Roadtrip – Knightshoots Landscape Photography

Loch Doon Castle, shopping and Sanquhar castle

South West Scotland 2021: Part Nineteen

23 September 2021

The sleep was hard again last night. The wind was really picking up, and although no where near as windy as some nights I have spent in Fred, I could hear banging where the flap covering my electric connection was blowing hard. There were other banging noises outside too, where the wind caught the caravan awning next to me. I had very few plans for today and to be fair, it wouldn’t do River nor I any harm to have an easy day. I didn’t stress, and eventually fell asleep after 2. I awoke again at 7, and despite trying to make myself go back to sleep, it didn’t happen, so I just dozed and stayed lazily in bed trying not to do anything but rest. At 8 I was forced up when I heard the flap give up, and go clattering away. I got dressed, dived out, and recovered the flap after a riotous film comedy moment, chasing it around the site.

Now here’s an interesting thing – today I found myself being surprised by things I didn’t realise before. For instance, I had hot running water. (Whaaaat?!!) I checked the gas hadn’t accidentally turned on, but no, everything was as it should be. I put it down to being hooked up to electric – it must automatically activate the boiler without the gas. Bonus!! My ‘cowboy’ strip wash went on to become a full on hair wash and complete clean up in Fred. Well, I wasn’t going anywhere, and certainly wasn’t going to waste this opportunity! It was still very windy, and the (driving) mizzle was literally sitting on top of us so that visibility was practically zero. My second discovery was that I could deactivate the immobiliser whilst the keys were in the ignition – WITHOUT having to turn everything off and back on again. For 2 fecking years it’s been a real pain, but where no-one had ever explained the alarm system, I guess I would never have learned BUT by an accident. I chilled, sorted everything out and fixed the flap with a reel of fishing line I had found abandoned on my journey. Finally, at about half 2, the weather began to break and I was able to think about visiting Loch Doon Castle. Since I was at a location where I had services, I emptied the loo again, filled up with water, and disposed of the grey waste. I had no chemicals left for the loo however so had to ask for advice on that. The site had no shop, but the owner advised me that the closest shop supplying it, was in Cumnock, shutting at 5pm. I prepped everything anyway ready for the chemicals (so I just had to add it), then headed off to Loch Doon Castle.

I arrived some 15 mins later, took a few photos, but it wasn’t at all photogenic today and I really struggled.

Miserable views, and no luck finding a nice viewpoint at Doon castle

I tried some external shots without too much luck, and then some internal ones which really didn’t do it for me either. Eventually I settled on my poor patient dog who was simply laying on a broken bit of wall watching me. Turns out she can be a really calm model when she wants to!

Realising that this location was really a bit of a bust for me today, I decided that I should probably leave and head off to find the shop in Cumnock to get my toilet chemical. I arrived with 25 mins to closing, picking up some dog treats for River, and some double sided tape to fix a cigarette lighter extender module down – the only little job left for me to do.

I looked at where to go next, and decided that Dumfries and Galloway could start tonight after all. I settled on Sanquhar Castle first. It was another ruin, but I hoped the evening light might help give it atmosphere. It was an odd site really, right by a housing estate and I literally parked outside someone’s house, needing just 2 minutes to walk over. The castle itself was heavily fenced off, but looking at all the angles of the remains, and the warning notices pinned in several places, it was clearly a dangerous structure, and so overgrown that I think its been fenced off for quite a while. This was a shame really, as it might have looked good in the light that was presenting itself.

Instead my attention was drawn to a white cottage that looked amazing sitting below a very low and moody cloud that was a gorgeous pinky shade in the dying light. I stood in what I assumed was an old moat for the castle, and took what images I could. A dead tree was a major irritation here, but the colours and dying light still gave it a nice dramatic feel for me.

Cottage to the side looking really nice in the evening light

I finished when the rain started coming down again, hurrying back to the van before I got too wet. It got very heavy, very quickly! I decided to find somewhere else to settle for the night instead, since it was obvious I couldn’t stay outside someone’s house. As I left, the road out of the village towards my chosen stopover, was closed, and there were no directions on how to get around the blockage. With an erratic phone signal, I began to feel unsettled, and it took a bit of time to find an alternative route round. The situation didn’t get much better either – it got dark quickly, it was pouring with rain and then my sat nav lost connection completely. In my head, a mini voice began to have a huge panic attack until eventually the grown up, sensible me, calmed it a little. My nerves were really shot, and I was also very tired, but I had to drive on – I found myself on a narrow, winding road with no verges or space to make a permanent stop. Eventually, some 20 minutes later, I saw a big layby, and I decided to pull in to wait the night out here, before I got myself into a deeper pickle. The relief at being able to just stop safely, was immense!

Even though the van was plugged into the electrical hook up last night at the campsite, I was unsure what was draining the leisure batteries so heavily, so I planned on preserving them as much as I could. I took the small push button light out of cupboard, and used the double sided tape I’d bought to stick it to the ceiling. Viola! Lights, without using leisure batteries! That was it. I stopped all the problem solving and worries, ate a quick meal and climbed into bed.

I’d absolutely had enough of today now!

My Adventures

Craigengillan, Ness Glen and Dalcairney Falls

South West Scotland 2021: Part Eighteen

22 September 2021

Last night I’d driven until I realised that by driving in the dark I was missing the chance to see new places, and I got really tired. So when I pulled in to where the two other motorhomes were, I settled and fell asleep quickly without having a single idea of where I really was. When I looked out of my window in the morning, I was parked up in a concrete area nestled in among the trees, the sky was filled with cloud and one of the motorhomes had already left. I couldn’t see anything else. I could have been anywhere! I again took my time getting ready and looked at my map for today. While the aim was to visit Doon Castle, I noticed that Ness Glen was on the way, so decided that it might be more fitting to do that first. If it was going to rain today I would be less in the open and I’d have part cover under the trees in the glen. I also considered Dalcairney Falls, a good walk from the glen, but do-able if the weather stayed dry. I readjusted plans a little and headed off down the single lane road with my ideas for today looking like they might be quite promising.

As I was driving I noticed the sun break through the cloud a little, and when I rounded a bend on a hill, it beamed down on a white house in the distance. It looked SO beautiful, I pulled over when I could and took some photos before the sun vanished again. This, it turned out, was called Craigengillan, and a lot of the land in this area belongs to its estate. Although the house has been here since the 1600’s, it, and its lands, fell into disrepair over the years. The people who bought it in 2000 have since invested into its preservation and conservation, turning the whole area into a beautiful site for tourists and wildlife alike. They seem to have done a fantastic job. I really loved how this chance photo turned out, and that it gave me a good reason to look into what it was and what they have been doing.

Craigengillan Estate, a chance photo as I drove.

I continued my drive to the Roundhouse takeaway down by Loch Doon, and parked up. The hope was to pop back in there on my return for something as a treat for my tea this evening – nice idea, surely?? Only I didn’t quite make it back before closing time.. missing by just 5 fecking minutes…5!!!! Grrr. Anyway, for now it was a nice positive idea and as I got ready, I decided that I would add the second walk to take in Dalcairney falls after all. I didn’t think they would have much water to ‘fall’ with, but still felt it might be worth checking out. I could walk it from here, and I couldn’t find clear instructions on any parking closer than this anyway so I may as well make a big ol’ hiking day of it, right? I packed myself a lunch, some drink, and headed off.

Ness Glen was beautiful, and it was a very easy walk alongside the River Doon. I stopped to take a few photos on the way, seeing some beautiful dappled light by a small waterside bridge. I thought to take more on the way back when I would be walking towards the water flow to save myself keep looking back as well as forwards, and so, just took my time enjoying this walk. Start at the end and work in the photos on the way back, it seemed like a great idea, although as it turned out, I was once again taking the current weather for granted, and not considering that it might change. Thank goodness I’d turned to capture this scene, because of course, that’s exactly what happened!

Ness Glen and the River Doon. When the sun broke through it looked magical.

I got to a large wooden bridge, walked over the river and then took the extended route towards Dalcairney falls. The walk to Dalcairney was a little tougher, being a further 2 miles, and going uphill. At a few points it rained lightly, and one other I went slightly off track, going higher than I needed. I rerouted myself however, and tried to follow google to correct myself. We passed a derelict building, and then entered an open hilly area. River had been off the lead for most of the walk by this point, but on spotting some sheep, she started to run towards them. When I realised what had caught her attention, I immediately called her name sharply, followed by a stern ‘Here!’ She stopped in her tracks coming straight back to my side, and seconds later a farmer appeared in the field. He gave me a little curt nod of approval, and said nothing as I walked passed with River close by my heels. I was never prouder of my little dog than I was at that moment.

