Westcountry wanderings » Winter

Winter walking on the moors

nigel — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 09:17:08 +0000

As is usual at this time of the year many of the hits on this blog are related to snow on Dartmoor. There has been very little this year and so far nothing that has been worthwhile photographically speaking. It looked as though there was a little on the high/northern areas the other day but not much and it has been rather grey for good photography. This blog relates to a walk ten days ago when the advance forecast looked pretty good. The night before it had changed to “showers in the afternoon and wintry on high ground” however we decided to try and make the most of it and were out quite early.

We walked in to the south east moors from Reddacleave Kiln area and headed north to go around the back of the Avon dam reservoir. It was cold but sunny and the moors had that wintry feel which I love. everything seems somewhat muted and we didn’t see another person all the time we were out.

We headed up the Western Wella brook towards Huntingdon Warren. This smallholding provided food for the local tin mine and the warrens would have provided a good supply of meat in the form of rabbits. The enclosed ground seen above is the main part of the farm – the remains of the buildings are just out of sight to the right of the tree. Some remain of the workings can be seen down the valley with the tip of the reservoir in the distance on the right.

We headed up to the top of the hill behind Huntingdon Warren to the wonderfully named “Heap of sinners” which is a fairly large cairn and decided to stop for an early lunch break. The above image was our view. It captures the winter bleakness of the moors quite well for me. As I am enjoying a little more image manipulation these days I’ve taken quite a bit of the colour out of this really only leaving reduced levels of blue and orange/yellow. To me that has enhanced that wintry feel a little.

Getting to our feet after eating it must have been just about midday… This was the view in the direction we were heading. A brief conversation suggested a change of plan was wise but by the time we had put on a layer or two more the rain was with us, it became very cold and we got quite wet in the following half hour.

Hitting the main track running down the ridge in the direction of the car we looked back. Rainbows are seen quite frequently however this one was nicely placed on the top of Pupers and all too often the weather is not the best for using the camera. The weather bot north and west of us suggested that heading on back to the car would be wise.

A few minutes later there was a full rainbow the right hand end of which can be seen here. Despite the wide angled nature of my lens I couldn’t get the whole rainbow in sadly. This was the last shot of the day as the next batch of weather hit us immediately after this. We agreed that the hail that came then was a little painful when it hit! Overall a good winter walk however also a reminder that even the nice looking days can change quite quickly on Dartmoor.

Winter in the Bay – light and activity

nigel — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:20:08 +0000

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.

Walking the Redlake tramway

nigel — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:59:42 +0000

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

nigel — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:25:24 +0000

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.

Walking down the River Avon

nigel — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:00:25 +0000

This continues the blog here of a walk from Shipley Bridge up the Zeal Tor tramway to Western Whitaburrow and back down the Avon to the car. The view above is from Petre’s Cross at Western Whitaburrow looking towards the barrow at Eastern Whitaburrow (both can have White Barrow in place of Whitaburrow). The cross marks one of the old tracks across the moors.

Looking east from almost the same spot the view is over the valley of the River Avon. In the distance is Pupers with the hill on the left being the wonderfully named “Heap of Sinners”! There is an ancient barrow there too which may explain the name to some degree. This is another valley with neolithic remains in and the large circles that stand out in the sunlight on the side of the hill were settlements with hut circles from that era in. To the left of those are some evidence of tinners workings and the faint line running almost horizontally above the circles is an old leat used to carry water from the Avon to a mine in the next valley.

Walking down the hill to the Avon there is a good example of an old clapper bridge which is on the ancient track that the cross further up the hill marks. This is a fairly isolated part of the moors and we had not seen anyone since we left the car at this point.

There is plenty of wildlife on the moors but it is not often you get very close to it. The left hand image is of a common frog which we just avoided stepping on as he/she was very still and the right hand image is frog spawn which we saw quite a lot of during the walk.

Further down the valley we reached the reservoir at the Avon dam. Again the weather was very variable with something looking like rain not far away. Water levels seemed high after quite a lot of rain since Christmas.

The contrast in the weather from the previous picture is marked and there was only around 5 minutes difference in the time of them. Behind the dam the sky had been quite grey but a patch of sunlight hit the overflow on the dam wall just as we got to it. The sound of the water running over was really quite loud.

While we were approaching the northern end of the Avon dam we had company of a sort! They were around for a while but whether it was a training run or something more important was not clear.

Finally – on the walk back down the private road to the dam there is the remains of an old house close to the road. There is not much left of the house now but this tree which was on the remains of one of the walls had an “other world” quality to it – I may well head back to try and catch it in better light sometime. A good walk and hopefully some more excursions on Dartmoor to come.

