Ever since I’ve joined the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, I’ve had a dilemma. You see their AGM and annual dinner weekend (which is really worth me going to for a whole variety of reasons) clash with the Dovedale Dash (that I’ve either run or photographed for a number of years previously).
So apologies to those of you looking for shots of muddy runners (it seems quite a few of you have found my site again – thanks!). But this year once again, the main chance of the year to network with other outdoor photographers, writers and publishers has trumped personal wishes to be at the Dash, and so I have pictures of muddy cyclists on the trail at Gisburn Forest instead of muddy runners crossing the Dove! (Next year, I’m lead to believe the dates of the OWPG weekend may change, as I’m far from the only one suffering a clash of priorities that weekend, so I’ll be able to do both again 🙂 )
But the trail at Gisburn Forest was fun – even for someone who’s a fair bit of a wuss when it comes to the technical side of off-road biking (there’s plenty of ways to avoid the hardest bits!) and the following day we spent the morning at Leighton Moss RSPB site (where we saw a number of bearded tits – that’s the bird that needs grit to help it eat its seeds in winter, not a crowd of numpties with an excess of facial hair!!) and then went for a very pleasant autumnal walk up to the Pepper Pot and through Trowbarrow Quarry.