Not long after that, I descended to a proper path again, and finally, 3 hours after I started my walk, I reached the falls… Well.. The dribbles. (see header) I don’t think I have ever seen any photo of these falls that showed a flow as poor as this one! But, well, I had this for my visit, so decided to work with what I was given. The location was still beautiful, so before anything, I rested with River for a while – soaking in the peace and tranquillity here. She thoroughly loved paddling in the calm pool beneath the dribble, so I let her enjoy that while I ate my lunch. I really struggled to see much to photograph, so settled on the solitary log in the middle of the water, with the thin stream of falling water as an afterthought behind it. To be fair there wasn’t much else to focus on!

Dalcairney main falls – normally considerably more impressive than this!!

As I was shooting this, River started splashing in the water next to me, which she never does… And when I looked, she seemed to be having the same issue as she had yesterday. I hastily left the camera in the middle of the water and encouraged/carried her out as best as I could, so that whatever this was, she wouldn’t collapse and drown. Her face showed the same fear, but she clearly trusted me and let me carry her part of the way (she hates being lifted up), recovering again with no after effects, very quickly. This had me very confused. I went and got the camera, and we left this side of the falls. Ultimately, I didn’t know what else to do, but carry on. I felt horrible being torn between giving up, and wanting to continue here today, but there was nothing else I could do but book in to see the vet as soon as I could after my return in a few days. (they were amazing, and made a space for her the morning after my return) From here on in though, meantime, I kept such a close eye on her, I wouldn’t let her get much further than a step or two away from me. Thankfully she didn’t have any more episodes while I was away, having just one minor one a day after seeing the vet. It turned out she had an ear infection, and it was causing her to have seizures. I was asked to keep an eye on her just in case she was going to have them more regularly, in which case further treatment was available and advisable. Thank God it wasn’t anything worse, and my mind was put at ease with the reassurance these were not unusual, and often disappeared after the underlying cause was treated. Apparently I’d acted exactly the way I needed to on both occasions, remaining calm, and reassuring, but making sure she was safe in her environment. Since then, River has been fine, and we haven’t seen a repeat episode.

Back to today though, as I got to the top of these falls, I crossed the little bridge, and then descended back down the opposite side to see if we could capture the lower falls as well as the main falls. The lower falls seemed to be stealing the show over the main ones today. It was tricky getting to the best spot, but we made it, crossing the river, and basically coming back to the first side but much lower down. I am sure that in full spate this would have been impossible, but I struck lucky today. I took my pictures, and we climbed back out to the starting point on the first side.

Climbing out was actually a challenge in itself, with a large tree that had fallen over a now obvious path in such a way that I literally had to manoeuvrer in and out and around branches that had completely covered the route. Have you ever tried climbing a tree horizontally? Me neither, it was…interesting, and quite fun. Without this in the way, it would have been a much easier shot from my original side, but I hadn’t noticed this path from above it earlier.

We then started the long walk back. My feet were painful, but today felt like it was a success, and River was very much back to her normal self, sniffing just about every hole she could find. I took a few shots on Ness Glen once we reached there again, but without the sun casting small dapples of light in the area, it all looked very flat in the camera. I’d been very lucky getting the earlier shot I now realised! By the time I got back to the camper my feet were too painful to do much, with two days of over 7 miles each were taking their toll on my plantar fasciitis. With the roundhouse having just closed, and the rain trying its hardest to stay off as best as it could, I decided to stop off in a campsite here, just so I could recharge Fred, and hopefully have a shower. Sadly there was no shower or toilet block of any kind, although there was electricity, so I was very happy for that and decided to stay anyway! As I picked out a spot to park up in, a cloud of mizzle finally settled on the area for good. It was very grim and wet, so I was just thankful to have a place to stay without having to look any further!

For some reason, I struggled to sleep though, even with the sound of the rain that eventually established a wonderful soothing sound throughout the night. It was a good thing that I only had Doon Castle to do tomorrow!

My Adventures

Clean up day, the Irving Dragon, Greenan Castle, and…

South West Scotland 2021: Part Sixteen

19 September 2021

I had a glorious nights sleep… Possibly the best in ages, and I seriously did NOT want to get out of bed. Lazing until gone 9.30, I finally got up and just did a slow potter, cleaning myself and the van at a very gentle pace. I took a short walk out with River to give her a chance to stretch her legs and spotted a small rainbow over Hunterston Pier, before wandering back to the camper. It was all very chill!

I was very mindful of needing to empty the portaloo, and get some water, and even though I was tempted to retry the castle later, I decided that these items were getting to be a priority. I looked at Ayr, where the council were trying a scheme allowing motorhomes overnight parking, and services for £5. I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay a night there however, (it wasn’t near any of my photographic locations) but I had no objection to just paying for the services and thought a good drive might also help Fred’s Leisure batteries. This then, would be my first course of action today. I arrived at the car park, and found the motorhome parking area easily, although couldn’t immediately find any services. I eventually found an unmarked (or labelled) yellow portaloo disposal point/ thing, with no instructions on what to do, so I had to inspect, and guess how to do this. I couldn’t see anywhere for my waste water, or any fresh water tap either (the term serviceS was obviously a bit of a stretch! LOL). Maybe the waste water went in with the loo water, but I had no way to transport it FROM the tank in Fred, so had to leave it. Normally, you open the tap under the van over a grating, and they clearly didn’t have that here. Maybe I should look into finding a sports bottle or some such just for an alternative disposal method. Looking at my park for night app, I found two symbols I didn’t recognise… One was a public loo… But the other, thankfully, was a water fountain! I drove closer, had a look at it, and then filled as best as I could – 3 loads of my small water carriers, taking an absolute age each time, and proving quite heavy to carry and lift! Putting the water into Fred, it raised the tank level to half full… Hopefully enough to finish the trip. Now I just needed to conserve the leisure batteries, and hopefully find another area for the waste water over the next few days.

Unsure on what to do next I decided to drive to Irving for a sculpture I had seen that had really taken my fancy. The Irving Dragon was created by artist Roy Fitzsimmons, apparently using the red sandstone from an old demolished railway bridge. I’ve no idea how old it is, certainly not ancient, but I found mention of it being there in the 1980’s at least. On arrival I found a huge car park a very short walk away, and several campers here. After parking up, I took River for the short walk to find the dragon, deciding to come back when the light was a softer shade of yellow. It was a bit harsh at the moment (see header), although in hindsight I quite like lighting in the photo above. As sunset approached, I climbed the hill again, but was saddened to notice that although there were still very few clouds above me, several were building on the horizon. Another chap was there with his camera, and began chatting to me. He grabbed so much of my attention that I missed my chance to capture much at all, and completely missed the sunset in the end. Disappointed, I tried what I could, but once the sun had fallen behind the cloud, the dragons colour went very flat.

Just missed the best part of the sunset… but maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow?

I returned to the camper and watched as night fell, and the moon rose. I simply couldn’t be bothered to try a night time shot, so stayed in bed really struggling to sleep… looking at my watch for the last time at just gone 3am.

20 September 2021

I was awake again at 6.30, but refused to get up. I tried my hardest to go back to sleep but it didn’t happen, eventually getting up at 7.30 and pottering around the van. Finally, I decided I should try the dragon in morning light, preparing to go without the full camera bag, and to just travel light. I gathered the tripod, dog and left to see what I could get. There was a cloud building, but it still gave a few intermittent bursts of light that looked great. Setting up the tripod in one of the positions I had settled on, I went to grab my camera off my shoulder, to realise it wasn’t there! I checked if I had put it down. Nope… then realised I must have left it in the camper! Full of annoyance at myself, I picked the tripod up and trudged all the way back down the hill, noting that the cloud was actually closing in pretty fast. When I got to Fred, I saw it sitting on the drivers seat waiting for me. (how lucky was I not to come back to a smashed window, and missing camera eh?!) I slogged back up the hill again, just as the last beam of light hit.. Then it was gone. I set up anyway, and waited just in case another glimmer happened, and I waited… and I waited. Eventually I gave up, I took a few cursory shots, anyway, and came back to the camper. I was too tired and grumpy to stick around.

With North Ayrshire done, I decided to start South Ayrshire, and I headed to a location I was very keen on seeing – Greenan Castle. This castle was literally perched on the edge of a cliff, giving a chance of a really dramatic shot – if I could time it right! I drove to the car park nearby, and the cloud abated in the wind giving me blue skies for a little bit. As I arrived at the car park I was saddened to see that it was another with a height barrier, so just parked on the street. The walk over was fairly easy, but the tide was far too high for the shot I hoped for. I had a good wander though, setting up in a different position to the side and by a pool, waiting for the wind to settle to take the reflection shot… I waited… and I waited… and again gave up. It wasn’t going to happen, and in reality, I wasn’t that pleased with the water level at this spot at any rate. I took one shot of it between gusts of strong wind, (well I was here after all!) before picking everything up and walking back to Fred.

