Westcountry wanderings

Winter in the Bay – light and activity

The past month or so has brought few photographic opportunities for a variety of reasons sadly. However some of the images have been quite worthwhile – one of my favourites is here on facebook however that day didn’t produce enough for a blog for me. This set of images were taken on a single afternoon between Preston and Goodrington a week or so back. I had planned to go on the moors but the weather was very changeable and I was getting over a slight illness so I opted for something closer to home – this is a sample of the results.

The image above – taken on Paignton beach – is one of my recent favourites. When I took it I was aware of how the colour of the kite in the distance stood out and it was an obvious candidate for desaturation. I realised that leaving some of the colour other than just the red of the kite enhanced the mistiness of the images too.

The fact that the tide was very low (although not quite a maximum spring tide) made for quite large expanses of beach which were useful to me from a photographic perspective. The one above of Goodrington combining crespuscular rays from the sun with great reflections of the clouds and shy in the sand is one of the better images I’ve taken in this part of the Bay.

It wasn’t only me who was making good use of the sands. Running across both Paignton and Preston beaches a guy was kitesurfing on the sand. The wind was fairly strong and he was getting some good runs. His largely red kite could been seen easily and he stood out whether looking into the sun or away.

Out at sea a number of people were making the most of the wind and the waves. The wind was slightly easterly which is the only direction which brings waves into the Bay. Not enough surf for surfing itself but it appeared good for both kitesurfers and windsurfers and quite a few were out.

Finally heading back to the car and walking the rather wet sands the light, reflections and colours were exceptional. This burst of sunlight over the promontory between Paignton and Preston beaches seemed to catch the feeling quite well.

A final look back got what was for me another good shot that caught something of the day well. Far fewer people around now and the tide was turning however that just enhanced the feeling of space on the beach in the late afternoon winter light. I’ve enjoyed making the most of the coast at very low tides in the past and blogged that a time or two before but that has been largely looking at what can be found in rockpools and the like. This sense of exploration of the space created made for another dimension for me and a pleasant walk.

Working in grayscale

I actually started a blog on this subject two years ago but it has remained a “draft” all that time. Over that period I have learnt quite a bit and still have a lot more to learn. These images do not relate to a specific walk but have all been taken over the past couple of months, the weather for the last week or so has mostly just been grey! Most of the images have been seen on the Westcountry Wanderings page on facebook too as I do sometimes put recent images on there before they make it into a full blog. Not particularly a fan of facebook but I do appreciate the feedback I get there.

For quite some time I couldn’t “see” black and white images in my scenes. I realise that I could set the camera to black and white however one thing I have learnt is that it is better to process the images to grayscale after they are taken not at the time. This actually allows far greater flexibility in processing and I will manipulate grayscale images more than colour ones which I prefer to be as true as possible. Given we do not “see” in black and white” creating more or less contrast is not about reproducing a scene but more about a feel for the look of an image

The idea of “colour popping” has always appealed in a sense however it is something that can be overdone and so I rarely look for it in my images. However the one above which was almost monochromatic on a grey day seemed worth trying it on.

Quite a few of my images have tended to be somewhat monochromatic anyway with my love of shooting into the light and I am starting to see that some of my better colour images will also work in grayscale. In fact the above image is quite “wrong” in colour and does work better in monochrome.

I have always been a fan of Ansell Adam‘s work. His monochrome landscapes are extremely evocative to me. They manage to capture the scale and grandeur of some scenes in a way which almost seems harder to achieve in colour. I have a long way to go yet but I like the sense of space here.

The drama of light and cloud which I love can also look good in grayscale. The mistiness on the coast – something I like in colour – also works in grayscale as seen above. The idea of the vessel being in a spotlight has more drama in monochrome than in colour actually.

This one quite surprised me. The colours in the clouds at sunset were lovely and I got a quick shot or two in. I suddenly wondered what it might look like in grayscale and was pleasantly surprised by the results. The colour version can been seen on facebook too in this album. This will not be the last monochrome post I think even if it has taken me two years to get it done. I’ll close with very best wishes to all readers for 2012 – hopefully it will bring some good photographic opportunities too.

