Lincoln, Lincolnshire

After visiting the Lincoln Christmas market several times on a North East Railtours / SRPS charter,  I always wanted to come back and see the place operating under normal conditions. The opportunity never arose as a lot of my spare weekends were spent in Bristol during the last few years. A band I followed for quite some time (Iona) were doing a limited UK tour and as the brains behind the outfit came from Lincoln, this was an obvious choice for one of the dates.

Lincoln is probably best known visually for the cathedral's distinctive west front. The above view was taken from the castle tower and i waited specifically to get the sun shining on it in such a way that it highlighted the building effectively.

Lincoln Cathedral

As night photography on floodlit buildings used to be my thing years ago, I wasn't going to miss this opportunity considering I was staying overnight. Observers of my pictures may notice that I try to incorporate arches and frames to the subject. The picture didn't break that rule and i tried to add an extra dimension of people enjoying the view.

After this late photo outing, it was time to return to the Eagles guest house which was a modern house and provided a great en suite room for the price. It can be found via their own website and trip advisor (the first time that I was asked to put a review on !...must be desperate).

I went for wander in town and came across this house on a bridge, not quite Florence or Venice, but it was called the Glory Hole.

Nearby was a spiral staircase which provided a bit more if not unusual photographic interest....

....as did the artwork called Empowerment. The hands don't touch, but I was fortunate to get a viewpoint where it looked as if they did. The sun proved more of a problem as the picture is not perfect, but it provides some mystery to the point of the artwork.

Lincoln Castle

... and the shopping arcade was not that exciting but there was plenty of potential for photograph opportunities, I opted for this particular view.

Lastly, the Iona concert was an interesting experience.  A show of hands after the first song demonstrated that most of the audience had not heard the band before and seemed to be pressganged by locals to attend for fear of cancellation perhaps. People near me were surprised at the distance  that I and others had travelled and thought that they were coming to an evening of Scottish music. Frank van Essen's dutch drums rectified that .....as a few had fingers in their ears or left early...... nice quiet place, Lincoln is usually !!

The Dogs and Boats of Skipton

On the way home from the Yorkshire Dales, i needed to stop off in Skipton for water for my camel and I opted for a quick wander around the shops. The traveller in me however, drew me to the canal where i came across a few unexpected sights....... little did i know what was around the corner......

Malham Cove, Yorkshire Dales

Having achieved the mountaineering objectives in the previous two days, there was a recommendation from the guest house over the course of this time by previous people that i should visit Malham Cove. Although it seemed like the ultimate Geography field trip, the woman in the tourist office informed me of a relaxing short walk that would take in all the sights. If Geography was all about reading maps at school, I'd have another job now, unfortunately, the exam was all about rocks.....so just rewards today.

Malham was the start of the 4 mile (approximate)  walk. The car park seemed large enough for the tourists compared with the relatively few shops for the non walkers.

I set off in an anticlockwise direction starting south down the Pennine way for a short distance before taking a path along the edge of fields to the  National trust location of Janet's Moss.

Around the corner and across a road was the feature of Gordale scar which looked spectacular from any distance.

Those who wanted a longer walk up to Malham tarn, there was a short scramble up the waterfall rock. I got to one foothold away from the top and opted to return for the relaxing day of scenery.

Followed the path to the Cove around the base of the adjacent hill and was greeted with this view so opted for a lunch break here.

Even though it's generally a busy place, there are points where you can find solitude. I dropped a crust on the ground by accident and there are always willing volunteers that come and help hoover up.

The Limestone pavement is well polished in places due to the amount of visitors but provides fun for old and young alike as it seems like a massive playpark albeit with a substantial drop behind the two people depicted here. Health and Safety errr... no.

Rock climbers heaven.....

The solitude can be a bit much for some at Malham Tarn possibly due to the lack of contours and the distance covered in such an environment.  Solitary tree.

Ingleborough, Yorkshire Dales

The profile of Ingleborough is best observed from Chapel le Dale and the limestone pavements are worth a look in their own right as a separate walk. This view is a little out of sequence as I drove here after climbing the mountain.

I chose the ascent that seemed to have most variety from the sleepy village of Clapham. The walk started in what seemed to be a private estate for which their was a small entrance fee and headed towards Ingleborough cave. It did seem a bit unusual to buy a ticket for a walk from a car parking machine. There were a few good moments however with views occasionally through the trees to a lake.

The above picture is just to check if you are awake and the picture below made use of the light on the trees.

The walk continued to gain height on this forest trail until the exit of the paid area was reached at the top of the estate.

It was nice to get out to experience a variety of walking terrain over the next section past the cave, a short clamber up a short gorge....

.... and eventually out on to the open mountain. The main summit above is on the right hand side of the photograph.

When I reached the summit about 30 minutes later, i experimented with a few shots.......

.....before settling down for lunch.
(I don't often photograph myself so ..... you'll have to think a lot of it.)
How animated can one get ?!...startled by the noise of the mountain rescue helicopter to come and take me away !!.... or just mezzzzmorised that i've seen another hillwalker in the Yorkshire Dales. Anyway, i would give a good recommendation for a takeaway sandwich from Clapham post office/ general store.

The Ribblehead viaduct on the Carlisle to Settle railway line is seen to the north.

Time to retrace the steps for part of the journey as the temperature was quite cold. Amazingly, I came across a large party of walkers who seemed to have difficulty descending the other side of this hill.

My variation on the way back down was via the tedious and straight" Long lane" which was broken up with the occasional tree interest...

... and a few unusual architectural features !!

This seemed to take my mind of the scariest part of the whole week...

....which was the enticement or trap of looking down Gaping gill. There is a small fence around the top of the slopes surrounding it, but it is possible to explore further via steps and a path for a closer look without a safety fence. The temptation is here for a better photo of the water dropping into the cavern, but if you opt not to read the nearby notice board , you won't know that this cavern can accommodate the volume of .....York Minster !!

Pen-y-ghent, Yorkshire Dales

Although it stayed dry today, it was difficult getting a decent mountain profile from the road. This was my best offering given the time and circumstances.

The starting point for Pen-y-ghent is the classic location of Pen-y-ghent cafe in Horton in Ribblesdale. This building is like a sweet shop for walkers with everything on display from take away food to walking equipment. More importantly for some, it is the start and finish point of the Three Yorkshire Peaks walk signified by the clock card machine below. The record for the 23 mile route is 2h 51m by a fell runner.
After crossing the main road, the walk follows a series of farm tracks and lanes until the open fell was reached.

The only unusual thing about this section was thunder of hooves. To my surprise, over the horizon came a stampede of sheep that were being moved into a different field.

Once on the open fell, the unique Yorkshire Dales mountain profile was visible in the same format for some time getting ever closer as I approached the intersecting Pennine way...

It was only at this point did I feel that there was any mountain to climb. I was joined on this section by a soldier on leave serving in Germany who told me all about his daughter in Scarborough, his flat, his ex, his job, plans to do the three peaks.

After lunch at the summit, it was all quiet again. I opted to cover the sub summit of Plover Hill in the distance & eventually found myself on the wrong side of a high stone wall due to the insignificance of the spot height & it's location.....cough, cough, tut, tut !!

I was now well off the Three Peaks trail as i descended into "no mans land" and ...

....a shocker of a sign telling me how many miles it was back on a wide track to Horton !!

The monotony of the route was broken up by rejoining the Three Peaks route, geological features including Hull Pot & these interesting tree curves. There were not many people about and i was left wondering when i eventually had Horton in my sights, whether this seat was for those had completed the walk or those who got to the top of the field & just dreamed about doing it....