Greenan Castle. I almost got this shot breeze free… almost. Need the water here to be a little higher to cover the seaweed too I think. Otherwise I like the position

I thought I would try Dunure Castle instead, and drove there as the cloud made its return. The weather was very changeable in this wind today! The ruined castle looked very flat in the now cloudy light, but again, looked pretty dramatic standing on the edge of a cliff. The cloud did lend itself to a moody shot instead, so I tried that. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, I couldn’t really get it to work for me, even though I tried from several sides and angles. I realised that I was very tired from the lack of sleep, so didn’t beat myself up over it, putting today down to being a scouting day instead. These locations had a lot of promise despite my inability to get the dreamed for shots today. This one for instance, I think would look great with a little dramatic light directly on the castle and a higher tide.

Dunure Castle…. This would be perfect with light on the castle, plenty of mood behind, and a higher tide, I think!

As it was on its way out, it didn’t really work here, but I realised that I might have better luck back at Greenan castle instead, now the water was lower. I drove back there, went to look, and was shocked to see the tide was actually so far out, that I had missed my chance entirely! With a tidal water that moved in or out extremely quickly over the beach area, opportunities for the shot I hoped for, at this location, were obviously only available in a very small window!! I gave up for today.

Instead I decided to have a drive down to Girvan, to hopefully see if the services and parking were better there, and to pick up a little shopping. I got to the parking spot after the sun had set, so just settled in for the night, planning everything else for the morning.

My Adventures

Fairlee Waterfall, Castle and The Pencil Monument

South West Scotland 2021: Part Fourteen

17 September 2021

Today when I woke up the view was pretty much non existent. A grim cloud sat over the area, drizzling heavily, leaving me with not much to see here, and leaving everything just a flat grey. I was parked up by the river and could see that the other campers were still here. None of them seemed to make any moves to leave early, so, without any set plans I just chilled for a few hours, taking my time, having breakfast, playing a game, and just having a casual think on what I fancied doing today. After the other vans eventually started drifting off to get on with their days, I jumped out and took a photo of Fred before finally getting on with mine. It was a very relaxing start.

Fred in North Ayrshire. A flat grey morning

I ended up settling on a waterfall at Fairlee. I had only found this one the other day, and although I didn’t really hold up much hope, it might be better than just sitting here in the camper all day, looking out at a non view of a misly river. I found parking easily, and the walk, although steep didn’t appear complicated – she says, hitting one spot that seemed to be a wrong turn for the falls. I retraced my steps and continued up the steep hill until I realised I had then overshot past my turn, and found myself much further away from the burn. I couldn’t hear any water at all from here. Mildly frustrated with myself, I backtracked again, stopping a couple of times to take pictures. Although I wasn’t particularly excited by them, it seemed the main waterfall wasn’t even there. Confused, I wondered whether the prolonged dry spell had depleted the falls to nothing. I went back to double check the spot where I thought I had taken the first wrong turn, and leaned out as far as I could, to try and see the river from here. As I strained to see over a muddy outcrop, I caught a glimpse of the fall. It wasn’t gone at all, it was just a little inaccessible from this spot.

I looked around, following the river with my eyes, and had an idea. I slipped down the steep muddy bit on my bum (thank goodness I was in waterproofs today, that saved my jeans some!), and managed to get down to the waters edge. From here I just walked boldly into the shallow river, and strode up the (pretty non existent) lower part of the falls and around a bit of a bend until the upper falls came into view. There might be an easier way, although several online comments mentioned that they had to do this as well. The falls were a good height, but not quite as photogenic as I might have liked, with fallen trees everywhere and the water flow, as has been the kicker on this trip, very minimal. I worked the scene as much as possible though, with a couple of the shots showing a little promise of being useable post edit. I suspect this one would look amazing in full spate, although the walk in and along the river would definitely be far more challenging. I didn’t see a bank that could be traversed particularly easily, so it remains to be seen if this might be as possible as one might like at that point ..

Fairlee Waterfall. Not completely dry, but it still took a lot of work to find a way of photographing this one today.

Once finished, I climbed back out and made my way further down stream. As I walked in this direction, I noticed someone had pitched a blue tent off to the side, tucked well into the wooded growth. I had a tentative look, and there was a possibly that someone had abandoned it, because there seemed to be no one about, but behind that, I spotted a worn footpath. Curious I followed the footpath, and found another smaller fall. I was sure this would look better with more water, but once again climbed down and walked into the river itself to explore the site. I looked at all angles for a composition I liked, but nothing really jumped out at me. I ended up going a little further downstream to capture the entire cascade, although even that proved tricky to capture well. When I saw the shot on screen however, I noticed all the early autumn leaves were really adding colour that I loved. This one felt much better for me, and it was a beautiful peaceful spot that I really enjoyed being in.

Cascade looking much prettier than the main waterfall

I continued back towards the van stopping only once more to have a quick look at the outside of Fairlee castle. This was a tower castle, buried in the woods overlooking a steep drop to the river that I had been following. There wasn’t any information on it, so I didn’t think it was a tourist site to visit, nor did I photograph it since it was surrounded by a metal fence stopping anyone getting close. It looked to be having a little work done to it, possibly to make safe, I wasn’t sure. As I stood in the rain looking over the castle I found myself chatting to a man called Billy who, as it turned out, was actually the current owner of this Castle. He was a fascinating man to talk to, correcting some of my assumptions and telling me a little of the history. He then went on to tell me all about the work that was going on and his plans to fix the castle to a liveable condition again. He hoped that in 2 years, he might be finished, and this wonderful place might be a home once again. So far it had taken him 7 years, just to get through all the planning, testing and rope jumping! The powers that be had finally granted him the permission to go ahead with his plans, and his excitement was clear in his chatter. It was a bold idea of his to give this old home a second chance, but I totally loved his dream. It was well and truly raining by now, so we bid our goodbyes (with him telling me to come and knock on his door in 2 years, and hopefully he would be able to offer me a cup of tea!) I wish I had stopped to take a photo of the castle today, because if I ever can get back, it would have been awesome to see the changes.

Once back in Fred I made a nice coffee and sat trying to work out where else I could go. The walk I had read online for the castle/waterfall led to other sights to see in Ayrshire, most not of interest to me in this grim weather. I didn’t fancy a second waterfall today either, so missed seeing Biglees falls that was nearby too, but there’s always next time right? Google maps flagged up a monument nearby that looked like a curiosity worth trying however. It felt a bit different so I found local parking, and plotted the route there. I was really excited to find that the parking I had spotted not only had a dedicated motorhome parking spot, but it was only a few minutes walk away from the location. As an added bonus it was right by another marina, and as my second gas bottle had just given up as well, it might be worth checking to see if these sold them too.

The Pencil is a monument in Largs, dedicated to the memory of a battle in 1236, where the Scots King Alexander III fought off Vikings that had landed here. It wasn’t a huge or momentous battle by many standards, but the locals wanted to commemorate the ‘Battle of Largs’ with something in 1912, and this was the affordable option they picked. The slender tower is a scaled down replica of a similar tower at Brechin built around 1050. This type of tower was originally used as a refuge, bell tower or treasury, with the only access being via a retractable ladder to the entrance half way up. I took a quick walk out to the monument in the rain, and then returned for my camera, having seen a nice moody shot (see header) The rain got very frustrating very quickly however, spoiling many of the shots I tried to get, so instead I gave up and went back for some tea. The wet weather eased as the dinner was cooked and eaten, and then as I settled for the evening, I noticed a band of light on the horizon. I quickly grabbed my camera, jumped out and bolted over the road to a good position to capture a few handheld shots. Unfortunately, though I really tried, I was unable to get a long exposure and I cursed myself for not bringing my tripod. I ran back to the van, collected it, returned and set up within 10 minutes, but I missed the best of the strong afterglow from the setting sun as it hit the underside of the cloud. I was still able to capture some long exposure shots before the last of the light dimmed completely though, and was over the moon with how these came out because these shots all looked absolutely amazing and dramatic.

What luck this was tonight, and so totally unexpected! After such a wet and disappointing day, this magical light really made up for everything. I went back to the van with a big old smile on my face.

My Adventures

Gourock, Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, and Cloch Lighthouse

South West Scotland 2021: Part Thirteen

16 September 2021

I woke up early after what ended up as a poor night of sleep. There was no particular reason for it but it meant I was easily awake for a possible dawn shot. Sadly, although I got out to photograph it, the sky remained cloudy and nothing exciting happened to take a photograph OF. Instead, I decided to attempt a little more sleep and tried to get another hour. That didn’t work either, so feeling a little grotty and grumpy, I just had breakfast and took my time this morning. As the early hours progressed, the sky cleared a fair bit, and the view over Gourock looked really pretty, with broken sun patches drifting across the scene. Watching this from the van window, I decided to take another shot before I left, while it looked this nice. I jumped out and as I stood taking my photos I couldn’t miss the number of other people also here with cameras out. (OK, this sight is pretty, but I didn’t think it was that pretty!) It turned out that while a couple were here just for the view – they simply snapped with their phones and left really quickly, quite a few were here just watching and waiting. One guy had a scope type camera… was it a rare bird they were watching out for? A short while passed and I finally saw what these guys were waiting for – a large cruise ship came into view and gently sailed down the firth. All of a sudden they bustled into life and started snapping like mad. It seems that much like train spotters, there are also ship spotters. (who knew?!) As I spoke to one man, he explained that this particular one was not often here, and quite anticipated. This was quite clear by the number of people that gathered to watch. Once the ship had gone, all the photographers vanished along with it, and I had the location all to myself.

