Up in the mornings and out at night.

Well my sunrise, sunset season is well and truly under way.
Getting up at 4.40am at the moment and making a decision whether or not to go out, it's actually a hard call to make as cloud comes and goes quickly so I can get up and get out and before I've got the car off the drive things have changed completely.
Still you have to be out there to get a photograph and at least I'm lucky that I don't have hours to drive to my viewpoints.

Headed off to Steel Rigg a few mornings ago, the weather people kept promising a dramatic sunrise with the volcanic ash, the cloud was patchy so I had high hopes.

Steel Rigg (NY749677)

No one around, just me and the sheep with their lambs.
 I stood looking at the view and watching a patch of cloud build to my left but moving quite quickly to the right.
There's a group of trees near the top of Hotbank Crag and I noticed a light shining through the trees.
My first thought was that another photographer was up there with a red torch, well it was early and I was half asleep, but then I realised it was the sun rising.
And rise it did straight into the patch of thickening cloud, so it goes.
I did get some photographs to share with you, but not the fiery gem I was hoping for.

Steel Rigg (NY752675)

Sunset is another hit and miss afair but it's not as difficult to motivate myself to go out during the evening.
A trip to Walltown is easy and I can be there in minutes. I love wandering about up there, the views are spectacular, right across to Criffel on the Scottish Solway coast, looking over the plain that takes you past Longbyre and Gilsland following the route that Hadrian's Wall takes to the sea.

From Walltown to the sea (NY672662)

While I was up there a family came to enjoy the sunset, of course the first thing they did was stand on the Wall.
 I got chatting and asked them why, they told me it felt like they were walking in the footsteps of the Romans.
Maybe a viewing platform over the Wall, would solve the problem, then I'd complain it was ruining my views of course.

Walltown sunset (NY672662)

There's work ongoing to preserve the Wall, it's done using lime mortar exactly as would have been used in Roman times.
It takes much longer to 'set' and so is covered with tarpaulins, not pretty but necessary.
Heritage Consolidation Ltd, a local company, have been restoring this stretch at Walltown, plus they've cleared out the grass growing on the footings of the Wall and you can see from my photograph how much better that looks.

Walltown Crags

Night before last I picked up my camera and headed off to Housesteads, arriving just as everyone else was leaving. I wanted to get the criss cross bit of the Wall with the lowering sunlight catching the Wall stones.
I'd left home with clear blue skies and arrived to find cloud covering the sun.
Rang home and TT told me it was still clear to the west.
What to do?
Should I stay, or head back west, midges were biting but I could see a clear patch under the cloud.
I decided to wait until the sun dropped below the cloud. 
The sun was much further over than I had anticipated so if I missed my photograph tonight it would  be another 11 months before I got another chance.
In this shot I'm standing up on the only bit of the Wall that you are allowed to walk on, I would have liked to be to the north side of the Wall but couldn't see any way that I could safely get there, oh for the agility of a gazelle.
After 30 minutes the sun broke through and hit the scene in front of me exactly where I wanted it to, for once patience paid off.

Housestead Crag (NY786687)

Before the sun disappeared completely I set off back down the hill, lambs were gamboling, and seemed to be having such fun, don't know why they have such a burst of energy as the sun sets, but it's lovely to see.
Good weekend is forecast - hope you enjoy it.
Catch you later.

Here and there.

Haven't had many long walks lately, it seems like I've dashed out when conditions look good, snapped a few photographs and dashed home again.

Sounds like I'm full of busy doesn't it?
But really I'm not, I just don't know where the time goes, one of those 'age' things I suppose.

We've had lovely clouds in deep blue skies, setting Hadrian's Wall off to perfection, and Walltown always does me proud when there are nice clouds to photograph.

Walltown Crags, there were no planes to leave contrails so Mother Nature provided some of her own!

The volcano in Iceland erupting was supposed to bring rich red sunsets and sunrises - so I headed out to Crag Lough thinking the reflected colour in the water would look good.
I arrived early so I climbed up onto Hotbank Crag, one of those bit of Hadrian's Wall that gets the pulse racing, it's a steep climb.
Evening light is hitting the north face of the Wall right now and there's no footpath up to that side.
No, I can't just climb over it, you can see where people have though and scrapped off the lichens with their scrambling. It's got so bad that the Footpaths Officer is getting signs made to put along the trail asking people not to climb on the Wall. Think of all the cloning out that will intail.