Walking the Redlake tramway

Out for a walk a couple of weeks back now we decided to wander up the Redlake tramway on southern Dartmoor. This was originally used by a small railway line which served the china clay works at Redlake however work stopped there in 1933 and there has been no rails there in my lifetime. It is actually not the best walking surface however it is usually less wet than the surrounding moorland.

The “watery” sunlight in the top image shows that we got some sun however it was weak and the weather was more than variable. The two images above were both taken just after we set off from the car near Ivybridge. The left hand image shows that weak winter sun on the South Hams while the right hand image, which looks a little left of the left hand one, shows the interface between the good weather and the rain more.

Walking up the tramway we left it to head a little right handed at the base of Three Barrows (so named as it has three barrows at the summit). It is one of the highest points of the moor in that area so gives – on a clear day – great views over the surrounding area. The above image is taken part way up to the top and looking back south the way we had come. The tramway can be seen lower down the hill heading off to the left.

Taken from the top of Three Barrows this looks roughly west over the valley of the river Erme. The low winter light creates good contrast in the shadows here. The small broken up granite in the foreground is known as “clitter” and is a regular facet of Dartmoor tors formed be erosion.

Dropping off Three Barrows north towards the tramway as the moorland was both rough and very wet around here, we reached the old china clay works at Leftlake which is roughly halfway to Redlake. The remains are quite significant here and the pool seen above is where the granite was washed out to get the china clay. An old bridge allows the tramway to cross the water course that flows out from the pool to the river Erme. I have seen otters here but there was no signs of wildlife today.

We walked further north but at one point the actual tramway turned into something of a river which does happen in wet conditions so we decided to turn west and head down to the valley of the river Erme. The image above epitomises this part of the moors in winter for me. The ground is very rough with large tussocks of the straw coloured grass and rare patches of green. As can be seen it is fairly featureless other then the obvious valley of the river and I guess it is not a very hospitable place for a fair weather walker. However both my companion and I have been roaming the moors for many years enjoying both better and worse conditions than this and we agreed more than once on this walk that we preferred winter conditions frequently even if it can be very wet. This was almost the last real sun we saw!

It did start raining from time to time after this and the camera was in and out of its case quite a bit. In the winter the days are quite short so we started heading south down the valley of the Erme intending to strike up left lower down and get back to the tramway around Leftlake again. The above image capture the valley of the lower part of the Erme on Dartmoor quite well and the clouds in the distance that looked like rain were just that.

We got back on the tramway as planned and headed south on it for a while forking left near Hangershell Rock to go down the spine of the ridge. Stopping for a drink in relatively benign condition at Butterdon, one of the high points on the way back, we sat enjoying the views. There was sunlight on the sea (the English Channel) with lines of cloud and rain moving from west to east across the South Hams. I could have filled this blog with the image I took from there – the light, colour and drama of the weather was something very special and we probably stayed longer then we intended. It certainly was a very good winter walk.

A “footnote”

When my friend spotted this I said that this image would make a good footnote and we both laughed – maybe others will enjoy the humour too. This single boot was some 3 miles up the the tramway and there was no sign of anything else left abandoned nearby. We saw no one with a missing boot and still had both of ours when we got back – there is a back story to this .

Walking around the centre of southern Dartmoor

Looking back quite a few posts recently have related to the coast so I thought it was time to return to the moors. These are from a walk a week or so back. While we have walked the moors at night for many years we are less keen these days and so we try and get out in the daytime when we can. It rained hard the day before and we set off knowing it was likely to be very wet under foot and we were proved correct! Much of the time the tracks were more like streams.

We walked from Nun’s Cross area south along the track to Eylesbarrow and then headed east over the Plym and then towards Erme Pits which is a very old tin mine working near the centre of the southern moor. The mine workings there are both extensive and in places quite deep. What was achieved by men working solely with their hands and basic tools in a very remote part of Dartmoor never ceases to amaze me.

From here we walked along one of the old workings towards Ducks Pool stream and stopped to look back down the valley of the Erme. This part of Dartmoor sees very few people particularly in the winter and it always feels fairly remote here which is something I love about the area. Equally, in winter, the low and often “watery” light, adds to the beauty of the moors for me.

