I spent the weekend in the Lakes, enjoying the scenery and scale of the Langdale valley (when the weather cleared enough to see anything!) I was hoping to shoot some good panoramas during a scramble and walk on the Saturday, but the weather wasn’t condusive to such plans. We followed Stickle Ghyll up from the Sticklebarn pub, reaching Stickle Tarn before scrambling up Jake’s Rake on Pavey Ark. Luckily on the Sunday the clouds parted enough to catch the Ghyll in full flow in the sun for a few minutes, enough to capture this shot. We’d seen an organised party of teenagers doing a ghyll scramble here the day before … looked like a lot of fun.
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I recently visited Iceland for a long weekend break, and was awed by the culture and scenery of the island. This was the first stop on the classic “Golden Circle” tour of Thingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss: Thingvellir is an extraordinary place even by Icelandic standards. Here you can see the river Öxará flowing over a cliff which marks the edge of the rift valley between the North American and Eurasian plates: you couldn’t ask for a better demonstration of continental drift if you tried. Apparently the valley gets wider by 2cm every year: I can empathise with this case of middle-aged spread.
Rather than facing the tribulations of a coach tour, we hired a car and drove through the increasing wild countryside before getting to the National Park, about 40km east of Reykjavik. I caught a glimpse of this waterfall as we arrived, and so we parked up to take a look. The car park was like a skating rink, and the path up the hillside to the cliffs was perilous, but the ensuing view of the falls was worth every gingerly-taken step there. Best of all, the place was deserted (Thingvellir is excedingly important to the Icelander’s pysche and culture but a wet Sunday in November was obviously not the most popular time to visit) so we got to clamber about and take a load of photos of this extremely picturesque waterfall, before wandering under the brooding cliff face to view where the national assembly met for almost 1000 years. The clouds hung low and obscured the scale of the site somewhat, but there are fews better ways to appreciate the raw beauty of this landscape than to see it swathed in snow and cloud.
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Categories: friends and family, landscapes, panorama, personal Tags: ice, iceland, panorama, park, river, snow, waterfall, Þingvellir
A night time view of Liverpool: European City of Culture 2008. Standing with Albert Dock behind, and looking towards Pier Head and the Three Graces (The Royal Liver, Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings).
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This extraordinary feat of Edwardian engineering is the Transporter Bridge spanning the River Tees. Passengers and vehicles are transported across the river on a large suspended platform, allowing large ships to easily pass under the high upper structure.
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Watching a very swollen beck from the grounds of St Mary’s Church in the picturesque village of Luddenden, near Halifax.
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Categories: friends and family, landscapes, panorama, personal Tags: calderdale, church, churchyard, halifax, luddenden, panorama, river, west yorkshire
Under Tinsley Viaduct, near Meadowhall, Sheffield
Had to shoot this spot when i saw it: it represents much of what fascinates me about the post-industrial landscapes of the north. It’s a confluence point for transport throughout the ages: the canal and river running parallel to each other, the double deck viaduct of the M1 above, and some reasonable graf on the far bank. Love the contrast of light and shade, natural and man-made objects, and the unexpected tranquility of the scene.
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Categories: cityscapes, landscapes, panorama, personal Tags: canal, graffiti, meadowhall, panorama, river, sheffield, tinsley, viaduct, yorkshire