The Best Wrong Mountain climb ever Dec 2nd 2012 pt1

Well it was the day of another Twitteratti walk, i drove up to the lakes to meet friends for a walk around the Coledale Horseshoe, or at least i thought we were! 

 driving along the a66 towards Keswick the view of Blencathra came into view, snow capped and lit up in early morning sun , as i stopped to take an image a flock of seagulls appeared and what a super image it made :D     view large  HERE

 we all met in the car park in Braithwaite near to Keswick early on sunday morning. Gina had sent us all an e mail with the route ,including which path to take out of the car park.   so we all knew roughly where we where going:)
so after a group photo

 what did we all do?    yes you guessed it, took the wrong path out of car park  lol   instead of the small path behind the cars we started walking along the very good wide flat track down the valley!  Ooops
but we didnt realise this fact for another half hour!

walking along the path, chatting and taking some images of the snow capped mountains of Skiddaw behind us , i mention to Jimmy pointing up at Grisedale pike and said " arnt we supposed to be up there? "  he said the others know which route we are taking.

                                                       looking behind us to Skiddaw

i have just taken this image above and having caught up with Tanya ,she has informed me we have gone the wrong way!   Ooops,  Dave did suggest we climb straight up the fell side, but one look and everyone said  No way   haha    it appears everyone followed each other even though a few had already walked this route.   pity Ray wasnt with us , he would have known, and in reply to a txt someone sent him, his reply was " you didnt make that mistake did you? "     Doh

we are carrying on walking down the low valley track alongside the coledale beck  towards the Force Crag mine workings

coming to this stream we found the very smooth wet stepping stones very slippery and it was quite difficult to get across safely without falling in , Sian actually tumbled twice but was unscathed fortunatly, it would be so easy to twist an ankle or worse!

the path is at last taking us upwards , i stop briefly to shoot this image of the sun lighting up a pool of water, the oily surface reflecting the snow capped mountains and tinging the colour

                              and a panorama looking behind us towards Skiddaw again.

looking back towards our intended summit , Grisedale Pike. it soon became clear we were NOT going to climb it!    after a quick discussion it was decided to head towards Grasmoor which appears to be covered in snow  yay :)

gaining height rapidy we have now just past Coledale Hause and here is the view!   what a sight to behold, snow and blue sky ,what an amazing view.

walking along towards Grasmoor the snow is getting deeper and deeper, the surface frozen into a crust which is making walking far easier than soft powdery snow. 
                     Grisedale Pike with a slight covering of snow with Skiddaw in the distance.

                       here are the two"Glam walkers"  Tanya and Gina with Grasmoor behind.
                             please take a look at Tanyas blog HERE  & Ginas blog HERE

                       now loads of snowy shots as we make our way up to the base of Grasmoor :)

          i love how the snow folds across the landscape with the light catching all the bumps :D

      Time for a group shot, at the base of the climb up to Grasmoor summit , i got my silhouette in too

The amazing day will continue in part two , a tale of sledging i-phones,dangerous edge walk and views to die for  :D   which could have happened!

New Years Day Mountain walk 2013

Well the new year is here at last , hope its better weather wise than last year.
not having been out over x mas feeling all fluey  i just had to get out for a walk and take some images, at least the new year has started off dry!
parking at the Ogwen cottages early this morning, i guess everyone has stayed in bed as its deserted up here . its dry but very overcast and the wind is awful. going to have trouble with long exposures with wind moving camera .  walking up the short path to the wooden bridge to shoot the main waterfall i can see Tryfan is covered in low cloud ,and there is a lot of water coming down after all the recent heavy rain we have had.

       this is the last falls coming down from Cym Idwal that sits beneath the Devils kitchen.i have photographed this a thousand times , always has a different look to it :)

 moving around the left side where the small waterfall path leaves the main path, i have just noticed this rather nice composition , with less water coming down its not usually like this.

 making my way up the falls to the usuall spots , the extra water always changes the look of the falls , i have got my camera as low as i can for this image , looking up with the Devils Kitchen Amphitheatre in background.

continuing my way up to the lake the cloud is building and swirling around the mountain tops :)

and looking down to the Ogwen valley from the bridge over the outflow from Llyn Idwal.

the light is not very good, very little sun managing to break through , but when it did i got lucky , i have been experimenting with longer exposures today and doing so has smoothed out the heavily rippled surface on the lake . the sun briefly lit up the far bank under the Kitchen . my favourite image of the day so far.

                                       a few images of the lake, it is a spectacular area

walking up the path towards the kitchen to get a view across the lake towards Pen - yr- ole- wen    (i never spell that correctly   lol )

                        and looking into the Devils Kitchen :)  the low cloud shrouding the top

            Grim!   Arghhhhh   weather is awful now for photography , back down to car now i think.

        looking down to Llyn Ogwen, with a glimmer of sunshine in the distance. look how dark it is!

                         and i am now back at the wooden bridge and the main waterfall.

a quick shot of the falls again, fast shutter speed freezes the water in comparison with the slow blurred water effect in all the other images.

                                               Under the main road flows the waterfall :)

well it wasnt the best of days to be out taking photographs but a good start to the new year :D

Dino Adventure sep 17 th 2012

For a change, a quick trip to Chester zoo as the weather not too good, especially for the mountains.   really enjoy going to the zoo , always something to photograph but this time it was a fun day walking around the Dino exhibit :)

but first, a few shots from around the Zoo on the way to the gardens where the Dino's are set out.
first to see where the bush dogs, always fun to watch running around following each other :D

                            walking past the raptors i have managed a shot of one of the owls in the aviary

           and one of the two gorgeous tiger cubs :)  which have now been sent away to form new breeding pairs in Europe :(    will miss seeing them!

       Right!  its Dino time, i have not a clue what to expect. starting next to the "realm of the  Comodo dragon "   with this bronze statue

walking through the entrance i can see a small Dino in the bushes  but then came face to face with this!!!!!!

  i have just been soaked as it spits water! wtf!     so funny really :D  very realistic with all parts animated moving backwards and side to side then bending down to eye level .

  further down the path i have come across this huge head!   haha  not moving though

                                around the corner is Triceratops with little babies :) cute!

                                                 they merge is so well in with the gardens

                                                                peanut head Dino :)

                                                    must be feeding time for the Dino's lol

                                                Tyrannosaurus Rex , with a youngster

 

baby in the bushes :D

stuck in the mud???????

that was the last of the Dino exhibits

walking around the rest of the i take a few shots before it starts to rain, sigh!

                                                 a face only a mother could love  haha

i have taken shelter in the tropical house, but is so dark in here i am really struggling to  shoot anything, managed this lovely image using iso 4000 to get enough shutterspeed.

                       i have chased this sunbittern around for ages , this is the best i can get.

i stop off in the jaguar house, not a sign of the big cats but for once the sloth is in a position to photograph is face!  Yay    iso 6400 for this one as its very dark , but is first time i have ever seen its face :D

                             the end of a unusual day to say the least , really enjoyed it :D