Ian Cylkowski 20/08/2023 Ian Cylkowski 20/08/2023

Clougha Pike, Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, Summer

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.

The colour contrast between the heather and the grasses was proving too hard to resist.

A small scene of a gristone boulder being enveloped by all the heather, fern, and other moorland vegetation.

Increasingly I delight in finding, composing, and shooting these more intimate scenes in nature.

Miles upon miles of heather moorland give way to the lower folding valleys near Quernmore.

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.

Making our way onto Clougha Fell, I had lots of fun making compositions from all the gritstone formations dotted about everywhere, such as with these boulders and the Yorkshire Dales Three Peaks in the distance.

A gritstone platform with solitary boulders, wrapped in heather, provided a nice scene towards Caton Moor and the dark fells in the distance.

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.

100 m or so below the summit of Clougha Pike, a patch of smoothed gritstone boulders interspersed with heather provide me with another tasty composition.

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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Ian Cylkowski 10/07/2023 Ian Cylkowski 10/07/2023

Morecambe & Heysham, Lancashire, Summer

After a thunderstorm, you need to get those vast and expansive views.

On the Saturday, the Met Office issued a Yellow Warning of thunderstorms and torrential downpours. This was very much needed as temperatures were starting to creep up to the mid 20’s again with 90%+ humidity.

If there’s one thing a thunderstorm is really good at it’s clearing the atmosphere. So, on the Sunday, we decided that solid hike along the Morecambe Bay coast, from Morecambe to Heysham and back, was needed. The views across the bay to Cumbria and the Lake District fells are always welcome. Plus, we knew we would have limited time before the next load of thunderstorms arrived.

I decided to equip relatively minimally; just my camera, Sony 28–70 and Vivitar “Series 1” 70–210mm for those super tight and zoomed in compositions.

The views, and the weather, were glorious.

All photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Sony FE 28–70mm f3.5–5.6 OSS and Vivitar “Series 1” 70–210mm f2.8–4.0 zoom lenses. RAWs developed in Lightroom for iPad using RNI Films’ Portra 160 film emulation, then a little bit of finalisation in Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.

Morecambe & Heysham, Lancashire, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Want sweeping and expansive views for mountains in the distance? Morecambe Bay is where you need to be. Anywhere with access to the Bay will do, but for this walk we chose the town of Morecambe itself.

This is the 14 m tall Hook Beacon, signalling the location of West End Gardens at Morecambe Bay. It was conceived by Broadbent Studio in collaboration with local school pupils.

A man and his dog, watching the world go by.

We started the walk 1-hour after low tide, so the sea was still miles out. Families and couples alike were enjoying the sensation of wet sand on their feet and sea air in their faces.

I decided to equip my 70–210mm lens for some super-zoomed in compositions across the bay to Cumbria.

A lovely mural that I can never resist taking a shot of.

Nice and clear, the Coniston Fells in the Lake District, 25 miles away.

One of numerous breakwaters along Morecambe. This is Grosevenor Breakwater, with Black Combe (600 m/1,970 ft) rising in the distance.

It’s always nice to see people soaking in the vibes of the day and taking in the immense views that Morecambe has to offer.

South beyond the town of Morecambe, ancient Heysham comes into view, resting on a small hill above the Bay.

St. Peter’s church. Christian worship has been regularly practised at the site for over 1,000 years.

The graveyard behind the church enjoys spectacular views across the Bay.

Trees in the graveyard remind us of the passing of time beyond our own horizons.

The ruins of St. Peter’s chapel, dating from around the 8th or 9th century. It gives me vibes of a portal to another world.

A group of six stone-hewn tombs dating from around the 11th century. Each tomb has an associated “socket”, which was probably where a wooden cross would be inserted.

At Half Moon Bay, just before Heysham Nuclear Power Station, one can find the marvellous SHIP sculpture by Anna Gillespie.