Once I had taken my shot, I had a think on what else I could do here in Inverclyde. Yesterday had taken it out of me a little, and the poor night didn’t help, so I thought I would take things fairly easy today, and maybe just have a little explore of the Clyde Muirshiel park area. Yesterday, I had spotted a possible abandoned house near my ancestors one, so on a whim, I decided to start there and have a little explore. The pressure was off finishing Inverclyde, as I had effectively visited 3 different locations yesterday, and already had two in the bag from a few days earlier (Cloch Lighthouse and the James Watt marina), so this was a bonus trip. I got to the spot fairly quickly, and went for an initial look before I decided to come back for my camera. The weather was holding up for me perfectly for a little project idea that I’d had in mind since the highlands. When I was there, I had spotted a number of abandoned buildings. These were always interesting to visit, especially those that still had a variety of belongings scattered everywhere, despite being abandoned for quite some years.

My idea was to try getting a photo from one of the windows… basically ‘a room with a view’, but from a now unloved, ex home. I’d already picked up an old bottle from jaw reservoir, so I thought I might put it to a bit of use and collected that up from the van with my camera. On the walk back to the house (see header) I picked a few wild flowers from the area that were in bloom today -garlic, buttercup, hebe, dandelion(?) and mint, along with a few early autumn leaves, and a handful of wild mushrooms. Once inside, the idea was to arrange these in or with the old bottle and take a shot from my chosen window. It worked out OK, except that I forgot to take multiple shots to focus stack correctly. (GAGH!! * Slaps forehead in frustration) Ahh, lesson learned. For a first try though, I wasn’t too disappointed, and totally in awe of the stunning view from this one. I wonder if the previous owners and workers from this small holding ever really appreciated it as much as I did today. After taking my photos, I had a little explore. It was a single story house with what appeared to be two animal barns/holding areas to either side. I don’t know much about farming, so I couldn’t be exactly sure what use they might have been put to. What I could tell was that there was a LOT of animal poop in one of them though, so it was clearly still somewhat in use!

After this gentle and slow explore, I thought I might head back to Cloch Lighthouse. I was disappointed with the water levels on my last visit, so rather than aim for sunset, I decided to get there for high tide. The water lapping in might make a nice shot I mused. High tide wasn’t for a while however, so instead I thought I would take a very slow drive over and through the park area and just enjoy the views. It was a beautiful drive, sun shining intermittently as the cloud slowly started building. This, I felt, might be perfect for my lighthouse shot later, so I was content to take my time, stopping at a number of spots to have a gentle walk or explore. Part of my drive took me through North Ayrshire, and although I was, in my head still ‘doing’ Inverclyde, I couldn’t resist taking the odd photo from up here.

I slowly carried on to Cloch Lighthouse and on arriving just after half past 3, I could see that the conditions were going to be perfect. The cloud had chased the blue away, and the shot was going to look a fair bit moodier than last time. I found the only parking spot I knew of quickly, and didn’t faff about this time trying to find anything better. Once on the stoney beach, I saw the tide was much higher than last time, and that it was still ebbing in, so I had plenty of time to experiment with a few varying spots along the short beach here. This session felt much calmer this time, and I enjoyed myself much more. Without any added stress, I found myself taking a number of shots that worked for me as I hoped, and I was done well within time.

Cloch Lighthouse. Moodier this time, and a much less stressed photo session

Once the tide turned and started to make its way back out, I decided to simply drive up to Greenock, fill up with fuel, and do a quick shop, before heading down to an overnight spot in North Ayrshire. I would then be ready for my next county to start in the morning. There were three other vans here tonight, and although by the road, it was quiet enough for me to sleep pretty well.

My Adventures

Kenmure Hill Temple, Castle Semple Collegiate Church, Calder Mill…

South West Scotland 2021: Part Ten

13 September 2021

Having driven until late and stopping in the dead of night, the parking I managed to find at Castle Semple was a complete unknown to me before I woke up. When I eventually rose and looked out of the window, I found myself beside a loch, with another van parked up a couple of spaces to my right. Loads of ducks, geese and swans gathered noisily by the waters edge and vehicles were arriving with both dog walkers and parents dropping off older children for what was apparently going to be a water sports day. This area looked like it was going to be pretty interesting!

Today I hoped to capture a picture of Kenmure ‘castle’, only on further investigation, there was no castle as such, just a small tower (mislabelled on the Web, although corrected today). This was actually called Kenmure Hill Temple, and although built in late 1700’s, no one seems to know its actual purpose. It may have been an actual temple, a folly or a hunting lodge for the gamekeeper to keep watch over the white deer they had here at the time. However it’s also been suggested that it might have been a nursery for sick children, or a ladies room for taking tea and enjoying the view. Basically, with so many suggestions bouncing around, it could have been pretty much anything, or a place used over time for a variety of uses. Who knows eh?! These days its an empty ruin/folly for tourists and photographers like me to hike to instead so I’m not complaining!

River and I took the long walk to it, with River stopping, as she always does, at every puddle for a mud bath. When we approached the last bit of the hill, the sun beamed down on it, and really picked the tower out on the lonely landscape. I grabbed a couple of shots from where I stood (see header), then continued up the hill, finally stopping at the top for lunch – without re checking the sky. When I was nearly finished, I suddenly noticed the looming cloud about to engulf the sun. I quickly grabbed my camera and managed one shot of the temple in sunlight before it dimmed and the view went flat (Gagh!!! Why did I eat first?!!) Fortunately it looked like it might be temporary as I saw a big patch of blue behind and to the side of me, so I decided to just wait it out, hoping…. Sadly, the blue came 3 quarters of the way to the sun’s position, then changed direction, the cloud winning out and growing instead. Clearly there would be no more pretty light today. I explored the top nonetheless, and had a good look around the structure both inside and out, noting a probable fireplace up on what seemed to be a first floor area. It was quite intriguing, and blessed with a wonderful view regardless of what the weather decided to do.

Kenmure Hill Temple, no one seems to really know what it was built for.

As I came back to my camera bag I spotted River rolling around in, and thoroughly enjoying, a huge fresh cow pat next to me… She was covered! I yelled at her to stop, and with a happy grin she came back to me, tail wagging – but I could smell her well before she got close. This wasn’t good, and it was clear that this young lady was definitely going to need a wash down!

After it was clear the cloud was building and not receding, I decided on a different route back, this one via the old church that gives the name of the area here, Castle Semple Collegiate church. The church was interesting to visit, although I found it hard to photograph. Part of its curiosity was not simply that it was a derelict building, but that it has gravestones INSIDE the nave. The outside was a small grassy area, without any further tombstones, and sadly, to one end, I found barriers around parts of the building due to dangerous masonry in the windows. The church was founded in 1504, but beyond this fact, there is very little information available on it. I have no idea when it fell out of use. The roof was apparently removed sometime in the 1800’s so I assume it was well before that. I didn’t get my main camera out where I failed to see any pleasant viewpoints, but I did snap a few images on my phone just for memories sake. River and I went back to the main path, and continued the walk back to the visitor centre.

I have no idea what caught her attention, but on the route River kept diving nose first into several gaps/holes in the tall grass. A dog came past and for the first time she didn’t seem worried by it where she was so absorbed in whatever she was sniffing here. Instead she dived nose first into yet another leafy area. I called her over to tell her what a good girl she had been for not barking, and she came back straight away, with a leaf over one eye. She didn’t even seem to notice it as she looked up at me with the happiest expression. I laughed, took some photos, and we eventually moved on. When we got back to the lochs edge, I gave her as best a rinse as I could, but she turned green with the staining from the cow pat. I wasn’t altogether sure this was an improvement at all, and when other people walked passed, I had no option but to smile apologetically about my stinky green dog.

Covered in cow poo, muddy puddle debris and now a leaf – Happy River!