Hotbank Crag looking east

There are new boats on Crag Lough, white ones with blue covers, they don't have quite the wow factor the old mahogany boats had but I'd rather have them there than not.

Crag Lough sunset

One of the resident swan's came swimming towards me, I often see them on the Lough but they don't often come within camera range.

Swan on the Lough

It was an okay sunset but not the big dramatic event I'd been hoping for, nice without contrails though.

So to another day and I'm heading out to Caw Gap, this is one place you can get to the north side of the Wall without climbing over it, it's not a particularly easy path but you're on the right side for the light.

The sunset was shaping up to be a bit more of an event than last night had been, I perched myself on a narrow bit of grass, taking care to remember not to step back and don't look down.

North side of Hadrian's Wall at Cawfields

Some lovely colours in the sky and the sun went down as a big ball, as usual I took so many photographs that I haven't had time to go through them all yet.

Sunset from Cawfield Crags

I started to head back down to the car, it would take a bit longer because I had to backtrack almost to Caw Gap to cross through the gap in the Wall and then retrace my steps on the official Hadrian's Wall Path. As often happens, once the sun went down the sky coloured up with a multitude of shades.

The sky over towards Thirlwall Nicks was gorgeous.

Panorama from Cawfield Crags looking towards Thirlwall Nicks.

The views on the way back to the Cawfields Park were a joy to behold and I kept stopping to snap 'just another shot'.

The moon was up by the time I reached the car, a beautiful sliver of a crescent moon with Venus shining bright beneath it.

Yet again I was reminded how lucky I am to have all of this on my doorstep.

Catch you later.

The joys of early morning

As the year progresses the sun moves back around Hadrian's Wall.

A quick check of the Metcheck site tells me that I have promising conditions for a sunrise shot.

For a change when the alarm goes off and I look outside I discover the forecast was right, so often weather conditions change by the hour, and I'm up and ready to go, keen to get back into the swing of early mornings.

I'd got my timing wrong, should have been up and out a good 15 minutes earlier, and then I was delayed having to defrost the car, but eventually I was underway.

As I was short of time I headed to Caw Gap, from parking the car I can get into place within 15 minutes, so it's a good standby viewpoint for me when time is short.

View towards Winshields Crag

The sky was a beautiful rich red as I parked the car but again these things change quickly, it had faded to a more gentle hue by the time I got everything up and ready.

I took a few photographs, the view here has a great lead-in line of Hadrian's Wall and then follows the line of the Wall as it climbs up to the highest point at Winshields Crag, if my sun position website was correct the sun should be coming up right in front of me.

I stood by the Wall listening to the world come awake, the dawn chorus seems to happen about an hour before dawn as the darkness fades, but the evocative call of the curlew, and the raucous call of the pheasant, helped me remember why it is that I love this time of day so much.

Even the putting of the shepherd's quad bike, as he checked his flock for overnight arrivals, seemed to fit in to the gentle pace of a day waking up.

Pippets and rooks fly before me, too fast to be captured on camera, lambs called and ewe's answered, I take a big deep breath of our fresh Northumbrian air and know what it is to be content with your lot.

Sunrises over Caw Gap

Eventually the sun comes up over the hill and I capture the scene and maybe I have taken the same sort of shot many times before, but I just love this time of day and photography is a great excuse to be out there.

View west from Cawfields to Walltown

It didn't take long for the sun to rise and get too bright for my camera, I wasn't quite ready to go back home so I took the long way back past Gibbs Hill where I could see mist rising from Greenlee Lough.

Road to Gibbs Hill and Greenlee Lough

I'd like to photograph the Lough there properly on sunrise but it's a difficult place to park and one of the landowners gets really ratty if you park on the side of the track.
On this occasion I pulled over took the photograph and then turned back the way I'd come, heading down to Steel Rigg for another quick picture before finally taking the road home for breakfast.

Steel Rigg

Catch you later.