Helicopters, Snow, Celebrity Pheasants and The Dales...

Ok, before I start, this post is going to be picture heavy and this isn't craft related at all, just as a word of warning, but I really wanted to share some totally awesome photo's with you - if scenery isn't your thing then click off now! 

I've known my OH for 14 years now and we have never had a *proper* holiday yet, but occasionally we manage to sneak a couple of days off here and there. We found, through the beauty of Twitter an absolutely fantastic cottage to rent in the Yorkshire Dales, which is only about an hour and a half from here. Neither of us are sun-worshippers so going abroad doesnt bother us at all but this time I searched and searched and finally found somewhere with...tada!!...a HOT TUB! Whoooahhh! 

So we arrived at the cottage just as it was getting dark and it was stunning - at the top of a dale and high up a very steep hill with absolutely stunning panoramic views down the dale, simply beautiful! I was wide awake at 6am the next day waiting for the sun to come up, camera in hand because I just knew I was going to get some stunning photo's and boy, I wasn't disappointed at all. 

We had a little balcony which gave a fantastic viewpoint. Now, not one of these pics have been altered or photoshopped in any way, they are just taken straight from the camera untouched (although I have to say I do have an awesome Dslr camera which does all the work for me)...

So here is sunrise on Wednesday morning...sorry if this gets boring but these pics have blown me away how well they came out, it's exactly what I saw...(I think if u click on the pics u'll get a bigger image too as these are good resolution)...

 Overlooking the dale, facing directly East, daybreak is just starting...

 I really wanted to capture the awesome cloud formations, I couldn't believe how fast they were moving overhead, although it was a very windy morning...

 Love how it's lighter at the back of the Dale where there is less cloud in this one above...it was just like that to the naked eye, so pleased I managed to pick up the detail and the little buildings coming into focus at the foreground...

 Here comes the sun, la lala la laaaa...

Just stunning, love how the cloud looks like it's on fire like burning embers in a hearth...

 Can someone turn the torch off please...amazing sunbeams!...

And at last the clouds start to clear a little to allow the golden sun to shine...

 I almost was blinded by how bright it was and as I could look no more I had to get dressed!

 So, having seen the most awe inspiring sunrise ever we decided to take a little trip to Hawes which wasn't far away, in the eternal hope that the wind would die down enough in the afternoon for us to take a well earned dip in the hot tub.  But before we even got to Hawes we had to go over the Buttertubs pass.
Now, if anyone has never heard of this road...oh my!
Been watching Ice Road Truckers in India??
All those unpassable mountain roads which give way under the tyres with barely room for 2 vehicles to pass and no barrier to stop you falling down a 1 mile vertical drop?? Yep? You know the ones? Welcome to Buttertubs pass!!
Needless to say I have no photo's at this point. For one, it took us up almost into the clouds so it became really dark and ominous, but I have to admit I was stopping the car for NO-ONE. Not quite a 1 mile sheer drop but nevertheless it was a sheer drop and it's a good job I was driving or I would have had to get out and walk home because I have to admit to a slight panic attack when I was less than 2 ft from the edge and the only thing between a VW Passat and the gulley below was a steel post about every 10ft and a steel rope which was only about 2 ft high. OMG. I was sweating I can tell you, I just had to not look! Kris loved it, and he was the one on the edge. I don't like heights anyway but it was the lack of barrier that was doing me in, I often have nightmares about similar situations to this and it wasn't helped by the (obviously local) other drivers who kept getting up my backside pushing me to go faster than I wanted. Although I didn't anyway.  Once we got over the Seat at the top it was fine and the views were stunning, Kris was a bit of a misery and didn't want to stop long enough for me to take some more pics so we carried on down to Hawes. Which was almost closed, lovely, but closed!

There is however the most stunning waterfall...

 Kris nearly papped himself (not in a paparazzi way) when I leaned right over the bridge to get this shot...

 Wouldn't you just love to live in one of those houses...(hope they have double-glazing though, the noise of the water was intense!)...

 And across the road to the other side, downstream...lovely old buildings and warehouses...

 ....mossy stones...I have a thing about mossy, slippery stones, love the way the light catches them....