I decided that as we were here, I would check out the waterfall nearby. I wasn’t full of high hopes given the low water situation during this trip so far however. On the other hand, it did occur to me that as I had a bar of 100% natural ingredient shampoo soap in the van, maybe the running river water might help wash my stinky dog a little better. Even though I wasn’t expecting too much, when I turned up at the fall, I was SOOO disappointed!! This was as much a dribble as Blairskaith had been, and although I tried to take a few photos, it was really quite pathetic. I KNOW it can look so much better, so I decided that I would mark this waterfall as one to come back to. I sat instead at the waters edge, and gave River a proper wash. She was most disgruntled that all that ‘lovely scent’ she had worked so hard to get into her coat, was now gone, but there was no way I was going to let her anywhere near the van smelling the way she did!!

Looking pretty pathetic today, Calder Mill Waterfall

Finished here for now, we then left to have a little drive past nearby Barr Castle to see if there was any parking to explore here. There was none, so disappointed, I continued driving round to the other side of the Loch to see if it was a possible reflection location. Nope. There wasn’t a good reflection view either. This left me a little frustrated and disappointed so I continued round to the RSPB bird place at Lochwinnoch, parked up and went for a short walk to try a bit of bird watching instead. My app told me there were a large number of birds here.. But could I see any?!! Clearly I was too inexperienced at this so I gave up and went back to Castle Semple. Interestingly, the loop I had driven took me through a small town by the name of Beith. This was my grandmothers maiden name, and through her is my blood link to Scotland. I regret not pulling over and having a look here, although the family, as far as I am aware, came from Ayrshire rather than here. It might have been interesting to see the town though.

As soon as I pulled up back at the car park, it started raining and it didn’t stop all night. Looking at the map as I waited, I could see there was a walking route to Barr Castle from here. Maybe I could do this one tomorrow. For now, I could do little but settle for the evening listening to the rain pattering on the roof. It was such a relaxing sound, sleep came easily.

UPDATE. I did indeed return to this location after attending Emily’s Graduation in December and boy, oh boy, was this now worth it, and MUCH more what I had originally hoped for! I was able to find the park up quickly, and the walk to the falls told me straight away that there was a major difference here. I could hear the thunder clearly from the road, well before I descended down through the trees to the waters edge. When I arrived I was greeted with the awesome sight of water crashing over the edge to the rocks below and and flowing away with an incredibly strong current. No way was I able to stand anywhere near where I had washed River just a couple of months earlier! What an amazing revisit, and so worth retrying. I was over the moon capturing the fall this time!

What a difference some rain makes! Calder Mill Waterfall in the December

My Adventures

St Marys Lighthouse, Blythe, Linhope Linn and Bird Photography

Northumberland 2021: Part Nine

12 June 2021

I got up for sunrise in plenty of time today. No more oversleeping for me! The tide was on its way in, so I needed to be careful that I didn’t get trapped on the little isolated section of sand, which was my chosen position for this morning. As it goes it was absolutely fine. The red in the sky was lovely, but unfortunately it stuck to a line of cloud on the horizon and there was little above it to even the colour out (see header photo) Although I took what I could, I actually thought I preferred yesterdays dawn shot (am I just being a fussy moo?!) As I left, the tide continued in, and I snapped a photo with my phone from higher up on the cliff. I really liked this position. It had a much better, open feel to it, for my taste. So I made a mental note of that spot for another time. For this morning however, the sun had risen fully by this point, the cloud was building and I wanted to start clearing up some coastal locations before moving inland. This meant a return visit to Blythe, so I drove straight there and jumped right into the spot I had been trying. Thankfully, the sun climbed out of a cloud for a short while, and beamed onto the huts exactly how I hoped it would. I only needed to take a few shots and I was done here too!

Third time lucky with the Blythe beach huts!

From here I drove for a while to go and find the waterfall at Linhope Linn. The drive was a pretty comfortable one, and towards the end I found myself driving parallel to a river – a long road, with large swathes of grassy areas. All along here were parked cars with people eating picnics, sunbathing, paddling in the water, and having a good day out in the sun, that was confidently beaming down now. There were ‘no camping’ signs everywhere, so I assumed all these were day trippers, which made the scene really lovely. I am used to seeing crowds at a beach, but I’ve never seen this sight along a river in this manner this before. I followed this road further until I was just over a mile away from the waterfall when I saw a few cars parked to the side of the road. I went to drive past them when I realised that from here the road was private, so this was actually as far as I could go. I carefully turned the van round and parked along with all the others and prepped myself a quick lunch to take with me. It was mid day, and I was already really hungry…(although to be fair, as I was up at 3.45, I guess my body felt it was much later!)

Now, I wasn’t expecting anything too exciting, since this was essentially just a straight down waterfall without anything specifically ‘pretty’ about it (other than being a natural waterfall of course!) but the hike was really lovely and I did it quicker than expected. (As I started walking, I’d asked a family on their return trip how long the hike was. One of the teens quoted ‘about an hour and a half’ – and 45 minutes later I was there!) I hoped that this meant my fitness level had been improving, since I am usually the slow one in a party, and this was a real improvement on the family’s quote! On your arrival to this one, you come to the top of the falls and look down. I saw quite a few people at the base when I looked – most with picnics, a group of free jumpers, swimmers and some packing up to leave. I wasn’t too concerned. I was happy to wait for them since I was in no real hurry, and besides that, my grumbling stomach demanded attention first! I ate the food, and as I finished, a delightful male chaffinch flew over to me and seemed happy to show off the big fly in his mouth. I chatted to him and he watched me intently. Eventually, I carefully got my camera out, and nervously tried to grab a few photos. This was a little more unsettling for him, and he hopped to several spots before disappearing altogether, making photographing him tricker than I expected. It was a beautiful moment though, he was clearly very trusting of people! After he’d flown away, I climbed to the bottom of the falls and looked at a few positions for shots. Unfortunately, from here, the sun was literally on top of the waterfall, and the light flared down the lens making every shot totally impossible. I struggled for a bit, then gave up, realising I would have to try this spot later on after the sun had moved more to the right. I climbed to the side instead and took a photo across the whole scene. The dynamic range here was very harsh too (lots of extremely light and dark areas in one shot) but I hoped I could balance it all up in the edit at home. It took a bit of work, but I did manage it. The shot was far too busy and cluttered for me to be totally satisfied with it though, and I suspect I should have just focused on smaller intimate scenes here. This fall was proving to be really tricky!

As I waited for the sun to move over far enough, I decided to try a little bird photography. Seeing the Chaffinch that close up had me really excited to try some more! I very briefly spotted, but didn’t manage to capture, a grey wagtail, which I love, and then I got buzzed by a Robin. To my delight, he was quite happy to pose a little for me – from a distance of course.

By now the sun had moved on, and the crowd of people had begun to thin, so I made my way back to the bottom of the waterfall again. The light was a little better, but what I had failed to really notice earlier, was how this fall comes down straight into a steeply sided rocky pool, that is obscured most of the way around. The only angle I could get where the composition was remotely pleasing to my eyes, proved to be one where I was perched at an odd angle, squeezed between a rock and a big tree, one foot in the water on a wobbly stone, one tripod leg likewise, and balancing quite precariously. I tried several shots, but the tree right next to me was very distracting and it really constricted my view. After some cropping, this ended up being the only shot I actually came near to liking, and even then, I wish I had of been a little quicker on the shutter so that the water was less of a blur. As it was though, I was too uncomfortable and concerned about the safety issues with this position to stay working this image for too long. I ended up abandoning it and clambering to safety after just a few shots. But, I know where this is, and if I am ever here again, I know what to expect. Next time I won’t go in such bright sunshine though, since it really hampered my efforts, and maybe I’d also go well out of the summer season, so I don’t have to work around so many people having a swim. I suspect this left me feeling too self conscious to explore compositional ideas thoroughly enough. For such an isolated area, I was quite surprised to see the numbers of people that were here, I wont lie!

Closer up on the falls once the sun had moved round

As I walked back to the camper, I wondered what to do for this evening. With so many ‘no overnight camping’ signs, I felt a bit loathed to stay (which had been my original idea given how little sleep I’d had over the last 2 days). While I pondered my options, I had tea and just sat looking out at the countryside around where I had parked. In the field next to me, goldfinches seemed to be playing together. They hid in the tall grasses, all erupted into view at once and seemed to chase each other, before they hid again, and then repeated the scene. This was such a delight to watch! Their happy chattering made it totally impossible to not smile at their antics. Unfortunately they were quite a distance away from me, but when one came slightly closer and just sat on a fence post, I was able to get a (slightly soft focus sadly) shot of him, before he vanished off to the games again. Way down the road, a pied wagtail wandered about, twitching his long tail as they do, and over the other side, pheasants wandered a safe distance away, keeping their eyes on this strange creature with a long metal eye that looked a little suspicious. They were all to far away to photograph well, sadly, but just sitting, eating, watching them all, and making a few vain efforts to photograph them, made me insanely happy and at peace.