Walking up the Zeal Tor tramway

nigel — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:20:07 +0000

A welcome opportunity for a walk on the moors with a friend took us to Shipley Bridge on the southern edge of the moors. It was late February and, although not cold, the weather was best described as “mixed” I guess. The car park there is often quite full and used for folk who park there to walk up the private road to the Avon Dam. However when we arrived the car park was deserted. The remains of the old building above was originally used for the production of naptha gas. This was a short lived enterprise but from the mid 1800s the building was used for processing china clay.

This china clay was extracted from the upper reaches of the Bala Brook and the remains of an old tramway which head from Shipley Bridge up the side of the river valley onto the central area of the southern moors can still be seen and followed. This is a view up the tramway. At the top of the hill ahead is the ancient barrow at East Whitaburrow (or White Barrow). The head of the Bala Brook is on the left and the tramway curves around towards it.

While you do need to look carefully there are some quite distinct remains of the tramway to be seen in places. The image on the left shows the remain of the ironwork which attached the rail to the granite and quite a lot of those can be seen. The image on the right is a “milestone” at least two of which remain. In practice we decided this one probably should have read 1 and three quarters as the next stone which was not far away has “2 miles” on it.

While china clay was extracted here (and on other nearby areas of the moors) there was also tin mining here in the past. Apart from the fact that the area has been dug out the heaps of small stones are very characteristic of such remains and are small spoil heaps.

While the weather that day was mostly good it was clear that there was worse weather not far away. This is taken from the tinners remains looking south. Ugborough Beacon is in the distance.

Once you get to the head of the valley you are on a main ridge that runs down to the south. The ground there is not very good. Usually wet and with long grass, it is not easy walking and feels as remote as anywhere on the moors. The image above gives a feel of that and looks into the valley of the river Erme. Caught in the patch of sunlight you can see the remains of pound which contains ancient hut circles. The valley of the Erme has a number of neolithic remains and must have supported quite a population in those days.

A little further north along the ridge you get clear views of the above. At a quick glance it might be taken as a natural hill. However it is another spoil heap. This time it is the china clay spoil heap at Redlake. By comparison to the remains already passed on this walk these are relatively recent. Work started here in 1910 and this and other parts of the ridge were worked until 1930. Given the remoteness of this spot (there are no roads and only very rough tracks for at least 3 or 4 kilometres in any direction) it must have been a bleak spot to work. Bleak it may be but it has a beauty to me. We walked back to the car a different way but that will be another blog soon.

Spring tides and surf in Torbay

nigel — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 10:00:03 +0000

The period of spring tides made me head into the Bay looking for the very low tide. I’ve found in the past that you can access/photograph rock pools that cannot be seen for much of the month and that was the plan. There was only one day of the peak tides when the weather was forecast to be ok too.

As is so often the case I didn’t end up taking photographs of what I’d planned! I walked quite a section of Torbay in the Paignton area before the tide was fully out. I was not the only one who was “waiting” for something – even the seagull on the rock was.

I got back to Preston beach just before the tide turned and found that a paddle surfer was making the most of what was available in the way of surf.

His viewpoint – quite a bit higher than those using boards conventionally – allowed him a better view of where the best surf around the beach actually was. He seemed to get some worthwhile runs in.

One of those irresistible shots; this youngster was just staring out at the sea so intently. Was it a case of “when I grow up…”? His transport across the sand appealed too!

While the waves were not big some of the other surfers were also getting some good runs in too.

Some had to work quite hard to catch the waves but for a while there was quite a bit of activity.

Just after the low tide the sea became far flatter and, for some at least, it was time to head back. For me too – I had had a good walk along the beaches and even if I didn’t get any rock pool shots it had been well worthwhile. Large seas are quite unusual in Torbay as the arms of the Bay shelter it from all but easterly winds but when they do get in it can offer some good water sport.

Waves on Blackpool Sands

nigel — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:00:59 +0000

We went down to Blackpool Sands on a mostly sunny day and I got quite a few shots there and, a little later, at Slapton. The above is looking out over Start Bay – the combination of the light on the water and the cloud was great.

This photograph from Blackpool Sands looks south towards Slapton sands, Start Point and the lighthouse there.

When I got back and started running through the photographs I had taken while I was out walking along Blackpool Sands I realised there was something of a theme to them – rather a lot of waves.

I realised that, while posting a collection of “wave” photos might seem a bit odd, there was a real variety of light, colour, tone and waves in the collection and so decided to go for a single topic posting.

This is at the northern end of Blackpool Sands and the sea was breaking over the rocks there in the sunlight which made for some nice shots. The beach faces roughly south east and has no protection from seas coming in that direction. However the promontory of Start Point gives a lot of protection from westerly seas and winds.

