Magic moments in The Yorkshire Dales

A day of changing conditions would be an understatement. The drive in to The Dales was very uninspiring, so much so that I honestly thought that my camera would be staying in my car but as I passed Bolton Abbey the cloud started to thin and within a mile I was in sunshine. My first set of photos were taken just before I reached Barden Towers and shows the cloud lifting from Braden Fell and Simon's Seat.

Another mile along the road and I was back in low cloud as my shot of Howgill Lane shows. Then as I drove along the lane leading to Appletreewick guess what? You've guessed it! The cloud lifted again so, being as the sun had come out, I decided to drive along New Road (which is above Skyreholme), park up and have a little wander. As the road climbed, the sodding cloud came down yet again but I decided to bite the bullet and still stick to my original plan. I parked the car and took a path signposted Trollers Gill and was soon rewarded by witnessing the clouds lift yet again, giving stunning views down to Skyreholme Beck and across the valley to Simon's Seat.

Returning back to the road, I then took the bridleway going off in the opposite direction which eventually leads to Appletreewick and Hartington Bridge. By this time I was back in very low thick cloud though, so much so that if the path hadn't been as clear as it was, I wouldn't have gone any further. This part of The Dales is just flat and featureless moorland so it would have been too easy to get disorientated and lost. But again the weather Gods were on my side and the cloud broke once more. The views down Wharfedale from this path are fabulous at the best of times but the fact that the clouds were breaking and clearing out took it to another level. I posted one of my photos on my Flickr site and titled it "Everyone has their own piece of heaven". For ten minutes I firmly believed that this was my piece of heaven.

I could easily have just carried on walking but the days are short at this time of year and the sun was starting to get close to dropping behind the fells. As I didn't have any proper windproof or waterproof clothing on, I was beginning to feel the chill a bit so reluctantly I turned round and retraced my footsteps back to the car where I sat and reflected on a fabulous few hours out and about in God's Own County.

All the photos on this blog were taken on my little compact camera; the Panasonic Lumix LX5. I've had this camera for years and don't often use it but on the occasions that I have, it has never let me down as these photos show
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