The ship's hull is mounted with two opposing figures at each end. One faces "new" Heysham, the Nuclear Power Station, and the other faces "old" Heysham, the ancient monument of St Patrick's Chapel.

The sculpture "celebrates Morecambe Bay's landscape and maritime heritage, and reflects the importance of seaborne trade in bringing news, innovation and shaping the character of the area."

Heading back to Morecambe, I couldn’t resist nabbing the colour contrast of pink and green courtesy of these flowers.

The way back to Morecambe, with plenty of other peeps enjoying the day out in the glorious sunshine.

This gentleman was raising people’s spirits with tunes from his pocket trumpet. He was also kind enough to pose for a photo or two and give us a rendition of “Bring Me Sunshine”, an appropriate tune for the town of Morecambe.

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Ian Cylkowski 14/06/2023 Ian Cylkowski 14/06/2023

Longridge Fell, Lancashire, Summer

Being in nature with your best bud is one of life’s greatest treasures.

I recently had the privilege of heading Down South (and by Down South, I mean, Preston) to spend a weekend with my best mate, Fie. With the prospect of a gloriously sunny British summer’s day ahead, we decided on a wee little excursion up Longridge Fell, east of Preston.

I’ve not been up Longridge in, perhaps, over a decade. The one and only time I hiked Longridge Fell was to capture the sunset from the summit with another good friend of mine, Bamber. This was very early on in my photography journey, so I was very unsteadily shooting HDR photos.

In fact, here’s the photo:

This was shot on the 7th August, 2012.

So yeah, it’s been nearly a decade.

Longridge Fell is the most southerly hill in England that has the word “fell” in its name. As you may have read previously in this blog, “fell” in Northern English dialects refers to a hill or a mountain, and can be traced from the Old Norse word fjall, which means “mountain”.

The fell’s name is quite literal as it truly is a long ridge, rising from the town of Longridge to its summit in 4.5 miles. Researching Longridge Fell caused me to learn a new word, which I’m always happy with: cuesta. This is a Spanish word and geographically refers to a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on t’other, which Longridge Fell definitely fits.

On this day, and for this walk, we started from Jeffrey Hill car park, which is already 200m-ish a.s.l. Only another 150m worth of ascension was needed to reach the summit.

The day was gloriously clear with nary a cloud in the sky. Like in Cumbria, Lancashire has seen barely a drop of rain in a good month or so. As a result, the fell—though normally boggy—was remarkably dry. This didn’t stop Fie from managing to sink one of her shoes into a surprise bog…

All photos shot on my Sony α7ii using my Sony FE 28–70mm f3.5–5.6 OSS zoom and Vivitar “Series 1” 70–210mm f2.8–4.0 zoom lenses. RAWs developed in Lightroom for iPad, then finalised in Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.

Longridge Fell, Lancashire, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Across the rushes, grass, and valley, the nose of Totridge Fell (496 m/1,627 ft) on the southern edge of the Forest of Bowland becomes apparent.

As we level out near the summit Fie does her best meerkat impression, scoping out the view of the Ribble Valley.

Looking back west along the drystone wall. The clear atmosphere means we can easily pick out the city of Preston, and also Blackpool Tower 20-odd miles away.

Now equipped with my 70–210mm lens, I spot a composition of three solitary trees over the wall, seemingly standing guard over the Ribble Valley.

The moorland that makes up most of Longridge Fell allows for more minimalist landscape compositions, even in the peak of the summer day.

Looking down the sheer drop from near the summit, I spy a couple resting in the heather and bracken, enjoying the view across the valley towards the Forest of Bowland.

From the summit of Longridge Fell, I line up a composition looking east along the drystone wall and the forest edge.

Rather than simply heading back the way we came, we cut through the woodland on top of Longridge Fell. This allowed for some beautiful deep woodland compositions as the summer sun penetrated the trees in atmospheric ways.

One last look back at the summit, across all the ferns and picking out the solitary tree I shot earlier.