It was such a shame much of the little town was closed for business as there were a few little nooks and crannies that caught my eye with their wares, not least the Olde Sweet Shoppe...although Kris did a very good job of steering me surreptitiously the other way...funny that! Anyway, it started to rain and I stupidly was without a coat (the only person 'ard enough in the entire town I noticed, as everyone was coated and hatted and scarved and gloved)...so we had to hot-foot it back to the car before my barnet ended up like a scrag-end like the sheep's coats on them there hills (I curse curls).
So as it was now lunchtime we decided to head off and forage for fodder which we did at a rather nice hostelry not too far from the cottage (yes, we DID have to go back over Buttertubs, I just didn't look to the right hand side of me once all the way!). So suitably stuffed and rain gone, gone away we decided to head back home and partake of the hot tub...well, it would simply be RUDE not to wouldnt it, all those facilities available and we had to make sure it was still in good working order.
These are a couple more pics I took as we were stripping off to get in (fur lined bikini at the ready I guarantee you!)...

 I do believe this is Kisdon...(a rather big hill)...

 My, was that hot-tub absolutely devine or what?!! It was snooked just round the corner of the building so it was a little sheltered but the wind was still pretty strong and we kept getting a face full of foam which was rather funny. My OH must be the only person in the world who can't naturally float so I always find it rather amusing when he can almost drown in 2ft of water if he loses his footing. Unlike me with my pink whale blubber which would keep me afloat in the Atlantic!
What more do you need than this in life ay?...

 Anyway, we'd been in the tub for a little while (let me tell you these pictures LOOK warm, but it was about 4 degrees outside!) when we realised we'd left our dry clothes and towels behind. So poor Kris nearly caught his death having to run all the way back round to go get them haha, I was sniggering in my hot, steamy tub I can tell you and praying that the farmer who uses the road at the back of the house was going to roll by and pass him in his trunks LOL! (I'm soooo mean!). But he got his own back on me as he'd put my Birki's on to run round in so they were completely soaked when I got out! yuks!
So once suitably pruned enough we did get out and went in for a warm-up just in time for the sun to go down again...and then, the moment we had both been praying for happened....it started to snow!
Wooahhh!! Real snow!
Not loads of snow but snow nonetheless and enough to make us both run out on the balcony and try to eat it, the big kids that we are...we hoped it would lay but it was way too wet and sleety despite the hail and all that fresh air must have done us good we were both catching zzz's by 10pm!

On Thursday morning we were up a bit later but managed to catch another awesome sunrise (sorry, are you still awake?)...

 Isn't this like something you see on a film with all CGI retouching...

 Wowser! wow wow wow!...no fancy lens or filter, remember...and this is Yorkshire!

 Ok, starting to get the old red-eye through the viewfinder at this point but I will suffer for my art...

 And pffff....all of a sudden out she pops, little Miss Sunshine breaks through the clouds properly to reveal a stunning blue sky...

 Love how the warm amber light is just picking up the fields in the foreground now....

 And this was about an hour later, about 8.30-9am I think, beautiful bright sunshiney day although FREEZING cold!! Don't let that lovely landscape fool you!

We couldn't decide what to do on Thursday and we had a mini work trauma involving missing deliveries back at Polkadoodles which wasn't the easiest thing to sort out with no phone coverage but it took us half the morning to get things sorted. We were both really tired but equally felt we didn't need to go anywhere to get a better view than the one we had so we decided to mooch around a bit and see how we felt later. Kris went off for a little jaunt to Gunnerside which is just a few miles down the road and he'd just got back when it happened...
...It started to snow again...proper snow...and all I'd been nattering on about for weeks was how I wanted to sit in the hot tub in the snow...so we literally RAN round to the hot-tub and dived in!
OMG it was AWESOME! I'm gutted because I took a great photo on my iphone of my toes poking up in the snowstorm but it didnt come out!
But here is the snow just before it reached us, coming across the Dale towards us....

