I think you will all agree with me when I say the weather has been a bit of a buggers muddle this week. It’s been a mixture of mainly rain interspersed with some dry spells and even some sun, but mainly it’s been a bloody pain. I shouldn’t moan though as at least I do have the chance to get out and about now and so this week’s blog comes from the Wonderful Peak District again.

I took the chance, and I know I’m lucky to be able to do this, to reduce my working commitments, so I can spend more time doing things I enjoy. Then again, I have worked bloody hard for over 40 years so maybe I do deserve the chance. Anyway, the things I enjoy are the things I will do with this new found freedom.

Mam Tor

I was sat in my office (think spare bedroom with a desk) on Wednesday and I slowly got the sense that the weather was improving and in fact the sun was breaking through. A plan hatched in my head (subliminally) as I finished the days work and set about preparing the evening meal. The weather apps said a 30% chance of rain, so in my mind it’s a 70% chance of no rain!! More about this later.

Once tea was over, my backpack and tripod where hoicked into the car and off I went in search of a sunset image. You already know where I was headed as the title of this section tells you, but it’s been 9 months since my last visit to Mam Tor.  For those who know this area there are lots of routes up, but by far the quickest is via the steep steps route from the back of the National Trust car park. 

A cool 45 minutes after I left my house I was stood on the top of Mam Tor, thinking what a wonderful evening this was and what great images I was going to get. I think it’s about a third of the way up the main path, that you can nip off to the side and get a view of the road that heads off down towards Edale. There are loads of versions of this online so here is my first interpretation of the long and winding road. I quite like it for a first attempt.

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The last time I was at the summit I was surrounded by folk, it was a clear morning and everybody was out doing what they do. This time there was just me and a few sheep!! Mam Tor is called the “Mother Hill” maybe its because there are lots of mummy sheep with their offspring, click the link and you can read the reason why its called the “Mother Hill”. The second image here shows my company on the summit along with the cairn stone on the top.

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My main reason for wanting to climb to the top was that this gives great views of the “Great Ridge” and my focus was on trying to capture an interesting image of the ridge that is laid out in front as you walk over the other side of the summit. There certainly is a grand vista to be seen from here and the next two images show my first attempts at capturing the wonderful view you get of the “Great Ridge”.

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At this point I started to get the feeling that I was more or less alone for a very good reason, the wind was getting up and I could see the rain coming in over the cement works down in the valley. It swept in very quickly, so quickly that I didn’t even have time to walk down to the gate and fence that would add a little something extra to the images of the ridge. Let’s just say it rained. I was soaked. I did have my decent jacket on and my backpack has a waterproof cover, but by the time I’d walked down off the summit back to the car park, I was a tad wet. Good job I’d made a flask of coffee, so I dried off in the car and had a warming brew. 

I will be back on Mam Tor to capture that sunset shot, but this night wasn’t the night where I achieved that, but the images here I’m pleased with.

An Afternoon of Persistence

With the weather being so rubbish it’s easy to think of excuses why it’s best to stay in doors. This was me on Friday morning, food orders to sort out and as it turned out banks to speak to and a socially distanced visit to see my mum in law. 

All this could have become an excuse to stay home but I decided I wanted to go out, some might say I have itchy feet, I think that is right!!

I’ve been researching other places to visit in the “Peaks” and I spotted Stanage Edge in the distance a few times I’ve been in the Hope Valley over the past few weeks. So today was the day to go look at Stanage Edge, or so I thought. The drive is the same drive as when I went to Higger Tor, and the car park is a little further over. As I drove to where I thought I’d park and eat my lunch, I thought I’d follow my nose and head a little further round the valley, and as I did a better car park with paths up came into view.

I pulled my car into the purpose built spot and got out to dig out my lunch from the boot. You’d think I would have realised doing all that driving that the weather was rubbish, but I was greeted with a gale force wind and a face full of rain. Get back in the car and eat your lunch was my immediate thought. 

