Westcountry wanderings » rock

Along the Dorset coast

nigel — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:41:16 +0000

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.

An evening on the south west edge of Dartmoor

nigel — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:45:31 +0000

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.

Wandering the beach

nigel — Sun, 22 May 2011 07:30:10 +0000

These images were taken in late March however there have always been other things to blog somehow. I was walking the beaches at Paignton and Preston and looking at those things far closer to me than I usually do. In part this was due to reading an article in a photography magazine which suggested photographing items in a garden for a change – I decided doing this project on a beach might be interesting. I love the intensity of colour in the seaweed above.

Above are a collection of some of the images I caught while walking the beach. It is so easy to forget to look in our rush to get places these days and we miss out on some remarkable sights. The colours and both simplicity and complexity of these small inhabitants and sea plants on our beaches are striking. This is an approach I’ll return to sometime as I found it interesting and rewarding but I’ll leave this blog with another seaweed.

Worm’s Head and Rhossili on the Gower

nigel — Sun, 01 May 2011 13:00:24 +0000

This is the “other” posting from a recent break on the Gower peninsula in Wales, the first being here. This blog covers some wandering in the Rhossili area (which is at the very western tip of the Gower). I first walked the Gower coast with a friend some ten years ago and loved the area from the start. This is the third return visit and I still think the view above of Rhossili Bay is one of my favourite views in the UK. Other than in the height of the summer season it is rarely very busy and there is plenty of space there for everyone.

From Rhossili Down, an area of moorland running along the bay, you get a good view of one of the main features of the area – Worm’s Head. For around two hours either side of low tide it is possible to walk out along the Worm however the walking is not easy going due to the rock formations there. It seems likely that the origin of the name is from the Danish wurm or dragon. As a later picture will show there are times when the dragon appears to be breathing smoke and the sinuous nature of the feature is both interesting and unusual.

Walking the beach, which is a little over 4 kilometres long, we found we were not alone… Given that a farmer and his sheep dog were attempting to round these up I don’t think they were on holiday.

However a number of paragliders were enjoying the thermals rising on Rhossili Down. Most were not performing stunts like the one above though – this picture has not been altered – the chute was actually below the pilot as he was spinning around and seemed to be having a great time.

Wandering back along the beach towards Rhossili there was quite a lot of spume coming on to the beach as there was a fair sea running on that day. It made for an interesting misty image looking towards Worms Head as can be seen here.

I took far too many images in the area so the above gallery is an assortment of images that I couldn’t find a reason to leave out – it really is a beautiful area.

Late on one evening while we were there I headed back to Rhossili from our guest house at Port Eynon to catch the late light over Worm’s Head. There is the illusion of smoke on the side of the dragon here caused by waves breaking against the side of the rock.

The weather was not great while we were there and I will have to go back again but this view with the sun going behind the clouds as it set still looked lovely. The B&B at Port Eynon was very good indeed, very nice rooms and a good breakfast, it may be worth a look at their website if you are heading to the area.

Wandering the Gower – Threecliffs Bay area

nigel — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 11:04:50 +0000

This one is rather late coming as I’ve been back a while now but it relates to an area I love and I picked up one or two quite good images despite the weather not being ideal. The Gower is in Wales and is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The area is not large but has a good variety of scenery/habitat within it and is definitely beautiful. We parked the car at Southgate and initially walked east along the cliffs. There was no rain at the time but the day was not that good.

We then walked down to the beach, just under the three cliffs, which is called Pobbles beach. The image above was taken from there looking south west to Oxwich Point. As can be seen there was quite a haze but with the promise of some light in the distance maybe.

The light didn’t arrive indeed it looked rather more threatening as time went by. However this shot (also on Pobbles Beach) does catch something of the beauty of the area with lovely beaches and coastline.

Walking back up the cliff the three cliffs themselves stand out quite well. I’d certainly like to go back and catch them in better light. Oxwich is in the distance.

The day stayed fairly dull (although the previous day had been far worse – wandering Swansea city in the rain is not my idea of fun). However the end of the day saw a slight clearance and so we started chasing the evening light. The above pair are taken on the western end of the peninsula in the Llangennith area and the other blog on the Gower will be about that area.

Finally, heading back, I stopped the car rather suddenly for this shot. The colours and outline looked very interesting to me.

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!

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.

On Dartmoor in frost and fog

nigel — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:23:35 +0000

Frost and fog on the edge of Dartmoor

I set off towards the moors looking for a day similar to the one in the last two posts – clear and cold. On the southern edge of the moors it looked as though the weather was not at all good and I almost turned back.

