My Pennines

Directions Website

My Pennines Exploring the Pennines and beyond one footstep at a time.

Great Coum is one of the higher fells in the Yorkshire Dales, indeed it is only seven metres lower than Pen-y-Ghent. It ...
01/11/2026

Great Coum is one of the higher fells in the Yorkshire Dales, indeed it is only seven metres lower than Pen-y-Ghent. It makes for a good walk from Dentdale. The highest point is rather featureless but the trig point on Crag Hill, a lower subsidary top makes for a grand view.

Yesterday, I climbed it for the 5th time and over 22 years since the first time. I was treated to plenty of sunshine, in fact it was warm enough to walk in my t-shirt, as well as enjoy some distant views of the temperature inversion and sea of cloud to the south.

Just a small selection of the many photos I took on a fantastic 14.5 mile walk on some of the hills between the valley o...
25/10/2026

Just a small selection of the many photos I took on a fantastic 14.5 mile walk on some of the hills between the valley of Moffatdale and Ettrick Water a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't have had better weather for such an extended ramble across the tops.

Another great day today in the Scottish Borders as we walked up to the Three Brethren from Yarrowford. The Three Brethre...
16/10/2026

Another great day today in the Scottish Borders as we walked up to the Three Brethren from Yarrowford. The Three Brethren are a trio of massive cairns built several centuries ago as boundary markers. From there was made a detour on to neighbouring Broomy Law before following the Southern Upland Way on to Brown Knowe. The return was via Wallace's Trench, an ancient earthwork and the Minchmoor Road, a path that was a former drove road.

Just a small selection of shots from the summit of Penchrise Pen, a rather splendid 439m high summit several miles south...
13/10/2026

Just a small selection of shots from the summit of Penchrise Pen, a rather splendid 439m high summit several miles south of Hawick. The autumn colours are really starting to come through nicely.

I'm north of the border again for my second visit to the Scottish Borders in the last month. Today we enjoyed superb vis...
10/10/2026

I'm north of the border again for my second visit to the Scottish Borders in the last month. Today we enjoyed superb visibility (and very strong winds) on a fantastic little walk up on to Rubers Law from Denholm.

Millions of years this was apparently a volcano the size of Vesuvius. Today it is a more modest 424m above sea level but the 360 degree views from the summit were superb, especially south-east towards the Cheviots. It was clearly valued as a strategic spot as in times past it was the site of an Iron Age hillfort and a Roman signal station.

Yesterday I got back from a long weekend based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders as I continued my very gradual attempt ...
21/09/2026

Yesterday I got back from a long weekend based in Hawick in the Scottish Borders as I continued my very gradual attempt to walk all the Donald and Donald Tops. These are hills above 2000ft in the Southern Uplands - a kind of Scottish version of the Hewitts and Nuttalls of England and Wales but only for hills south of the Highlands.

There are 140 in total and on day one of my stay I ticked off an additional one - Caldcleuch Head, the highest point in the range of hills between Liddesdale, Teviotdale and Eskdale - true Border Reiver territory. These are very quiet hills and I didn't see one other walker on this one.

High Ash Head and Low Ash Head are two abandoned hill farms at the head of the valley of Potts Beck, a subsidary of the ...
06/09/2026

High Ash Head and Low Ash Head are two abandoned hill farms at the head of the valley of Potts Beck, a subsidary of the River Burn and Colsterdale.

Presumably the two farms were vacated at the beginning of the 20th century when construction began in 1903 on Roundhill Reservoir. The reservoir was completed in 1913 and was built by Harrogate Corporation.

There is something rather sadly romantic about these old abandoned farms, especially on a grey overcast day. I can't help wondering who lived in them before the farms were vacated and what life was like on them.

On the side of a quiet country road in the heart of Colsterdale is a memorial to the Leeds Pals, one of the Pals battali...
30/08/2026

On the side of a quiet country road in the heart of Colsterdale is a memorial to the Leeds Pals, one of the Pals battalions formed of volunteers at the start of the First World War. The Leeds Pals were incorporated into 15th Battalion (1st Leeds), The Prince of Wales's Own (West Yorkshire Regiment).

The memorial is on the former site of Breary Banks training camp where the volunteers were sent prior to being sent to Egypt in late 1915. The training camp was itself adapted from a temporary camp for those working on Leighton Reservoir and was later to serve as a prisoner of war camp.

After a few months in Egypt, the Leeds Pals were arrived in France in March 1916. On 1st July 1916 the battalion, now part of the 31st Division, took part in the first day of the Battle of the Somme where they suffered horrific casualties. One private who survived the battle was later to write: "The date of 1st July is engraved deep in our hearts, along with the faces of our 'Pals', a grand crowd of chaps. We were two years in the making and ten minutes in the destroying."

The memorial was unveiled on 28th September 1935.

Colsterdale is the valley of the River Burn which joins the River Ure near Masham. I first went for a walk in the upper ...
24/08/2026

Colsterdale is the valley of the River Burn which joins the River Ure near Masham. I first went for a walk in the upper reaches of Colsterdale in August 2005 when the heather was in bloom and I've always thought of it since then as the purple valley. In fact all bar one of my subsequent walks there have been in August just so I can go back and enjoy the heather.

On Sunday I went back to retrace the original 13 mile route I did back in 2005 from Gollinglith Foot all the way up on to the moors above upper Nidderdale before returning via Potts Moor and Grimes Gill. The outward section of the route is an absolute delight and is mainly following a track called the Coal Road. The name of the valley is a reference to a coal mining past that goes back as far as the Middle Ages.

While the heather certainly didn't disappoint one thing I was surprised at how was much of the bracken had already turned and in places was displaying the golden colour more associated with October / November time. It was very strange contrasting the colours of high summer and late autumn.

August is one of my favourite months of the year for walking and the main reason is simply because it the month when the...
16/08/2026

August is one of my favourite months of the year for walking and the main reason is simply because it the month when the heather comes into bloom. For a period of only a few weeks the heather uplands are transformed into a purple wonderland.

The North York Moors are rightly famous for their heather moors, other great areas for seeing the heather at this time of the year are along the eastern edge of the Pennines, from the gritstone edges of the Peak District, up through the Bronte Moors, the grouse moors in Nidderdale and southern Wharfedale and even up to moors of the North Pennines. Elsewhere there are nice patches of heather, including the Lake District. I particularly remember one sunny August day enjoying the blooming heather on Holme Fell with great views of the Langdale Pikes.

Here are a selection of August heather pictures I've taken over the years. What are your favourite spots to go and enjoy the heather at this time of year?

Address


Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when My Pennines posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

  • Want your business to be the top-listed photography service?

Share