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Dumpling and Dumbarton Castle

South West Scotland 2021: Part Four

5 & 6 September 2021

I woke up in my lovely forest parking spot quite refreshed, but I really struggled to get myself motivated. I had no idea why. I think maybe yesterday had been a bit of a blow, even though I had managed some recovery in the end.

I eventually got myself together, and made my way to the first location in my next county, West Dumbartonshire. Here I found myself at the northernmost location on my list, The Dumpling, a perfectly positioned hill that overlooked the southern end of Loch Lamond. Parking was easy, and the walk, although steep in parts, wasn’t long, and before I realised it, I was standing on top of the hill looking out at the view that was… well, very disappointing. I have seen some cracking shots from here, but today, even though the sun was shining, most of the loch was lost to a very heavy haze. I had a small lunch with me, so I waited some time, just chilling to see if it would lift, and though it did a little, after nearly two hours I gave up. I hoped I might be able to recover whatever shots I had managed to get, in the editing stage, but I don’t think they are too great. I pretty much only saved one of them – sort of – its definitely not of a quality I am happy with. Strangely, my eyes could see more than my camera at the time, which actually quite curious.

View of Loch Lamond from from The Dumpling

On way down my footing slipped on the very dry and dusty ground, and I instinctively reached out to grab something to break my fall. Without looking, my hand found a thick, very thorny bramble, and as I went down it tore through my flesh. I startled (and worried) River as I landed, yelping in pain. My hand instantly poured with blood and I had to stop to pull out a bunch of thorns and try to suppress the bleeding, before I could continue any further. This really dragged me down on top of a whole bunch of things I was already feeling. I gingerly continued down until I got back to the van, managed to clean and dress my hand properly, and made myself a calming cup of tea. I sat for some time, contemplating what to do next. I was now out of milk, and still needed anti histamine for my very itchy face, so went to find a local shop. Unfortunately, they only sold the expensive branded stuff (I won’t pay for a name if I can help it) and no skimmed milk, so I changed my plans a little and went to find a supermarket at Dumbarton instead, aiming to get some fuel at the same time.

Now I was here, I hoped to try Dumbarton Castle – only to find it closed due to Covid restrictions. This just felt so sad on top of everything else. Feeling a little sorry for myself, I settled for a wander instead, with River, my mobile phone, and no weight on my back. I took a snap of the castle from the front and then explored all around the castle rock to as far as I could walk. The last of the blue sky quickly left, turning more and more cloudy until it gradually started raining. I returned without exploring much further, loosing motivation completely for tonight, had some dinner, and just stayed put.

Mobile photo of the front and lower levels of Dumbarton Castle

I did find this castle to be an interesting location to be sitting next to however! It struck me as being a very unusual looking hill, and you could see it from quite a distance as you drove in. It was very steeply sided while there was no other hill close by, and the town of Dumbarton was laying all around the base of it. Curiosity grabbed me as I settled for the evening and I found myself looking up its history, both geological and human. Turns out it was formed by a volcano some 350 million years ago. A lava flow basically hardened in the middle of the volcano, plugging the vent, and after years of weathering, ice erosion and ground movement, the outer, softer layers of rock gradually wore themselves away, leaving just this ‘plug’ of hardened basalt rock. From Iron age times, it has been used by people as a spot for a fortification, being particularly suited to seeing enemies well before they are near, and being fairly impenetrable once they had arrived. It also housed prisoners (like William Wallace) and served to hide monarchy as they waited to flee. (Mary Queen of Scots hid here before fleeing to France) Quite a spot I think!

6 September

It rained all night and quite late into the morning. Eventually it stopped at 11ish, so I took River for a walk just to get her moving and to go to the loo if she needed it. She didn’t want to come out initially, but I made her anyway and she eventually loved it when we got going. I left the camera in the van not thinking I would see much in this miserable weather, hoping simply for an exploratory walk upstream. I had my mobile for any reference shots if I needed it. As it goes, I did end up spotting an interesting view that I hoped would work at high tide – if the water stilled long enough. (see header) I went back to the van, had lunch, and decided to leave again at around 1-ish ready for high tide at 2. River chose to stay, so I headed out alone for the picture I aimed to get. The tide was now fully in, but the water didn’t really still completely as I had hoped. I did manage to get a shot that showed the volcanic dome well though. Now I knew the history, it seemed all the more interesting to me and I really found it fascinating to try and visualise a much bigger volcano in this area.

I tried a couple of other shots of some rotted pier legs (I assumed that was what they were) but the shots didn’t really work here. It gradually started raining again and I didn’t really want to leave River alone for too long so I made my way back to Fred and chilled out for a while.

When the rain stopped, it was much later, but I decided to go out again, this time back to the front of the castle. The light wasn’t great but I hoped that when the tide was fully out I could possibly try a bit of bird spotting as there seem to be quite a few wading birds here. Unfortunately I struggled to photograph or identify any birds, because the tide had already gone so far out, they were impossible to see clearly, even with my 400mm lens! The castle was grey and dull with a heavy black cloud over it, so any pictures there were a bust too.

As I stood aimlessly looking downstream, I noticed some sun rays were trying to break through the dark cloud. They looked really pretty as they danced across the scene at the end of the river. Initially they were quite a distance away, but then I realised the cloud was actually very slowly making its way up towards my position. I watched and hoped they would come up this far for a while, before I realised I should be photographing them!! I hurriedly got the camera out, focused, and snapped a few shots, fearful the beams would fade one last time. They never did come right up to me, but just as a nice one was streaking through, I heard geese behind me. I didn’t dare turn round but kept my eye on the beam as the light strengthened. As soon as they started to dim, I thought, I would press the shutter regardless – but at the same time I prayed that the birds would get into the shot. Please hang on, please hang on, please hang on!!! I held my breath as I prayed, and then, there they were – 4 birds were flying through my frame! I pressed the shutter. Hoping and praying I had a decent shot as the screen went black, I gasped when I saw what I had captured. Those geese couldn’t have been in a more perfect position!!

The beam was just on the turn, so the timing couldn’t possibly be any better either. The shot looked great and I was over the moon! The hole in the cloud closed shortly after this, and in no time it got to a point that there was no light at all and so close to sunset that the cloud effectively presented a prematurely dark and grim night. Nonetheless…it was a happy end to the day!

My Adventures

Blairskaith Waterfall, Torrance-Kinkell countryside, and Craigmaddie Reservoir

South West Scotland 2021: Part Three

4 September 2021

I took my time getting ready this morning. Now this wasn’t due so much to laziness, as it was to tiredness… since River had decided that she wanted to sleep with me during the night. She then kept waking me up as she wriggled, tossed and turned, decided my face needed kisses and ended up giving me 2 inches of the bed… If you have animals, I guess you fully understand this story! Actually the face kisses were probably for a good reason – I awoke to mozzie/gnat bites all over my face and neck from last night. When I tried to help myself, I realised I had no anti histamine in the van either, so had to settle for anti itch cream. Not the best start.

Today’s plan was to find Blairskaith waterfall, so as soon as I was sorted, I drove on over, and found a nice spot to park up. I took the short walk back down the hill a little, and wandered into the woods full of anticipation. Then, when I stood on the path looking down at the falls, my jaw hit the floor. I was shocked to see that there was barely anything here and the falls were little more than a dribble!! I stared for quite a while before it actually sank in. I was in Scotland, and a waterfall was… DRY?!! I pulled myself together, trying really hard to dismiss my extreme disappointment. ‘Well, I was here’ I thought, so I took a couple of shots with very long exposure to try and enhance the water flow, but it was a totally unsuccessful endeavour, and the few photos I took ended up just being record shots for a future visit.

It was a heartbreaking moment when I saw no water in this waterfall!

I did a quick explore of the cave behind, but it was equally uninspiring without light or water, so I returned very sadly to Fred and wondered what else I could do. I needed 3 locations to scratch East Dumbartonshire off my map, but without this one – I would barely scrape two!