 So there we are splashing around in the hot tub, all I could think of was how it must be like those people who go off to Iceland and take a dip in the hot springs in the middle of the snow and ice...it really was very refreshing but the snowflakes were like titchy little ice pincers stabbing your head with shards of ice-coldness - my face was literally NUMB down the left hand side! When it came to getting out (we were in about 45mins I think) we literally had to launch ourselves out and back inside like a pair of flashers to get dry, it was so so so cold!! But all we did was laugh at each other struggling to get dressed while we were still wet through, you know that horrid school swimming pool trauma where u couldnt get dry and your clothes stick and you can't move your arms properly! We dived in the sauna to get nice and warm for 10 minutes though tee hee! Didnt have that luxury at school did we, huh!

 And as we got out the snow decided to retreat again, going back down the Dale...love how it totally transforms the look of it and makes it look all eerie...

 And then, snap! All of a sudden it was all gone again, just leaving the red on the hillside of Kisdon...it's just amazed me how different one single view can look throughout 2 days...

Now, we had just got back into the cottage and sat down with a hot steaming coffee when all of a sudden there was THE loudest noise ever and a bloody helicopter arrived! A helicopter I tell you!! We stood on the balcony and literally it was in front of us as if it was hovering in this photo above, taking up the entire picture! It can only have been about 20 - 30 feet away, they could have jumped out onto the hillside if they wanted - I'm convinced they'd come to see what nutcases were sat in a hot-tub in the middle of a snowstorm! I didnt manage to get a picture in time which was so annoying but they were obviously checking all the Dales to make sure there were no walkers out who'd got caught out in the snow as we watched them go off doing funny whirly maneouvres down the Dale and round the corner. Funny enough, the OH's Uncle works for Mountain Rescue so it could have been him, how funny that would have been if we'd seen him sat in the passenger seat!

So it got to Day 3 and time to go home - bigtime meh. We just didnt want to leave. The car was all frozzed up and still had a layer of icy snow on the windscreen so it took 10 mins to de-ice.

We were up and out nice and early so Suzanne, the lovely owner of the cottage could prepare it for her next guests and we decided to stop off a little bit on the way along the Dale and try and take some more piccies...another awesome sunrise, looks like it's on fire...

 The junction for the dreaded Buttertubs pass - the sun was literally so bright coming over the hill I couldn't even look at it so I held my sunglasses over the lens of my camera to use as a filter...kinda liking the result!

 And a backwards shot from the car as we parted the village, adore all the slate rooves higgledy piggledy in this shot - the hot tub is up on the top of that hill in the distance LOL...

 Love how the golden beams of the sun are catching the top of the hill here...

 Oh, look, a mossy wall, love mossy walls LOL ; D

So we drove along for a couple of miles and we saw the most AMAZEBALLS sight you ever saw in your life! Sadly we couldn't take a pic as we were past before we realised it and had we gone back the moment would have passed anyway...we came up over the brow of a hill and up on the side of the hill stood atop a dry stone wall were 3 pheasants. There was the cock pheasant in the middle with his 2 ladyfriend pheassies one at each side of him!! Man did he look all proud stood there with his chest all puffed out all red and glorious - it was truly a one-off moment that would have made an Attenborough programme had we captured it! All 3 of them just stood in a row dead still, looking at something in the distance, almost oblivious to us rolling past in car. But if we'd stopped we'd have disturbed them I'm sure and they'd have gone anyway : (

I will never forget that sight as long as I live. Little did we know what we were about to encounter anyway...

We carried on another mile or so down the road - now these roads are tiny and I wanted to drink in the surroundings before I had to leave so I was driving like my dad...ie 20mph, having a good sneck about.  Then it happened - Philgate. Up popped another Pheasant in the side of the road and we just knew it was going to run out in front of the car and I didnt want blood on my hands. So we all know Pheassies are dumb right? I swear this was a celebrity Pheassie...he just walked into the road and stood dead still, looking at us.

  I carried on driving and he didn't move a bloody inch, even when the bumper was 1" away from him...then he started to play bloody chicken with us...or should that be Philly (OH named him Phil)...he just swaggered back and forth onto the road every time we were about to pull away. Then he'd nip back in the shrubs when we stopped, little b*st*rd!...I SWEAR he was doing it on purpose...

