A few weeks ago we jumped into the car and headed up North to the top of Cumbria.

We stayed in a little caravan park in Silloth - a little town on the shores of the Solway Firth.
I was up there to do a charity walk along Hadrian's Wall, spending a few days with the fam before and after the event.  Unfortunately, I had to cut the walk short after an ITB injury, but every cloud has a silver lining and it meant I got a few more days with the fam before we headed home. 

Although I had to hobble everywhere...

We did our usual stuff - exploring the hills, beach walks, sea side towns, fishing villages, wildlife spotting, stone skimming, trying to keep the kids entertained when it rained...

And of course, we ate lots of chips!

The last night there was beautiful.  We sat by a campfire on the beach while we watched the sun go down and the stars come out.  Perfect.

Going home is always the worst bit, so we turned it into a little bit of a road trip and visited Keswick in the Lake District, then on down to Ribblehead Viaduct in the Yorkshire Dales.


As always, I took too many photos...

Gear used:  Fuji X100F, Fuji XPro2, 35mm 1.4, 50-230, Samyang 12mm.

A few weeks ago, I had the awesome privilege of popping up into the Dales to shoot the super-cool wedding of Emma & Chris.
The entire day was held at the beautiful Yorebridge House Boutique Hotel.

The day started with some nice, chilled out Bridal prep, complete with plenty of sarky comments and proper Yorkshire etiquette of Prosecco out of teacups!  Goes without saying that we had a good laugh. 
Chris was in a room more or less next door, so it was cool to be able to pop round and get some Groom prep too. 

We had a videographer on the day too, the very quiet and professional Simon from Wedding Films by Simon Manning, so we spent the prep time leapfrogging each other to keep it flowing

Before we knew it, it was time for the main event!

Chris and the rest of the guests were waiting patiently, with the gentle guitar tunes from Steven Heath Music filling the room. 
Chris looked like the cat that got the cream as Emma made her way down the aisle, looking beautiful in her awesome tea length wedding dress.

The vows were soon said, kisses were soon kissed and smiles were everywhere!

We made our way out into the sunshine and pretty soon everyone was stood alongside the collection of hawks and owls from the North Yorkshire Moors Birds of Prey.
We snapped a few photos and then made our way down to the river for everyone to get their wellies on and have a bit of fun.  Everyone was pretty worried about falling in, but we hid it well! 

After that it was back to the house for food and speeches before I dragged the happy couple out once again for some more photos as the sun was setting.  We even got a little visit from the horses over the road that wanted to get in on the action!

Time flew on, cake cutting time was here, and pretty soon Emma and Chris wowed all the guests with their awesome first dance that they'd been practising. 

The practise had paid off - it was ace!

Thanks for having me guys - your day was awesome!

Here are a few snaps from their day.

On Sunday I had a wedding consultation up in the Yorkshire Dales, so me and Alfie decided to have a little Father & Son Adventure Time Road Trip™.

Our first stop was Hardraw Force up near Wensleydale.  The tallest single drop waterfall in England.  Also slightly famous from being the location for the waterfall scene from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves movie.
It's a nice little walk round.  Doesn't cost much, so worth a stop off if you're in the area.  The waterfall can be pretty tame if the weather has been good, but can soon roughen up after a heavy rainfall.  I think we got it pretty much somewhere in the middle.
If you want some info on Hardraw, click here.

After that, it was nearly time for my meeting, so we headed off to nearby Yorebridge House.

Once the business bit was done, it was Alfie's favourite part of the day - chippy time!
We fought our way through the crowds of bikers and wolfed down some good ol' Yorkshire chips lathered in salt and vinegar.

And on again to our last stop off - Ribblehead Viaduct.

The viaduct is seriously impressive.  400 metres long and over 100 feet high at it's tallest point, with 24 massive arches spread across the Ancient Monument ground that sits beneath it.  We had a bit of proper chill out time, exploring the area and sitting on the rocks watching the sun go down.

A perfect day out.

For more info on Ribblehead, click here.

Here's a few snaps from our day.

On Friday I took my little lad for a quick overnight camping trip in the Yorkshire Dales.  We set up camp at a little site near Richmond - just between the villages of Muker and Thwaite in Swaledale.
After pitching up and a quick cuppa we went on a little explore.  We nipped down to the local river and did a little riverwalk.  We spotted birds, stepped over riverstones, climbed hills, looked for rabbits and dodged lots (I mean LOTS) of sheep poo! 
After a couple of hours the sun started dropping so we went back to camp and knocked up some hotdogs for dinner.  Alfie helped prepare everything and watched the stove like a little miniature version of a quiet Gordon Ramsey.  He swears less too.
The sun soon went down, so we wrapped up and sat under our tarp and read and talked and drank tea by the light of our lanterns until midnight.  I may have had a little tipple of whiskey too. 
I woke just after 4 and stood outside the tent with a cuppa and listened to the dawn chorus.  It was completely silent apart from the birds, without another soul in sight (with the exceptions of a few other campers nipping out of their tents for a quick trip to the toilets).
The morning was too misty for any sunrise shots, so when the local church bells rung five, it was back to the tent for a bit more kip.
We woke a few hours later and had a mug of hot chocolate to warm us through, followed by some Spam sarnies.  We kitted up and had a little walk across to the village of Thwaite and visited a few little waterfalls on the way.  We dodged a thousand cyclists on the roads, walked a few paths and then headed back to take down our camp.

It was awesome.

The site where we stayed was the Usha Gap Campsite.  It's a working farm with a few fields used for camping and is perfect for families.  Really quiet and peaceful and also has the most clean facilities I've ever seen on a campsite!  Phone signal is rubbish though - I didn't get a signal until I was a few miles from the village.  There is a payphone in Thwaite if you need to make a call, but it is card only and doesn't accept coins.  So - if you want to get unplugged from the world for a few days, this place is perfect.
For more info on the Usha Gap Campsite, click on the link  -  Usha Gap Website.

Here are a few snaps from our trip.