I went back to a spot I had seen from the road and considered photographing that instead. As I had driven the Campsie Road between Torrence and Kinkell, I had spotted a field with hay bales, and a rather nicely positioned tree. At the time it was bathed in a brief wash of sunshine and it looked quite striking. Now however, an hour or so later, the sun had mostly gone and the cloud flattened the scene. I texted the shot idea to a friend, and we discussed the pros and cons of it. I’d not taken a ‘harvest’ scene before, but that was probably because I’m not especially good at reactive photography, and this type of shot would generally be spotted as you drive past. This one had some promise though. So I took a number of shots from a variety of positions, and sent the sad text of ‘all this needs is light’ to my friend, so we could commiserate together. As if listening in, the sun suddenly started a 10 minute spell of brief and intermittent light spells, as clouds parted briefly to my left. I wasted no time jumping back to the nicer compositions I’d found, and just as I reached my favourite spot the last beam of light raced up the hill! I snapped several shots, hoping to blend them together to produce a happy sunny image. As it goes, I didn’t need to do any blending work, because this one was lovely all on its own! The sun never returned, but as a first attempt at an image of this nature, it wasn’t a disappointing effort, and marked location 2 of East Dumbartonshire off my map. Well technically location 3 I suppose, as I had actually visited Blairskaith Linn, and I had actually photographed it. What were my rules regarding this scratch off map anyway…?!! Visit 3 locations in a county? Take photos of three locations? Take 3 ‘quality’ photos at 3 locations…??? Hmmnn… I wonder if I need to be a little clearer on my rules.. I don’t want to cheat now, do I??!!??

When the sun listens to your pleas and obliges!

As I debated this oh so serious issue, I had some lunch, played on my phone while doing my water filtering, then went to my third (fourth) location for East Dumbartonshire. Whether I had any formal decisions or not, I clearly felt I needed another one for this county, just as a back up… So the Craigmaddie reservoir was my next port of call. Hang on… just who is monitoring me on this anyway..?!! LOL

Now here was a really nice location. Plenty of parking nearby, and a wonderfully easy and flat walk. I almost forgot to look for spots to photograph as River and I enjoyed our pleasant stroll here, despite the now grim sky, and strengthening breeze. It was getting on for late in the afternoon so we simply followed the path around the edge. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for here, but the possibility of reflections from the large trees on one side was missing due to the wind that was completely spoiling the surface of the water. I didn’t feel stressed by this however, and I simply followed the path further round as I explored the area. This led to, and guided me over, a path that split the reservoirs into two (creating Craigmaddie and Mugdock reservoirs), and carried on round to a section where the area was out of the worst of the breeze.

I found a lovely spot here, where the water inflow to the reservoir allowed for a nice long exposure. I struggled a little though, with the wind blowing the bushes across the front of my lens, masking much of the water trails and making my view restricted and messy. A faster shutter rid me of the bushes, but killed the drama and movement. Frustrated with the shots, I finished and wandered over to a central point in the walkway here, and met two girls from Brighton who had left at 1am to get here today. I was quite amazed at how much energy they had, given the length of their drive! Holly and Gemma chatted to me for a bit, telling me they had a week to try and get in a super tour of Scotland. With points across the Highlands and Skye all together, they seemed to have quite a packed schedule! (all in a week?!) ‘They’ll need a holiday after that lot!’ I thought, as they continued on their way. I hope they managed all the bits they’d planned on seeing – and even if they did – I bet they will be back!! I continued across the walkway to the opposite side, where the view seemed a little clearer. I confess, it wasn’t quite as easy to get this shot either, especially with my tripod balanced precariously across the barrier, but I managed to capture the water flowing far better from this side.

Some nice shots were to be had here, and it felt a little different for me.

After this I went back to the central point where I turned my attention to the very symmetrical water inflow tunnel. This has an inscription showing it was built in 1885/6, and this is the point where all this water finally ends its journey of 25 miles, coming through an aqueduct that starts at Loch Katrine. Rather oddly, the water in this small section was very still, allowing for a glass like reflection. Although not a regular subject matter of mine, I found it very pleasing to my eye, and loved taking the photos of it (see header)

It was getting chilly, and much dimmer by the time I finished, so I wandered back to Fred, with River happily plodding next to me. She seemed happier being out, and I think all her aches and pains had finally become manageable for her. I re positioned the van to a nice spot for the evening and settled in for the night. I was pleased to realise that tomorrow, I could start West Dumbartonshire – the three locations for East Dumbartonshire had definitely been covered this time!

Blairskaith Linn take two. 10th December 2021.

OK, so in December, my daughter had her graduation ceremony in Glasgow – Well, I couldn’t go all that way and NOT re-try a couple of the disappointing locations, could I?! (So expect to see a few additions on these posts as the revisited spots come up) First was Blairskaith. Such was my disappointment in my visit here, that I HAD to come back and have a second try – and what a difference some rainfall makes! The falls here were MUCH nicer! I had parked up in the parking spot overnight, since I hoped to cram several spots into today, and this was going to be the first. I awoke to frozen windows, and a cold van, but as soon as I got myself moving I warmed up enough to enjoy the quick walk down to the falls. Today, the sun was beaming, which for the beginning of the session here, created some nasty shadows across the falling water, however, as the time here went on, the sun dipped intermittently behind cloud, and I was able to capture this shot which shows just how pretty it can get here. I have no idea what it might look like in full spate after a prolonged period of rainfall… but for me today, this was a huge improvement, so I will take that one!

My Adventures

Glasgow City and Campsie Glen

South West Scotland 2021: Part Two

2-3 September 2021

This morning I woke to a broken dog, and my feet in severe pain. Poor River could barely walk a few paces, and those were terribly laboured. She, like I, had overdone it yesterday, and we both ached like there was no tomorrow. After a chat with my daughter, we decided that I could leave River with her so the poor pooch could rest for today, and that I could retry the botanic glasshouses again – this time driving and parking outside in the street, and NOT walking! Parking was straight forward, and I was among the first to enter. There were several restrictions to the entry of the glasshouses in place, limited numbers being allowed in, seating barred, and masks having to be worn – nothing too unusual for the current climate, but once in I ended up doing a relatively quick walk round anyway. I found photo opportunities to be pretty limited with the bulk of the plants just grouped together in a fairly uninspiring setting (for my taste). There was really only one area where I could stand far enough back to capture anything fully, but even there, I found the background to be quite distracting with Covid posters, signs, barriers and milling people.

As I turned back however, I noticed all the benches that had been grouped together to stop people sitting on them, and was quite taken with the sight. The benches had created an unintentional, albeit unusual, leading line towards a central sculpture and all the plants behind. I finally reached for my camera and took this shot.

Covid restrictions offering an unusual, but pleasing composition

I tried the second glasshouse next, but it was just a cluttered collection of plants, which for plant lovers was really interesting. For my photography however, the crammed display lacked a point of focus for me. So I left and made my way back to relieve Emily of her dog sitting duties. While she continued with her tasks for the day, organising an art exhibition in Edinburgh, I simply rested. Later in the afternoon I took River for a gentle walk around the park next door, just to get her moving again before her muscles seized up altogether, then we just chilled some more until Emily got back home. We ate very late and chatted till gone midnight, while I carefully monitored the prospects of fog at the Necropolis for tomorrow morning. The chances were looking very promising at first, over 60%, but sadly they gradually dropped to less than 15% as the hours went on. In the end I decided to just leave it, and slept in instead.

3 September

Because of the late night, and the disappointing fog watch, my plans didn’t quite go as I hoped and I ended up leaving Glasgow at 11. My original intention was to get to the Necropolis at 5 ish, and leave by 7 to start the next leg of the trip. Oh well, there was no harm done, and now I was on my way! The first county I hoped to capture was East Dumbartonshire, and to start, I had a lovely location to visit. Campsie Glen Waterfall. Waterfalls are by far my favourite subject, and I drove to this one with great excitement, but once I had parked up in the car park, I was a little unsure on which way to walk from here – I couldn’t see any signage directing me the correct way.

