A Walk Up Win Hill

I have quite a lot to do at the moment, hence no post last week, but I have put aside this time to at least publish some sort of post! I intend to make it very light on words, and give you plenty of pictures to make up for it as that will at least save me a bit of time... So here we go... I'll start with this photo to hopefully lure you in to the rest of the post...

View along over Lose Hill and Mam Tor from Win Hill.

Ingleborough: Our second peak of the week.

As can be seen from last weekend's post, last week we conquered the tallest hill in the whole of Yorkshire, Whernside... and this week it was Ingleborough's turn. As I also mentioned last week, Ingleborough is my favourite hill/mountain for so many reasons - from the impressive profile, panoramic views and limestone scenery to the variations from steep climbs to gentle slopes, it has a bit of everything stuffed into about 10 miles of walking. The start point of our walk, Clapham, is a perfectly picturesque dales village with a stream down the middle, numerous little bridges and even it's own waterfall - so certainly not a bad place to spend a little time wandering around also - although there was no time for that this time after quite a late early afternoon start.

My favourite shot of the day, taken on the way back, past Ribblehead, in the low evening sunlight

Whernside: The Top Of Yorkshire

Last week we, finally, went for a walk up Whernside - the highest 'peak' in Yorkshire at 736m above sea level - on what turned into a lovely hot summers day. We set off from the always impressive Ribblehead viaduct on our ~8 mile round trip never having been to the top of this hill before - which I still can't really believe. The other two of the three Yorkshire peaks (Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent) were clearly visible the whole way through as a result of the lack of cloud, with Ingleborough looking particularly imposing - so much so that we have been lured into walking that again tomorrow, so you can expect a post on that next week. 

Ribblehead Viaduct

A Taste Of Essex

This has been by far the longest gap between blog posts, for which I greatly apologise - I've just been too busy, not to write the posts, but to get out and do anything worth writing about. Last week I went down to Essex to visit Keri's parents for a week of holiday and got plenty of opportunities to go out and take some photos... the only downside is that this could well be my last visit to the south for the foreseeable future as her parents are moving up to Grantham as soon as they can. 

Much time was spent at the beach (in that little bit of summer we had), loads of visiting cafes and tearooms was done, I climbed a tower and, as many of you will have seen - I chased an amazing sunset...

So here are the photees...

Dovercourt Beach

A Wet Afternoon In Upper Swaledale

Two weeks ago, I had my monthly(ish) trip back up to the real Yorkshire - otherwise known as 'North Yorkshire' and finally got to do the walk around Keld, starting from Muker. This walk has something for everyone - starting with the meadows around Muker, up the young river Swale, through dense woodland, past plenty of waterfalls, up to the views from high over the valley and taking in some of the remains of the mining at the spectacular Swinner Gill. Nothing can ruin it, not even downpour after downpour - although that definitely makes photography a wee bit more tricky.

Anyway, I'll start with this photo from half way around the walk (mainly as then, on the truncated post on the homepage of my blog, this will be the one that shows up...)

Panoramic shot of the light over Swaledale as one of the showers cleared east, perfect timing as it happened at my favourite point, over my favourite view.

Dan Graduating from Durham

Last weekend was my brother's graduation so we all had to pop up for a day out in Durham. After sitting through the boring formalities (this time with only a pillar for a view) inside the cathedral (where no photos are allowed to be taken?!?!? - I think you need to sort this out, Durham...) we could go about enjoying the day. I realise I probably shouldn't be so negative, but I know Dan agrees full well from my graduation that it can be one of the most boring hours of your life, apart from the 30 seconds where the person you know is stood up.

Left to right: Meg (sister), Keri (girlfriend), Ma, Dan, Laura (sister), Pa.

Eye Contact (or nearly at least)

This week's post is late, for which I apologise... to make it up to you all I will keep it short and filled with pictures. You've all seen most of these, or at least you have if you have been keeping up to date on my Facebook page - which is the least I expect of you all. These are some of my pictures from in amongst the crowds at the Olympic Torch event in Sheffield. As far as I remember (I may be wrong) - these are all pretty much straight out of the camera - saved time in processing here!

There is something in a photograph where a person is picked out from in among the masses that I particularly love, and due to the lack of crowds, it is something I rarely get to try myself. This was a perfect opportunity though, and on a few occasions I managed to get that extra magic little ingredient - eye contact. Eye contact is by far the best thing that can ever happen to a photograph. Here are a few of my favourites, including some almost-eye-contact moments.