Heading north through a peat cut – any ancient trans moor track through (very) bad ground brought us out at Fox Tor and it seemed a good time to stop for a late lunch. The view across the centre of the moors looking northwards from there was great.

We were not the only ones at Fox Tor! It was quite a windy day with the temperature down towards zero with the wind chill and even the sheep were staying in the lee of Fox Tor (which is really quite a small tor).

Dropping down from the tor brought us into Fox Tor mire which is quite well known for being the setting for the Hound of the Baskerville’s story by Conan Doyle (as Grimpen Mire). The area has a lot of historical interest. Tin mining was prevalent in the area and there are a number of ancient (& more modern) crosses. While the area is a peat bog it is quite possible to walk across it in reasonable conditions if you know the area well (& I would stress that – one of those “do not try this for yourself” ones). The image above is of Childe’s Tomb – the legend is an interesting one and the Wikipedia article is quite good in this case (rather less interesting on Fox Tor though).

Heading west again now along the edge of the peat bog, we started the walk back to the car. The relatively short walk was actually over some of the worst ground conditions we had encountered all day despite being on a “path” for most of the time. We seemed to be wading as much as we were walking. The conditions are not unique to the winter either – I have crossed the bog in winter when it has been dry and failed to do so in a wet summer. The above shot looks back towards Fox Tor and again catches a feel of the remoteness. Hopefully there will be a few more winter walks over the next few weeks.

Wandering west of Rame Head

A week or so back we took advantage of what looked like a good weather forecast to head over the border into Cornwall for three nights. Because we wanted to make the most of the time we decided not to drive far and so headed towards Looe which is only a short distance west from Plymouth. While I stayed in that area a while ago I hadn’t walked much of the coastline between Looe and Plymouth as I’ve tended to go further into Cornwall usually. The above image is taken at Downderry and looks east to Rame Head.

A little to the west of Downderry is Seaton. You can walk to this small village along the beach unless the tide is particularly high. The coast path continues west going up quite a steep hill and the above image is the view back over Seaton beach.

We walked the stretch between Downderry and Looe over two days as we had to head a little inland to our accommodation on foot in the evenings. As can be seen the day we walked into Looe was not as pleasant as the previous two days had been. The view above is looking from West Looe back towards East Looe.

I’d not seen this seal sculpture before but apparently a seal was seen regular in the area of Looe for some years and the lovely bronze sculpture was put there when the seal died. Looe is still a fairly active fishing port with a working dock on the east side of the River Looe.

Not everything along the coast path is a scenic as maybe most of the images I offer on here. This particular building is at Millendreath just to the east of Looe. It looks like it was a holiday complex maybe dating from the 1960s or 1970s but it is now deteriorating and closed down. Much of Millendreath looks rather similar now sadly.

On a more positive note there was a thriving beach cafe at Seaton and we went back there towards the end of the day when the light generally looked lovely. The island in the distance on the right hand image is Looe Island and is just off the coast at West Looe (Hannafore Point).

Wandering back towards of accommodation gave is some lovely views and I particularly liked the stand of trees shown on the left. The image on the right is dawn one morning – cold but beautiful. Cornwall is a favourite county – hopefully I’ll get down there for longer next year.

Around Start Point

I’ve blogged this area before however with photography along the coast it is almost impossible to get the “same” image as you got before – I know I’ve tried – so these are from a recent break there. The weather was supposed to be improving over a three day period however it didn’t change all that much. It did varied enough to get some shots that I found quite interesting though so I thought I would share them.

Start Point itself is quite an iconic setting for this part of the South West Coast Path and nearby Slapton Sands with its fresh water pool and pebble bank is also quite well known. The whole area was used in the Second World War as a training ground for the D Day landings. Walking towards Start Point recently the day was mostly rather grey. However, as in the shot above, when grey becomes silver it is a little more interesting.

From time to time the cloud base would come down and then it would rise again. The above image looks towards Start Point from just above Beesands village.