Eventually I plumped for the hike downhill. The route up looked to be getting flatter, and there was only a slim dirt track to follow. Down was a much clearer path, and it looked steeper… there might be a better chance of finding a waterfall where the route was steeper I mused, and headed down. The walk went downwards for quite a way without signs of any waterfalls however, and finally I got concerned, turned round and started the walk back uphill again. Just after I started, I bumped into an older couple, and they told me that there were actually two falls here, not just one. The woman pointed further down hill, saying it was the easier one, and that there was a delightful coffee shop at the bottom, adding that the second fall wouldn’t be easily accessible with a dog. The lady didn’t direct me to that one separately, so I assumed it was in the same direction. Thanking them, I turned round again, and headed back down.

I walked most of the way down the hill, until it was clear the water just turned into a flat river, and stood very confused. Pretty much all I had seen was a small cascade. Was that the waterfall she meant? Assuming it was, I went back to the cascade, and photographed that (see header) hoping that this wasn’t all there was here. It was a really peaceful spot though, and I could see some rather beautiful detail was achievable, so relaxed and simply enjoyed the experience of being out photographing the tumbling water. River loved being here too, and she paddled happily next to me, dipping her belly and nose into the gentle flow of stream as it continued away from us.

Once I was done here, and feeling like the trip had started proper, we started the 140 metre climb back up and arrived back at Fred some 2 hours after I had left. I stopped for a rest, had a cup of tea and something to eat, while River went and hid. I didn’t blame her, she was still working through her stiffness from 2 days earlier, and I realised that she would have a limit on how much excercise she would be happy to do right now. The walk we had just done was probably more than enough for today! I was determined to find this flipping waterfall though, so eventually left the comfort of the van, allowing River to stay and rest, and I went to find it! This time I headed upstream – and sure enough, there it was – 5 mins from the car park…🤣

The couple were right here though – I found a slack line tied to a tree to help you get down some very large boulders, as it was steep with some sheer rocks at one point. A smaller dog would find this a struggle for sure, unless it was being carried. Clearly I had made the right call leaving River in the van. I got myself down and was delighted to see a people free waterfall that also had a ledge leading to a shallow cave behind it. I explored all behind, taking photos from this viewpoint, and posting an image to my story on Instagam. Then I continued behind, and made my way right around to the far side.

Watching the water fall from the small cave behind

I went to take some pics from here, but found I had to clear litter as I went. Thankfully someone had left a plastic bag with their lunch left overs (really?! is it that hard to bring your rubbish away?!) so I used that to pick up everything I found and started to take shots from the front. It was a lovely location, but I bet it would look gorgeous with a bit of sun on it. The light was coming from behind me, but the cloud obscured the sun from view. I tried waiting, for a fair while, but eventually gave up, packed up and crossed the river to start the climb out. As I was halfway up the boulders, the flipping sun briefly made an appearance, and it did indeed look stunning. But as I paused to consider going back, it disappeared again. Effing tease!!!

I gave up the idea of going back feeling unwilling to play this game (!) and continued up, then noticed the path went on a little further upstream. I left the bag of rubbish at this point, aiming to collect it on my way out (no point carrying it everywhere) and followed the path. It wasn’t long before I spotted a second fall. These must have been the two the lady was talking about after all. So where was she directing me to, when she pointed downstream I wonder? This waterfall wasn’t particularly dramatic, but it did have an incredible stoic presence to it. Calm, and simplistic, no drama, it was what it was, and had no pretence to it. What an entirely different character this one had. It fell into a simple pool without fuss, and simply continued going straight from there down a boulder ridden but flat stream bed. It was very easy to cross, and I found myself a comfortable spot to settle into to compose my pictures. As I sat taking my photos, I was joined by a group of teens who subsequently found themselves on top of it, forcing me to stop taking longer shots and look at more intimate compositions. I wasn’t too worried, and waited when I needed to. I had the photos I wanted of the whole fall and was very happy with them.

After a while, they all climbed back down and left with mum, but curious, I followed their idea, climbing big rocks and boulders until I too reached the top. From there I saw the path still continued but it was unclear if it led to anywhere in particular. Unperturbed, I followed it anyway, clambering over further boulders (bit of a determined old granny when I want to be!!) until I eventually spotted a third fall! This one was beautiful and yet another, different, character! Sweet and far more delicate than the previous two, this one stole my heart as it tumbled gently to a pool that was so still, the water mirrored each of the cascades that formed on its journey. Time was getting on by now however, so I did what I could in the failing light, frantically firing shots with a variety of shutter speeds to hopefully capture this beauty well. As I did so, midges and mossies came out for their evening meal, and I could feel them tickling my flesh. I tried my hardest to hang on but eventually they became quite unbearable. I was being eaten alive here! I felt this was the prettiest of the 3 falls but I had definitely reached it at the worst time of the day. I packed everything away, quickly looking upstream further on. I didn’t spot any obvious path from here, but in this light, it was entirely possible that I might have missed one if there was. Oh but what a lovely surprise to find 3 falls rather than two… and each one was so different. Today finally felt like it was a real winner, and what a cracking start to this trip!

I finished up, went back to Fred, sliding down some bits of rocks on my bum, and happily collected the bag of rubbish en route. The walk back felt really quick compared to the trip upstream, but I guess that was due to my exploring, rather than going straight to the top. I put the rubbish in the bin in the car park, and settled in to Fred to have some dinner, and stayed for the night. Where to tomorrow I wondered?

Postscript: Most of that was written the night I stayed over, and I have since looked to see if anyone has any names for any of these three falls. Turns out that the first two I saw, are the main two that you see on google, no-one has named them though unfortunately. I haven’t seen any photos of the third I saw (yet…)

HOWEVER… there is another frequently photographed fall/cascade that I TOTALLY missed!! I have no idea where it is exactly, but it looks amazing, with water coming from multiple directions… I can see that I am going to have to go back and find it! WHAT an amazing area!!

My Adventures

Glasgow City

South West Scotland 2021: Part One

31 August- 1 September 2021

After yesterday’s all day drive up to Scotland, I didn’t plan too much for today, chilling mostly and only venturing out when my daughter had a job interview. River and I walked to Glasgow Necropolis on Emily’s suggestion and looked to spend a couple of hours out exploring. Wow, WHAT a location! The Necropolis is a huge Victorian graveyard built in 1835 on a hill next to the Cathedral. With a monument to John Knox (Scottish minister and religious reformer) already in position, the graveyard grew to have around 50,000 people buried here, many without headstones, but the area is still home to over 3,500 memorials that visitors can wander through. It was amazing here, although where it was warm and sunny, it created a far too happy atmosphere for a location I felt would suit some incredible moody photos. I was really excited at the prospect of coming back though, when the atmosphere suited my impression of the place – dark, grim or foggy please! The warm happy sunshine brought too much joy here for today though so I simply I wandered through the characterful graveyard, and snapped some pictures on my phone for ideas.

Once she was done, Emily phoned to say she was heading home so I headed back too and we passed the rest of the day with me assisting her moving and picking up several items she needed a larger vehicle for.

1 September

Oh dear what an awful day today would end up. I took River and we walked all the way to the botanical gardens. I had overestimated the distance – and the weather. The sun beamed down and the heat was quite blistering, consequently we were knackered by the time we got there so we just sat in the sunshine, had fluids, and rested for some time. I bought a wrap to eat and looked around at the packed park. There seemed no point trying to take any pictures here, since it looked like any old park on a packed sunny day. After we rested a bit, I looked at going into the glass houses instead, but dogs weren’t allowed in. This felt so very disappointing here!

Feeling a little despondent over this location, I thought I would try the Squinty Bridge instead, 40 minutes walk away… It seemed do-able, but took me much longer than I expected. My feet were getting really sore, and I walked at a super plod speed, trying to find as many shaded areas as I could for River to walk in. As I neared the spot I had plotted on Google maps, I realised I had clicked on ‘Squiggly bridge’ – and this was clearly the wrong one! Frustrated with myself, I re routed, only to walk 10 mins in the wrong direction. Agh!! I turned back to Squiggly bridge (actual name is Tradeston bridge, but the locals have named it Squiggly) and aimed to continue in that direction towards the Clyde Arc (also known as the Squinty Bridge – the one I was after – can you see why the mistake occurred?!). We paused at Squiggly and saw that its actually got a very apt name. It isn’t a straight bridge, it curves in a gentle S shape as it crosses the River Clyde. I took some photos of it with my phone before we crossed it, since I was really taken with the reflection in the still water of the river. It showed that this bridge had an equally attractive underside, visible only when the water stilled enough I guess!

