Snow in Ribblesdale

Yet another one of those days when I leave Bradford in sunshine and, by the time I do the twenty odd miles up to the Dales, the blue skies have disappeared and the cloud has moved in. This has happened to me every time bar one this year. I did manage to see a few glimpses of the sun just outside Horton in Ribblesdale and then just for a fleeting moment at Ribblehead but apart from that it was pretty gloomy. I was very fortunate at Ribblehead as the sun lit up Whernside beautifully.

I parked the car on the edge of Horton and had a walk around the network of country lanes in the vicinity. All lead up to Brackenbottom Farm which is the usual start for walking up Pen y Ghent. There weren't many takers which I thought was a bit strange as the weather would have been ideal. Mind you, it was midweek so I suppose most people will have been working. It was pretty damned cold though and I was glad to get back to the car and head for Ribblehead.

I had thought of going all the way up to Hawes but felt a bit deflated with the weather so I cut my journey short, only going as far as the famous ruin a few miles north of the viaduct and then turning round. All in all though, I think I've still managed to capture some lovely winter shots of the Three Peaks area. Looking back, I've had a lot worse weather in these parts. One year I came up and it was so bad that I couldn't actually see any of the peaks. The thick low cloud hid them from view but, with a bit of guess work, I still took a photo of each one and posted them to Flickr!

Its hard to get a good photo of Ingleborough at this time of year as the sun is low and is directly in line with the hill and you. This makes getting the correct exposure nigh on impossible and also the glaring sun just ruins the shot.

I know I've just cursed the weather but if it had have stayed sunny, the latter few photos wouldn't have been half as good which just goes to prove the old saying that you are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't!