Birds from today! A Robin, a Chaffinch and a Goldfinch

After some debate, I settled on going to Simonside, a location that had been recommended to, rather than researched by, me. I wasn’t totally sure what to find there, but it was something different, and, I was told, they had no issues with campers stopping overnight. This seemed to be an ideal location to stop and rest after the lack of sleep for 2 days. 7 hours total managed in 48 hours. Not good! I arrived at nearly 10pm, and once there, settled straight into bed. I was out like a light in minutes.

My Adventures

St Marys Lighthouse, Chambois, and Blythe

Northumberland 2021: Part Eight

11 June 2021

This morning I wanted to finish Tyne and Wear with location no. 4 and my most anticipated place to date. St Mary’s Lighthouse. Just about every photo I had seen from this location looked amazing, and it seemed there were endless possibilities for compositional ideas! The day started off really early, but where I had been driving so late into the night, I overslept slightly. I hurridly got ready and rushed out – but, a little guttingly, found the walk to be further than I realised and although I tried to hike at some pace over to the lighthouse, the sky bloomed into beautiful shades of pink and red, then faded in minutes. The colour had all but gone by the time I arrived. I was SO disappointed at myself! Despite what I felt however, the site WAS still lovely and I felt very relieved that I managed to get there in time for the actual rising of the sun – which allowed for some shots with a warm orange glow on the water instead. This shot was literally the first spot I plonked my camera on, and I was not at all unhappy with this as a start! The tide was just beginning to receed, and as it did the causeway over to the lighthouse island was being revealed. I wasn’t sure how far out the water went, but I guessed it meant that there would be a lot of varying opportunities, at a huge variety of different times. If I couldn’t get what I hoped for on this trip, its one of those locations I feel you can keep coming back to, since water height, and different sunset/sunrise/weather conditions etc would change just about every shot for sure!

St Marys Lighthouse, first dawn attempt.

As I finished these shots, I met another early riser out with his camera, and we chatted for a while. This man was a real inspiration to me, as he told me his story of why he got into photography. He’d had a stroke several years ago, and it incapacitated him to such a degree, that it changed his life. One of his medics advised him to find a hobby that would keep both his mind and body active, but in a gentler way than he was used to. Alan decided to take up photography – and in just a few years, not only has the quality of his work boomed, but he had the added bonus that the lingering effects of the stroke all but disappeared. Looking at him, I would never have known anything like that had ever happened. His story is a wonderful example of how this hobby helps build lives back again. Where my adventure helps me with my depression and self identity issues, his helped him recover from a serious medical issue. Look up some of his work and see just how hard he worked at his photography as a recovery aid.. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005502481710 and tell me that this hobby isnt one of the best self healing tools you can give yourself?!

Once Alan had left, I looked around for a while. Since there was SO much opportunity here, I decided that I might try a sunset shot here as well. This meant, ideally, that I needed to stay fairly local to this area. By now, large swathes of rock were visible, but the area was covered with growing numbers of tourists, so staying didn’t seem appealing. I thought that maybe Blythe might be worth re trying. I made my way back to the camper, and headed off, reconsidering my route as I drove, and headed slightly higher up the coast to Chambois beach. It had a parking spot right near it, and was pretty close to Blythe, so I simply thought, ‘why not have a look?’ and I wandered on down. It was pretty much like most beaches, and fairly plain. The most noticeable thing here however, was a huge pipe that seemed to go on forever out into the water. For such an ‘ugly’ feature, it was a fascinating thing to look at. Having said that, it wasn’t the easiest thing to photograph and I really struggled to capture it from either side in a way that I liked. Ideally, I thought, I needed to get above it – and before I knew what I was really doing, I found myself climbing up the sides, and I was perched on the top. Now this view was more like it!! The first shots were nice, but I noted that the tide had turned and I realised that they would be even better if the water were in more. So I simply sat and waited. Its an odd shot, but I still really like it! All the mosses, algaes, and crustations stuck to it, give it so much character, and the lovely lines of the coal grains in the sand almost give a sense of water movement. I say almost, since the water was coming so gently, there was little to no surf movement at all, meaning there was actually no white froth in any of my photos. This has really helped reduce the seperation between the beach and the sea, and the scene looks very gentle and calm because of that effect. Getting down afterwards was a slightly different story however… It looked SO much higher when I looked down and the tide was now in! Eek! I gritted my teeth through my fear of heights, treading carefully with the offbalance provoking kit on my back, and just accepted the very wet legs…(!!)

From there I travelled down to Blythe and tried to check out the pier. I hadn’t noticed, but the wind had really started to pick up over this last hour and the further I walked along the pier, the more noticeable it became. It was strange… I have no real head for heights – climbing up the pipe earlier posed very few problems for me – yet walking along this wooden pier (for a fair distance), had me extremely uncomfortable. Maybe it was because it had gotten so windy and I could see choppy water below my feet at points? Who knows?! For most of the walk up to the end, I was literally hanging on to the rusty handrail though! I tried to get a photo, but it was terribly hard, and really didn’t happen. Although one of the set was almost acceptable (see header), it wasnt the image I wanted from here. Giving up, I tentitively wabbled my way back, deciding to try this shot from the beach on a calmer day!

I then tried to photograph the beach huts, but realised the sun was now behind them, meaning that the colourful fronts of the huts were now in shadow. This also pointed to the fact that I needed to come back here another time – so I stopped trying to push Blythe today, and simply packed everything away in the camper before wandering over to the fish and chips shop right by the car park. This proved to be an awesome supper, and I felt ready to tackle the sunset at St Marys now without needing to think of cooking a meal tonight. I popped by Seaton Sluice on the way back, just a short visit to have a look, and there I noted all the coloured pebbles, gathering a few with an idea for a photo if I could find more (and a sandy beach) then I drove onto St Marys again, finding a good car park much closer to the Lighthouse this time..

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but the tide here was so far back out again, that there was nothing but bare rocks on show everywhere. This would mean that I wouldn’t be able to get the watery shot as I hoped, but it was a challenge that I was willing to work with. Since sunset was still a couple of hours away, I decided to go and be a tourist for a bit, and check out the island. Everything was closed by now, but it was still possible to have a quick walk around, see the seals basking on the rocks, watch some of the birds, observe the quiet scurryings of some small mammals (well OK, yes – rats!) and then to amble back to get my camera. The seals especially, were a real treat to see. It was lovely to see signs up everywhere telling people to stay off the rocks at low tide to help encourage the wildlife here to feel secure enough that they would keep returning.

Once I had my camera with me again, I took a walk around the rocky part on the mainland, and found a couple of spots I quite liked. It was harder than I thought though, as the rocky pools were very small, and covered in ripples in the breeze. This meant that sweet, intimate reflection shots proved impossible. From my perspective, the whole of the wider view was filled with a confusing foreground that completely detracted from the lighthouse. This was a challenge indeed! For now however, the sun was beginning to set, and the sky lit up beautifully. I found myself a position further back still, and lowered the camera right down to try and cut out all the middle ground. I think this worked a bit better.

Sunset at St Marys Lighthouse, with the sky putting on an awesome performance.

The red light turned the rocks all a lovely pink, and although not totally thrilled with the shot, I loved sitting out in this light. The colour stayed for ages in the sky once the initial sunset had faded and I felt that it truly was a beautiful place. I really need to dedicate several days to this spot to explore it better though I think – at different times – to guage the tides and the varying looks it offered. What a location!!

As I wandered back to the van at the end, there were still people around, one of which, somewhat annoyingly, was flying a drone near to the lighthouse and all the rocks there. This made me feel a little sad for the seals, and birds, since I am sure it would have alarmed them a fair bit at some points, especially when I noted where the guy was actually flying it. Some people arn’t very thoughtful or considerate sadly. When I got back to the car park I decided that, as I was here for dawn, I might as well see if I could stay here the night, since it was literally only a few hours away now. I had been told by several people that they don’t really check, and indeed, on my return to the camper this morning at that car park, I had noted there were ‘no overnight camping’ signs.. (Oops didn’t see those when I pulled in all bleary eyed last night!) and no-one had knocked on my door to move me on from there. As I sat pondering this decision, I realised there were a lot of cars gathering, so I just waited it out. The cars building turned out to be boy racers, and though no-one bothered me (I have always found these kids to be pretty respectful) it was quite alarming at points hearing them. This was by far the noisiest gathering I have ever experienced, with lots of chatter, loud music, constant revving of engines, and the roaring of their cars as they raced up and down the long road to this spot. If anyone complained, or tried to move me on tonight – for quietly sleeping in a dark corner, keeping my space clean and being respectful- while all this was going on, I’d certainly be arguing the point! Because the youngsters were not bothering me, I managed to doze, and even sleep a little until, at around 1am, I realised they had all gone – then I finally fell fully asleep.