Tradeston bridge, better known to locals (and Google!) as Squiggly bridge

As we plodded over the bridge, looking out over the water, we were stopped by a young man who asked to stroke River. I said yes, seeing no problem with this, and as he petted her he started to tell me that his dog had been stolen and that he was really sad. He kept talking, and I found it very hard to leave, feeling terribly rude to do so, since he was clearly getting some solace stroking my dog. As he continued talking and petting River however, I noticed his hands kept going to her collar, gripping it, then letting go. I ended up a little unnerved, but before I could take my leave, a second (seemingly drunk) man came up and also started petting her, with similar movements around the collar. I wasn’t at all comfortable with this, but really couldn’t get away, with a man now either side of me, blocking me and both effectively holding onto my seated dog. Then the ‘drunk’ man asked ‘how much does one of these cost?’. At this, the younger man answered £1000. I felt terribly unsettled by now but saw an opportunity. I laughed lightly and said ‘well, while you two discuss how much MY dog will sell for, we really need to be on our way’ and I immediately pushed through them and left. Thankfully their grip on Rivers collar had loosened at my sudden movement and she slipped through their hands. Sore feet or not, we both walked at pace off the bridge and kept going until I was sure we weren’t followed.

We walked all the way to the correct bridge, sat for a short while to rest my feet, and then continued down to the next one to get a better vantage point. As it was nearing sunset, I decided to stay for that. The sky was pure blue, so nothing but a dirty pink happened from my position but I took a photo anyway… After all, I’d been carrying my whole kit with me all day, I should get it out once at least! The water was still pretty flat as I snapped the photo, but it changed a few minutes, later, so that was something anyway. Another photographer there, with his back to me, was frantically firing shots in the opposite direction, but for the life of me, I couldn’t quite see what was exciting him. Yes, the sun was setting that side, and I did snap a couple of pictures for the sake of it, but I genuinely felt there was no focal point to the image and ‘just the sun setting’ really didn’t do it for me. Even looking at the pictures these months later, I am asking ‘…but what did I take a photo OF??!’ Looking back upriver, I realised that the best time for a photo here would be at sunrise. I suspect the sun will rise behind this bridge. Now I bet THAT looks wonderful!

Squinty bridge (otherwise known as the Clyde Arc)

From here I went to get an uber taxi home. My first time trying to catch one of these, but I was SO exhausted that I really couldn’t face taking another step. Today had felt highly frustrating, and like Glasgow was against me, but at least being driven back would feel like a treat. That was until the guy pulled up, saw River and waved ‘No Dogs! No Dogs!!’ pulling away before I had even gotten close. But I had PUT that in a message before you even accepted the job you @$#!@!! I nearly cried I was so tired. I waited a moment to gather myself and tried again. The second uber driver responded with ‘absolutely! No problem!’, and arrived a few minutes later. He happily chatted about his own pooch, and telling me all about his life here since coming from Eastern Europe a couple of years ago. He was genuinely lovely, and restored my faith in the service. Not that I have used it since…

On reviewing the day, I saw I had walked 11 miles in the blistering heat. Not a good day for the total lack of inspiration I felt… But I was happy to take the hit, because my daughter had already been told that she had landed her dream job, and if it offset the balance in the universe, it was well and truly worth the pain!

My Adventures

Pingot Quarry, Tandle Hill and Heaton Park Temple

Greater Manchester 2021: Part Three

19 November 2021

Today was a slow starter, due more to physical necessity, rather than just bog standard tiredness. I awoke to limbs that were aching terribly… My thighs, my upper arms, and the pectoral area of my chest in particular, were horrifically painful, and I can only guess it was due to the extreme workout some 36 hours earlier. As I gingerly moved out of bed, I also noticed heavy bruising to my right leg from the knee down – oddly, not the one that felt like it was going to give way as I walked yesterday. Dear me, I was falling apart.

My aim for today was to get to Pingot Quarry Waterfall, and after finally getting a bit of signal, I managed to plot the route – a mere 20 minutes or so away. The drive was easy, although the country park that the quarry was in had a height barrier, so I had to carefully reverse back out and park in the road. I walked the rest of the way – following Google maps… which, funnily enough, gave me the wrong route – so a very kind lady guided me to the correct path. The fall was pretty to the eye, but I didn’t feel my photos could do it justice. I really struggled here, and ended up just getting token shots from every angle I could get to, rather than ones that showed this fall off to its best. According to the lady, winter, after a good freeze, was when this one was really at its finest. ‘Its beautiful’ she had said, ‘with icicles and frozen water everywhere’.

Pingot Quarry waterfall. It looked much nicer than any of my photos relayed I feel. But its a record for me at least.

As I finished, it was still only 2pm, so I considered doing two locations that were both very close to each other, and here, and then possibly returning home. I was a little concerned this pain would be just getting worse over the next couple of days, and I may end up a little immobile.

The first, and closest, was Tandle Park, so I headed straight over. With two locations to try, I had no time to waste – the sun was due to set at 4. Again Google maps failed me, this time trying to make me do a half hour walk around the edge of the park. ‘There’s got to be a quicker route’ I wondered, and simply followed a path right through the centre of the park. Sure enough 10 minutes later I was at the war memorial. My last two targets were both man made, but as I arrived at the top of the hill I instantly saw that this one lacked greatly, looking horribly flat against a very grey and cloudy sky. However, across in the far distance my eye was caught by the silhouette of Manchester City against bright cloud, with a much heavier and blacker cloud looming over the top. To the far right were gorgeous sunbeams, but they hadn’t quite reached the city yet. I quickly got the camera out and snapped a series of pictures as the sunbeams slowly eked their way across – and then faded before hitting my target. It was SOOOO disappointing!! (see header pic) I waited a while just in case the beams might reappear, but the cloud behind the city dimmed, and the rays never did return. Having this hill all to myself, I thought I might wait it out a little longer just in case something nice might happen. As I looked to my right I spotted a bright patch of sunlight on the field next to me and suddenly realised that it looked to be heading my way. I quickly repositioned myself to see if the light might capture the war memorial as it raced across the field towards this spot. Just as the set up was done, it did! The sight looked incredible against the moody sky, but really weirdly, within seconds of it lighting up, 8-10 people suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stood in my scene. Now where did this lot just come from?! The sun lingered for a bit so I was able to take a number of shots. I planned to layer them all so I could edit all these people out, especially since one young man seemed particularly set on being in the photo. He surreptitiously glanced across at me and stood by the trig point for an extended period of time in a mildly unnatural manner… not a giveaway at all 😂!! As the sun beam passed, the people quickly disappeared again – it was quite funny to watch! Talk about the sun getting us Brits out. 😂 The final photo though, looked wonderful!

Ahh, photoshop for people removal is a real treat sometimes! Tandle Park Memorial catching a beam of light.

I too packed up. I had just over an hour for my last location and at least a half hour drive in that timing. I hiked at speed, got to the van and hit school traffic all across the route, then, just 4 minutes away, I took a wrong turn and ended up on a motorway. Although frustrated, I was really pleased to note how close this last location was to the m62, since it meant getting home wouldn’t involve me crawling through any city traffic. Gotta look at the positives right?! Once back at the spot I was supposed to be, I parked at up at the nearby Sainsburys. I’d realised that I could grab a quick run and gun meal and fill up with fuel just before my long trip home too. Things were working out perfectly. The walk to Heaton Hall Temple was a little longer than I thought, but looking at the sky, I wasn’t sure if the sunset would flare anyway. I hot-footed it over regardless and 13 minutes later arrived at my last location. I noticed straight away, that even if the sunset had of kicked off, unless it was an entire sky, the direction of this structure would never have allowed me to capture the colour. With 5 minutes to sunset however, I still had enough light left to grab some photos of this spot – even if they were just record shots for a future effort here. I quickly scouted the location and realised that in reality there was only one position that truly favoured the building so I set up and took several shots. The sky did pick up to my left, and way up in the odd patches of thin cloud above me, I could see the upper cloud was a lovely pink. Through my viewfinder however, the cloud was a heavy and a very grim grey. I moved closer, tried various shots, and repositioned a couple of times before I realised the sun had finally set, the afterglow timing has passed, and that the light was going rapidly. Interestingly however, the whole of the grey sky had a really beautiful pink tint to it at this point. In fact, it had all gone to such a beautiful and subtle shade that I actually wanted to take a sample to a paint shop and ask for a ‘pot this colour please’… on a wall this would look gorgeous! I took a few more pictures in this light, hoping the shade would pick up on the camera sensor, but looking at the back of the camera, I wasn’t quite so sure. Best I could do was hope that once I got it on my pc, it would show up!

