Lake District Thursday 23rd & Friday 24th April 2015 - Binsey

Thursday 23rd April

Catbells/Derwentwater Sunrise

Another early morning start (I must be mad), up at 5am again, and took the short drive to Hawes End.

The idea was to replicate some shots I took last year when we went up Catbells and a round of other fells in that area.

Last year the day being quite misty, today was crystal clear......

I parked up at the Hawes End car park (room for about 6 cars) at the base of Catbells.

The viewpoint is about half way up the first path (Catbells path can be split into two distinct main uphill sections). There is a small, grassy, flat point where the path twists and turns, offering a good vantage point.

After setting up and waiting a while (enjoying the peace, tranquility, and mirror view of the lake), the currant bun showed itself.

These shots were taken over several minutes with 0.9 ND Hard Grad, levels tweaked in lightroom, and applied a gradient filter to lighten the mountainscape a bit, due to the hard grad line. Though the overall result is fairly dark for the "mood" of the shot.

Once the sun was pretty much up, I played around a bit with the 70-300mm zoom, and the shot of the shoreline trees and shadows works fairly well I think.

Binsey


Back to the lodge (a pattern is emerging here!), a relax and breakfast, then we headed off to climb up Binsey (our one and only Wainwright fell this trip)

Binsey is located just north of Bassenthwaite village. Parking can be made at the base of the fell roadside, at a short widening of the very narrow lane. There was already about six cars there, but we managed the last spot. The day was warm again, (very lucky for April) and we set off through the gateway, uphill straightaway heading up Binsey.

Binsey is a nice easy fell with a steady, grassy, and obvious track to the summit at 1466ft.
The views were good all around, though hazy with the heat of mid-day.

We rested at the top enjoying the views towards the Skiddaw range.

The view in the other direction was less inspiring.

The remainder of the walk saw us continue over the top of Binsey,  an easy descent, and then walking across pasture land, it was all very enjoyable.

We ate lunch at a good spot near a ruin of an old stone house (not much left of it), but a wide ledge to sit on and good views to enjoy. The worst part of the walk was the mile or so along the edge of a fairly busy A road (A591), befroe turning off left down the lane we had driven along to the parking pull in. This left us about two miles to walk along quiet lanes and a few uphill pulls before we were back at the start.

The view above from the lane back to the car.

Our Walk Score: 7/10 



Friday 24th April

Friars Crag

A fourth early morning 5am start, making the most of the good weather, saw me heading off to the Keswick Lakeside. I parked up at the main Lakeside car park (free this early in the morning, bonus).

Walking down to the ferry jetties I decied to try for a better viewpoint further along at Friars Crag, it is a much used vantage point - so it must be good - right?

Its only about 15 minutes walk from the car park along the main shore path, and again I was alone there.

After setting up the tripod and trying a few different view points I "waited for the light".

The trees frame the shot well, so can see why this spot is used and so popular.

Shot below taken a little further back, wide angle including the much photographed bench at Friars Crag.

Once the sun was up I tried a few shots between 200-300mm as the sun/mist looked particularly effective

After enjoying these scenes, and the usual relax and breakfast back at the lodge, we decided (foolishly it seems), to transport ourselves, and cycles, to Ennerdale.

However, the weather turned by mid-mornnig, with rain and cloud. It was dry when we arrived there, but very cold and unpleasantly windy cycling, so after a few miles we abandoned the ride and headed back.

The afternoon was spent shopping at Lakeland, and a steady rest of the day back at the lodge.

Saturday we headed home, with the weather now heavy rain.

Still, we had a very fine week indeed!

Lake District - Tues & Weds 21st/22nd April 2015 - Castlerigg & Thirlmere

Tuesday 21st April

Castlerigg Stone Circle (Sunrise)

A decision made to get out of bed early (5am) and drive to Castlerigg stone circle for sunrise may not be everyones idea of a good time on holiday!