My Adventures

Alnwick Castle, Warkworth, Blythe, Newbiggin-on-sea, and Hadrians Wall

Northumberland 2021: Part Four

29 and 30 May 2021

I woke to fog. This would, in some situations, be awesome news to a photographer, but it was so thick, I couldn’t see very far out of Freds windows. This wasn’t looking like ‘good’ fog at all. I still got ready fairly slowly however, in the vain hope that it would lift – but it wasn’t happening. I didn’t want to waste my last day, but there didn’t seem to be anything I would be able to do. If it was like this everywhere, was it going to be worth staying on at all?

I decided that if I was going home, I may as well check out parking spots on the way, for the locations I hoped to visit when I came back, in just over a weeks time. I left heading for Alnwick castle, passing a curious tower called Outchester Ducket. It was a bit of a random thing to pass, so I stopped anyway to read the little plaque. It wasn’t very informative, pretty much saying that very little was known about it, and that it was now a holiday cottage. Though out in the middle of nowhere, its not set in a particularly pretty setting, so I took a snap on my phone for reference. I don’t think its a ‘spot’ I would bother with ordinarily.

Windmill? Meat store? Navigation point? It seems its past is a little mysterious, but Outchester Ducket is now a holiday home!

As I looked around I realised the fog had lifted, so continued on my way to the castle, happy with the thought that I might have a photographic day after all. Once I found the parking spot and went for a walk, hopes there were dashed however, when I saw the castle was covered with scaffolding. I walked around the area for a bit, but any shots I hoped for would have to wait until they had finished the work they were doing. Within the hour I had left again, and was headed for Warkworth castle instead. Here would be a lovely shot reflecting in the river maybe, and hopes were high, until I turned up, parked and looked at the scene… The castle was barely visible through thick fog that covered everything on the hill it stood on. I sat for a while, then just made a spot of lunch and looked out on the river I was parked next to. I spotted a man in a boat with a camera happily photographing a tree, and then two men on the bank near me, looking through binoculars. ‘What’s he photographing?’ I asked, so they pointed to the tree and told me that there was a heron in it. I hurriedly went in, changed my lens on the camera to the zoom, and headed out to see what I could see myself … nothing it seemed.. as the flipping bird had flown away, and the photographer was rowing his boat back upstream. Gagh!!! It really wasn’t feeling like my day!

I just sat and sadly ate my lunch on the camper step, torn with what to do, then, some 30 minutes later I spotted movement on the far bank. I looked through my own binoculars, and my heart leaped. There was the heron – he had come back! I carefully got out my camera, and tried what I could. Even with the camera at its maximum zoom, he was a little dot where he was so far away, but I still managed some fairly reasonable pictures of him that I am not too sad about. I am no bird photographer, but just following the movements of this one, being patient, waiting until he calmly moved a little closer, and trying what I could, brought me immense, and really unexpected joy. Now I get the reason why people enjoy birding and the reward of bird photography!

Once I finished here, my drive brought me inland, and the sky was looking beautifully clear and blue. Thinking the fog had finally cleared, I adjusted my drive to take in the coastal spots I originally hoped to get – first on the list was Newbiggin, where I hoped to photograph the rather unusual ‘Couple’ sculpture. Once again, I was thwarted, and the sculpture was invisible behind the thick wall of white. I altered my miserable attitude, laughed at the situation, and simply worked out the best parking spot, and, after walking the beach, the best position for the photo I eventually hoped to get. On the way back, I spotted some beautiful markings in the sand. The tide at this spot had washed the tiny grains of worn black coal that form some of this areas stratum, into beautiful patterns. I didn’t have my camera with me, but thankfully the mobile was as helpful as ever in capturing it…

When I left here, the sky cleared inland, and I again made a detour back to the coast… to once again be fooled – ‘will I actually learn?!’ I asked, laughing at myself… this sea fog was clearly in for the duration!! I sat mildly frustrated for a while, in the car park at Blythe, just looking out on a drab view that was fading into obscurity. I shook myself down again, and did go to check possible spots, and once again took a picture with my mobile just for reference (see blogger head) – but I didn’t waste time checking anything else out. There was a lighthouse here that I needed to find, but it was invisible to me today and I felt that it just wasn’t worth it for now. Within half an hour I was on the road again, this time I gave up and headed inland proper. One of the locations I knew I needed to check out in advance, was near Hadrian’s wall, so sod this for a game of soldiers, this fog had fooled me enough today!!!

I got to Steel Rigg car park at 6, but in my unfit state, it took the best part of an hour to actually get to Sycamore gap. This was partly because I decided that as I was here I would actually walk the wall, and the hike up and down the steep crags was HARD work. I am a plodder anyway, and I was in no hurry to be fair, stopping every 5 mins to take in the view (alright… yes… and to breathe!!) The sky was a mix of clear blue patches and cloud, and the horizon had a lovely orange tint to it, even this early – was I in for an amazing sunset I wondered?!! I met another photographer, Steve, and we chatted for a short while, before he headed off towards a hill further on, having no intention of stopping at the tree. I did stop at Sycamore gap when I got there though, because it was such a gorgeous spot, despite all the people here. Its no wonder this location is photographed as often as it is – its perfectly balanced, and the tree is a stunning example of a sycamore! After a while I moved on, since there was still loads of time, and I continued my plod to meet Steve up the hill overlooking a cottage and Crag Lough. The view was lovely, but definitely needed light. I took the photo anyway, hoping to recapture this view with a bit of sunlight across the scene, on my trip next time. This was just my scouting one for now. As the evening progressed, Steve and I took a slow walk back to the tree, getting there as the sun started to set. All the tourists had gone by now, and other than sheep walking through the scene, there was nothing to spoil it. The clouds went a light pink – then all the colour just faded into blue hour without any added drama – much to our disappointment. We still managed to capture some lovely photos however.

Sycamore Gap with only the locals sharing the view

With the light now fading, the two of us headed back to the car park, following a different route back (the Pennine way – a route that doesn’t involve the up and down hikes over the crags!) Steve suddenly pulled up short. ‘I cant go that way’ he said as he looked ahead. I followed his gaze. The gate and the style at the wall in front of us, had about 8 cows crowded right up to them. He told me that he’d had a really scary incident where he had been chased by cows, and that he was not comfortable near them now – well, OK – Yes – he was terrified of them. He would have to take the hike (up and down the hills) back from this spot. For me however, my feet were hurting by now, so I told him I would be fine continuing this way and I’d see him back at the car park. Truth be told, I was WAYYYY more scared of the pain climbing the steep hills, than I was of these bovine girls. I went on ahead, climbed the style and started chatting to the cows, confidently asking them to move out of the way, because I was going to come through, then I just started forward, being bossy and verbal with them all. They all moved to the side dutifully, and I just strode through. A minute later, Steve was walking at a far faster stride by my side. I chuckled and made a playful comment about him not wanting to be outdone by an old girl, and he hastened his speed, laughing but pretending to ignore my comment. We all know of course, he was just being the gentleman and was making sure that this irresponsible old girl wasn’t getting into trouble with the wild animals… don’t we…?!! In all seriousness, I applaud his bravery in following me, and in beating his fear on this evening.

Back at the car park, we swapped Instagram details, and both went our separate ways. I went back to Fred, and since it was now quite late, I decided that I would stay the night and leave for home in the early hours. Driving through the night while I was this tired would be stupid, unnecessary and dangerous. I climbed into bed but my feet were so painful that sleep was very fitful – with stabbing pains shooting across the soles of my feet constantly waking me.

At 3am I woke again, and saw daylight beginning to seep through the curtains. I looked outside to see the early pre light, with a beautiful pink glow on the horizon, and stunning light mists over by the hills. Since sleep was being a struggle, I made the quick decision to just get up and capture the view from where I was. My feet screamed at me as I dressed, grabbed my kit and hobbled over the road, but I ignored them… this was too beautiful to miss!

View towards Steel Rigg in the early hours of dawn

I spent an hour and a half just standing here in the silent, chill, air, photographing the mists rising and falling. I heard the birds wake and sing, watched the cows on a distant hill grazing peacefully, undisturbed, I filmed a spider on a gate, building his web for the day, and watched the sun gently rise. I just soaked up the incredible experience of being here, right now, as the whole world woke up to a brand new day. The peace I felt was immeasurable, filling my soul with something it had been lacking, and it was all for me alone to witness. There are no words to describe how this felt.

Once the sun had climbed high enough, I went back to bed and slept well until 9, when, far more refreshed, I finally got myself ready and drove home.