The mobile reception isn’t great there but the weather apps al had rain, rain and more rain for the rest of the day. Having been soaked a few nights previous I wasn’t up for getting wet again. An hour later and no signs of the rain stopping I decided that this would be a day of reconnaissance, and I’d leave the camera in my back pack. Without Sat Nav I was just driving without any real idea of where I was going but after about 30 minutes I found myself pulling into the car park at Surprise View. The real surprise for me was that the rain had stopped. So I quickly put on my coat and boots, got my camera and set off up the hill. 

I’d been here a few weeks earlier and didn’t want to take the same pictures of the rocky outcrops again, but was taken with the lovely trees and ferns that are dotted around this and the rest of the Peaks. The first image is of a bank of ferns, with a faint hint of a path through them, where does it go? I spent a good hour wandering around the hillside, which leads to Owler Tor, but I’m not happy with the images I took of the trees, it was very windy and the landscapes are very messy when there are lots of trees. The second image here is of the new fence and gate that have been installed here, that give a sense of direction over to Higger Tor and Upper Burbage in the distance. I like fences and walls…….. but you know this already.

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Sadly the rain came down again, and I needed to head off home to prepare for the evenings quiz with the lads. Well I say prepare, a quick text to my son yielded 8 questions that would get asked in my section of the quiz later. 

The drive home is via Castleton and Winnats Pass, and as I got nearer I realised the rain had stopped and very fortuitously I spied a spot where I could park my car within walking distance of the lovely stone walls that lie between Castleton and Winnats Pass. There is a half baked idea in my head that I will create myself a little photography project involving walls but it remains just that at this point……. A half baked idea. 

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I took the opportunity to pull into the car park of Speedwell cavern that sits at the bottom of Winnats Pass, I wanted to take a few images of the lower end of the pass. The two images here give a sense of the scale of the pass, with the car on the round being dwarfed by the scale of the rock faces of the pass. Of course, all you geologists will now know where to contact should you need any rocks from Winnats Pass (see the last image for details).

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The day was a triumph of persistence with the camera if not the quiz later, where I picked up the wooden spoon. Such is life.

Stanage Edge

Not being one to be put off easily, I was once again consulting my weather apps to check what the weather had in store for Saturday. They all said that it would start off rubbish but would improve as the day wore on. This is exactly what happened, along with a lot of wind. 

I decided that the best thing to do was to park up in the same car park as the day before and work my way up the paths I saw when I ate my lunch on Friday. This is exactly happened. The path was easy walking with the right footwear, and only a little bit of scrambling to get up the last bit. It really pays to have a decent pair of walking boots and I always leave mine in the boot so I’m in no danger of leaving them at home and having to walking in whatever I have on my feet.

Once you get above the top of the edge the wind was howling, and I mean howling. It was a good job that I had my big Benro tripod with me as this is stable and the camera was more than secure on the top.

The first image I took about half way up the path from the car park, I don’t know why but I really like the ferns (I think they are ferns) and the huge expanse of them leading all the way up to the edge itself. This sets the scene for where the other images come from on the top.

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You’d think that the tops of the edges and the rocky outcrops would all be the same but it’s amazing how different they all feel from each other. Yes the rocks are the same, yes they all look out over a grand vista of the Hope Valley, but they really do feel different to me. Maybe this is because it’s my first time on the top of some of them but they do seem different to me.

I do like to try to find images that are a good mix of wide views of the valley but also incorporating the essence of each place. There are some slabs of rock that make great climbing (if you’re into that) and sure enough I came across lots of ropes and both men and women climbing, whatever “floats your boat” I guess. I’m not really sure how far the edge stretches out for but it’s certainly an impressive sight, and the third image here has a big slab and the edge stretching out in the distance within the same image. I think this works quite well.

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I guess it’s inevitable that with the rain we have had over the past week that I would come across some pools of water. The one I found I’m thrilled with because not only have I been able to catch the force of the wind blowing the water, but I’ve also managed to get the grand vista of the valley as background. I really like this image.

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I really think that some more exploration is required as the way down was a little bit of a scramble and the pathways where not as clear as I’d expected. Nonetheless it was a lovely walk and I thoroughly enjoyed the walk and photography and the day as a whole. Then came the rain!