Northumberland 2021: Part Thirteen

16 June 2021

Today, when I got up, I hobbled like a 90 year old. The soles of my feel hummed with extreme pain, and to this day I have issues with them (particularly the heel pad part of my feet). I fear I may have overdone it and injured something inside. Because of this I abandoned plans to do the other side of the wall walk from Steel Rigg to Cawfields, and instead looked at trying to get a shot I hoped for, tonight, instead of tomorrow night. This would then basically give me a days grace before I had to drive home.

So I headed for Berwick upon Tweed, and realising I pretty much had the whole day to myself before this evenings shot, detoured off to Spittal beach a little to the south. It was a relaxing, stress free drive, that my aching body was grateful for, and once there, I did little more than take a very gentle stroll down the beach. Once I was at a further end, I just sat on the sand playing with the pebbles. As I sat in there, I just thought to myself how lovely this felt, and realised that when you are as physically and mentally tired as I was right now, there was little better I could have done, than coming to a beach and simply making footprints in the sand…

So that’s exactly what I did.

The pebbles here were a wonderful array of colours, and I was a little awestruck at the rainbow at my feet. They were such beautiful colours that I collected a few, and made a foot for each member of my family; me, the children and their children and I sent this photo to them with a chuckle. This play time was so chill and relaxing, I must have spent well over an hour just gently gathering the stones and arranging them in a nice way. After I had finished this, I took a slow walk over to some of the larger sandstone rocks with the most beautiful striations, again, of rich colours. Here the rocks were just amazing to see… I wonder why this, and the pebbles, are all here, in this one spot and not like this all up and down the Northumberland coastline? I snapped a couple of pictures of the beautiful sandstone formations here, although I found the shots a little tricky to compose. This type of shot isn’t one I have executed much at all, so I suspect I need to practice it more. I’d left my tripod in the car, and as hand held wasn’t a thing I was used to still, many were poorly thought out and not as pin sharp as I would have liked. None the less the view was a feast for my eyes, and a couple of the shots weren’t too bad. (see header pic)

After this, I went back to Fred at the car park right on the water front, and made a cup of tea before I gently wandered up the beach to take a couple of photos of Berwick pier and lighthouse. I was a little more in my element here, and found it to be an ideal spot for a long exposure, as the tide was just coming in and the perfect height to part cover some old decaying groynes. Everything was just gentle, and today was turning out to be exactly what I needed.

From there I poodled back to the van, and had a bit of lunch, before considering driving round to where the light house was, to try a shot there. It was fairly easy to get to, but I didn’t find my photos to be as pleasing from this position. The light wasn’t particularly great, and it left the features lacking character for me. I climbed onto a wall, and took a couple of shots, just to see if anything would work, but for today at least, it didn’t spark my enthusiasm. I wasn’t worried though, it was still a lovely relaxed day, and ultimately this was an unplanned bonus for me. As I sat looking out at the water, and the view across to Spittal beach, a man passed me and asked if I had managed to get a photo of the dolphins. Seeing my confusion, he pointed them out, and sure enough, there were two in the bay, just where I had been looking! (blind or what??!!) I tried to photograph them, but they were quite a distance away and it was too hard to predict where they would come up. In the end I just stayed put, and simply watched their activities instead.

The time eventually came for me to try the bridge, and the shot I’d been waiting for. The cloud was heavy, very heavy, so I didn’t expect too much, but I was still going to try – there’s always the chance right? I went along to the spot I’d visited before and found the water level to be perfect. Climbing into a nice position I waited and prayed for the sky to do something, and sure enough, behind me, the cloud started clearing on the horizon. It cleared just enough to let the rays of the setting sun peek out from under the heavy blanket, and it finally started colouring the underside of the grim sky. On the horizon the orange-red colour became amazing, but it didn’t seem to want to get to my spot – although I did notice that it was still slowly creeping across the sky – really slowly – so slowly I ended up begging and praying for the colour to reach the cloud over the bridge. Just as it seemed to reach within my viewfinder however, it looked to be fading. I was gutted – until I saw, just under one of the arches, what appeared to be a rainbow forming. I was very confused by this as it wasn’t raining at all.. not a single drop. Perhaps there was some moisture being held in the air I couldn’t feel? I didn’t know, but as I sat there the thing grew and grew into a massive and unbelievably bright arch. From my position it was impossible to capture well, and I dithered – do I stay or do I move?!!! I wasn’t too familiar with this location, but it was clear that this spot was useless for this shot, and I might get a better opportunity further back away from the bridge. I instantly stopped thinking and just moved. I grabbed everything and RAN. I didn’t care too much where, but this rainbow wasn’t going to last long, and I’d tried here – so I HAD to try something else. Once down the path, I spotted an old bit of tree trunk and decided to stop there and turn back – only to realise the rainbow was now a remarkable red one, and a DOUBLE. I did no more than plonk the tripod down in the nettles, try to level at speed, adjusted my focus, and finally fired a set off. I was shaking like a leaf with excitement! The rainbow lasted, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to capture this particular one. Red rainbows are very uncommon, if not rare. They need the combination of a normal rainbow (not an everyday occurrence as it is) teamed with a setting sun. They are caused by the red of the setting sun stripping the blues and greens from the spectrum, in the same way the dying light strips the sky of those colours to give us a red sunset. Conditions for a red rainbow therefore, need to be really specific – and to have caught one as bright as this was unbelievable – let alone a double one!

As I stood there snapping whatever photos I could, a man walked by with his dog. ‘That’s a beauty that one, isn’t it?’ he commented.

Sure was!