Blog Posts in Category: Landscape

Hadrian’s Wall

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Sports Short Link

Last week I went on one of the hardest walks that I have done, a backpacking trip along the length of Hadrian’s wall path which follows the path of Hadrian’s Wall. We took 4 days to walk the 84 miles which meant that the shortest day distance wise was 18 miles and the longest 25 and time wise the shortest time was 11 hours and the last day took us 15 hours of walking to finish. The total time from starting at 08:30 on Wednesday morning and finishing at 00:03 on Sunday morning was 87.55 hours which personally I don’t think is bad for a trip where all of your kit for 4 days is being carried! We walked the wall from east to west which meant that we started in Newcastle on the first day for our longest day where we walked 25 miles. As we started in Newcastle the first 11 miles or so were on tarmac through the city centre to the outskirts before we left the tarmac and joined the much easier to walk on tracks in the hills alongside the road. On the second day. Read the full article…

The Lizard Peninsula

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Sports Short Link

This weekend a very late decision lead me to join the university’s expedition society on a trip down to the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. Despite a very poor weather forecast we all remained very optimistic and it turned out that we were correct to optimistic as on Saturday we were treated with wall to wall sunshine. This lead to a very leisurely walk happening around the coast which included various beach stops, swimming and ice creams which made it feel very much like a holiday. Sunday however was not so good but I was never planning on doing anything on Sunday due to leaving for a backpacking trip along Hadrian’s wall leaving in two days time so wanted to rest for that. It has been a long time since I have ventured down to Cornwall for walking or a holiday and I was blown away with just how beautiful it was so continued trying to focus on landscapes rather than people photos which is what I normally take more of while out walking. It was also part of my personal challenge at the moment to improve my landscape photography and I think I am finally. Read the full article…

An Afternoon Walk on Dartmoor

Alastair BegleyLandscape Short Link

Today was was forecast to be beautifully sunny and as I am based in Exeter I made plans to head to Dartmoor in the afternoon once I had finished work to do a 9mile walk in beautiful scenery. Thankfully the weather did not disappoint and today we were greeted with clear blue skies and sun with temperatures up to 27 degrees! Though at times it was almost too hot! We started at two bridges before heading up to Longaford Tor via Wistman’s Wood which is a wood of stunted oak trees that are very odd to look at due to their lack of height. After this we headed up to Bellever Tor via the old Powder Mills where gunpowder used to be made. We next headed down to the West Dart River and over the two sets of stepping stones which were very picturesque before heading back along the moor to the car. It was a great walk encompassing many of Dartmoor’s wonderful features be it beautiful scenery, odd woods, old buildings from time gone by, stepping stones and stone circles and we could not have chosen a better day to do it on. Today I was focusing more on landscapes. Read the full article…

Snowy Bath

Alastair BegleyLandscape, Wildlife Short Link

Yesterday I headed into Bath to see a friend from school and Bath was covered in snow, so much snow that we actually went snowboarding (these pictures will appear in a later blog post). Shortly after I arrived at his house it was pointed out that a pair of deer were at the opposite side of the field next to their house, so in an attempt to get my first wildlife pictures of an animal other than a bird I hastily changed lens and “stealthily” ran across the field to get as close as I could before spooking them, unfortunately the one that was hiding in the bushes was more timid than the one in these photos and got spooked and ran away causing the one out in the open to follow suit! Then later in the evening after it got dark we went for a wonder around town and near Pulteney Bridge and came up with these two cityscapes, unfortunately the photo of the bridge it’s self did not come out as well as I had hoped as the weir was not lit up as it often is, though. Read the full article…

Winter Wonderland

Alastair BegleyLandscape Short Link

This weekend I was up in the Brecon Beacons and unfortunately it had warmed up so most of the snow had gone but I was caught out by the trecharious conditions walking to the waterfalls that are near Ystradfellte, as the paths were covered in ice and made walking very difficult, but it was worth it as when we got to the waterfalls there was still a large amount of ice left which was a stunning site. I just wish that I could have been there last week when it was a long way below freezing as I think that the waterfall would have been even more spectacular!