Tree in fog near Grimspound

When I got to the point where I had planned to walk from, close to Grimspound, it was obvious that there was some sun above the fog but visibility was not good. I had planned to walk in the opposite direction to Grimspound and it is an area I know well enough to walk in even in these conditions however I decided to go a little further.

Bennett's Cross in fog

I parked near Bennett’s Cross (by the Warren House Inn) and from here the visibility was no better. The cross is ancient but, as with so many of the remains on Dartmoor, no accurate dating is available. It was mentioned in documents from around 1700 but almost certainly is older than that. I set off into the fog.

On the edge of the fog

As I climbed the hill I found myself on the edge of the fog and it was obvious that it was a lovely day and that maybe the fog was relatively low lying.

Birch tor in frost

When I reached the top of the ridge I came out in sunshine and was looking over fog which was slightly below me and to the south only with the north moor relatively clear.

Fog around Soussons Down

After walking around some antiquities in the area and some old mine workings I headed down towards Soussons Down woods and back towards the fog. I’ll blog the working and antiquities in a day or so.

Fog in Soussons forestry

The effect of the fog, frost and light in the forestry was simply lovely. Wandering through the woods was a joy and I took quite a few pictures. The area is Forestry Commission land and the trees are not natural or native to the area which is a pity. Equally the plantations do cover up some antiquities too which is simply wrong.

Less than helpful sign!

As is often the case it is those small quirky things that make me smile and I just could not resist this sign. Bear in mind this is an upland area largely devoid of signs of any sort and it was a very foggy day. Fortunately I knew where I was and headed back to the car after having had a great walk that did not look promising at the start.

Man’s fingerprints on Dartmoor

nigel — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:22:50 +0000

In a sense this is “part 2″ of my previous post here. The images were all taken on the same day and, while showing quite a wild part of the UK, also indicate some of the ways the moors have been used over centuries. The work of man can be seen clearly from the above however there is some history here. The building is known as John Bishop’s house. John Bishop was a moorman in the nineteenth century and lived in a house on this site which, in turn may well have been built on the foundations of a far older longhouse. The current building dates from 1912 and was actually called Swincombe farm – it is very close to the river called the Swincombe.

The track here is close to John Bishop’s house and just above the ford on the Swincombe. It is part of an ancient packhorse route between Tavistock and Ashburton. It was probably regularly used from the Middle Ages until 1792 when a turnpike road was opened. There are quite a few ancient tracks across the moors dating from very early times. In some places they are very obvious such as here and in others far less so.

The track reaches this ford on the Swincombe close to John Bishop’s house. It crosses the river from the small opening on the right of the river to the bottom left of the image.

Taken from just below the ford on the Swincombe, this shows the current (relatively modern) foot bridge across the river at this point. Just below it and slightly upstream stepping stones can be seen with the ford seen in the image above just upstream of the stones. This has obviously been an important crossing point on the river for centuries.

A short distance downstream of the above are some beehives which can be seen here. I’m not certain of the current owners but for many years these belonged to the monks at Buckfast Abbey.

Moving from the current era to far older times this hut circle is set above the valley of the Swincombe. This will probably date from at least 3000 years ago. While this one is not easy to see it is similar to the ones at Grimspound which are larger and better know (largely because they are far more accessible).

As can be seen it was a cold and frosty day. There was plenty of ice around even where water was flowing. This is the result of draining ground further up via a pipe which leads water down towards the Swincombe. As such the hand of man over many centuries can be seen even in quite remote & beautiful parts of Dartmoor.

Dartmoor snow report (December 1 2010)

nigel — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:02:42 +0000

Around 50% of the hits on this blog for the past week have had some variation of “dartmoor snow” in the search. In practice Devon has had very little of the snow that has been affecting the UK over that week. However some did fall in the past couple of days so, given a forecast for some sun, I headed out to get some images. Before I left I checked a weather station in the centre of the moors and was a little surprised to see that the temperature suggested was -9.7 deg C including windchill… At no stage of my time on the moors did the car’s external temperature sensor drop below -2 C (excluding windchill) and while I was out walking the wind was strong so I guess the weather station was probably correct – it was VERY cold.

Sadly the forecast sun failed to arrive too. Around Hound tor (above) it was fairly bleak and grey.

Most of the more major roads were clear of snow but there was some ice around on the roads and there was a lot not far from the roads.

As I started to head back there was a little more light but the temperature stayed low. Although it was very cold there is a real beauty to the moors in these conditions.

I looked back and saw this and stopped the car to get it. I’ve taken this scene in a number of light/weather conditions and it does appeal. The rays of sun were short lived though. I don’t recall being as cold on the moors in years (& I was wearing full winter gear). At times it was hard to hold the camera at all steady in the wind too and I’ve not rejected as many images from a session in quite some time.