Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: winskill stones

It's a bit of a struggle at the moment finding places to go which are quiet. All the good weather we are having is bringing people out in their droves. The Yorkshire Dales National Park have brought out a car park update on their website and most weekend they are all just about full. Malham is always the first to fill and that is quickly followed by Horton-in-Ribblesdale. After scratching my head for a bit, I came up with the idea of parking on the Langcliffe to Malham rroad and walking down to Winskill Stones and Catrigg Force.

I have been to Winskill a lot and blogged it before. It only takes about fifteen minutes to reach from the car and that includes photo stops but its another of those places where you can make your walk as long or as short as you want.

I decided to incorporate a visit to Catrigg Force, a beautifully hidden waterfall just out of Stainforth. I got my bearings slightly wrong at first but after climbing a few gates I eventually found the bridleway coming out of the village and followed that in to the gorge where the force resides. As you can tell from the photos, there wasn't much water coming down at all but that didn't detract from its beauty. I think another visit in autumn would be a good idea. Whilst down by the falls I was treated to the sound of a cuckoo calling in the surrounding woodland which finished the walk off nicely.

It was grand to get out in The dales again, the lockdown hasn't been easy but essential with the current situation. Looking forward to many more walks in the Dales over the coming weeks, I don't think I will be back in The Lakes until early July though.

Winskill Stones

Lone tree Winskill Stones

Winskill Stones

Erratic, Winskill Stones

Winskill Stones

Catrigg Force

Usual scenario, I leave the house in sunshine and by the time I reach Skipton, the cloud has moved in. I had earlier considered going up to The Lakes for the day but a quick check of The Met Office app quickly put paid to that as well!

The limestone pavement at Winskill really is a great place to be. You can see all The Three Peaks; Ingleborough is directly in front, Whernside just to its right and, set aside from the other two, is Pen-y-Ghent to the north. Add to that the famous Winskill hawthorn and you have a photographers paradise, even when its a dull day like today was.

Mind you, areas like this at one time had been in threat of being ruined. The well-known gardener Geoff Hamilton was a great supporter of the campaign to stop people buying limestone pavement to make rockeries from and when he died, this important area of limestone pavement was bought by Plantlife International and the reserve dedicated to his memory. Thank you Geoff! Lots of photos of the Pavement and tree were taken before returning to the car to warm up. You really are exposed to the elements at Winskill.

My next port of call was a limestone area known as The Giant's Grave which is round the back of Pen-y-Ghent. I've searched the Internet and can't find out how or why it got its name. Its another one of those places that is a photographers delight. It is a small limestone pavement which overlooks the valley of Pen-y-Ghent Gill and has Littondale and The Horse Head Pass as a distant backdrop. I had to hang around there for ages for a decent bit of light to come across but I was well rewarded in the end.

I took a my last few photos looking down on Littondale. The light wasn't too good but due to a bitterly cold wind I couldn't hang around and had to get back to the car as quickly as I could before my fingers dropped off! As so ofter happens, the sun broke through as I reached Wharfedale which was slightly annoying but it did gave me a very pleasant drive home. Despite the weather, I still had a great afternoon out and I think I took some pretty good photos.