Blog Posts in Category: Locations

Vulcan and BBMF Low Level!

Alastair BegleyAviation, Lake District Short Link

This weekend was Windermere air show which is unique in the fact that it is in a mountainous area which means that it is possible to stand on a hill and take pictures of the aircraft displaying below you. Two years ago the Vulcan displayed there and I have been waiting for her to display there again ever since as the photos from it were just surreal. I did go last year but the Vulcan was not displaying and the weather was awful to say the least! On the Tuesday before the show the Vulcan confirmed to display so a last minute change of plans lead me to get up at 2:30am on Saturday morning to drive up to the Lake District from Bristol to ensure I got a parking place and a place on the small crag that is the best place to take photos from. Thankfully the weather was stunning and in addition to the Vulcan the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight were also displaying which meant that we got to see a Lancaster and Spitfire low level too and also them in formation at low level! When the Vulcan was due. Read the full article…

Scrambling in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

This weekend I headed up to Snowdonia for a long weekend of scrambling and mountaineering with the Expedition Society from my university. As we headed up the forecast was not looking good at all but we all remained positive and the weather was better than initially forecast though we did have to alter our routes slightly due to the weather. On Saturday we scrambled up the north ridge of Tryfan which is a fantastic scramble though unfortunately when we went up we were in hill fog and rain which remained until we had left the summit but as we were walking up to the Glyders after Tryfan it cleared beautifully and we were treated to fantastic views and sun. This improved weather stayed all evening which enabled us to have a BBQ to end a great day. On Sunday our plan was to do the Snowdon Horseshoe which is one of the classic routes in Snowdonia which includes Crib Goch which is a fantastic knife edge ridge. As it was a bank holiday weekend we headed to the car park for 7:30 to ensure we got a space as it fills up early and. Read the full article…

Mountaineering in Scotland

Alastair BegleyScotland, Scrambling, Walking Short Link

In my previous blog post I described the first half of the week I spent in Scotland (click here) and this is how the rest of the week went now I am back at home after a long drive back from Fort William. Wednesday was a wash out due to heavy rain all day causing severe weather warnings to be issued for the western highlands so we stayed at the house for most of the day apart from half an hour when we headed out to the loch near the house we were staying in and in the process of doing that got soaked! The weather did however improve on Thursday so we headed out for another attempt at Aonach Mor but this time via a gully on the western side of the ridge but due to a lack of snow in the gullies from the warm conditions we ended up just doing an improvised scramble up to the top which was great fun and challenging in a few places but not before we practised some glissading on a small patch of snow we found in the valley.  When we got to the top we were greeted by our first view of. Read the full article…

Winter Mountaineering in Scotland

Alastair BegleyScotland, Walking, Winter Climbing Short Link

This week I am up in Scotland with my university’s expedition society to do winter mountaineering. We have however been plagued with poor weather and lack of snow since we have been here but thankfully that has not stopped us! On the first day we went up to Stob Ban to teach winter techniques to the unexperienced people in the group showing them how to use ice axes and crampons and do important techniques such as ice axe arrests. Due to the ridge to the summit being on cloud for most of the day we did not head up to the summit and ended up just teaching in an area of snow we found near the coll. On the second day gale forces were forecast but we decided to give walking a try and headed up to Aonach Mor but it turned out the forecast was correct and when we got to the gondola station we were in the cloud with horizontal rain and winds that seriously impeded motion. Due to this we just headed back down the downhill track which looked like an amazing track to bike on which I plan. Read the full article…

Cockpits of the RAF’s Fast Jets

Alastair BegleyAviation, North Wales Short Link

Due to various reasons recently I have not had time to do all that much photography and have not done any low level photography since October, so I have been spending some spare time re-processing some low level photos from this summer just to focus in on the cockpits. Thankfully in a week I spent in Snowdonia and the Lake Disctict photographing them at low level in June I had passes from all three of the RAF’s fast jets at the time, the training version of the Harrier Jump Jet the T12, The GR4 version of the Tornado and FGR4 and finally the training version of the Eurofighter Typhoon the T3. Though now unfortunately the Harrier Jump Jet has been retired from service so this is the last time I ever saw one.

Summer Holiday

Alastair BegleyScrambling, Switzerland, Walking Short Link

At the end of August/start of September I went to Fiesch in Switzerland with my family and some family friends for 2 weeks of mountaineering, downhill mountain biking and climbing.  We had a fantastic time while we were out there but of course with me being a photographer my camera went everywhere with me (apart from the biking).  At some points I did question why I was doing this, for example, when I was walking up a 4000m mountain and had 5kg of camera gear on my shoulder!  But overall I am so glad I did as some of the sites we saw were fantastic. While we were out there we experienced all types of weather, the start of the holiday was 30 degree temperatures which makes strenuous exercise more difficult but it then cooled down and we had lots of sunny weather but nicer temperatures but also snow at resort level!  But despite this we didn’t have a single day when we didn’t get out even if it did mean wrapping up warm and going for a walk while it was snowing! I thought I would share these 6 photos that I took. Read the full article…

Lowflying in June

Alastair BegleyAviation, North Wales Short Link

I am spending the summer on up in Glasgow working for Rolls-Royce on a 10 week internship, so on the way up from home at Bristol I went via the “Mach Loop” in Snowdonia and Cumbria for some lowflying photography.  During this time the French were visiting which was a good addition.