The Magical Hawthorn

Extra Magical (thoroughly recommended)

I pledged to myself a day away from the computer. The focus was intended to be a fell race but it didn't turn out that way. Instead, the day became about photography and introspection.

I cycled up the Dale to Kettlewell for the Great Whernside Fell Race, which I've run the past two years. It wasn't really about racing against other people, but with other people, not so much about a time but just being part of the sport. As a fell runner you turn up to a race and are guaranteed to bump into lots of old friends. And it's also very easy to meet lovely new people too - such as Johny here.

My race didn't last long. I felt a twinge in my calf at the top of the opening short sharp climb. I ran on fifty yards or so but it was immediately obvious that I'd pulled a muscle and that continuing was going to make matters worse. I dropped out. It's such an awful moment. All that anticipation and excitement wiped out in a split second. I felt utterly deflated. It's very hard to enjoy the post race craic when you haven't been able to share the experience of getting to the summit. That's what I missed.

The weather forecast was for a sunny morning, clouding over in the afternoon. We got pretty much the opposite. It rained on the cycle up to Kettlewell, then relented a little but closed in again after the race. The wind had got up and I was beginning to feel quite cold. I was all set for a steady ride straight back home to get warm and nurse my wounds but within a few miles the sun started to make the odd sporadic appearance and, when it did, the light was amazing. I parked my bike up at Conistone and decided to limp up on to the limestone crags that sit above the village.

I've not been up here for as long as I can remember. It's one of those places I'm always cycling past on the one side of the valley, or looking across to from the other. It was a bit of a hobble but being slowed down encouraged me to just sit and wait for those brief moments when the sun broke through the dark cloud cover. That light completely transformed the landscape. It gave it a whole other dimension. I tend to be disappointed whenever I look at photographs taken under these conditions. The full dynamic range can never be captured to satisfaction. The processing in our brain far outstrips anything in the software that runs on our computers!

This is perhaps why I always have a problem with colour landscapes. Mono is in some ways the far easier option. There has been a lot of processing done on this image (using no less than three bits of software) mainly to present (hopefully) an image which doesn't look processed! I have many favourite hawthorn trees. This one will forever have a special place in my heart, but today's tree is also very special indeed. It's easy to understand why they've always been considered magical.

I wonder how old it is?