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Ian Cylkowski 22/08/2022 Ian Cylkowski 22/08/2022

Morecambe & Heysham, Lancashire, Summer

And now for something a little different.

Morecambe’s a good place to visit, especially if you like long walks beside the seaside. It enjoys vast panoramic views across the bay towards Silverdale and Arnside, the Furness Peninsula, and the Lake District fells beyond. You can’t help but take photos of the views before you.

Just a wee bit south down the coast from Morecambe is a small coastal town with a lot of history: Heysham.

Today we did a walk between the two.

Heysham is an ancient place. The main focus of historical human inhabitants is Chapel Hill, a small headland above the bay and Heysham itself. It’s suspected that there’s been human activity here for 12,000 years. Heysham is also only one of three sites in Britain and Ireland that contains pre-Roman labyrinth carving.

On Chapel Hill one can find the ruins of St. Patrick’s Chapel, probably constructed in the 6th of 7th century CE. Next to the chapel is a group of six stone-hewn graves, made around the 11th century. The grounds of St. Peter’s church contains lots of Saxon and Viking artefacts, including a Viking hogback stone that’s on display in the church, making the stone around 1,000–1,200 years old.

It’s an ancient place, and you can feel it around you when you’re on Chapel Hill.

All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f/2.8–3.8 and Laowa 9mm f/2.8 lenses. Converted in Capture One for iPad, developed in RNI Films, and finished in Affinity Photo.

Morecambe & Heysham, Lancashire, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

The security fencing surrounding the site of the former “Frontierland” theme park has now been beautifully decorated with murals from local artists.

Across Morecambe Bay the tide was on its way out. Two people stroll along the sands seemingly all alone, with the backdrop of the Lake District fells in the distance.

The sail-like structure is called the Hook Beacon, part of a series of sculptures created for the redeveloped West End Gardens along Morecambe Promenade.

Families bravely navigate the sands of Morecambe Bay with the Furness peninsula in the distance.

It was a beautiful day to be out and about in Morecambe.

People from all walks of life were out on the Promenade; running, walking, cycling, skating, and more.

A gentle moment between father and son I felt honoured to have captured.

On a day like this, Morecambe Bay is Big Sky territory.

I love that the town is allowing creatives to brighten up and revitalise the seafront.

On the path towards Heysham we passed some common land where various horses and ponies were contently grazing.

I don’t know if these were Shetland Ponies, but they were cute and inquisitive.

This child was delighted to feed the ponies.

Our destination, the old part of Heysham with Chapel Hill above it.

We took a moment to wander the grounds of St. Peter’s Church in Heysham. Not a bad final resting place, eh?

The small St. Peter’s Church. Records show that an Anglo-Saxon church was present here in 1080 CE, and some parts of it remain in this present-day church.

Approaching our ultimate destination for the day. This is “Ship” by Anna Gillespie, with Heysham Nuclear Power Station framed in between.

I whipped out my 9mm ultra wide lens for some interesting compositions of this fantastic sculpture.

I can’t do better than Ms. Gillespie’s words, so here they are: “Symbolically positioned on the boundary between land and sea, benefitting from dramatic backdrops of the tides, horizon and stunning coastal sunsets, the outline of a ship's hull is mounted with two opposing figures at each end, one facing 'the new' of Heysham Nuclear Power Station and the other facing 'the old' of the ancient monument of St Patrick's Chapel.”

Heading back north towards Morecambe, the path clambers over Heysham Head. I paused for some compositions of the rock formations.

We followed the trail alongside Heysham Head towards Chapel Hill and the ruins of St. Patrick’s Chapel.

Most of the south wall, east gable wall, and eastern part of the north wall are still present to this day. Despite the name the chapel was probably built 300 years after the death of St. Patrick.

Next to the ruins are these stone-hewn tombs, probably Viking in origin. They date before the Norman Conquest of 1066 CE.

