Sedbergh, Yorkshire Dales, Summer
It’s summer! Y’know what that means? Wild flower meadows.
It’s summer! Y’know what that means? Wild flower meadows.
We’re rather fortunate to live where we do, sandwiched between abundant nature. You can take your pick of beautiful places to see wildflower summer meadows. A particular favourite is Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales.
But I can also recommend the Sedbergh meadows underneath the Howgills.
We usually start this hike from Sedbergh town itself, but this time we started from Straight Bridge, walking away rather than into the sun.
Sedbergh is pretty enough anyway, but in the summer it becomes positively idyllic. And the meadows around the town were filled with wildflowers.
All photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Sony 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS zoom and Rokinon 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC prime lenses. RAWs developed in Lightroom, edited in Photomatix and Photoshop.
Sedbergh, Yorkshire Dales, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Did you enjoy these photos?
Cunswick Scar, Cumbria, Winter
The first snow of the season has arrived.
The first snow of the season has arrived.
Fortunately—living where I do—there are plenty of quick routes one can take from the town centre to ascend some nearby hills and check out the expansive wintery views.
The Lake District fells? Howgills? Barbondale fells?
They did not disappoint.
Atmosphere was clean and clear. You could almost reach out and touch the mountains.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 28–105mm f2.8–3.8 zoom lens. Shot using the Classic Chrome film simulation, edited in Capture One for iPad and finalised in Affinity Photo 2 for iPad.
Cunswick Scar, Cumbria, Winter by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
We’ve had a week of sub-zero temperatures, resulting in snow. It’s also largely been dry and completely clear, so it was no wonder lots of other people (and their furry friends) were out and about enjoying the views.
My lovely Lisabet, enjoying the beautiful light and atmosphere of the Kentmere fells.
For others, the outdoors are best enjoyed whilst exercising.
Up on the summit of Cunswick Scar, the Coniston Fells positively glow with snow.
Zooming out to capture the entire expanse of the Lake District fells. Not all of it covered in snow as of yet.
However, looking towards the Howgills… wow. Clouds washing over them like a waterfall. Glorious light, highlighting the beautiful contours of the Howgills.
Navigating the steep path around Helsfell Nab towards these barns was… tricky. A popular trail means compacted snow that became frozen over and over again.
Only about 1pm at this point, but already the sun was setting and drenching the land in warm winter light.
Back down to the beautiful Auld Grey Town.
Did you enjoy these photos?
Bowderdale, Howgills, Cumbria, Summer
Today required… flexibility.
Today required… flexibility.
My initial plan for the day was to get up early and head to Kentmere for a lovely walk around the valley and its fells. It’s usually a trial to access Kentmere; the road to it from Staveley is long and narrow with few passing places. Then, once you’re at Kentmere, the only place to park is outside the church, fit for maybe 4–5 cars.
Welp, after an interesting challenge driving the narrow road all the way to Kentmere—dodging and manoeuvring past cars and tractors—I arrived at the church to find it completely full of cars.
At 9 o’clock in the morning on a work day.
So that scuppered those plans. What to do instead? I contemplated trying for Longsleddale instead, but that’s an even longer valley with a narrow one-in-one-out road.
I realised that we’ve reached the time of year where the Lake District is always going to be busy, no matter where you go or when. So instead I navigated back to Kendal and took the A685 towards the Howgills. As I was approaching them, thinking of where to explore, I remembered the Bowderdale valley in the northern Howgills. It’s been a long time since I walked in that valley; time to revisit! In fact, it has been exactly four years to the day since I last explored Bowderdale.
Bowderdale is a long north-to-south valley in the northern part of the Howgills. It’s very quiet compared to the Howgills near Sedbergh. It’s also the source of the River Lune, which winds its way north out of the valley, turns sharply west, then gouges its way south where it has carved out the impressive Lune Gorge that now houses the M6 motorway.
I initially fancied a simple hike down the valley bottom. However, the closer to the valley I got, the more I was attacked by a variety of biting flies and insects. I quickly abandoned this idea and retraced my steps back to where the trail connects with the Dales High Way. This would take me up and over West Fell and I would see what I could see of Bowderdale from above.
Turned out to be a good idea! The weather was glorious.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Vivitar “Series 1” 29–105mm f2.8–f3.8 zoom lens. Images made 90% in-camera using the Velvia film simulation, finished off in Affinity Photo.
Bowderdale, Howgills, Cumbria, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Did you like these photos?
Howgills & Yorkshire Dales, Winter
The week leading to these photos and this post has been… frustrating.
The week leading to these photos and this post has been… frustrating.
On Monday my left shoulder grew progressively stiff and painful. By the evening I was in a lot of pain and I ultimately did not get a second of sleep. Looks like I did another one of my favourite Fit-During-My-Sleep-And-Discolate-A-Limb-Whilst-Shredding-Muscles.
So most of this week has been spent fighting pain and keeping the shoulder immobilised. Apart from the constant pain and lack of sleep being exhausting, it’s also boring.
By the weekend, I’d finally got my pain levels under control and was starting to regain movement in my shoulder. Sunday arrived bright and clear, with blue skies promising a beautiful day. Lisabet took us for a drive through Sedbergh and the Yorkshire Dales, occasionally parking up for short walks and photo snaps. I really needed it.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using my Fujinon 23mm f/2.0. Images developed using RNI Films’ Velvia 100F emulation.
Howgills, Yorkshire Dales, Summer
It was time to come back to the Howgills.
It was time to come back to the Howgills.
Back in April this year, 2021, Lisabet and I made our first hike up onto the Howgills, summiting Winder (473 m/1,552 ft), the fell that directly overlooks the beautiful Yorkshire Dales town of Sedbergh. It wasn’t hard, during that hike, to gawp at the next fell along the ridge from Winder, namely Arant Haw at 605 m. We vowed to return and tackle Arant Haw.
Today was that day.
The forecast was for clear skies and pushing 20°C, but when we arrived at Sedbergh for around 9am it was relatively chilly and cloudy. As we began our ascent up the Dales High Way up into the Howgills—and the views opened up—it became apparent that the cloud base still hadn’t quite cleared the fell tops. This resulted in amazing light and weather conditions, significantly slowing down our hiking progress (but all for good reason).
After a proper good pull, we managed to summit Arant Haw as well as add on the smaller fell of Crook on the way back down.
What a crackin’ day.
All photos shot on my Fujifilm X-T2 using two of my prime lenses: a Samyang 35mm f/1.2 and a Laowa 9mm f/2.8. Developed with RNI Films’ Kodak Portra 160 profile.
Sedbergh, Yorkshire Dales, Summer
After Saturday’s hike around Cunswick Fell for some glorious summer scenes, we sought more near the beautiful town of Sedbergh.
After Saturday’s hike around Cunswick Fell for some glorious summer scenes, we sought more near the beautiful town of Sedbergh.
I’ve commented before about the beauty of the Howgills and how Lisabet and I have barely touched them. The comely bumps and folds of these hills will see more of our footsteps in due course. But for this occasion I found a lovely hike that took us up towards the foot of the Howgills, through a couple of farms, and across some incredible wildflower meadows. We then joined the River Rawthey near Buckbank Farm and followed the river all the way back to the town.
A nice 5-mile circular, all in all.
Conditions, light, and scenes could not have been more cooperative for photography. The wildflower meadows beneath the Howgills were glorious.
All photos taken on my Fujifilm X-T2 with my Samyang 35mm f/1.2 lens. Images were made 80% in-camera using a customised Velvia film simulation, with minor edits in Lightroom and Affinity Photo afterwards.