My Adventures

St Cuthberts Cross, Berwick Upon Tweed and Bamburgh Castle

Northumberland 2021: Part One

26 May 2021

So, a job in Northumberland meant that I had a new county to explore! I drove up the day before (leaving less than an hour after my second covid injection) as the agent had very kindly arranged a covid test first thing for me, parked up in a nearby layby to get some sleep after the long drive and was at the testing site first thing. Fortunately for me, one of the crew signing us in and guiding us on where to go, happened to be a local. As we got chatting, he suggested several locations that were worth going to, and I left aiming for the closest, St Cuthberts Cross and Church Island in Alnmouth. The car park he directed me to was no longer available, as the road to it has now been blocked off, but I found a nearby spot and started the hike down to church hill. The weather wasn’t particularly promising, but it actually suited the shot I hoped for with the Cross, so I wasn’t put off just yet. I pushed on past the little derelict chapel I noted at the bottom of the hill, aiming to get that as I came back, and breached the top of the hill at a fairly windy and cloudy moment. My intention to try and get a shot of a moody cloud streaking across the sky towards the cross, but I haven’t actually worked out how to get a shot like that. Seems wind/cloud direction and speed are a big factor! I tried several shots, most didn’t give it the bleak, lonely feel I wanted, because the background looked full and populated, but I finally found a spot I liked and ending up squatting down in a grassy part down the side of the hill. Several people passed through on daytime walks with their dogs, but everyone was lovely, and they all moved out of my shot really quickly. I guess this is obviously a popular spot! It also seems most photographers get nice sunrise or sunset shots from here, but where its up high and alone, I wanted a shot with a colder, empty, lonely feel to it. Although close to what I envisioned, my shot wasn’t quite what I hoped for a) because the clouds were blowing across the scene rather than into it and b) they were moving so slowly despite the wind, that I simply couldn’t get the effect no matter how hard I tried! I decided that I would have to retry another time but for now I was getting battered a bit by the winds where I was so exposed, so I decided I would try the little church lower down.

This little hill by the way is called Church Hill, and the cross is believed to mark the spot where in 684, the former monk and prior, Cuthbert, agreed to leave his life as a solitary hermit, and to become the bishop of Lindisfarne after King Ecgfrith of Deria and Northumberland petitioned him in person. He died a few years later in March 687, and was subsequently venerated to become Saint Cuthbert, one of the most popular saints in medieval England. I have no idea when this cross was first placed here, but this particular one certainly didn’t look ancient. If they are always made of wood they must eventually rot being exposed like this, so, I guess, must also need regular replacement. Its a nice spot to visit though, being high up on its own little hill, and surrounded by wetlands, with views across the river and coast that are well worth exploring.

Down this hill a little, near the bottom, are the ruins of a small mortuary chapel built around 1870. In the grey weather, I tried a couple of different positions, but the scene was a little flat no matter where I stood. As I contemplated what I could do here, two elderly gents passed by and got chatting with me. ‘Where is your accent from?’ asked one eventually. I have never been asked where I was from like that before, and for a brief second I stopped to wonder what accent (!!) We chatted for ages, and the men offered several other location ideas that I could visit, most already on my list, but it was good to hear confirmations on them, and recommendations for new ones! They went on their way, (actually inside the ruins) to have their lunch, and I noted a glimmer of sunlight trying to poke through onto my scene. This showed that the side I stood on was all in shadow, so I moved round and took a photo from the other side, which caught another, smaller, glimmer of light, and this time a hint of some moving cloud. The sun didn’t reappear again but I could see that above the low cloud, there were patches of blue coming. I waited for a while, but sunshine clearly wasn’t going to happen anytime soon here, and I ended up feeling that this whole location might actually be better at a high tide, with a nice warm morning or evening sun anyway. So I ended here and headed back to the camper for some lunch.

The small derelict chapel at the bottom of Church Hill.

As I sat in the camper making lunch and thinking of where to go, I decided that as I had a few days, maybe I should just start at the top, and work my way down, simply exploring and working out locations for now. Once I finished eating, I looked at my map, and headed up to the top of Northumberland and to Berwick upon Tweed in particular.

The drive up was really easy – one road pretty much! As I drove, the dark sky was to my left and lighter blue was coming through to my right. At one point I passed a sight that I have ever since kicked myself for not stopping at. Not that I could have done so easily from the dual carriageway I was driving on. It was the striking sight of a very dark sky, with the sun shining brightly on 3 white wind farm windmills, and lighting up the grassy hill in front into a lush green colour. It was a surprisingly beautiful and simple sight of something I would never consider photographing… but alas, it disappeared into the distance in my rear view mirror as I sped away at 60 mph. Its still in my head though, and I remember where it was – so should I ever get lucky and spot that sight again, I will make sure I stop!

As my drive on continued, I altered my course slightly. Before I hit Berwick, I decided to drive on another 5 minutes to just step (literally) into Scotland, simply because I randomly fancied getting as far north of England as I possibly could, and solely for s**ts and giggles – well since it was so close, why on earth not eh?! (is this work or a holiday? – does it actually matter?!!) I sent photos to the family of my feet in both countries, looked at the little bit of wall there, and tried to follow the route it would have taken with my eyes, since we are not able to follow it with our feet. There really wasn’t much else there to mark this otherwise important position, so the stop didn’t last much more than 5 Minutes itself. Childish giggles for myself over, I drove down to find my location.

Berwick Upon Tweed was on my list because I had seen a boat sculpture, a viaduct and a bit of the old castle all fairly close to each other and I hoped to find them to see if I could get them to work in one shot. I parked up and went on a recce trip, leaving all my kit in the camper (I suspected this site would look best at sunset.. which was still several hours away) I travelled through a really lovely park bit that was beautifully set out and very peaceful, and found the three elements for my hoped for composition very easily. I explored what I could, taking photos with my mobile but I couldn’t find a way to get all 3 elements in the shot together in a pleasing way (to my eye), so I just sat on the boat and relaxed instead. If only I were a few feet taller! This area was just SO peaceful though. Despite being in a big town, I could only hear birds and the tide lapping at the shore – it was an incredibly beautiful spot. The sun finally made a stronger appearance, and I found myself here for over an hour just taking in the calm and warm sunshine. I reminded myself that I was just 24 hours after the jab, so was mindful not to overdo anything -this weather and location being perfect to help encourage me to take things easy.

Awww… If only I was a few feet taller so I could separate the boat from the bridge!

As I sat I realised the tide was actually going out, and that by the time sunset would be here, the view might largely be mud rather than a nice reflective water. Since I hadn’t brought down my kit anyway I decided to just rack this one up as a place ‘yet to do’, and I picked another location for the evening. As the sky had mostly cleared, I thought there might be a chance for a nice sunset, so picked a location I thought might work perfectly, and one I had been dying to see in person. Bamburgh Castle – a castle photographed a huge number of times and one that was sure to look great regardless of what happened with the weather. I hoped this would be as equal a corker location for me, as it clearly had been for all the other photographers whose pictures I had admired. The drive was very easy (as were all the locations along this coastline I found!) and the walk to the beach was equally so. I was standing in position within a few minutes of parking and taking in the wondrous sight that was reflected perfectly in the wet sand where the tide was on its way out.

I wasn’t alone either, there was another couple here, both with their tripods out, Peter and Caroline, and we happily got chatting about the view, our experiences, locations we had visited and our kits. (Peter had the most awesome lightweight tripod, Caroline had the same Benro geared head on hers as I had!) They had been here a number of times before, coming up to Northumberland from Cornwall regularly to tour and get photos of areas they loved. They suggested a number of further sights for me to try, most, again, on my list, and a couple that weren’t. The longer we waited for the sunset though, the quicker the cloud in the sky dissipated sadly, until we were left with a clear blue sky and nothing to reflect the sunset colour. We all tried what we could however, and even though it was disappointing, at least we had a beautiful warm colour on the castle itself, and I had already manage a lovely reflection shot with some interesting cloud, when I’d first arrived.

Mildly disappointed it wasn’t looking like I would get a colourful sunset cloud, I looked behind me to see where the sun was in relation to the horizon (would there be enough time for any cloud to form?!!) and was in awe of the sight. It was just dipping behind the little lighthouse here, throwing the evening sky and sand into deep oranges over to the west, and silhouetting another photographer standing right behind me, that I hadn’t noticed turn up. She was a younger woman, very much focussed on what she was doing, chatting quietly with a man who was with her, so I didn’t distract her with conversation of my own (I tend to talk a lot sometimes!!) She was photographing the view I was looking at, and definitely had the right idea though, so I swung my camera around to capture this sight instead, photographing them in the scene (see header pic). I then stepped to her side and photographed the lighthouse as well. Seconds later the sun was gone, and the colour immediately dimmed with it.

I messaged a friend who told me that there was going to be a supermoon that night, and when I excitedly brought up my Photopils app, it looked like the moon may well come up behind the castle at around 1am!! Exhilarated at the prospect of a nice moon and castle shot, I decided to stay put with the camper and come out a little later. Within the hour however, there was heavy cloud on the horizon and by midnight the sky was covered… this wiped away any chance of seeing any stars and definitely not a supermoon. 🙁

The sun setting behind Bamburgh Lighthouse

With my options stripped, I just went to sleep where the camper was. Perhaps by dawn the sky might be clear….