Clougha Pike, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, Summer
The last few weeks have been… tough.
The last few weeks have been… tough.
Not long after our hike to and around Stockghyll Force, I managed to acquire some form of vertigo for a few days, which was decidedly unpleasant. The following week, my lovely Lisabet came down with a rather nasty summer cold, and I managed to fall down the stairs, spraining my wrist and severely bruising my butt. Then the week after, I caught Lisabet’s cold.
Yeesh.
Finally though, we were both fit and healthy, ready to get back out in nature. Following wise counsel from our nature expert friend, Andrew, we embarked on a completely new hike for us: the Clougha Pike circular.
Clougha Pike is the westernmost summit in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Many peaks in the Forest of Bowland are gristone fells surrounded by heather-covered peat moorland, blanket bog, and deep wooded valleys. Clougha Pike is no different, though its southern face drops away dramatically to the valley floor, and is clearly visible from most areas around Lancaster.
I ended up being in rather a lot of pain for this 10km hike. For reasons unknown to me, I slowly developed a blistering headache as the hike went on. This was paired with a sore neck (from having to look down at my footing a lot), sore knees (an every day occurrence), and painful feet (soles in my boots are now too thin).
Oh also, around the lower areas of the walk, having to deal with all the sheep flies and deer flies.
Despite all of this, the hike was gorgeous. The heather was in full bloom, covering the land and fells in carpets of mauve flowers. We were also experiencing the tail end of Storm Betty, so the higher we ascended the more the 50 mph winds punched our bodies.
All in all, it made for an epic day, and crackin’ photos.
Photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Sony FE 28–70mm f3.5–5.6 OSS zoom lens. RAWS developed in Lightroom for iPad using RNI Films’ Fortia SP film emulation, then finalised in Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.
Clougha Pike, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Just a few yards from the car park and already we could see the extent of all the pinky purple heather blooming in the area.
This trail is the more direct route up to Clougha Pike. But for our hike, we chose a more circular clockwise route, skirting around the old quarries and heading towards Littledale.
Increasingly I delight in finding, composing, and shooting these more intimate scenes in nature.
This point marked the beginning of our ascent of the fellside above Littledale, the site of a former quarry.
After crossing the infant River Conder via a concealed viaduct now known as Ottergear Bridge, we continued ascending the fellside above Cragg Wood. In the distance, Caton Moor’s windfarm catches the emerging light.
The trail gently lowered back down the fellside, but not before I captured this delightfully bucolic English view.
Another ascent ahead of us, the time the proper one that takes us all the way up to the Clougha Fell moorland plateau. The cascades of Sweet Beck presented a lovely little composition.
A swaledale yew enjoys the view from the fellside above Sweet Beck, with Caton Moor still drenched in light.
As we start ascending the back of Clougha Fell, the greens of the grass is gradually replaced the pinks of heather and the dark tones of peat, punctuated with boulders of gritstone.
The Caton Moor windfarm still getting soaked in afternoon light. In the distance, the dark clouds press down on the southwestern fells of the Yorkshire Dales.
After tacking the tricky and occasionally boggy trail up the back of Clougha, we finally joined the gravel shooter’s track and the moorland plateau. Rather then heading straight for the summit, we looped around to check this Andy Goldsworthy sculpture.
Of course, we had to take turns clambering into the “chambers” for some photos. The nice thing is, in the 50+ mph winds, these chambers were a nice respite from being constantly wrestled by the wind.
It’s not quite Joe Cornish levels of composition skill, but I’ll get there one day.
A solitary gritstone boulder perched on the moorland plateau serves as a nice subject as it catches the light beneath the stormy skies.
From the summit of Clougha Pike, a mere 413 m/1,355 ft above sea level. Nevertheless, the views are gorgeous. From the summit we can see all the way across the Lune valley, towards Morecambe Bay.
From the summit, our way back down was immediately apparent. It was going to be rocky and steep.
From below Clougha Pike’s southern face, it’s easy to see how this is such a distinct and recognisable hill from many miles away.
A blast of light from the racing stormy clouds pulls all the gorgeous textures and colours from this scene.
One last look back at Clougha Pike, with heather everywhere, but we continued the descent down into the woodland toward the car park, fighting flies all the way.
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Walla Crag, Lake District, Summer
A 4am start.
A 4am start.
The UK is on the cusp of a record-breaking heatwave, kicking in Sunday evening/Monday morning. Even before the real heatwave arrived, Sunday’s temperatures up here in Cumbria were looking to peak at around 26°C. Not only that, summer in the Lake District is easily its busiest time. So what to do?
Wake up before the sun rises and get to our destination before everyone else.
We decided on revisiting the small Walla Crag above Derwentwater, a new favourite after our first venture in autumn last year. Upon leaving the house we were greeted with something we didn’t expect before a heatwave, but probably should’ve anyway.
Rain.
We pulled up at the parking spot, and thankfully it only took 15 minutes or so for the rain to cease. By about 6:40am we started the walk up to Walla Crag.
Although the rain had cleared, it was still completely overcast even as temperatures quickly rose. The sun was not able to break through. So although light conditions were not the best, the views were still utterly magnificent.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–f3.8 zoom lens. Shot using the Classic Chrome film simulation, developed in Capture One for iPad, cleaned up in Affinity Photo for iPad.
Walla Crag, Lake District, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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Walla Crag, Lake District, Autumn
Autumn has arrived.
Autumn has arrived.
The “life” from all the verdant vegetation is starting to wane, the ferns are turning rust-hued, and the leaves are beginning to drop. Autumn’s here, and I cannot wait for those autumnal colours.
Whilst we wait, we decided today on a venture up a relatively small fell that we’ve never tried before: Walla Crag (379 m/1,243 ft).
At “only” 379 m tall it’s definitely one of the smaller fells, especially when compared to some of the giants in the area such as Skiddaw (931 m/3,054 ft) and Blencathra (868 m/2,848 ft). Nevertheless, what it lacks in height it makes up for in the jaw-dropping views it offers from its summit.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Developed using RNI Films’ Kodak Ektar 100 profile.
North Pennines Waterfalls, County Durham, Summer
Woohoo for a week off! With the Lake District as rammed as it is at the moment, let’s go somewhere a l’al bit different.
Woohoo for a week off! With the Lake District as rammed as it is at the moment, let’s go somewhere and l’al bit different.
The North Pennines AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) is a favourite of ours but remains relatively untouched by us. We’ve explored arguably the jewel of the North Pennines, High Cup Nick, many times. But another absolutely stunning part of the area is the three main waterfalls: High Force, Low Force, and Cauldron Snout.
Long-time followers of this blog may remember our last excursion to High Force and Low Force, last year. The two waterfalls are a geology student’s dream and truly spectacular. But the third waterfall, Cauldron Snout, is often missed out on compared to the other two. That’s because it’s many miles further up the River Tees, near Cow Green Reservoir. Like High Force and Low Force, Cauldron Snout is the result of the outflow of Cow Green Reservoir passing over the whin sill; a layer of prehistoric super-hard dolerite volcanic rock that has left pillars and columns. The waterfall has eroded the softer rock around, leaving the harder columns of whin sill standing.
Cauldron Snout “only” drops about 60 m, all in all, but does so steeply down 180 m of the gorge, making it one of the longest waterfalls in England. The last time we visited it was many years ago in between Christmas and New Year, and a lot of the rock around the waterfall was covered in ice, making it a treacherous task to navigate. This time, we managed to scramble all the down alongside the waterfall. It was immense.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images developed using one of RNI Film’s Kodachrome profiles, finished in Affinity Photo.