However, with recent investment made in various phtography equipment, and the good weather, I decided to put it all to hopefully good use.

Exiting the lodge I was surprised to found the car iced up requiring use of de-icer, definitely a gloves and hat type morning. 

I arrived at Castlerigg just after 05:30, and after wrapping up, gathering my photo gear including tripod, I set off across the field to the stone circle.

A short survey around saw that it would be impossible to take shots looking through the circle to the rising sun as trees obscured that view.

However a view across the circle to the background fells would be good with the early morning light cast across the stones and the fells backdrop.

Pacing around a bit I found a decent spot, shortly a few others turned up, also armed with cameras and tripods. Think there were 5 or 6 of us by the time the sun started to come up.

The shots below show both a very wide (16mm) view and a lesser 35mm viewpoint. 

Also a more zoomed in approach with 70-300mm lens catching a part of the circle



......and snow on the fell tops......

Set the camera in portrait orientation and took a dozen shots to stitch together as a panorama.

When I got home I downloaded/updated to the latest version of Adobe Lightroom (2015 CC) and found that it now has ability to stitch RAW files as a panorama, instead of using Photoshop. It appeared to work OK, and added the panorama shot to the lightroom catalogue as a DNG file, so integrates very well.

Once the sun was up, packed away the gear, and drove back to the lodge for a warm up and some breakfast.


Thirlmere Cycle

After breakfast and a general relax for a while, we decided to get the cycles out and take the road straight from the lodge to Thirlmere dam (only about 2 miles). The road was not that busy, and after crossing the dam, and heading left, a good quality but narrow road runs along the lake shoreline.

There was very little traffic, and a few other cyclists. Walkers use the path running nearer the shore of the lake.  From the lodge it was 7 miles there, 7 miles back the same way.

Another nice day.

The road was virtually flat with only a few small inclines before the dam. Nice easy cycling.


Our Cycle Score: 8/10 (Easy)


Castlerigg Stone Circle (Sunset)


Having experienced Castlerigg sunrise, I decided it would be good to head back there in the evening for the sunset, taking shots from the same place but looking towards the setting sun.

We arrived around 19:30, and after setting up, and chatting to another photographer, the sun began to get lower in the sky so time for a few shots.....

Wednesday  22nd April


Thirlmere Sunrise

I must be a glutton for punishment as I had it in my head to go out early again and catch the sunrise over Thirlmere, as it inspired me on the cycle ride the day before.

So up again at 5am, and a short car ride (on a warmer morning - no de-icing required), I parked up at the car park opposite the dam. Alone this early it was really peaceful.

Cross the road from the car park and a path leads down to the shingle shore line with various rocks and wood and trees framing the lake.

The sun was behind, casting the light onto the scene.

I tried a few perspectives moving the camera/tripod around to a few different spots along the shore.

Another panoramic shot depicting the scene, albeit in a distorted manner. 

Elterwater

Back to the lodge, a rest, and breakfast, we then drove down to Elterwater for a walk we had actually done previously. This time though I wanted to vist the waterfalls with my camera and tripod to catch some decent shots.

Elterwater village was quite busy, as was the intial part of the walk along the good paths running along the water.

After a couple of miles you reach the first waterfall of Skelwith Force. Here we ate a sarnie or two, a nice spot on a sunny day.

Then when opportunity came (less people), I set up tripod on a rocky outcrop and spent a while taking some shots with with a polariser/10 stop ND filter combo to blur the flowing water. 

From here the walk crossed a bridge and headed off into much quieter woodland (and hillier), and after another couple of miles you arrive at Colwith Force waterfall, deep in the woodland.

The shot below is of a small fall after the main falls. 

Then the main falls.....

After the woodland the remainder of the walk is through much more open terrain with fantastic views to the surrounding Langdale fells.



After a mile or so you alight at Slater Bridge (old stone bridge) and head uphill for a while and a rocky downhill track then takes you back to the village.

Our Walk Score: 7/10