Greater Manchester – Knightshoots Landscape Photography

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!