Winter, the best time for sunrises. The struggle to leave a warm comfy bed is something that is a regular battle. The night before I’d checked the forecast and it wasn’t looking inspiring. Photographers require just the right amount of cloud and clear skies to the east for a decent opportunity of a good sunrise. Photographers can be very picky about such things!
Cheesepress stones
I woke up before the alarm, I often do. Despite the previous night’s lack of optimism, I ponder around a few websites on the phone, looking at forecasts and locations. I have one spot in mind that I’ve tried twice before and both times have enjoyed rain, snow and fog. Lovely conditions, but not for the images I have a mind to try and capture. Most weather forecasting sites are gloomy. They’re often inaccurate, I prefer live data. Checking the cloud radar, shows that it’s largely clear out there in the wide world of Yorkshire. So, I gently leave the warm comfy bed and poke my head out of the curtains, and I see stars. Now, I’m thinking, crap, I’ve prevaricated too long and I’m going to be late!
Thankfully, experience has taught me to get most of my gear ready the night before. Baselayers, warm clothes, hiking boots and the camera. So there isn’t too much noise to disturb my partner (well, I think so anyway!) No food this time, I’ll pick something up when I get fuel.
The location I’ve settled upon is the Cheesepress stones that sit on the flanks of Gragareth in the Yorkshire Dales. It’s a great name for a hill, I understand that it means something about grey stones. The summit is the border between Yorkshire and Lancashire. The stones however don’t sit at the top. This is limestone country and there are many different plateaus before the summit, created by glaciers many years ago and the stones are sited upon the edge of one of the plateaus, overlooking Kingsdale and far from the top but still high enough for a good view.
After my tardy start, I’m arriving a little later than I would prefer. Its roughly a twenty minute walk to the stones from the layby. Not too bad. I’ve realised at this point that the sunrise isn’t going to be as colourful as I was hoping but there is a nice glow building to the east.
The Cheesepress stones are believed to be glacial erratics and are so named, due to the resemblance of, well, a cheese press stone. The main thing to decide is where to place them in the frame, I want the view over to Ingleborough to be clear, so its either left or right but not by too much. Do I want to include the rising sun, or just the colour of the sunrise. I try them all.
I prefer them to the left, but the colour of the rising sun is to the right. (Top image) Hmm. The contrast is quite stark and I decide to bracket the shots. The sun climbs higher, the colour turns more to oranges and yellows, plus its not highlight the underneath of the clouds over Ingleborough. I have other places I wish to include on this little trip out. On the opposite side of Kingsdale is Twisleton Scar and I’m determined to find the path over the wall this time. I pack up and begin to walk down the hill towards the car and breakfast. Halfway down, there is a lovely hawthorn, growing out of a small limestone edge. I’d spotted this on a previous trip and It looked rather nice. I swung by and tried the same composition, but it didn’t have the same feel. Upon turning around, I was amazed by the glorious sunbeams coming directly into the valleys between the hills. I quickly abandoned the tree and composed a shot looking towards Ingleborough to capture the fantastic light. There is always a fear with light like this, that its going to be quite fleeting. So rather than find a composition with leading lines, foreground interest, I use the layers of the landscape for the composition. The light last five mins.
A previous visit with snow and fog.
Freshly fed and watered at the car, it’s a fairly short walk of around a mile to Twisleton Scar. Its been quite a few years since I was last here and this time, I’m going to find the route that goes over the wall. There is no obvious wooden style over that I can see, so im walking the wallline until I find it! And after walk south for a while and figuring out that’s the wrong way, I find the extremely well hidden, stone steps that are built into the wall. You wouldn’t spot these from the normal path. Over I go and quickly faced with several aged tree’s, most of them looking worst for time. I believe ash dieback has hit the tree’s so; they won’t be around that much longer, and they are also very exposed to the worst of the weather. Spent a couple of hours skipping around on the limestone, the grikes here are probably amongst the deepest I’ve seen in limestone country, I spot more than one remains of perished sheep in them. I also got my favourite photo of the day from here too. I had the place to myself, not another walker/photographer around.
A bendy ashtree with Ingleborough backdrop
From here, I wandered over to the what I call the dragon egg. Its another erratic stone, which from one angle looks like an egg, it’s also quite large. It’s quite a famous erratic and there are many photographs with it in. It’s well placed to have Ingleborough as a backdrop. By the time ive walked to this spot, the cloud has rolled in and the light is very fleeting and never where I want it to fall. The plan was to stay out for sunset but the energy levels are depleting and it’s a fifty minute walk back to the car. Looking at the cloud levels, I call it a day and head home. Though the cloud does breakup, when I’m back at the car but by then, food, rest and the need for a lovely cup of tea had won the mental battle.
Dragon Egg and Ingleborough
Dragon Egg and Whernside
Thanks for reading!
Alan