A week off after working Christmas and New Year was needed.
With Lisabet’s Aussie family in the UK for a few weeks, we all took a joint week long holiday together. Our “base” was near Summerbridge, between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge, within the Nidderdale National Landscape. This gave us good access to a wide variety of places to explore.
The first Saturday dawned with sub-zero temperatures and clear skies, so we made our way to Brimham Rocks to enjoy the outdoors. The last time I explored Brimham Rocks was back in 2017. It was late summer, so beautiful swathes of pink-purple heather was everywhere. This time, we were in the depths of winter, with ice and snow gently coating all the trails and rock formations.
I’ve never experienced Brimham Rocks in these conditions before, and was instantly spellbound.
All photos taken on my iPhone 17 Pro Max. RAWs developed in Lightroom, merged together in Photomatix, then edited and finalised in Photoshop.
Straight out of the main car park, a signpost indicating the “scenic” route directly guides you to the first of many incredible rock formations.
This is a formation known as the Blacksmith’s Anvil. Lisabet’s Aussie relatives had fun clambering all over these rocks.
I ventured around on me own, seeking compositions. Low winter light really helped me find illuminated subjects where I could then compose from a position of deep shadow. Here, the formation known as the Eagle is bathed in winter light.
A cut through the Eagle gave me another composition that greatly features the Millstone Grit formation of the rocks.
I clambered down below the Eagle to get myself into deep shadow, using the ice and snow on the rocks as leading lines towards the remarkable Eagle formation.
Next door to the Eagle are Castle Rocks. As with most rock formations around Brimham Rock, they are rather appropriately named.
A gentle dusting of snow simplifies the textures and shapes in this composition.
Round the back of the Eagle, towards Lover’s Leap, a small valley retains the cold, freezing the beck. This is also where you can find this formation, with a natural tunnel cutting through it.
Back in the open near the Kiosk, this group of boulders gave me a nice foreground to work with looking towards the Eagle.
Always a joy to find ways of using various rock formations to create interesting arrangements and compositions, such as this one.
On my way to explore some other rocks I’d never checked before, I stopped at this solitary formation that I couldn’t pass up.
I think this one may be the Flowerpot.
Around these rocks, boulderers were enjoying the challenge of figuring out a way to climb up these unusual angles.
Probably my favourite shot of the day.