Passing the old village of Hallsands, much of which was swept into the sea in the first half of last century, we cut off to the south west just before we got to Start Point. We headed back towards Start going around Peartree Point to approach Start from the south. The above show the contrast in weather either side of the Start Point that day. To the south it is a fairly clear and quite pleasant day. To the north there was quite thick mist.

As we walked back along the coast the mist became thicker and we could hear the sound of the fog horn from the lighthouse. Stopping for a break at Beesands I caught an image of the lighthouse at Start Point lit due to the bad weather. I have seen that before but not managed to get a shot of it.

Although that day was not the best weather wise (though the walk was great) we did see some good weather and there was some great light on the sea at times as can be seen above.

By the hand of man

Moving off the Dorset coast we had a few days in inland areas of southern England. At first I thought that there was nothing all that interesting to blog and then realised that there was a theme to a number of the images. Where the highlights of the earlier part of the break had been in the natural environment, in the second part we saw quite a few great sights that were made by man covering many centuries. The first of these works is Corfe Castle (seen above in evening light) which dates back from around the 11th century.

It is a remarkable (& very photogenic) structure. The walls are crumbling and nothing like vertical in many places but it is a very appealing place to visit and is one of the National Trust’s most visited properties. Spending a little more time in the area than I have in the past enabled me to explore some other viewpoints and, in the one above, look down on the castle.

Heading north from Corfe we found we were passing Cerne Abbas and it seemed silly to pass without taking a look at the “giant”. There are a number of figures of various sorts in the hillsides in the area with quite a few “white horses”. When the outline has been recently cleared to allow the chalk to show through they are more striking however the relatively low angle of the light on the above image does give a sense of the figure. There is more than a little confusion about the age of the figure and it is not possible to definitively date it as older than the 17th century.

We then headed further north to take a look at one of the most renowned UNESCO World Heritage sites in the UK – Stonehenge. While I’ve passed it a number of times it is some years since I’ve had the time to stop and look properly. Tourists are now far better organised and the time of wandering among the stone is long gone sadly.

Even in the relatively harsh light the stone are very striking and the labour required to achieve the structure would have been quite remarkable. Once again dating is not fully established on all parts of the structure however it is between 4 and 5 thousand years old.

Heading towards Devizes which was the nearest town to where we were staying for a couple of nights we found the small (& attractive) village of Seend. The church there looked wonderful on the afternoon autumn sunshine. I felt the smoke at the base of the tower added a certain mysterious quality to the setting.

We spent some time walking the Kennet & Avon canal and it is here that our last man made structure in this sequence was found. This set of locks, Caen Hill locks, is also the most recent structure built in the 19th century and now restored to leisure use. There are 29 locks in the main series and it is a remarkable piece of engineering and restoration.

Even at this somewhat quieter time of year there were plenty of people making use of the canal for a variety of leisure activities. In addition to people using the long boats on the canal for holidays there were plenty of fishermen around along with many walkers and cyclists making the most of the weather and the canal towpath.

Along the Dorset coast

Now back from a break after the recent exhibition, this is the first blog from the trip and is based on images from along the Dorset (Jurassic) coast. At the start of the break the weather was ok but not particularly sunny. However the weather did make for some stunning sunsets. The above was taken close to Bridport on the coast just west of West Bay.

The days were also interesting for photography initially too with mixed weather giving some interesting subjects. The setting for both of the above images is close to Eype & West Bay. The left hand one looks west towards the setting sun and the cloud while the right hand image taken early one day looks towards Portland Bill, not quite visible in the distance, through the early morning haze.

I always enjoy walking the coast for the changing scenery and the light however sometimes you catch something different. These days paragliders are not that rare but when they drift by they still tend to take you by surprise. I have paraglided myself in the past and loved it but I’m not sure how happy I’d be to be out over the sea.

Among other places on the Dorset coast we visited Swanage and spent some time walking in that area too. This was taken on the seafront at Swanage – the colour and lines appealed I guess. It is a pleasant town and well placed for exploring the south eastern end of the South West Coast Path.