At Heaton Hall Temple with the lovely, strange, pink grey sky.

Once done, and with the light now dimming fast, I made my way back to Sainsburys, quickly sorted myself out with the food and fuel I needed, and then started the drive home, satisfied that I had another county explored – albeit only a few of the possible sights I could have visited.

I have since heard that Greater Manchester is going to charge for diesel vans, lorries and a selection of cars from July this year (2022)… the whole county. This has put a real dampener on further plans, and made me feel quite sad, because that will pretty much exclude me from all the possible locations here in the future. Inner cities I can understand… but a WHOLE county?! I really hope this isn’t going to be a new trend across the country… how many small businesses will be crippled by costs and forced to shut down, and how may others will divert costs to the already strained consumer so they can afford to do this? Sad times.

My Adventures

Greenfield Brook

Greater Manchester 2021: Part Two

18 November 2021

It took a lot to get me out today. I had no real reason for it, but maybe yesterday had hit me harder than I thought. I just wanted to hide away. Eventually though, I told myself I was only going to do one thing – a waterfall – and then I’d be back to Fred. Yes, it would be a pretty long walk, but it was going to be mostly flat around the reservoirs. Maybe, I would try a hike right up the river that I’d come a cropper at yesterday, but I would see how I felt. I wasn’t going to be silly, if the falls I wanted proved to be above my spot yesterday, I would leave it for a different time… I wasn’t ready to hike up that far after seeing the lack of a footpath last night!

And then, there I was, after much heavy persuasion, I was finally out. The walk there was a very slow plod. I felt tired, and heavy. My knee kept feeling like it was going to give out, so I took it all at a gentler pace that I could manage. Looking up at the hills, I was glad I had done that hike yesterday though, as the tops were all gone, sitting under heavy cloud and mist, which persisted down at ground level as a light but constant drizzle.

Eventually I got to the point where I could see up the stream I was aiming to follow, and to my joy, right at the top I could actually see the waterfall I was hoping for. As a double bonus, beside the river here, I could see a footpath! The river tumbled down several smaller waterfalls, but my eye was on the big one… I did feel slightly reserved as I looked at it, today it was gushing, and well.. maybe not quite as pretty as I had hoped (fussy moo right?!)

Undeterred, I started the hike up, and as the trip continued, I found myself climbing and slipping over large boulders, until eventually, the route was totally impassable. I could see my foot path actually headed to the stream instead here, so I followed it and saw that it might be possible to cross here – sometimes. Today the water was gushing past at some force, and although I did get halfway across, there was no chance I was going to make it all the way. I would either have to find a method to scale a huge smooth boulder, or I was going to have to wade across. I wasn’t about to do either with this torrent. As I pondered the situation, I came to realise that this shoot, sadly, was going to have to be abandoned for today. Late spring might be better, with a good flow of water, but not so much that the river was flowing at a possibly dangerous rate. Oh, and maybe after a dry spell, so the boulders to the sides, wouldn’t be so slippery – these were proving a little lethal at the moment! Well, I consoled myself, at least I had tried, and I HAD worked out a better time that might be far more suitable for this particular location. Satisfied that my efforts weren’t totally wasted, I started back down. After a short clamber, I spotted a second possible crossing point. Again, the flow of the water was just that bit too aggressive for my liking, but I felt this might be a better crossing point for my return visit in the future.

As I looked upstream, one of the smaller falls caught my eye, and I suddenly realised that it was stupid to abandon this hike altogether, just because I couldn’t get to the bit I’d hoped for. This one, on its own, was also lovely! I took the camera out and very joyously took the photos. (see header) This felt so much better, and the images looked wonderful on the back of camera. Normally I am not fond of a ‘yellow’ waterfall. The mud washing down in the water always looks dirty, but here? Here I thought the colour worked perfectly, reflecting all the autumnal yellows and oranges around me, balancing the shades out. I found myself loving it here!

A short walk later and I stopped a second time. Another gorgeous cascade… I took this shot wide enough to capture the moody atmosphere. The mists had dropped all around me, giving a very closed in feeling to this part of the fall. I loved how it helped intensify my feelings of a private seclusion. It was just me, and this little bit of landscape at one point. (see image above)

A bit further, and I stopped for lunch before considering a third angle at yet another cascade. As I sat there some workmen pulled up in an open backed truck, and started work a short way ahead. Initially, I thought they might be rescue workers coming to help someone stuck up where I had been last night. The thought gave me the chills, even after I realised they were just fixing the fencing, so once lunch was finished, I just focused on my next shot.

After this I ventured down towards the path entrance, when I looked up, and spotted the area all around the Trinnacle rock formation covered in mist. It looked amazing, like an impressive castle perched on a premium look out spot – only there was no man made structure there at all… this was all Natures work! I quickly set up the camera, loving the layers on view above me, and just missed the best of the sight as the mists finally started lifting for the last time. The shot still give a fairly good idea of what I had witnessed however.

From here I grabbed a shot of yet another cascade, from a finger of land that stretched out right into the middle of the stream. As I stood here, two intrepid hikers passed by on the main path… And then a few minutes later came back. Well, I am glad it wasn’t just me being a wuss – I had clearly made the right choice!

View of the Greenfield Brook from the bottom of the cascades

I made my way back to the main path and chatted to the workmen for a bit as they finished up, and then just stood enjoying the beautiful view from this spot, looking down the stunning rust covered valley towards the reservoirs. I stared at this view for quite a while, and waited until the workmen had completed their drive down the winding route out, before taking first, the bottom of the cascades shot (above), and then the one of this valley (below). The gold colours seemed to be made from the dying ferns, and grasses, but the receding heather also had tinges of rust in them as the flower heads had died off. It seemed strange to have such an abundance of autumn colour in November, but with the dull greys of the grim fog/cloud raising and lowering above me, it was a welcome dash of colour to my eyes.

The incredible rust colours looking down this valley left me totally gobsmacked.

The hike back was a little easier, with the mobility in my knee feeling slightly better, although it was still nearly dark when I got back to the van. These early nights are a bit of a pain when there’s no sunrise or sunsets to get excited about, but at least it restricted the amount of energy I expelled and encouraged me to rest more. I was definitely in need of that after two intense days out!

My Adventures

Dovestone Reservoir, The Trinnacle and serious difficulties.

Greater Manchester 2021: Part One

17 November 2021

The day started off well, once ready I got myself together for a serious hike day – happily sending a video to the family telling them where I was aiming to get to, then huffing and puffing my way up the hill in my regular fashion. Today I was going to try my hand at taking some proper vista shots, and I was really going to focus on the correct composition to try and make this type of shot successful. So far I had mostly failed at these, having had a few successful shots usually by pure luck. When I reached the top I suspected I was the wrong side of the river flowing between two parts of these crags, separating me from the one I was initially aiming for (good start!) This didn’t end up being an issue however, as I spotted a nice rock formation to the left I thought was worth exploring, and the views from here were stunning regardless. Whilst here, the cloud treated me to some really pretty bursts of sunshine, which brought the landscape alive. Sadly it was the only short period of these for the whole day, and in the wind up there, they moved really fast across the landscape. I just hoped my attempts at these vista shots came out as I fired shots off at some speed to capture the light in time. Even if they didn’t though, it was still very exhilarating up here, being blown about by sharp gusts, and then rained on intermittently. I forgot how much these little random flurries of variable of weather brought me joy.

Although not technically perfect (the focus went a little off in the wind) I am not unhappy with this one

Encouraged with the shots so far I continued along the craggy edge and kept looking at a variety of options. Most didn’t quite work when I checked on my phone, but it was fun clambering over the rocks to see if any would.

