Kisdon Force

Towards evening, we left Muker's glorious meadows and walked down into the gorge that holds Kisdon Force, near the hamlet of Keld. The light was beginning to drop but we had tripods. Lizzie was showing me how to use Lee Filters to slow down the shutter speed on my camera in order to blur the water and reduce the tonal difference between the sunlit trees and the shadowed waterfall. I'm not sure I can justify buying filters or carrying them around, but they do make a clear difference to the end result and I think the photo looks crisper overall too.

This is the lower falls and there is another big cascade a few hundred yards upstream. There wasn't much water coming over the falls really. It has been a very dry couple of months here. It won't be long, I fear, before we're being told it's a drought and being asked to conserve water! It's been a few years since that happened.

What you can't see are the thousands of midges: nasty little biting creatures that are extremely irritating! I've a stretchy buff that I wear around my neck when I'm out walking, to cushion my camera strap and prevent sunburn. It came in very useful to pull up over my hair to keep the midges off, even if it looked a bit stupid. Believe me, you don't care a fig about glamour when there are midges around!!

Evening light

As we were preparing to leave Muker's wildflower meadows, the evening light raking through the trees was very atmospheric.

Barns and wildflowers

I took loads of photos in Muker's wildflower meadows, but this one perhaps sums up as well as any the experience of being there on a wonderfully sunny day. It's a barn reflected in the cobweb strewn window of another barn. I spent ages lying on my stomach on the edge of the path too, trying to capture the feel of the flowers. You'll have to imagine the warmth of the sun and the gentle hum of insects.

All the world encapsulated in a drop of spittlebug foam, under a buttercup!

Muker's meadows

As well as the stone field barns, Swaledale's hay meadows around Muker are of international importance for their wildflowers. They are now protected and farmers receive grants that allow them to farm using traditional methods, without using artificial fertilisers. I don't know how I've never visited before when the flowers are blooming. They really are exceptionally stunning. 

Muker

The village of Muker in Swaledale was our next stop, and a pretty little place it is, too. The area has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. Agriculture has always been its basic driver, although in the late 18th/early19th century lead mining was an important source of employment. Nowadays, tourism helps and the village has a couple of teashops, craft shops and a pub. And how do you pronounce its name? I'm fairly sure it's 'Mooka'. There is a very strong, historic dialect in the area, still spoken by some older residents. Swaledale is locally pronounced 'Swardle' and the local dialect uses many specific local words, especially farming-related terms, and ancient words like 'thee' and 'thou'. There is concern that the dialect is dying out and I believe recordings have been made in an attempt to preserve it.

Swaledale's stone barns

From Wensleydale we drove north and over into the next valley, Swaledale, which is famed for its many limestone field barns. They were originally built to overwinter cattle and store their feed. Many are in disrepair, though some have been restored. Swaledale is a beautiful valley, harder to reach than some and with fewer obvious tourist attractions and few large settlements. Unlike Wensleydale it never had a railway, and to some extent that has preserved its mystery. It has some amazing wildflower meadows, thanks to the practice of letting the flowers bloom and seed before cutting the grass for hay or sileage. These photos were taken in Yellands Meadow Nature Reserve.

Weather

In the early part of the walk up Arkengarthdale, the high winds kept the rain away and the ever-changing light was amazing. Little breaks in the cloud illuminated small patches of the landscape and there were beautiful crepuscular rays.

Once the wind began to die down, the rain and mist closed in, so the return along the river from Healaugh to Reeth was quieter but rather damp. The riverside walk is what is known as a 'corpse road'. In medieval times, the only church and graveyard in upper Swaledale was at Grinton, south of Reeth. (Poor) people had to carry their deceased loved ones' bodies (in wicker coffins devised for the purpose) for long distances from their homes to the graveyard, to be buried in consecrated ground. Corpse roads had flat stones placed at intervals, so that the coffin could be rested. Some of these stones are still there today.