Return to the Great Ridge

In May 2017, I returned to The Great Ridge, between Edale and Castleton. This time, it was a bit warmer, and I had a large bunch of photographer friends with me. And I didn’t bump into Ed Byrne at all.

We’d arrived with the intention of catching a decent sunset—which we did. But none of us seemed to care that the best photographic pickings in this location are to be had at sunrise, as the Hope Valley is bathed in light. At sunset, it’s bathed in shadow.

Anyway, we weren’t be be deterred. And we snapped away at the Great Ridge, Hope Valley, Edale, and Rushup Edge, as the orange-pink finale approached.

It’s funny how a bunch of photographers behave differently. Some vanished. Some hardly moved. Some walked backwards and forwards, in search of that perfect angle. Some worked in packs, and some in solitude. And some just nattered.

Once the sunset began, though, you could hear the sound of shutters echoing across the ridge. You wouldn’t know from these photographs that we were trying to dodge each other’s views. Well, most of us were.

Of course, my proclivity for photographing farm animals meant that the old sheep jokes were once again pulled out of the well-worn banter bag. Oh, how we laughed. I’m sure they get funnier every time.

So, the moral of the story is: get up at stupid o’clock to photograph sunrise from the Great Ridge. You will be guaranteed a warm glow on the hillside. Unless it’s overcast or raining, of course, in which case you should have stayed in bed.