Malvern hills with Gillian , 15th feb 2012

Sorry ,just haven't had time to write this one!    its an old one.  But a trip to remember :)

Gill asked me to take her on a trip, she was a little Down this week !  so we ( she ) decided Malvern Hills would be a good idea , and there was a Deer park within walking distance!  but she didn't tell me about the walking part until we where there!   Arghhh  i thought i would just drive there!!!!  Lazy Git!
  should take more notice of what she says next time!
So after picking her up,  an hour late! Ooops !  She wont let me forget about that:(  after i took wrong exit and had to do a huge detour around the m42!  Arghhhhhh   We then drove all the way to Malvern, About 45 minutes i think it was.  we parked up, and it was COLD!  really Cold!, and i couldn't find my scarf, even though i did have it coming out of the house!!!     Yes Gill found it quite funny as usual , but after only 10 minutes walking i was quite warm, and she was quite Hot!  haha .   the light was basically rubbish!   so photo opportunities were not that good, we climbed up above the small reservoir , where 2 days previous it was still covered in ice and snow!   it is an interesting area , but would need nice early morning light to make it worth while!

This is British camp reservoir

Walking along to the top of the Hill on the right hand side of the above image we came to a wonderful spiral set of steps ..   all that was needed was some nice light!!!

Gillians plan was to walk over to Eastnor Deer Park , i thought ok , will be great to photograph the deer.  little did i know what would happen later!

Off we walked heading for Hangmans hill, which was the nearest landmark to "The obelisk " which was built in 1812 in memory of Edward Somers, whose family owned the castle and estate at Eastnor. from here it was easy to find the park!

 the sky was quite overcast , but did give a few breaks to give small light shafts across the Malverns

WE eventually stumbled upon what turned out to be "Cutters Cave"  which was superb location for a portrait shoot :))

Gill had earlier said  "in her words "

" Eastnor Deer Park is within walking distance so fingers crossed i might get time to visit (aka: drag Phil over there whether he likes it or not!) :)     "

So after fun in the cave we carried on walking, and walking, and walking!!!!!  all the way to Hangmans hill, where we discovered no way to get to the obelisk!  Arghhhh   , so backtracking and taking a path through News wood we almost came to the Obelisk! well, we could see it! but still couldn't find the path to get to it!!!    Eventually we managed to get there , but struggled to get a good image with the bright back lighting!

From here there was an easy path leading down to Eastnor park!    we came across this amazing looking old dead tree!

                                 At this point we could see "the deer park"  and Eastnor Castle  

Just after i shot this we came to the park itself, the clouds briefly cleared to clear blue sky!  and it was   Amazing to see loads of Buzzards suddenly appear circling in the sky, up to 11 counted all in a small area!  i managed this image, hard to get detail in the birds but it does show what a great sight it was!  and even now it is hard to believe how blue the sky was for just a short space of time!

                        and momentarily the sun lit up the trees! Before the clouds came over again!

  Now where would the Deer be Dear  ?  i asked the "Deer Expert"  "must be somewhere " was the reply!   any how, 2 hours later , after looking all over the "Deer park"  NO DEER!!!!!!!!!!    I was not amused!   Gill then said , after looking on the map on her i phone, the other side of the high bank ( in above image)  is also part of the park, they must be over there!   so of we went again, over the small bridge by one of the lakes and started to climb the steep hillside ( or rather Gill did )   i sat down as didn't think she was correct!!!   lol          She got to the top  and after a few minutes i noticed her waving her arms!!   she must have seen them i thought , so i made my way all the way to the top!!!!!!!!  to find " NO DEER" !!   i was not happy i can tell you!
After a quick search on the other side we sat down on a bench to eat lunch, i was just scanning the area through the lens and suddenly spotted DEER!!!!!!!  BUT, they where in a fenced off enclosure near to a farm house which we could not get too!  Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

                         So!  this is the only image of Deer to be shot All day in a " DEER PARK"
                                                      You can just about see them LOL

Gill then said, that fence will not stop me shooting a deer!  Off we went to see how close we could get to them,  the answer was "Not very close! " lol   they spooked as soon as we got within about 400 yards.

So after spending about two & a half hours being dragged all over the place by Gillian looking for Non existent Deer !  

 I just could not take it any more!  there was only one thing i could do!!!!!!!

 

  "KILL  HER"  !!!!!!

So here is  " DEAD GILL"

SO FUNNY!  we couldn't stop laughing for ages after this!!!

After all this fun , it was starting to get late, the sun was slowly setting but i could see the clouds splitting apart and could tell that might have the chance of a good sunset!  and what a sunset it turned out to be!   after a steady climb back up to near Hangmans hill and" Cutter Cave" we shot an amazing sunset with the "obelisk" silhouetted against the sky!

 

 

 

And while Gillian was shooting the wrong way!  haha  the sky was starting to turn a wonderful shade of orange!  

I Shot this!

                 So a disappointing start, an interesting fun middle and a superb end to a great trip! 
                             We always manage to have a really great time with loads of fun :)

                                                                       Thank you Gillian :)

                                        Images shot with canon 5d2, 17-40L , 70-300 is f5.6