It’s not really that surprising that our trip to the Yorkshire Dales led to visiting a lot of the same places we did two years ago. That’s a compliment to the area because there are so many beautiful places which never cease to be enjoyable or provide stunning views.
We had Norber Erratics on our “return to” list from 2021. Below is a shot I took back then.
About Norber Erratics
The Norber erratics are one of the finest groups of glacial erratic boulders in Britain. They are found on the southern slopes of Ingleborough, close to the village of Austwick in the Yorkshire Dales.
Many of the Silurian greywacke boulders at the site are perched on pedestals of limestone up to 30cm high. The boulders were probably deposited by melting ice sheets at the end of the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago.
The pedestals have developed because the erratic boulders have protected the underlying limestone from solution by rainfall, giving estimates of the rate of lowering of the surrounding limestone pavement of around 25mm per 1000 years
Recent cosmogenic dating suggests that the boulders have been exposed for around 17,900 years.
2023 Visit
We parked at the same location and began the familiar trek across two fields and upwards towards the rocks.
I had not brought my longer telephoto lens which I would regret almost straight away as there was a surprising amount of birds flying around, including Northerns Wheatears.
Never mind, this holiday was beginning to collect photographic mistakes or forgetting key things, or just not thinking more carefully.
The ascent to the rocks is pretty straightforward and takes very little time, it’s one of the attractions of the location. Stunning views are to be had all around.
We wandered around just enjoying the views and taking in the very clean fresh air. It is lovely to have a change from the stench of petrol and diesel fumes back home.
I had to find “the” boulder that is a famous landmark and photo of this location, and the one I last photographed above.
After finding it again, I began to consider what the best compositions are. I asked Kathryn for advice given the previous nod to her eye for a composition.
She suggested I take the photo face on with the valley in the background but from a lower position. There were plenty of clouds but not much sign of them moving in the very light breeze.
In order to get a better shot than last time, and something more dramatic, I decided to set up from distance with the 24-120mm lens, zoom in as needed and get the filters out for a long exposure. The zoom in aspect might also mean I’m not worrying too much about hyperfocal distancing etc.
I got my tripod set up low, sat on the grass and took half a dozen shots with varying aperture and timing settings.
The shot below is the best one and was achieved using a 92sec exposure.
I used a narrower aperture, much more than I would normally and well beyond the f/11 that this lens has as it’s best aperture.
This is because I wanted to grab some detail in all of the scene without focus stacking. The settings shown appeared to give me the optimum image.
I am very pleased with the final shot and definitely think this surpasses the one from 2021.
Once I’d grabbed this shot, I wasn’t too fussed about hunting for anything else in this spot, so we slowly made our way back down.
I knew from our last visit that there is a lone tree en-route so we walked down towards that. This tree is an obvious stop point for any photographer.
As usual, I was struggling to think of the right composition but knew I wanted to potentially avoid the tree cutting into the horizon – there could also be a challenge in offering some foreground interest, or at least some which looks pleasing on the eye.
Kathryn made some suggestions so I got to work – below are three of the images I like with the last one the best one.
The best tree shot above ticks all the boxes – it has foreground interest with the rocks and the lone tree on a third.
Although the tree breaks into the horizon, we’ve got light on the hills in the background either side just to frame it. Then we have the drama in the sky thanks to the filters I used.
I’ve probably got 2-3 shots already including this one that I can push up my sleeve for next season’s club POTY competition.
Sheep
Our trip has involved walking across many fields with cattle and sheep, being careful not to disturb or distress them. The sheep always make me smile as many of them seem very intrigued as walk across their field.
Norber Erratics is such an amazing place – a sign of that is that I would return again. However, I think on the next occasion, I will have to look for some different views or angles as I feel the most famous boulder and the lone tree are ticked off my list forever now.
Onwards and upwards…