Team-BHP - Mother of all treks

If I can fill my lungs with fresh air
If I can fill my sight with greenery
If I can fill my ears with bird calls
I consider myself alive!

One thing I never get tired off is walking. I'm not the robust trekker who climbs every peak. But I walk where my legs lead.
One fine day, my ex-boss asked me whether I'd like to join him on a trek.
The course was 15 miles. Idyllic Yorkshire dales was the place. I'm not in the right side of my fitness levels. Sciatic nerve condition wrecked havoc. It was just 3 months since I could walk without pain. But I just jumped on the offer.

I will have to pull this out of my memory. Because we went on this trek on 15th of June 2008.
So let me re-collect what all we did on that day and pen it down. Since I'm also midway with my other travelogue, this one will take time. so readers please pardon me if I don't go beyond second gear.

But I'm damn charged up and can't wait to start this. Thanks to all the inpiration with the Skandagiri trek and wildlife trips.

This was our backyard.

Man thats a neat capture clap: hopefully will be able to go there sometime

Quote:

Originally Posted by MX6 (Post 1742116)

Malham is a small village in North Yorkshire. The trek was done in the surrounding countryside which is known for it's limestone sceneries. Malham's major attractions include the Malvern Tarn, Malham cove, Janet's Foss, Gordale Scar and the Dry valley.
Our trek went through these. It's through the scenic Yorkshire dales. The nearest rail head to the Yorkshire dales National park is Skipton

The time to assemble there was 8 am sharp. There was a group which were planning on a Tibetan trek the next year and they used to meet every fortnight on such practice treks. This, for them was like a walk in the park.
Thanks to my ex-boss, I along with two other colleagues planned to join this group. We left home from Bradford at 7 am. We were there in the parking lot by 8:15 and missed out on the pre-trek briefing.
Finding directions in UK villages can be a bit tricky!

There were many trekking routes that range from 6 kms to 15 kms in Malham. We decided to try get in much of the places in and the distance grew to around 24 kms!

Our route taken is shown in that thin red line in the map below.

I dusted my DSLR. This was a weekend bonanza for the photographer in me. I went on this trek solely for photography. Since some parts of the trek is arduous and I'm not in the right shape, I decided to travel light. So had to leave the tripod behind. Also left behind my telephoto lens.

My colleagues

The carpark was overflowing. So we parked the vehicles on the shoulder. The weather was perfect for a hike. Notice the limestone walls behind. Limestones simply stacked over each other with no mortar holding them. Mile after mile, we saw probably a million such stones stacked. Kept wondering whether it's humanly possible to arrange like this?

We grabbed the last few minutes of the briefing and where on our way. We walked along the road and crossed over the brook on a small ledge to get on to the trail. The trails were clearly marked and people kept on the trail and off the grass.
The first to welcome us where the sheep who were totally used to visitors and didn't bolt away seeing us.

Momma. He looks menacing.
That's alright kid. He's a vegetarian!

I'm the Black Sheep. So? Get going.

No. I'm not mutton noodles.

Any closer and I'll bleat.

The view of the trail we took before we hit harsher terrains.

Crossing over the hillock, walking the narrow train between the fence and the wall of limestones, we hit the first clearance. The view was mind-blowing.

Rolling hills and trees, Clouds kissing the hillocks. It was perfect weather. Salubrious. We were waiting for the cloud cover to lift and give us a glorious blue.

Sheep dot the fields. They fetch a premium in market when chopped up because they are left free to roam and reared that way and not caged. It's called free-range meat!

The issue with English weather is it's perfectly sunny one moment and the next it becomes overcast. But nothing deterred us as we proceeded towards Janet's Moss.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartcat (Post 1743216)

hey what cars were they? Rover?

If you had LandRover, you could've probably driven to the top!

We had Citroens. Not sure about the LandRover. I might have needed a Batmobile to drive this route! Besides this was a trek. We drove, trekked, then drove back!

Quote:

Originally Posted by raj.barcode (Post 1742957)

What a brilliant landscape and beautiful captures please continue :thumbs up

Sure Raj. Thanks. As we climb up it gets better. The landscapes as well as the photos.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fazalaliadil (Post 1742923)

English countryside beautifully captured, Thanks for sharing.
Regards,

Thanks fazal. There's 1000s of photos of my escapades around the globe. Will roll out one after the other. English countryside is amazing. Just like every other country! It's the people who reduce the amazing to the alarming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KRRaj (Post 1742911)

Wow!! Awesome Sceneries clap:Looking forward for more!! :)

Yes KRRaj. There's more in store and they get better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by esteemer (Post 1742161)

Looks promising :)

Waiting for it.

It would be worth the wait. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 1742149)

Couldn't believe by looking the backyard!!! Man, is that real? Looks like a paradise; Now you need to work twice harder to complete that Tirunelveli trip + this one. But keep both of them coming soon :)

Aargee. Let me see. I want to finish off both the travelogues. Too much to do and too little time. But motivational replies like yours and others above does help a lot! The beauty will unfold!