Brough Castle, Cumbria, Spring
My shoulder’s starting to feel well enough for some more energetic and long-distance hikes.
My shoulder’s starting to feel well enough for some more energetic and long distance hikes.
With the weather forecast finally looking nice for the weekend, we spent Saturday with my Dad and took him to the historic village of Brough in Cumbria. Here one can find the impressive ruins of the 11th century Brough Castle.
The castle was built on the site of an older Roman fortification, called Verterae. The fort was in use until the 5th century. After William the Conqueror’s subjugation of England in 1066, his son—William Rufus—built Brough Castle in 1092 on top of the old Roman fort after successfully invading Northern England. The site of the old fort and castle overlooks Stainmore Pass and the River Eden, an important strategic stronghold.
Over the ensuing centuries, Northern England became a battle ground between the Kings of Scotland and England. In time, Brough Castle came into the hands of Clifford family. In particular, Lady Anne Clifford completely restored the castle in the 17th century, alongside a number of other properties within her vast estate. A fire broke out in 1666, gutting the castle. It fell into decline shortly afterwards, intermittently being stripped of stone for other constructions.
Brough Castle is now managed by English Heritage, who look after the ruins. We enjoyed a wander around these historical ruins, followed by a brief jaunt further along the Pennine Bridleway. Unfortunately, after February’s storms, most of this part of the bridleway was boggy and thick with greasy mud. We bailed on this occasion and resolved to do the hike again during drier conditions.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my three prime lenses: a Fujinon 23mm f/2.0, a Laowa 9mm f/2.8, and an adapted Pentax SMC 55mm f/2.0. Images developed using RNI Films’ Fortia SP film profile.
Mallerstang, Yorkshire Dales, Spring
We set out for a hike recently in the expansive and quiet valley of Mallerstang, in the northwestern corner of the Yorkshire Dales.
It’s getting hot in here.
The MetOffice confirmed that Spring 2020 has been the sunniest UK spring on record. By 27th May, Spring in the UK had already recorded 573 hours of sunshine, beating the previous record set in 1948 of 555.3 hours.
We set out for a hike recently in the expansive and quiet valley of Mallerstang, in the northwestern corner of the Yorkshire Dales. The day started out overcast and cooler, so we originally planned out quite a long route, hiking up towards the Pennine Bridleway to get the views and check out the Bridleway’s sculptures. But soon the clouds cleared, the temperatures rose to around the mid-20s, and the wind died so we broke the hike in half.
Mallerstang is a favourite of ours. It tends to get overlooked by many folk, who are often attracted to the main honeypots of the Yorkshire Dales, such as Ingleton’s waterfalls or the Ribblehead Viaduct. Mallerstang is a fairly long valley, about 6 miles long, and features two prominent ridges on each side of the valley: Mallerstang Edge (660 m/2,165 ft) to the east and Wild Boar Fell (708 m/2,323 ft) to the west, both distinctively flat-topped and beautifully sculpted. The valley’s also full of fascinating waterfalls including Hellgill Force, the biggest one.
All photos shot on a Fujifilm X-T2 with a 16–50mm f/3.5–5.6 lens using a customised Classic Chrome film simulation.