Blog Posts in Category: Landscape

Autumn in the South West

Alastair BegleyLandscape Short Link

Having recently upgraded my camera to a Fuji X-E3 I have been trying to get to know my new camera by making the most of Autumn. A few weekends ago we spent a very sunny weekend in south Devon, while the sun didn’t inspire too many landscape photos, I managed to get a few photos that I was pleased with. Back closer to home in Bristol we were lucky to have some high tides which coincided with sunset and also with some fairly good weather. It was great to get out and capture some of the classic photos of Bristol, I will have to have another go when there is slightly less of a breeze and when sunset is later in the evening so that it doesn’t coincide with rush hour.

A fantastic 2013 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Equestrian, Landscape, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

Somehow we are already at the end of another year, and what a fantastic year it has been! I have somehow summed up my year in 100 photos again. The photos make it look like I didn’t do much rock climbing this year, but that is just that I don’t tend to take my camera to the local crags where I spent a silly amount of evenings in May and June. In total this year I managed 125 trad climbs, 30 winter climbs, 7 walks, 6 alpine routes, 3 scrambles, 2 sport climbs, 2 caving trips and 2 via ferratas. I have had such a good year that summarising the high points was pretty challenging: Despite having a generally fantastic year, there were certainly some less good moments: Late January in South Wales At the end of January there was the first proper cold spell of 2013 which extended down to South Wales. During this spell I managed three days out in south wales where I managed to climb four routes. A Week in Fort William: 9th-16th Feb The beginning of February soon arrived, and with it the start of a. Read the full article…

Climbing, Kayaking and Walking on Dartmoor

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Rock Climbing, Sports, Walking Short Link

I spent last weekend visiting university friends down in Exeter, I originally arranged the trip so I could have a whisky night with my housemate from last year. However, as is often the way it turned into much more and involved trad climbing, soloing, bouldering, walking, white water kayaking and even a bit of unexpected pluming! I headed down to Exeter on Friday night before heading to the pub and then staying with some of my best friends. On Saturday morning the weather was lovely so I headed out to Dartmoor with Steve with the idea of doing some climbing if it was warm enough or going for a walk otherwise. We arrived at the car park at Haytor and it wasn’t too windy so we decided to do some climbing so packed our gear and headed up to the crag. I warmed up by solo climbing “Bulging Wall” a VDiff which I climbed with Steve and Andrew back in spring, it also happened to be my 100th outdoor rock route of the season. It was the second ever route I have soloed and despite the climbing being easy it suddenly. Read the full article…

A Week in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyAviation, Landscape, North Wales, Rock Climbing, Scrambling Short Link

I have just got back from a fantastic week spent camping in Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Heading up for a weeks camping in North Wales in October I was expecting the week to be full of wet weather and hill fog, I was very wrong with only one day being a wash out and only one day was spent with an annoying amount of time in hill fog. For the first two days I met up with the expedition society from Exeter Uni which I was a member of last year and who were in Snowdonia with 15 people for some scrambling. Despite arriving in the rain we awoke on the first morning to a fantastic sunrise over Tryfan and its North Ridge, one of the most famous scrambling routes in the UK for obvious reasons. Despite having done the scramble up Tryfan’s North Ridge about 7 times in the past 3 years every time I climb it I manage to take a slightly different route which keeps it interesting, and when the weather is good the views are spectacular and I don’t think I will ever get. Read the full article…

The Lizard

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Walking Short Link

I have just spent the weekend at the Lizard in Cornwall with some of my university friends from ExSoc who I haven’t seen since graduation in July. It was a fantastic weekend which involved little exercise, lots of unhealthy food, lots of alcohol and great weather with great company.We arrived late on Friday night so sat around the remains of someone else’s campfire catching up before heading to bed. On Saturday morning we had a very rude awakening from lots of chickens and ducks which I really did not appreciate!After a very leisurely breakfast we headed down the coast to Kynance cove where we relaxed, went swimming in the very cold water and then headed to the cafe for more relaxing and cream teas. After this we walked the half hour back to Lizard via Lizard point, the most southerly point in England. It was a lovely chilled out day which was needed after starting work and still getting used to the early mornings. We spent the evening around the campfire again before heading to bed fairly late and enjoying a nice lie in the next morning to let the. Read the full article…

The “New” Severn Bridge

Alastair BegleyLandscape Short Link

I have seen many stunning photos of a local landmark over the past few years on various photography sites but have never had the urge to visit at sunset myself. This week however my shiny new Canon 5D mark 3 arrived and put me back in the world of SLR ownership. After work when it arrived I was itching to go out and use it in anger. As it was late and the sun was setting I didn’t have much time so jumped in the car and headed out of Bristol to the new Severn Bridge which is about 15 mins from my house if there isn’t any traffic. As I was driving there I was dubious about if I would get a sunset as there was lots of cloud about especially towards the west, however as I got closer I realised the sun was sitting in just about the only hole in the stormy sky which made for a lovely sunset with some ominous looking clouds which I always enjoy in a landscape photo rather than just a plain “normal” sky. However, I have always found conditions like these. Read the full article…

Mountaineering in the Caingorms

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Scotland, Walking Short Link

Following on from my previous post about Winter Climbing on Ben Nevis I have just spent the week mountaineering in the Caingorms where we had a fantastic time. Other than the day we did Ben Nevis we managed two other walks, a day trip over to Glen Coe in order to visit Ice Factor, a visit to some waterfalls where we went for a rather cold swim and a trip to Dalwhinnie distillary. On the day we arrived there was hardly a cloud in the sky and it was really warm so we had a BBQ outside, but with the crazy Scottish weather 3 days later we woke up to large amounts of snow on the ground! On the first day we went for a local walk which I tried to do at New Year but had to turn back on that attempt due to being unable to stand up in the wind. It was a horseshoe walk up to  Sgor Gaoith and along the ridge to do a few other tops as well, it was a fantastic walk which we were able to relax nicely on to enjoy the summit views. On Monday. Read the full article…

Mountaineering in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyLandscape, North Wales, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

This weekend I headed up to Snowdonia with the expedition society I am a member of. We went up with twenty people and braved the elements by camping in north wales at the end of November which was a tad chilly. Thankfully we were treated with good weather and it didn’t rain once all weekend which is a change to the last 3 weekends I have spent in Snowdonia! On the first morning we headed up the north ridge of Tryfan which is one of the classic scrambles of the region and is a great first scramble as many people in the group had never done it before! It took us quite a long time as 20 people move slowly but this ended up being good as early in the climb the summit became covered in hill fog but by the time we got to the summit it had started to clear and by the time we had finished lunch we were treated to a fantastic view! That evening we were treated to a cloudless sky which was stunning as we were camping in the middle of nowhere so there. Read the full article…