Aysgill Force, Wensleydale, Yorkshire Dales, Summer
It finally got me.
Four years since the COVID-19 Pandemic, I got the disease.
Thankfully—in a way—as a Type-2 Diabetic, I’ve had more COVID vaccines and boosters than your average person. As a result, my symptoms were minor and I came out the other side unscathed. My other half, unfortunately, had a worse time with it.
Once we were both recovered and clear, it was time to actually get out and enjoy some of this British summer that had finally arrived i.e. stopped raining for long enough.
Mindful not to push too hard on our recently attacked lungs, we plotted a nice little circular from Hawes in Wensleydale, Yorkshire Dales, to the little village of Gayle and further to a waterfall we’d both never visited before: Aysgill Force.
A glorious summer’s day greeted us and conditions couldn’t have been nicer. There’s nowt like the Yorkshire Dales in t’summer.
All photos taken on my Sony α7ii using my Sony 24-240mm F3.5-6.3 OSS zoom lens. RAWs developed in Lightroom, merged in Photomatix, and edited and finalised in Photoshop.
Aysgill Force, Wensleydale, Yorkshire Dales, Summer by Ian Cylkowski is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Heading south out of St. Margaret’s Church onto the Pennine Way, the characteristic barns and fields segmented by drystone walls, oh so typical of Yorkshire, comes into view. Above is the peak of Wether Fell (614 metres/2,014 ft). There’s an old Roman Road that traverses right over the summit.
St. Margaret’s Church flying the St. George’s flag, the Pennine Way serving as a leading line into the composition. In the distance are the High and Low Clints of Stags Fell.
At Gayle, a field full of flowers gives us pause to consider a characteristic Yorkshire Dales scene.
Just south of Gayle it’s enough to find the trail that leads down the woodland right alongside Gayle Beck. A little further on, Aysgill Force comes into a view, a beautiful curtain or veil of a waterfall set in a small yet deep gorge.
A cluster of Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria, make for lovely foreground interest with the veil of Aysgill Force behind.
Clambering back out of the gorge and back north across all the farmland (whilst batting off horseflies), a view over Hawes towards Stags Fell presents itself, which I dutifully shoot.
A true Yorkshire composition: Sheep, barns, copses, and drystone walls.
Near Gayle Mill, Lisabet and I clamber down alongside the old stone for some shots around Gayle Beck. I get low underneath for this shot towards Gayle Mill and Wensleydale fells beyond.