Whitberrow Scar

The long view to Arnside

The temperature dropped by a few notches overnight and the high fells were covered in a good dusting of snow. After a leisurely breakfast most of us headed off to an orienteering event, although I decided that it was going to be frustrating for me to actually compete in the event myself. I know better than that now. I'd inevitably be distracted far too much by looking for blips to be able to focus on looking for controls - although it appears that Muddyshoes succeeded. I understand that women are much better at multi-tasking than men. Is that right?

It was a good decision on my part. Clag soon enveloped the fell tops but the event location at Whitberrow Scar is at less than a thousand feet of elevation and we enjoyed good visibility in some quite dramatic lighting conditions. It was incredibly photogenic. The scar is a narrow spur of limestone, populated with a sparse array of beeches, pines and hawthorns, eking out an existence among the characteristic clints and grykes of the karst plateau. Even with the comings and goings of hundreds of orienteers, this was still a wild and beautiful place to roam.

I've again had trouble choosing which shot to blip, trying to capture the essential nature of this special habitat, but I settled on this one in the end, in part for the dramatic light and this courageous little sapling, but also for the view it shows towards Arnside. If you go large you may just recognise a certain viaduct which has regularly been featured in the beautiful blips from Gladders.

He would probably have blipped this deer - because he would have got a better photograph than me! It's a dramatic view of this beautiful animal in full flight. It was moving very fast so I did well to even get it in the frame and vaguely in focus! My first attempt at panning. Worth a look if you have time.

PS It was lovely to bump into Wendles at the orienteering event today. She mentioned that she was going to have to get her blip on the way back home and I suspected this might be her shot. Take a look at Ingleborough.