A Foggy November Morning (by phone).

I don't know how many times I've said it over the last couple of weeks, but this autumn is absolutely stunning.  Light, colour, atmosphere, it's got it all. It's like the distinct autumns I remember from childhood. Early morning fog, the smell of damp moss in the air (I love that smell), the sun splinters through the trees, and the fog vanishing to reveal all those colours.

I went out for a walk this morning and headed into the fog.  In fact it never left the valley all day. I took these images on my phone (iPhone 5s), using the vscocam app. I'm writing this listening to Kate Bush, the fire is lit at home, and I'm craving stew for dinner!

A Trip to the Dales on the iPhone

It was at the beginning of this year I made a resolution to get fitter, and it has been happening - some weeks a bit slower than others.  I've been trying to get out a few mornings a week for an hour's walk with a bit of running thrown in.  I decided to set myself a challenge, to climb the Yorkshire 3 peaks in summer.  You can read all about it here on a blog post.  Last week, we decided to give Pen-y-ghent a go with our friends Amy & Claire.  We didn't want to weigh our rucksacks down too much, so decided not to take the cameras, leaving room for the essentials - Dairy Milk Whole Nut and a Snickers.  Instead, we captured the trip on our phones.  On Thursday, we went for a potter around Malham, I don't think I've been there since I was a teenager.  It's SO beautiful.  First to Janet's Foss, and then a walk into Gordale Scar, which absolutely took my breath away.

Photos were taken with iPhone 5, using VSCOcam.

We were up early for a hearty breakfast.  We stayed at the amazing Lister Arms in Malham. They lit a fire for us to have our breakfast by.

We did our last checks, pulled on the waterproofs, filled the water bottles and set off for Horton-in-Ribblesdale. Our first view of Pen-y-ghent, and all looked calm and welcoming!

I was a little out of breath on the very first steep climb, but after that initial warm up, I got more into my stride.  There were still a few patches of snow around...

Chocolate break number one....

The last push up to the top is a bit of a scramble, especially in the big wind that had picked up, but we just took it slowly.

The wind came out, so the hoods went up!

And then back into Horton for a well earned drink.  Inside the pub, there was a board with recorded times people had run the 3 peaks in.  I think the best was 2hrs and 20 something minutes!  We were happy with our 3hrs something for Pen-y-ghent though.  Just need to leave enough energy for the other 2 in July.