Eventually I found a second spot, but without the sun, I wasn’t altogether convinced of the shot, although I did try to capture some light rays (see pic below), and even a very misty distant Manchester City (that shot didn’t work out). When the wind got too cold, and it was clearly evident I wouldn’t get any more sun, I stepped away from the edge and got moving to warm up. I following the Google map trail along the ridge to find the highlighted Trinnacle formation. In good light, this can be quite a feature, but for me it was quite flat. I shot it anyway because the colours of the rusty ferns and grasses still looked good against the stark grey and greens of the rock (lower photo). Realising the sun would be setting soon (not that I would see much of it!) decided I had better get to a safe spot before it got too dark. Looking at the map, it looked like I could loop round and join the road that headed back to the car park. The trail didn’t look too far either, so I headed on forward. Even if I did the last bit in the dark, I mused, it would be fine, since it was really just one flat road around the reservoirs. After a little while the route started to descend and got very boggy. Most of it I managed to miss, but then my foot suddenly sank to my knee and something from behind, gave me a hefty shove forward, forcing me to faceplant into the bog. Much later on, it happened again, and I realised what it was. The sudden jolt of getting my foot stuck, forced all my camera bag to continue the movement forward from behind me, creating the sensation of being sharply pushed. I pulled myself out, wiped myself down, laughing at the stupidity of how I looked, and then continued forward to have exactly the same thing happen again a few minutes later. This time I didn’t faceplant, but it was deeper and the bog oozed right down into my boot. Yuk!

By now I was dropping down well, and not far from the river. I was able to wash hands and face clean, and then I crossed over to follow the route along the other side. I saw the sky change to a pink in the very high clouds, and considered quickly climbing back to see if a shot could be had up there. I didn’t, being very mindful of the timing with the light, and continued to follow the thinning footpath, which hugged the river closely. The path, stones, and boggy bits got really tricky, so I tried walking a little higher until I realised I was no longer following a path and that I couldn’t even see where the lower one had gone. Concerned now the light was really fading, I tried to push on in the hope of picking the path up, but I only found myself getting stuck in heather. I tried to push through it, convinced the path would reveal itself soon, since it was still very clearly marked on the map I was following, and I was (apparently) right there. Then I suddenly slipped and with nothing under foot, slid down a few feet. Clearly the sides of where I was walking were turning into a steeper gorge, so overgrown I hadn’t noticed that I was now basically walking on rockfall. Shaken, I tried to carry on, only for it to happen again. Now really rattled, I decided this was getting too dangerous, so I very carefully made my way directly down, back to the river.

The light rays over Dovestone reservoir that I just managed to capture

According to the Google map the trail should have been here, but I couldn’t see it, and more, it was supposed to cross back over the river somewhere near here, but I couldn’t see the path the other side either. I couldn’t carry on this side, so I had no choice but to cross the river now, before all visibility went. At least if I was the other side, I would be on the correct side for the final road around the reservoirs. Luckily for me, the spot I had descended to seemed to have a route across the fast flowing water. I gingerly started across, but halfway slipped on a slimy rock, and went right down, crunching on my shin. I got up and carefully tried again, slipping and going down a second time, cracking my knee this time. I tried moving forward a third time, and this time jammed my walking pole into pebbles just under the water and wedged my right foot against it before stepping forward. This seemed to work, and once over, I stopped to breathe, and to contain the growing panic. The light (or rather lack of) was now becoming a serious issue. With my thinking head on, I got out my head torch, and turned it on, only to find it continually being temperamental, working, not working, flickering, dimming. In my hand it worked, on my head it flickered each time I jolted. I tried to keep myself calm and collected. This could become a serious issue if I can’t get this going, but I had to work with what I had on me for now. I needed my hands, so using my phone torch was out of the question at the moment.

By now I had company in my head. Two very clear voices had taken control of my thinking. A calming voice, and a clear authoritative one. The calming one kept telling me that everything was OK. “It’s fine, it’s fine. There is no hurry. Take your time and don’t rush. Each step you take is closer to the road, its not a race, we can do this. We will get there” It was really effective in calming me down! The authoritative voice gave me clear direction. “Over there, check down, look to see any route. Check for drops with your pole. Only step if its safe. Stop here adjust the head light. Its stopped working? Stand still – You have to stop too. Sort it out, while it works, we move”. And so it went until it was clear there was no further I could go. A huge set of boulders blocked the direction I was going, and by the sounds of it, a waterfall with a good drop on it. I couldn’t see down in the now, pitch black. and my torch light showed no end to the smooth line of the boulders. No grips, no steps – there was no way I’d try and attempt that in the dark when I couldn’t see a bottom. I was stuck.

All the remaining options came to the fore in heated quick discussions between Calm and Authoritative. Scared Sandy just sat quietly in the background being a mouse and waiting for instruction. Options – Stop here for the night, and move again in daylight – see if the phone could get a signal through to call for help – retrace my steps back… (in the dark. Ha ha, nice one!!) That option was immediately discounted. I checked my phone to see where I was, and it looked like I was at the bottom of a gorge. The sides were covered (as far as my torch reached) with thick heather, and it looked very high in the dark…but I could just make out that there was a top. With the early moonlight beginning to peek out over the hill on the other side of the gorge, Calm remained positive. “well at least there IS moonlight. Any extra light might help. That’s a bonus”. I went through the options again, feeling stupidly embarrassed to call for help, I seriously considered just staying put for the night, before another option jumped in my head. I could try and climb directly up. Silence. Who said that?

Suddenly there was a unanimous call from all the voices. Go up. Climb. Up, Go UP! You can do this. Go slowly. A little at a time, but go UP, find the original path and retrace your steps back that way.

I looked up and fearfully tested a clump of heather with my weight. It held.

OK then, lets do this.

I moved my feet up accordingly until I found sound footing, checking thoroughly with my walking pole and then grabbed another clump of heather. The weight I was carrying on my back, made balance extremely difficult, at points I literally had to crawl on my knees, and wait until my balance had settled before I could use my thigh muscles solely to force myself into a standing position. It didn’t take long for them to start screaming at me. Likewise, pulling all the weight up using just my arms, quickly made my upper arms, shoulders and pecs worn, painful and highly fatigued. I had no choice but to take it super slow for my safety- it wouldn’t take much for this to become a disaster. Regardless of my physical condition each clump of heather I reached for held. It amazed me. This stuff is rooted so well!!! After every step I checked to see if I could see a route through, following sheep paths if I could, or simply following the shapes of the edges of fallen rocks. “One step taken, will be one step closer to where you want to be”. Calm never ceased to boost me and keep fear contained. “Just one more”. I could stop anytime to catch breath, rest my shaking legs – but then – “Just one more”. Slowly I climbed. Everything was black around me with exception to the small patch of light highlighting the next clump of heather, or the next bit of rock or clearing I could safely stand on.

Finally, some 40 minutes, later I found the heather slowly turning to grass, and then 5 minutes after that what seemed to be a black boggy path. I checked my position on my phone, and sure enough I had made it! I contained the immediate need to cry with relief, and from my knees, pushed myself to a standing position one last time. I was safe!

I immediately followed the path back to the Trinnacle, and then wedged my phone just behind the buckle of the waist band on my camera bag. I focused the phone torch on the trail in front of me, and the established path came clearly into view. My legs and knees felt very weak, so I walked slowly, but the route was clear and easy to see at my feet. Once I hit the downward stretch back to the main pathway around the reservoirs, I allowed myself some moments of humour singing ‘wibbly wobbly’ to the tune bubbly bubbly by Sean Paul, out loud to the open moor. Anyone hearing that must have thought I was loosing it! Slowly the main pathway came into view and I excitedly noted cyclists moving along it. With 5 more minutes, I set foot on it myself heaving a huge sigh. The internal voices, I realised had gone, so I just walked the slow, painful walk back to Fred alone. Yep. I told myself later, might be more cautious when relying on google maps in future!

