Happy New Year!
Ingleton Waterfall Trail, Yorkshire Dales
As has become a tradition, we go away for my birthday. It started when I turned 30, when everyone chipped in and we went to the Isle of Skye for 5 days. Last year we went to Malham in the Yorkshire Dales.
This year we went back to the Yorkshire Dales, but we went to Ingleton instead.
Ingleton has (a lot of other things I’m sure) a waterfall trail, and a cave system.
Even though I’d chosen it as my place to go, I didn’t really expect it to be much; there were no good pictures of the waterfall trail or caves online when I had a quick search, so my expectations were pretty low. 
The week before we set off I printed out the Waterfall Trail leaflet, and was surprised when it said the walk was 2 1/2 – 4 hours.
The weather forecast looked so poor on the run up that we considered moving the booking to the weekend after, but my gut said stay with this weekend, so we did. 
We drove up on Saturday morning, and as predicted, it was chucking it down with rain. By the time we got to the waterfall car park (it’s about a two hour drive). So with fingers crossed we set off on the circular walk.
It was a fair walk before we saw the first waterfall, but it was a lot bigger an more impressive than I was expecting it to be. 
There was a clear path all the way around, and a places there were bridges built into the walk, so we walked right in front of the waterfalls in places.
As well as walking around the river/waterfalls there were also chunks of the walk where we were in the hills. It was a bit misty, which I love. I love winter time; the grass is an odd yellow colour and the trees are bare, and add in a bit of mist and it is just perfect. 
The walk has a lot of stairs in it, and most of the walk was on rocks so it was uneven. Even though it was advertised as strenuous and we scoffed at it, it was more steps and walking than either of us expected.
Having said that we made it around in 3 hours, even with various photo stops and drone flying stops. 
At points it was far too windy to fly my drone, and at other points there were a lot of trees and I didn’t feel too confident flying it.
One of the waterfalls was in an open spot with some benches which was ideal for flying my drone, as it was also surround by hills. 
Once we had completed the walk we checked into the hotel and had tea. We were both tired so we went to bed really early. We’d been up since 730.
In hindsight, I probably should have popped out to see the viaduct before tea…
Waterfalls
Today is the first day for the Christmas holidays, so obviously the first thing I did was go out with my drone!
Chatsworth House
Last weekend we visited Bakewell Xmas Market, this weekend it was Chatsworth. As none of us like to get there really late when it is busy, we set off to get there just as it opened.
For some reason this meant we had to park so far away we were pretty much in Baslow (the nearest little village) but had to pay for the privilege of parking in Chatsworth – £10!
So we started off our Xmas Market trip by hiking for 809743 years to get there. Once there the Christmas spirit never really hit me. We bought some brownies, cured sausages and a double chocolate scone. kB fancies some churros so we bought some but no one was really bothered about them. 
We (me and kB) left the others in the market and went to fly the drone. On the way in (during our voyage from the car park) I’d spied the Chatsworth deer and though that they would be a good target for practice. So off we went.
I spent some time practicing different shots, but my app kept crashing. Apparently it’s pants on Android so when I came home I bought a stand thing so I can connect my iPad to it.
The weather forecast was nice, the air was still… So naturally it was a drone kind of day 😉
I decided to go to Ulley Country Park, and practice a bit more with my drone. There is a nice spot with a few benches on it that made for an ideal seating area and Return to Home point. I flew the highest I’ve flown before, but I am still hesitant about distance away from me. I think the next time that I go out with it I am doing to focus on distance more than height. 
I’m slowly getting more used to the controls. I’ve gotten used to using the control to control the gimbal head.
I need to pay more attention to exposure though, as most of the shots were over exposed.
Isle of Arran – Day 4
Today was forecast to be the best day of our mini break, so today was the day we would try to reach Goatfell Summit. We got up a bit later and had a more relaxed morning, before driving a brief way to park at the start of the walk. 
The weather forecast had remained favourable so we set off optimistically to reach the top.
The first thing to note was that it was very windy. Due to this we didn’t make it all the way to the top. 
The second thing to note was that on our way back down it started hailing pretty much sideways and we got soaked – so we were glad we didn’t go all the way to the top!
We are now both pretty pooped! 
Isle of Arran – Day 2
After a rather miserable start to the morning, it brightened up around noon. We managed to squeeze in a couple of walks (North Sannox and Glen Sannox) as well as a trip to the distillery. 
A gym session in the morning and two walks has left us a bit pooped.
Overall Arran is exceeding my expectations, which I had set low after Skye and Norway last year. 
Isle of Arran – Day 1
After a long drive we arrived on Arran. The ferry crossing was smooth, but it was really misty/foggy and raining.
Malham part 3
Even though the weather was miserable, I did appreciate the mist. Maybe not the rain so much, but I do love misty, bleak landscapes.
We had tea at Beck Hall and it was very nice. We had lunch at a pub in the village which wasn’t so good.
When we woke up on Sunday it was sunny (The forecast said it would snow overnight and be foggy in the morning) so that was a bit annoying because had I known it would be nice I would have gotten up for the sunrise!
Back home now though, awaiting the next holiday – the Isle of Arran!
Malham
Last week it was my birthday! For my birthday we went away for the weekend. I decided that Malham would be the location for our mini trip. I’ve never been and it looked nice in photos online (and it’s not too far away from us).
We arrived on Friday night, and the weather forecast looked pants. When we woke up on Saturday the weather was pants! But we donned our waterproofs and set off out anyway.
The walk took us to Janet’s Foss (A waterfall in a small woodland area), then onto Gordale Scar (Waterfalls in a valley) and then onto Malham Cove (A limestone area at the edge of the hill).
More photos coming …
