The Lakes , Torver and Banishead Quarry 3 rd/4 th Jan 2022

 A New Year, 2022   wonder what will happen with the dreaded Corvid this year.  Our first trip out in the van.  Booked into Church House Inn campsite at Torver on the banks of Coniston.

I have not really been around this area much so will be interesting couple of days .Arriving early afternoon there is just a few hours of daylight to take a walk down to Coniston .

The fells are covered in low cloud and feels like it could rain at any time, we are walking down the old railway track heading to Coniston Hall by the lake. 

There are sheep everywhere so keeping the terrible twosome on the leads.

                                       The Old Man is up there in the clag. previous walk HERE

Paddling in Coniston water, the weather is not very nice and its getting dark!  a fast walk back to the van needed now, it will be completely dark by the time we get back.

Back at the van and Ozzy is snuggling in, its forecast to be around minus 1 tonight and feels really cold already.

I have got up early to hopefully photograph the sunrise,   the van is covered in ice and the ground well frosted.   I am heading to Kelly Hall Tarn, which is about 15 minutes walk down the road on Torver common.  Arriving i can see a large tree has come down in last years storms, and the tarns surface is partially frozen.

As usual I have missed the best of the colour, only about 10 minutes ago it looked really nice!

                                    The frozen surface at least adds interest in the foreground.

The sun has now come up and is illuminating the fells , shooting from the opposite side from the previous images to get this one. 

Time to get the drone up,  a panorama image using the x7 telephoto lens on the Mavic 3 drone.  these mountains are about 3 miles away.

The early morning light is illuminating the ridge behind the tarn and the landscape into the distance, a great aerial view.

Now the view looking down Coniston water with the Langdales covered in snow. The light over the common is fabulous picking out all the contours in the shadows.

Turning the drone around to pick up this unusually green group of fields surrounded by stone walls.  on Ordnance survey maps it just says  "Delicars"  it certainly makes an impact in the image.

That is the end of the good light , it now looks bland and flat in comparison, so back to the van for pancakes before we head out again.

The plan is to head up to Banishead Quarry , a short walk up the main road and then up a track heading towards the Coniston fells.  It is a bit warmer now most of the frost has melted but the ground is quite hard.

                                           Snow up on the tops as the track heads upwards

The Coniston fells open out with I think, Buck Pike and Dow crag in front, the Old Man is further round to the right hidden from view.

                                                              Shooting the Torver Beck 

                                                        Terrible Twosome tied to the bridge.

After Reaching Torver Beck , there is a bridge over the water, just past this point I take this image

using a 6 stop nd filter to smooth out the water.  The quarry is a few hundred meters ahead.

               Drone time , its quite windy up here so will just take a couple images then move on.

                                                                  12 frame panorama 

                                                                          

                                                                            single frame 

Here is the quarry,  the sun is in the wrong direction to shoot any good images , it is fenced off but I believe there is a way down to stand under the waterfall somehow. one day I will try that when the sun is in a better angle.

 Best image of the waterfall shooting into the sun made it very difficult , 5dsr 100-400mm

                            Now for a couple Vertorama images , all 5 frames Mavic 3 

Time to head back now, passing this fallen tree. such a shame, and one of hundreds that came down in the last storm.

The end of first trip of the year ,............................... until the next 

Rhiwargor Waterfall walk Oct 15 th 2020

Today I am going to visit the Rhiwargor waterfalls which are located at the North end of Lake Vyrnwy in Mid Wales.   It is about a 2 hour drive so I set off early at 7am , well early for me that is   haha.   

Arriving at Vyrnwy at about 9 am I have stopped to get a couple of images along the right hand road that goes around the lake.  As it turns out the left hand road is closed due to a landslide or fallen trees .

                                                              5DSR  100-400L

                                                           9 frame panorama p4p drone

I need to move on down towards the waterfall carpark now as the forecast is actually for thick cloud, which is hard to believe looking at this clear blue sky!

    There is a large car park at the top end of the lake , and a fairly easy 30 minutes walk up the river.

There are the falls in the distance. I have decided to fly from here first while the sun is still on the trees as there is already cloud approaching from behind.

                                                                       9 frame panorama 

                               Clouds are already casting shadows over the trees and falls .

                                   Now to cross over the bridge to get to the base of the falls.

                                                              A nice table to take off from .

Having moved closer to the falls I can now fly closer to the falls more safely keeping well away from the tree branches to shoot these Vertorama images.  Both 6 frames merged in Lightroom.

Now its time to leave, having used all three drone batteries but as I get further away there is a really nice view over the trees. Out with the 5dsr and long 100-400mm lens.   these are both multi frame merged images . 

                                                                        4 frames merged

                                                                     7 frames merged.

I guess the weather forecast was wrong, its been a beautiful sunny day!

                                                                       A nice walk back now .

                        This was the last trip out before the November Lockdown 2.  Dam virus