 Look! Look how flipping close he was - NO FEAR! Kris actually had to get out of the car and try and shoo him off but the little b*gger just stood there looking at him and shouting back at him! haha!! I just sat in the car in stitches trying to edge forward but it wasn't working at all! I was on a blind corner so I couldn't drive over the other side of the road even to go round him. Kris was shooing him off with the strap off the camera and Phil just kept shouting back at him and telling him off - literally!! It was a true Jeremy Beadle moment I can tell you!

 I decided he would move if I made a rapid drive off so Kris stood at the side of the road and kept him out of the way so I could drive past - you'll never guess what happened...yep, Phil followed!! I was roaring with laughter at this point, there I am driving off leaving Kris behind in the middle of the road with a bloody pheasant. In the end I just shouted out the window at Kris to run like hell and catch me up and I set off fast enough that Kris could catch up but I could see Phil running at his heels down the side of the car so I had to speed up even more, you seriously would have died laughing if you'd seen us, it was so Frank Spencer - poor Kris had the car door open and had to jump in whilst I was still going just to get away from him!! I had tears running down my face I tell you!! WHY oh why do these things happen to us??? I was just so relieved that in the 5 or 6 minutes that this happened no other traffic had seen us as it would've been ultimately embarassing!

Anyway we stopped laughing just in time to reach Gunnerside a couple of miles further on where there is a lovely place to pull over and look at the river which was running quite fast...

 Kris had to take some of these pics as I stupidly only had my Birki's on and it was seriously frosty on the grass!...

 The first frost here on this log...

 And just to prove it....

 Miracle Kris didn't fall in when he got this pic...

 And proper icy puddles on the mud reminds me of being at primary school when I used to smash them all up every morning in my red wellies...

I know I'm sad but I love this pic, think it's the way so many things are all in the same frame and look at how many colours there are - moss, algae, grass, centuries old rock, twigs, leaves and who knows what little creatures are hiding in all those crevices...it's just a tiny snapshot of time which is teeming with life, most of it unseen or oblivious to mankind...

 I'm not sure where we were when I took this photo, we were approaching more civilisation though as the traffic increased significantly, this is one of those oxbow river kind of places I think, where the shallow riverbed separates into loads of little streams and pools but then all comes back together again when it gets around the bend, it was fab...

 And another look back down the Dale, we'd only come about 6 or 7 miles at this point I think but it seems much much further...

 And here is Simon. Simon the sheep. I stood a good few minutes trying to find a good shot and just as I decided to take one of him he turned round and stared at me as if to say *Wotchu looking at Willis?* He looked at me until I got back in the car - maybe he was wondering if he could make it over the wall to headbutt me or not LOL! I tell you if he'd started running towards me I'd have been like sh*t off a stick back in the car!

 And just for good measure here we go again...wonder who is under this lot...tee hee...

So there you have it. I hope I haven't bored you too much. You can tell we don't get out much can't you. I have to say though that you really can't beat having a great camera. The pictures I managed to take here have inspired me to get a couple of different filters and another lens so I can have a play about.  I've always been into photography and in my first ever job when I left school I had to work in darkroom exposing photo's and negatives so it's something I've dabbled in over the years, but as I don't have children and I always seem to be working I just don't get to take many pictures these days. We got this camera about 5 years ago which is a Pentax and at the time it cost a small fortune but I haven't ever regretted spending the extra to be honest, I just point it and click and it never misses a shot ever. I bet had we not we'd have had 3 or 4 different ones by now and spent more in the long run. I'm looking for a camera for the OH for crimbo now, he needs a little point and shoot rather than this great big lollopping thing as he'll drop this and it's mega heavy. He's always out and about and I'm always trying to get him to do a photography course because if he knew some of the technical bits he would make a darned good photographer, he has a really good eye for catching the frame. So I can't wait for my filters to come which were an ebay bargain and the chance to take some more snaps soon!

As for The Dales - if you've never been, you really need to. And yes, we will be going back which is why I haven't told you where the cottage was because I want to make sure there's plenty of availability haha!! ; D

ttfn x

....
p.s. Hee hee I was winding poor Suzanne up saying I wasn't going to share where this idyllic hideaway is. Get yourselves over to Swaledale House right now if you'dre interested in an awesome getaway, it's a complete snip but it does get booked up very quickly and I will be mortified if I can't get some more dates this year so save some for me please!! xx