As far as my day trying vista shots, I learned quite a bit on reviewing the photos. I realised a number of errors that I had made during the trip. Mostly my focus was a little off and I neglected to try multiple focus points for a photo merge on the shots that had a foreground interest. (which was a real shame, because one with a foreground was a really well composed shot) This resulted in photos that weren’t totally crisp front to back sadly, or, on the ones without the foreground, just a bit soft on the focus all the way through. I suspect this was due to the wind, and me not being careful enough to check them each time. I had been just that bit too keen and quick I think. For a smaller image, it was undetectable so not a huge issue for a tester run of vista photography. On the whole however, I was pleased that I did seem to be getting ‘it’ and the vistas were, I felt, fairly well balanced and composed visually. I am quite excited to try some more of this type of photography now.

Hopefully without all the drama next time!

My Adventures

Bamburgh, Newbiggin, Tynemouth and Newcastle

Northumberland 2021: Part Fourteen

17 June 2021

After the excitement of the night at Berwick Upon Tweed, I was happy to begin my drive south, and I thought I would stop at my favourite spot, Bamburgh Castle for my last night. I secretly hoped the sky might clear so I might try an Astro shot here, but that didn’t happen, so I aimed to simply have a relaxing night and start to the day, before I said goodbye to the castle for this trip. Dawn revealed a light mist, but no further photos were worth doing here, the tide wasn’t where I wanted it, and the film crew at the castle had built all manner of bits around the grounds that spoiled the features. Instead, I had a slow breakfast, and pondered ideas on what to do today. The mist might help the Newbiggin Couple photo I had wanted to get, as this time it wasn’t too thick, but possibly enough to cover any other features I didn’t want in the shot… so I decided this might be worth checking out for my first stop.

It must have been a very localised mist, because even though Newbiggin is a relatively short drive away, by the time I arrived, there was no mist to be seen, and even the overcast sky was beginning to clear. Since I was here though, I thought I may as well give the shot a try. There might still be enough grey left to pull my vision off. It didn’t work as I hoped however, so I guessed another attempt at another time would be in order. I could still try to get either a full on sunrise, or a smooth, flat, misty background, minimal type of shot here – so prospects are plentiful. Whilst here today however, I also thought to have another go at the sand again. I have never played enough with the tripod to see of I can get a vertical shot with it though – and that became an annoying fact as I felt that it was actually needed for the shot here. Because of this, it wasn’t a great shot, but I tried anyway. Seems this particular location still needs some work for me to get into…

The Couple Sculpture, weather wasn’t quite what I wanted… but this is getting closer…

With no set plans for today, I thought I would continue south, and give the river Tynemouth lighthouses a try. These had been mentioned by Alan Blakey the other photographer I had met at St Marys Lighthouse earlier in my trip, as another favourite of his.

The mouth of the river Tyne is marked by 3 lighthouses, although I only found two, being, at the time, unaware of the third. I found parking very easily, and wandered on down to the first spot, The Tynemouth Lighthouse. It had a long walk down a harbour wall (called the pier, tho its not technically a pier, as its a solid structure), and the walk was really pleasant in the sunshine that was now beginning to bathe this area. At the start of the walk were warnings that this pier would be closed in bad weather. Indeed in 1897, a couple of years after the completion of the initial build, a large section had been severely damaged in one of the terrible storms that can hit here. They ended up starting the build from scratch in the end, the destruction was that bad. At the end is the taller of the two lighthouses, and you can easily see across to the South Shields Lighthouse and the pier that that one stands on, marking the southern entrance to the river. South Shields Lighthouse is a much smaller, dinky little thing in comparison to Tynemouth, and it was, like its sister, built in 1895.

It was so nice today that I just took my time and simply had a good explore of the lighthouse and its view, before ambling back down and having a scout of the small beach area near the beginning of the pier. The tide was fully out, but I could see it was coming in, so I snapped a couple of pictures of the pier to gauge a shot for later. The foreground here was very messy and too distracting at the moment. To kill a little time afterwards I went for a short walk. I wandered from here to the top of the hill where the rest of the car park was, hoping to find a sculpture I was looking for, but it seemed I had the wrong location for that particular one. I then walked around to the edge of the Priory, which stood on the hill at the base of the Tynemouth pier. As I checked that out, I found I had to make an appointment to go and visit due to the Covid regulations, so left here too and simply had myself an ice cream from the van parked here instead. It had been a while since I had treated myself to a whippy ice cream with a flake in it, so thoroughly enjoyed tucking into that!

After 45 minutes I wandered back to the beach and was pleased to see the water had come in enough to cover the rocky foreground to help simplify the scene. I took some nice long exposure shots, and was really happy with the reflections in the water where the tide was coming in so gently. Whilst down here I chatted to several people. One lady walking her dog had moved here from down south, and had not regretted her move north, to the slower pace that she was now living here. She suggested some other locations I could try, several were further over into Sunderland, however, at that point, I mistakenly thought the city was in Durham county and hadn’t considered locations there. Ultimately, since I had tacked the upper Tyne and Wear area onto the Northumberland county tour this time round. I can simply tack the lower Tyne and Wear areas onto the Durham one next time.

After the water shots were taken, I took a second wander up to Tynemouth Lighthouse. The crowds had thinned a bit, so it looked much clearer, and the sky was a happy blue without being solid in colour. It was almost a picture postcard kinda sky, but for the slight haze on the horizon. I wasn’t about to complain though – back home they were apparently having torrential rain! As I stood composing the shot, I felt that, ideally, I wanted to get down to the lower section of the pier (which members of the public are not allowed to get down to) On the lower level are rails and I imagine a camera placed low down to one of those would give a fantastic dynamic shot. From the top of some steps, a similar, less dramatic view could be had however, and I managed this one at least. This would have to do me, I sighed. I went back to Fred and wondered what to do next.

Since I had the Covid test tomorrow, I decided that I might try Newcastle quayside again, and leave really early in the morning to drive directly to the test, before going home… so I headed there. With plenty of time to dusk, I settled myself down and had some tea before heading out at 9 to see how the water looked today. Remarkably – it looked pretty flat. Now how was that possible? This is a river!! As on my previous trip, this fact confused me considerably. I went to the prime position I had found last time to see another photographer here trying some shots with his drone. Ian was waiting for another photographic friend, but happily chatted to me and explained the water. At the turn of the tide, he told me, you have around 20 minutes or so, where the water goes really still…’its like glass sometimes’ he explained. Its something to do with the meeting of the sea water with the fresh river water I seem to recall him explaining. Well that certainly helped me understand what went wrong the last time I was here! It had been nowhere near the tide turning time back then, but more to the point, I had by pure luck timed it almost perfectly this time. He happily chatted, and introduced his friend Andy, and then they invited me to join them in their walk along the quayside this evening, so I, rather shyly, tagged along.

I couldn’t help but get captivated by Ian’s enthusiasm and excitement, and despite not knowing either man, by evenings end I had enjoyed a really pleasant time, had moments of excitement, and some points of real laughter. As we walked further upstream towards the bridges, the water was even more still, and some stunning reflections were to be had (see header) The men pointed out some good spots worth photographing, demonstrated new ideas, positions and techniques. Ian literally stood in the road at one point, and quickly snapped a view of a church reflected in a puddle by putting his camera right down to the floor and roughly aiming it in the correct direction. This was an interesting technique for me to observe – especially as someone who has to see the image through the viewfinder, focus carefully and adjust everything accordingly BEFORE taking a shot. Not this one. Down, snap, up, step back to safety, and only then see whether it worked. Ian was clearly an adventurous and experimental photographer, willing to try and see what happened. I found it highly refreshing and rather awe inspiring to watch him. Andy seemed a little more like me, more traditional and conservative in our approaches, although he wasn’t at all as shy at getting his camera out, as I was feeling. (Why was I feeling like that?! – I remembered I was the same when I went on a few photowalks a few years ago. How very odd!!) At another point we spotted another beautiful shot, and we all desperately wanted to take it. The problem was that the obvious, and likely best position, was on a boardwalk along the waters edge, but there were notices banning people from crossing the barrier to get there. Ian, being the excitable and adventurous one, tried his luck however, climbed up and stepped half and half to take his shot, before a disembodied voice from nowhere asked for ‘the man straddling the barrier to please step back!’. We all had a good laugh and then each leaned as far as we could to get the shot, ahhh well… I thought I was gonna get pulled up with my tripod leg over the other side, but I was left alone, and managed this one.

