With a free weekend I decided to make a short photo essay of the Northern Pennines. I had been to the area on a number of previous occasions so knew what to expect but also knew that there were places I had not yet explored. They are within a couple hours drive of home and I found a suitably affordable, comfy cottage online in Alston, pretty central to where I wanted to go.

In the lead up to the weekend we had some hot weather but rain was forecast. I was concerned that it would either be far too sunny and bright or just a dull, grey mess. However weather is changeable in the Pennines so it could equally have some heavy clouds that I was hoping for. I set off in reasonable brightness with a few fluffy clouds and trusted it would be OK. The M62 and A1 are not the most interesting roads to drive but I was soon on the A66, crowded, but nearer to my destination. Turning off and heading towards Barnard Castle the weather darkened – but no rain. A couple of stops and a short walk and it was time for coffee and a scone. Then I got into my stride as I headed further North.

The B6282 takes you through Cotherstone and Romaldkirk, eventually joining the B6277 beyond Mickleton and dropping past the Auction Centre into Middleton-on-Tees.  Leaving Middleton the road doubles back on itself before setting off to Alston. The chapel at Bowlees is now a Visitor Centre for the area and you can park for a small donation. There is a short, easy walk down to the Pennine Way and the Low Force waterfalls. The weather still held. Up to High Force next, although I didn’t stop, reckoning the rain would increase the water by the time I returned that way in a couple of days.

From Langdon Beck and the hotel there you begin to ascend to the high moorland. Many bends with cautionary speed limits, signs advising bikers to go slowly and poles advising the depths of the snow in winter conditions.  There are sheep on the road in places too.  The stone walls that crisscross the hillsides and the dotted, lonely houses, often painted white and looking like forlorn dice that may have lost someone the last of their cash, are formidable targets. I stop several times for pictures but eventually the weather breaks so I head to find my cottage in Alston. I am grateful it is in the town, is very clean and has a comfortable bed.

Next morning I am up early. Heavy rain is due by 10.00 am and the day is likely to be a washout. I set out for Steel Rigg on Hadrian’s Wall hoping to make it to Sycamore Gap before the weather turns for the rest of the day. I park and set off, across a sheep strewn field.  There is a steep set of stairs leading to the top of the cliff whose path takes about another mile to where I want to be. It’s windy and as I reach the top of the steps a few drops of rain brush my face. Turning West I can see the approaching storm. I make a quick calculation and head back to the car. I’m glad  I did as the torrent of rain hits as I get there. I wait a few minutes but this rain is not going away. I descend to the well named Twice Brewed with its brewery of that name and the Twice Brewed Inn. Sadly too early to sample the goods.

I take the less travelled roads across to Melmerby via Castle Carrock. I know there is an excellent village bakery in Melmerby and then I can hope that maybe I’ll get some shots as I go over the Hartside Pass. As I head down the small roads, many single track, the rain hammers down, the dips become flooded and the rain on the car roof drowns out the radio. Despite windscreen wipers going full tilt I can hardly see anything and start to hope that I meet nothing coming the other way or that particularly large dips won’t provide floods that are too deep for the car. I make Melmerby unscathed and sit in the car for ten minutes until the rain subsides sufficiently for me to rush the hundred yards into the bakery. An hour later, refreshed with some scrambled egg and salmon on toast and a couple of coffees the rain seems to have subsided. I go out and climb the long and winding road to Hartside. The weather doesn’t hold and returns with a vengeance as I climb higher, becoming a cloud that turns everything beyond it invisible. I admit defeat and go back to Alston and crouch in the cottage with a book. I leave the house for half an hour later that afternoon when the rain seems to stop but it starts again as I reach the limits of the village so I turn back grabbing a pint of Timothy Taylor in a local hostelry as I pass. And that‘s it for today.

On Sunday rain is forecast all day but when I look out it isn’t bad. Very windy and it has clearly rained hard for most of the night. I have a quick cuppa, load up the car for my return journey and set off. The weather is reasonably kind for the next hour and I stop a few times to take pictures. It spits at me and the wind tries to wrestle the car door from my grasp. I hope to make High Force before it rains again. No luck. As I descend towards the car park for the waterfall the rain starts again, heavy and persistent and so I decide to drive straight home. It wasn’t a bad couple of days and the pictures you see here are all from the trip. But it does call me back, this area, with it’s wildness, bleakness and many smaller roads and settlements that I have yet to explore. The weather is always a part of the adventure, as unpredictable as what you might see and capture....

A You Tube video of this trip is now available here

The book,"Sometimes, across great spaces", is also available here

In post-producing the photographs I have largely stuck to black and white as it seems to suit the pictures and mood of the weekend very well. Where colour remains that is because it suits those particular photographs especially.