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…

Royal International Air Tatoo

Alastair BegleyAviation Short Link

This weekend was the annual Royal International Air Tatoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and I went for the first time, I hadn’t pointed my camera at a military aircraft since September last year when I went to the Selkirk-Moffat pass until I attended RIAT so it was nice to see/hear/take pictures of them again. It is also the first time I have taken pictures at a normal airshow as the only other airshow I have taken pictures at was Windermere airshow which was more like low level photography than an airshow as i was shooting down onto the planes. I found it very difficult panning the aircraft as they were flying above us as I have never really panned anything at that angle. Rather than head on base where it would be very crowed and wet with the rain that was forecast we headed to a field which was pretty much under the display line which meant we were far closer to the aircraft and had different photo opportunities, the place that we went to was called Rhymes Farm. When we arrived in the morning it was raining and everything seemed dire but the. Read the full article…

Salperton Park Horse Trials

Alastair BegleyEquestrian Short Link

Today I got another chance to do some equestrian photography as last week my sister found a horse to replace Supplejack, her eventer which retired after Chatsworth a few months ago. Her new horse is called Gorgeous George IV which she rode for the first time on Wednesday and as he was already entered into the competition at Salperton Park this weekend she decided to ride the Dressage and Show Jumping phases and just ignore the cross-country as riding an Intermediate XC course on a horse you have never jumped a cross-country fence on is not exactly recommended! The day went well considering that it was only the second time she has ridden the horse and she got a decent dressage score and while the show jumping did not go that well, it was also not a bad round especially considering how many others were having poles down. I am really looking forward to documenting the progress of Katherine and her new horse throughout the summer as she does her first few novices to get to know her horse before upgrading to Intermediate before the season ends.

Fun with a Ducati Multistrada

Alastair BegleySports Short Link

A few months ago I went out on the back of a friends Honda CBR 600 and since then he has changed his bike to a more comfortable sports tourer for general use and for a bike tour to Italy that he is going on in a few weeks. As I am now back home I had to go out for a ride on the back of the bike. It was far more comfortable to be a pillion passenger on than the CBR which was great and to go with the extra comfort the ride was far more relaxing with smoother gear changes and a much quieter engine. As per usual I took my camera out on the bike and we found a quiet road near to Badminton park with lovely scenery where we could do some standard biking photos and have some fun, we then headed over to Badminton park which is an large park which is beautiful and has a large amount of deer in it which we were lucky enough to see as we were driving towards the lake so I had to stop and take some. Read the full article…

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…

Downhill Biking at Triscombe

Alastair BegleySports Short Link

Today was another energetic day for me as I headed up to Triscombe in the Quantock Hills to partake in another one of my hobbies, downhill mountain biking. It is one of my favourite hobbies as it mixes large amounts of adrenalin with skill and a lot of exercise as downhill biking is actually very tiring and in the UK once you get to the bottom you have to push back up. While it is one of my favourite hobbies it is one that unfortunately I have little time for and this is only the second time I have been out this year. I headed up with a friend from Exeter and we met up with some of his friends there, it turned out to be a very long day as we didn’t leave until about 6 due to not realising how late it was due to having lots of fun and the long days at the moment. This is the first time I have been to Triscombe and I was very impressed with the trails, they were all a decent length (which does have the downside of a long push up!) and very varied with. 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…