Having moved to Munich the night before I was keen to get out and do something on my first night living in a new city. After a bit of research I decided to head out to Siegestor which is a triumphal arch which is crowned with a statue of Bavaria. It was not my most successful blue hour photography escapade, however it was enjoyable to be out and is a memory of my first night in Munich. I struggled to get in the correct position with the road and various bits of roadworks which were going on.
After a number of evenings heading out for sunset, we decided to have a change and head out for sunrise. We decided to head to Crook Peak in Somerset and it turned out to be a lovely sunrise. I certainly did not enjoy my 3am alarm call, but it turned out to be worth it. When we got to the top there were two other couples there, and we enjoyed the pre sunrise glow as it became lighter. To start with I had free reign to take photos where I wanted, but by 5mins before sunrise there were about 30 other people who had turned up, including families with small children which as great to see. After sunrise had finished we headed out for a short walk in the relative cool of the morning which was enjoyable as it was fairly quiet other than runners and there was lots of wildlife around there.
For years as we have driven up the M5 we have commented that we should visit the Malvern Hills, however never quite got around to it. As we still have to stay fairly local, cannot go to the mountains and cannot stay away we decided this would be an ideal time to explore the Malvern Hills. So that we could have a big day out, and not just walk out and then back we decided to do the full traverse of the Malvern Hills, stating at Chase End Hill in the south and finishing at End Hill in the north. This provided a walk of about 16km with 750m of ascent. After parking the van at the north end of the ridge we headed down to the south and started walking shortly after 5. This meant that if we made good time we should just about be on North Hill by sunset. The start of the walk was very quiet, on small paths with lovely views. It was also very hot! We had occasional views of the bigger hills in the distance on the first half, and they looked a. Read the full article…
With the easing of the lockdown restrictions we headed down to the Quantock Hills for an evening walk. We chose the evening as we thought it would be quieter, and also to coincide with sunset. During the walk we saw about 10 other people, so we definitely made the right decision to wait until the evening. It was great to be out in the hills on a beautiful summer evening with a lovely sunset, even if they were only hills and not mountains.
Due to a knee injury I was unable to head into the hills to enjoy a beautiful morning of Scottish winter walking or climbing, so I made the most of the excellent conditions by extracting myself from bed in time for sunrise. Initially I started down at the end of the reservoir formed by the Laggan Dam, and then heading to the beach at Kinloch Laggan. The morning was totally still and made for a beautiful morning with crisp reflections, unfortunately the cloud towards the east prevented a beautiful sunrise.
I had planned on doing a big winter walk which would have included Creag Meagaidh, Stob Poite Coire Ardair and Carn Liath however on the walk up to Coire Ardair it became apparent that it was not going to be possible due to a knee injury. Despite not completing the walk, it was great to be in fantastic scenery in good weather again. Before I turned back I managed to get a few photos to capture the stroll up the valley.
I headed down to see David and Nicky for a weekend in Holsworthy. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t playing ball for photography, and we had a weekend of strong winds and grey skies, however this didn’t dampen our spirits and we still headed out to have a fun weekend of photography. We made the best of the conditions and it really make us work at our composition, however the results were never going to be spectacular given the lack of light. We headed out to the relatively close locations of Trebarwith Strand and Crackington Haven which allowed us to spend some time by the sea, have some lunch in a pub, go for an enjoyable drive up the coast and then do some more photography before heading back home.
After a number of years of wanting to do the Nantlle Ridge, we finally ended up in North Wales with a weather window which would enable us to enjoy the ridge at it’s best. As the weather was best in the morning we started fairly early, which enabled us to see a beautiful sunrise as we were leaving the hut in Rhyd Ddu. The start of the walk soon woke us up, but once we were established on the ridge it was just brilliant. We had wonderful views in every direction and good weather, apart from the very strong wind! The scrambling was not extensive, but some of it was fairly involved if you stayed on the ridge crest rather than skirting off on the path to the side. The final section of ridge before the descent was fairly hard going underfoot, and if I were to do the ridge again I might have descended sooner. We had dropped a car at the end the night before, but somehow avoided having to do shuttle runs as Becky managed to hitch a lift with the only person we saw all day,. Read the full article…