There really were some good “rollers” coming in – some of which were quite large. This one is taken looking south towards Slapton sands again.

I really liked the colour “inside” the roller on this one. That sea green in the sunlight is really striking. I do love walking beaches. You never quite know what you will see and, because of the sea and the light, you get ever changing pictures from it. The cafe at Blackpool Sands is nice too so I’m sure I’ll be back there soon for some more photos and a coffee!

Changeable weather around Dawlish Warren

nigel — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:00:59 +0000

It was time to get back to the coast again after some nice walks on Dartmoor. There was only one day in the week when the forecast was for good weather so we headed over to Dawlish Warren. My last blog was from the summer of 2010 and is here. When we arrived it was a clear and pleasant winter’s day.

The sand along the warren and dunes is under constant threat of erosion by the sea and so there are groynes placed along the beach to try and prevent the sand being washed away.

I’ve not blogged many wide angle images for a while now although I continue to use and enjoy the ultra wide angle lens I have. This shows a tangle of rope around the base of an older groyne with a more modern one in the distance and has the characteristic “distortion” that can be created with such a lens. Some people would consider it is the “wrong” way to use such a lens and others that is an interesting effect – I am one of the latter!

I do love the sense of wide open space that you find along such coasts and this shot was intended to capture that. In the foreground of the photo are the remains of a couple of wooden posts which I imagine were the remnants of even older groynes.

After walking to the point and looking over to Exmouth on the other side of the Exe estuary we turned to head back. There were quite a few wading birds around as well as geese and some bird watchers watching them. Looking to the south it was obvious that the weather was changing. A minute or so after I took this one I put the camera away and only just in time – the rain came down and it rained quite steadily all the way back along the beach.

After a coffee at the bar on the edge of the beach we emerged to find that the rain had passed. The light in the clouds added something to this scene and the arch in the cliff can be seen in the photo. While not taken at exactly the same spot this photo can be compared with the one at the top of the blog. Just the other side of the cliff is the beach at Dawlish. However, despite the changeable weather, we had had a good walk and headed back to dry off the walking gear.

Mining and antiquities on Dartmoor

nigel — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:45:14 +0000

Effectively this is a follow on from my previous post from the same day’s walk here. The photos in the previous one were orientated around the scenery on the day and this one covers some of the antiquities and remains in the Headland Warren area generally. Walking south from Birch tor this was the view to the east towards Hameldon and Grimspound with the fog still rolling around.

Crossing the head of Chaw gully which is an old open tin mine on the edge of Headland Warren I arrived at the stone rows on Challacombe Down. There are multiple rows of stone here and both Hemmery in High Dartmoor and Worth in Dartmoor describe it as a triple stone row. To me it did lookss like there were more rows than this but I guess I am wrong.

From this image taken a little further up the rows it certainly looks like there are at least four rows of stones here. The rows run for around 150 metres. Birch Tor can be seen on the far right.

This is the “blocking stone” which appears to terminate the rows at the head of one row. It is quite a large stone compared to most of the others. While the stone is the subject of the photo to the right of it the ancient village of Grimspound can be clearly seen as a circle on the hillside. The tor to the left of the stone is Hookney Tor and below that on the left are some open tinners working disused for many years now.

This shows a small part of the open tin workings that are called Chaw Gully. The workings here (and there are many in the area) are some of the deepest open cast workings on the moors. The two named mines which used shafts lower down in the valley were worked loosely between 1750 and 1930 so this area was being mined prior to that. It is remarkable what was achieved with tools that would seem very primitive by our standards today.

This is the remains of a building associated with the Golden Dagger mine which lies a little south of the Chaw Gully open works. There is little doubt that tin has been extracted from the area for many years but the mine was first mentioned around 1851 (according to Tom Greeves). In 1892 41 people were employed there and the mine was at its peak then.

The photo above is taken from just above Golden Dagger mine looking back up towards the open workings of Chaw Gully whose lines can be seen slightly right of centre. The tor to the left is Birch Tor.

I walked back up the valley following the stream until I got to some of the remains of Vitifer mine. Vitifer (and Birch Tor mine ) was definitively mentioned in 1750 and by 1796 40 men were employed there (Tom Greeves) . The mine appears to have been one of the more prosperous one on the moors and there are quite extensive remains visible including some old mine shafts. It seems likely that the work here ceased around 1925.

The stream in the valley here was used as motive power for both the mines mentioned as well as previous open cast working. Now on what was still a cold frosty day it was rather more decorative – a pleasant end to a good walk.