We walked from Swanage out to Old Harry’s Rocks which are close to the start of the South West Coast Path (or finish depending on your choice of direction!). I’ve passed the rocks from the seaward side a number of times but have never walked that particular part of the coast before. They were a great sight and the area of white cliffs around there were very impressive. Because they are relatively easy to get to it does seem that there are likely to be quite a few people around the area but a short distance to the west we saw very few people.

Coastal areas are prone to rather different climatic conditions and this was the scene that faced us after walking in to Swanage for a meal one night. The atmosphere with the coastal fog rolling in was quite eerie. I took quite a few walking back and was quite pleased with the effect.

Finally – another sunset from early on on the coastal section of the break – we saw quite a few good ones but I restricted myself to offering just two here! Another blog will follow soon about the next part of the trip.

The nights are starting to draw in

I realise a while has gone by without me blogging anything sadly. It is not that I have not been taking photographs, more that I have not had the time to blog anything for a variety of reasons. However I am just closing the current exhibition and hopefully will have a bit more time both for walks and photography now. The images here are from an evening walk in the last week on the eastern side of Dartmoor across Holne moor – a previous blog in the area is here.

This track is one we have taken many times over the years and it still gives me pleasure. It leads to a series of old tin mine workings but the variations on which way to actually go are many and we came off the track at this point and headed for higher ground.

The sun was going down (& it still seems too early for that) but there was enough light at the stage to take a picture looking north east more towards the centre of the moors. There is gorse out at present as well as heather and I’d like to get out to try and catch some shots of the heather before it is over.

I guess there will be less photography from my evening walks now as even in the fairly early evening the light is getting quite poor for photography and maybe not so good for walking either though it usually does not stop us. However the effects of the last light on the clouds is lovely.

I usually realise that I should have taken a tripod after I needed it and this was no exception. In the end I am unlikely to roam far on the moors carrying a tripod I think but this wonderful moon deserved a better shot that I was able to get hand held. That said I think it catches the mood quite nicely. It was stunning and with us for at least the last third of our walk back to the car.

An evening on the south west edge of Dartmoor

It has been a few weeks since I’ve been out on the moors in the evening but last night made up for it. The south western tip of the moors around Shell Top and Penn Beacon is lovely for an evening walk and holds some fond memories for me. I always set off thinking it is a relatively short walk and always come back remembering that at least half of it is uphill. Approaching from the east and heading first to Shell Top meant we passed the hut circle above. The remains are quite clear and the eastern side of the hill has quite a few bronze age remains on it.

Stopping to take a breath a little further up towards Shell Top gave this wonderful view looking east. This is looking towards the ridge which runs south and ends at Western Beacon. The combination of the sunlight on the landscape and the very dark clouds did seem quite special – certainly some areas were not enjoying the late sun which we were.

Reaching Shell Top the view all around opened up although Shell Top itself is not that significant a point as can be seen from the above.

However sitting in the evening sunlight having a drink and looking fairly much south gave a great view. In the foreground (& sadly) is the china clay works. I realise industry is necessary however what idiots allowed this development right on the very edge of a National Park? Further off is the city of Plymouth and Plymouth Sound (and the English Channel).

I guess this is my favourite shot of the night. Taken looking somewhat west from Shell Top it looks down on the Trowelsworthy Tors and across the misty ridges into Cornwall. The light over a number of ridges really is an effect I love. I previously blogged the tors here. Because it is taken looking into the sunlight these shots can be quite difficult but when they work it looks good to me.

Heading off we started to walk down to Penn Beacon which can be seen here at the end of the line on the hillside. This is an old reave which runs down the hillside towards it. The china clay works can be seen to the right rather clearly.

Reaching Penn Beacon we looked back up the hill as the last light was going behind a large cloud bank coming in from Cornwall. The tip of Shell Top can be seen on the upper part of the ridge on the right hand side. Over the years I’ve seen some great “Last light” scenes on the moors and this was one of them. A good walk and hopefully we will get out again soon.

Westcountry wanderings

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Winter in the Bay – light and activity

Working in grayscale

Walking the Redlake tramway

A “footnote”

Walking around the centre of southern Dartmoor

Wandering west of Rame Head

Around Start Point

By the hand of man

Along the Dorset coast

The nights are starting to draw in

An evening on the south west edge of Dartmoor

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