We all desperately wanted to get down to the boardwalk, but what a lovely spot – even from the roadside

After several hours chatting and photographing everything, it grew closer to midnight. Andy had to leave while Ian wanted to stay a little longer. Since I had to get up early to drive home, I too had to say my goodbyes to them both, and received encouraging ‘when you get back here, drop us a line and we will meet up and show you the city proper”. This was such a lovely warm welcome to a city I had never seen in my life before this trip and I waved a happy goodbye as I started my wander back towards the camper. As I got back to my original ‘prime spot’ I saw that the water was, rather remarkably, still almost glass like down at this point, so I grabbed my camera and set up to take the shot here. With the moon lighting the back of the clouds, and the midsummer hint of daylight still lighting the sky a fraction, it looked wonderful to my eye, and much more the classic vision I had hoped for back on 10th June.

Iconic view of the Bridges crossing the Tyne at Newcastle

Now this evening proved to be the perfect end to this trip, and as I walked back to Fred, I was super happy.

As I drove home early next morning, The sun still beamed until about 1/4 of the way into the drive.. from here I hit a wall of rain that didn’t stop all the way to the Covid test, and then home – can I please turn round and go back?

My Adventures

Spittal Beach and Berwick Upon Tweed

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.

When you are tired and worn, what better way to spend the day than to leave footprints in the sand…

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!

Rare red Rainbow over the Royal Border Bridge in Berwick upon Tweed

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!

My Adventures

Hadrians Wall

Northumberland 2021: Part Twelve

15 June 2021

After the rush of last night’s photo, I stayed near to Hadrian’s wall, thinking I would try an adventurous hike (for me) and aimed go from Steel Rigg to Housteads and back again. I left at 9 carrying everything I might want, leaving the big lens and binoculars behind. With snacks and fluids, I didn’t want to struggle carrying extra weight. Today wasn’t as much about the photography (looking at the flat grey sky) or the birds, I wanted it to be about the hike. Although I wasn’t expecting anything too great photography wise, as the cloud wasn’t predicted to lighten until later in the afternoon, I still wanted as much with me as was sensible, just in case a shot presented itself – (which they did of course, have you seen how amazing it looks along here?!!) Other than a brief visit the other week, this was my first time to Hadrian’s wall, so I really wanted to soak up the atmosphere of this striking and fascinating place!

Sycamore gap as seen from what I later understood to be the ‘barbarians’ side

I met several people along the route and everyone was happy for a chat it seemed. A couple of guys I saw were doing a cross country challenge to walk the whole of the Hadrian’s wall path (84 Miles) all the way from Wallsend in Newcastle to Bowness-on-Solway in Cumbria. They had given themselves 3 days to do this(!) and were walking to raise money for a sick little girl. I loved chatting to them, and was dead proud of their efforts, but I kicked myself after they moved on, because I, very shamefully, didn’t note the Just Giving page that I could have donated to. I then met a sweet couple who shared their route with me. Their printed out guide called it the barbarians way walk, and I subsequently found it on my All Trails app. Half the walk wasn’t along the wall itself, but more on the side that the Scots would have been, and it aimed to give us an idea of the view they might have faced as they approached this formidable barrier. I took a photo of their print out and decided I would give that ago as well, since it looked a bit more varied than the straight across and back route I’d had in mind. The couple were doing it clockwise, where I was going in the opposite direction… I wondered if we might meet up later?

Despite the intention to just walk, I found myself stopping frequently to grab photos despite the flat sky. The house by Lough Crag was one I hoped to get a better photo of, after my visit here from the 29th June. Although still not quite the dream shot, I was blessed with some of the early light starting to break through, and the view here was a marked improvement on the sight I’d had on the 29th. As the day progressed I found the sun starting to poke out more and more, and then within a very short space of time, the sky had pretty much cleared completely, giving me a totally clear blue sky. This, of course, produced an equally flat and uninspiring landscape (very hard to please arnt I?!!) It also became very detrimental weather for the hike. My walking slowed considerably, I drank all my fluids quickly, and basically became very fatigued and overheated carrying the load on my back. Things didn’t go very well from here on in, and as the hours passed, everything became considerably harder in my unfit state.

By the time I arrived at Housteads, I was physically quite exhausted. It was 3pm, my feet were painful, and I was ridiculously hungry for something to eat! I stopped by the first shop up near the Housteads fort ruins and picked up a bottle of rhubarb lemonade sold here. I adore the flavour of rhubarb, so guzzled the bottle down eagerly, instantly finding myself really disappointed in the taste, as it didn’t taste much of rhubarb at all. Looking on the back at the ingredients I noted there was only 3% rhubarb (and 40% apple!!) in it. I felt very cheated, and vowed never to buy anything by Franklin and sons again. They clearly mis-represent their drinks, and you pay premium for the pleasure. Feeling very disgruntled, I walked down to the cafe a little further down the hill, and was rewarded with there being only a singular hot pasty left. I say rewarded without sarcasm, because it was the most delicious curried cauliflower flavour! I couldn’t believe my luck at this one being the last option because it was SO tasty, and I only wish they’ve had two left so I could also have one for later! As well as the pasty I treated myself to a scone with clotted cream, and a cup of tea. (I am the biggest sucker for a cream tea!) I sat outside to eat, and kicked off my shoes for a bit to ease the stinging on my feet. The rest was a most welcome break! Whilst here, a tiny bug crawled its way across the table in front of me. I’d not seen one quite like this before, it had the prettiest colour and shimmer of green, was really small and quite delicately featured. I later discovered this to be a pale green weevil beetle, not a rare bug, so I am clearly not too observant with these!

Looking back over the walk I had just done before dropping down to the flat, and making my way back again.

After half an hour, the cloud was beginning to return and I was ready to continue (well, OK, I wasn’t, but I had to get back to Fred at some point today – preferably before midnight!) As I walked up the hill, I met the couple I had bumped into earlier. They told me all about their hike, and expressed some disappointment at having gone wrong somewhere, missing a chunk off their walk with something they wanted to see. I looked at their map, my All Trails app, and together we managed to identify the spot they’d gone off their route, so they resolved to re do it again at some point. After a short casual chat, we said our cheery goodbyes and I started onto the second leg of my trip. I carried on to Kings Wicket, which is a gate way through the wall a little further east, (see header pic) and then turned to the Barbarians route to get back to Fred. This part of the route was considerably easier as it was largely on the flat – but my feet were in a great deal of pain by now, and the exhaustion was also still simmering angrily. It all felt like a hard slog. I pushed on however, and once I got wide I looked back towards the wall. It was amazing how intimidating it actually looked from down here. I could imagine how threatened the Scottish ‘barbarians’ might have felt seeing these huge crags topped with a 16-20 foot high wall!

I continued the walk, stubbornly pressing on through all my discomforts and spotted birds my birdsong app identified as Eurasian Skylark, and a Northern Wheatear. Both birds looked like the pictures the app gave me, so I was a little disappointed to not have my long lens now! I’ve never photographed either of these before. It was a nice diversion to stop occasionally though, just to watch and try to identify them. My bird spotting skills are not at all good, but this app was a big help.

By the time I got back to Sycamore Gap and saw the tree from this side, I decided to take one last shot that I had left earlier. Now it was bathed in sunlight the image was far more what I had hoped it might be. Neither the Romans nor the Barbarians would have seen this back in the day, with the tree being a few hundred years old, yes, but not THAT many! I also believe that when this tree was younger, there were several others here, all taken down at some point or other for reasons unknown today. I am just glad this one was left – every visit has been a photographic treat so far! I was terribly exhausted by now so I didn’t bother waiting around for a sunset – I had my shot of that anyway. The plod back to Fred continued on…

One final visit to The Tree. I think this looks good form just about every angle I’ve seen it at!

Exhausted, the walk back from here took double the length of time it had on previous days, and I got back to the camper just before 9. I had completed 11.7 miles and over 28,500 steps.

Boy didn’t my feet let me know about that!!