My lovely Lisabet, admiring the views and soaking in the ancient presence of this mystical place.

The way back to Morecambe. What a lovely day.

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Ian Cylkowski 09/02/2022 Ian Cylkowski 09/02/2022

Brockholes Nature Reserve, Lancashire, Winter

Recently I had the joy and honour of staying over at my best friend’s place in Preston, Lancashire.

I lived in Preston for many years, leaving in 2012 to move further up north in Kendal, Cumbria. As such, it’s been a decade since I’ve seen Preston. The city has changed a lot.

Well, let’s be accurate. Some parts of the city, around the thriving University of Central Lancashire, have changed dramatically as the University continues to steer the economic direction of the city. Other parts of the city, away from the University, have barely changed or—worse—have totally degraded.

Both scenarios were a shock to see.

To cap off a lovely weekend, my friend and I had a wee waltz around the Brockholes Nature Reserve, located on the eastern outskirts of Preston. The Nature Reserve is situated in the flood plains of the River Ribble, and features the UK’s first floating visitor centre. The weather was pretty terrible all weekend, but thankfully during our hike it brightened up enough to actually snap some photos, in between the furious downpours.

All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Fujinon 23mm f/2.0 and Laowa 9mm f/2.8 prime lenses. Developed in Lightroom and finished in Affinity Photo.

As we left the car park to walk the 3-mile “Discovery” trail around Brockholes, the clouds above did not promise settled conditions.

Thankfully, the unsettled conditions resulted in this wonderfully clear double rainbow arching over the ponds.

Nearing the floating visitor village the sun broke out behind us, illuminating the landscape whilst another dark squall approaches overhead.

The floating visitor village was designed by *Adam Khan Architects*, built by *Price & Myers*, and opened to the public in 2011. It houses shops, an exhibition area, an activity room for schools and community groups, a restaurant and a conference centre.

After knocking back an espresso with a flapjack, it was time for one last prowl around this magnificent feat of architecture.

Ian Cylkowski 28/12/2021 Ian Cylkowski 28/12/2021

Morecambe, Lancashire, Winter

We felt the coast calling us.

After an epic hike around Malhamdale in the Yorkshire Dales, followed by a beautiful walk along the Keswick–Threlkeld Railway trail, it was time for something a little more… pedestrian.

The coastline was calling us, and we heeded its call. But where to go? We decided, ultimately, on Morecambe.

Morecambe has a special place in the hearts and minds of the Lisabet family. To start, it’s a favourite destination of her brother, Dwight. Additionally, Lisabet has fond memories of visiting Morecambe with her grandparents for a stroll along the promenade, perhaps with a pit stop for some tea and a slice of cake for good measure.

Morecambe was set up by the Morecambe Harbour and Railway Company to connect the nearby fishing village of Poulton-le-Sands with a railway line. The Company expanded the railway line further. In the 1850s Morecambe was connected to Skipton, Keighley, and Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and a settlement began to grow around the harbour and railway to service the port and as a seaside resort.

In time, Morecambe became known as the UK seaside resort, which peaked in the middle of the 20th century. In fact, Coco Chanel was known to fly directly to Morecambe from the South of France for weekends at the town, staying at the Midland Hotel.

Like most UK seaside resorts, Morecambe experienced a decline from the 1970s onwards. Even the jewel of the Morecambe promenade, the Midland Hotel, fell into disrepair until its resurrection in 2008.

Plans are afoot, though, to continue the rejuvenation of Morecambe, including the ambitious Eden Project North, no doubt following on from the success of the first Eden Project in Cornwall.

On this day, weather and light conditions were very generous, and Lisabet and I enjoyed several hours along the promenade, soaking in the massive scenes across Morecambe Bay towards the Lakeland fells.

All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using two of my prime lenses: a Fujinon 23mm f/2.0, and a Laowa 9mm f/2.8. All images made in-camera using Øyvind Nordhagen’s Daylight Fujifilm recipe.