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
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
No comments:
Post a Comment