The High Point

I've been treating myself to one of those fancy 'flashing light' spirit levels for my camera, so needing to give it a try out I headed off to Winshields Crag (NY742675)
It's the highest point on Hadrian's Wall and the views are spectacular in every direction.
You park in the Steel Rigg car park, and as it's still the main holiday season the car park was full with the overspill field in use.

(By the way I should mention, the car parking charge is £3 a day but you can go from Walltown to Housesteads and points in between on that one pass -BUT if you're coming for a week get the £8 pass from the Once Brewed Visitor Centre it's much better value)
Back to Winshields, head back out of the car park, turn right over the wall stile and head up the field.

I've noticed there are loads of butterflies warming themselves on the stones of Hadrian's Wall and plenty of wild flowers for nectar, on Thursday there were also masses of black flying insects!

A couple of gates to go through on your journey up hill, please do remember to close the gates behind you and latch them properly, the Wall is single skin for a part of the way up although the foundations of the wider Wall are visible.

Eventually you reach a good solid chunk of Hadrian's Wall and just beyond that is the white (well decidedly off white at the moment) trig point. I believe with all the new technology these trig points are now obsolete but it would be a shame if they weren't there.

Had a chat with one of the NNPA Rangers who was doing a survey to see what jobs needed doing over the coming months. It's easy to think the Hadrian's Wall Path takes care of itself but it would be a very different place if it weren't for the work of the Northumbria National Parks Authority and their team.

I love the view east back down the line of the Hadrian's Wall Path, especially using a zoom lens to exagerate the bumps and curves of the land. I stood around for a while waiting for some light, patience is a virtue, and had a chat with the farmer who came up the easy way, on his quad bike.

Then the light came and I spent the next ten minutes running back and forward to try and capture my shots.

There's a new Cafe at the Winshields Farm Camp site, the farmer had recommended the home made scones with blackcurrant jam, so I felt obliged to do some research on your behalf.

I have to report the coffee, scones and welcome were excellent.

Took ages to clone out all the insects and the spirit level worked a treat.
Catch you later.

Up in the mornings

25 04 09

I really must get myself a new alarm clock, I'm not keen on electrical things in the bedroom so I have a battery clock, and the alarm pointer is tiny so it's a bit hit and miss. This morning it went off at 4.15 instead of 4.45 and it was too dark to see what the potential of the sunrise was like.

I went back to bed and woke with a start at 5.10, now the sunrise was 5.42am so I was cutting things a bit fine. I was up, out and my first shot at Steel Rigg was timed at 5.39am not bad going and, as it happens, I was there in plenty of time.

Often if there are clouds the best colours appear before the sun rises, (which is why photo magazines tell you to be in place an hour before sunrise) but this morning the sky was clear to the front of me with mist which is a bonus, and just the sort of conditions I like.

Steel Rigg (NY752676) is great, you can be taking photographs almost straight out of the car park, which is what I did this morning. The sun is moving to the north of the crags now so as it rises you get some light on the crag face and if you're lucky it colours up the water on Crag Lough.

At 6.45am the sun appeared behind Hotbank Crag, a lovely red ball and the mist diffused the light nicely so I didn't have problems with flare.

Sheep and lambs wandered around and for some reason a big flock of Black headed Gulls flew over, with my small shutter I have quite a long exposure time so anything moving is just a blur on the resulting photograph. The ewe and lamb did stand still for a while so I'm hoping they'll not need cloning out of my shot, I'm very fond of our local Black face sheep and try to include them in shots where I can. They're so much a part of this area and if you're walking the Hadrian's Wall Path you'll see lots of them.

Just after 6 o'clock I packed up at Steel Rigg and headed home, it was a glorious morning and as I passed the camp site at Winshields Farm I was tempted to sound the car horn so the campers wouldn't miss the best part of the day - I resisted but only just :)

A lovely morning and a joy to be out, and after a hot toast and honey breakfast ot's off to sort through the 70+ photographs I've taken.

Catch you later.