkshire Tea I got to thinking about motivation. Some folk struggle to raise the briefest enthusiasm for work of any kind yet others, often into their 70s and beyond, continue forwards with drive and energy. In my head I began to list well known Yorkshire people who stride on despite many of them not needing just to bolster their bank balances. Springing to mind were artists like David Hockney and Ashley Jackson; poet Tony Harrison;  Alan Bennett; actors such as Judi Dench and Patrick Stewart; my friend and author Bill Mitchell… the list goes on. All are well over bus-pass age yet continue tirelessly to produce work at the top of their particular tree. I admire such dedication – and all those other lesser-known elderly Yorkshire men and women going about more mundane daily jobs without much recognition. Lacking such volume of enthusiasm today I laid in bed for another hour before a short walk up above Ribblesdale where a brief shaft of light illuminated Attermire Scar for this photo. I think that if I should be lucky enough to reach my 70s I’ll be content with continuing to selfishly enjoy the Yorkshire Dales.