The World Is Waiting for you...
Lockdown has finally lifted in the UK. As of the 19th July, all restrictions on movement within England and Social distancing rules were relaxed and instead became 'Advisory and Optional'.
It's a reprieve after a long 15 months of very impactive restrictions upon our freedom of movement.
I'm not going to go into whether or not i think the lockdown measures were enough, or too much. This is an artistic and adventure blog.
Yet, I will say that it feels great to be able to move around again without restriction.
I live in West Yorkshire and I'm pretty central for travelling by train, Aeroplane and car to get anywhere in the UK or overseas.
I have no desire right now to travel overseas, until the rest of the world has chance to reach a level playing field on the vaccine front.
So, for the remainder of this year and possibly 2022 also, I have set the goal of exploring the UK and discovering the many places I have probably taken for granted.
I've been to our first National park, the Peak District on several Occasions now. It reminds me of a mini Lake District in some ways. Beautiful rolling hills and rocky outcrops and crags, littered with streams and water falls here and there offer walking, hiking and in somme cases, climbing within an area easily accessible by car, bike or on foot.
I've previously explored Kinder Scout, Bleaklow Hill and Mam Tor so far and I am still expanding this catalogue.
Of these places I have visited, my favourite so far is Mam Tor and the Great Ridge.
Mam Tor is only 517m (1619ft) elevation, yet the walk up from the National Trust car park at the foot of the hill is a short but steep and energetic walk up to the top.
The 360 degree panoramic views from the top out towards Edale Valley and in the opposite direction, the lovely little town of Castleton are amazing.
So a few days ago, after a pretty busy day, my Wife and i decided to jump in the car one hot sunny evening and head there to take in a sunset and get some head clearing hiking done.
We packed a small bag each with some food, water and a brew kit for a proper cup of tea, and braved the M1 motorway rush hour traffic.
In just 1 hour and 20 minutes were were there. It was about 6.30 pm and the 30 degree heat of the day had dropped to a slightly more sensible 25 degrees, so we headed up Mam Tor to find a spot to eat and get set up with my camera and tripod in order to grab some shots of the sunset.
Mam Tor was the busiest I'd seen it. Small groups and couples alike and fell runners adorned the hillside and The Great Ridge. The air was almost still, which is unusual as every other time I have been there has always been a breeze and at times, strong winds.
It was incredibly peaceful despite the 50+ people who were on the hill, apparently awaiting the sunset as they poised with mobile phones and one or two 'Proper', cameras in hand.
I'd taken the Fujifilm with me on this occasion, with some Cokin graduated ND filters and a tripod. I travelled fairly light and took just one lens, the awesome 18-55mm XF lens. The best kit lens I have ever used of any brand by far.
We hiked up Mam Tor and further on along the ridge to Back Tor, where i fired off a few shots towards Kinder Scout and Jcobs Ladder. We then grabbed a quick bite to eat and enjoyed the view and warm sunlight bathing our skin.
I'd already checked the sunset times and i wanted to be back on the summit of Mam Tor for 30 mins before sunset to catch the amazing light from the last 30 mins of golden hour.
We overshot on time having temporarily lost ourselves in the gorgeous sun, scenery and our chatting about how much we loved this area and that it may well be our favourite spot in the UK so far.
Sunset was at 2103hrs that day and it was 2010hrs, so i left the camera on the tripod, threw my back pack on and popped the camera and tripod, with filter system attached over my shoulder and marched on up the hill on a speed march of sorts.
25-30 minutes later I'd reached the summit of Mam Tor again and i was able to set up the camera in seconds and got on with shooting the most of the shots you see here.
if anyone is interested, my wife shot the images of me working the scene on her Google Pixel 4 mobile phone.
After around 20-30 minutes of shooting the sun disappeared behind some low cloud on the horizon just above Jacob's Ladder, so we never got to see the anticipated light show i expected.
I still managed to get some shots I am pleased with however.
We then headed back off down the hill and back to the car, where en-route i grabbed another couple of shots from the ascent ridge that leads up from the road behind the National Trust Car park. I was drawn to the winding road that meandered through the valley landscape, which i said to my wife, reminded me of a panned out driving scene from a Top Gear episode.
A short time later we were back at the car where i rustled up an Adventure Foods pasta bolognese (which was very tasty i might add) and a freshly made cup of tea for the both of us.
We arrived home just after 11pm and we'd had a great time.
The last thing i want to say is that when i thought of the idea to pop to Mam Tor that evening, I almost talked myself out of it. I was telling myself that the traffic would be too busy, that we'd arrive back really late when we had an early start the next morning, asking myself also, could i be arsed carrying all my camera gear and food, water etc? The fact is, it was a great evening that was not only a great creative opportunity, but also deeply satisfying and mentally healing.
Don't let your head sabotage what the heart wants to do. Just get out there and do it.
Don't just think that you'd like to do this and that and then keep putting it off. Just keep it simple and get on with it.
Thanks for clicking onto this post and i hope you found it of interest and most of all, I hope it inspires you to be a bit more spontaneous, because we all have that little voice in our heads that tries to talk us out of these little mini adventures. Remember...The World is waiting for you.
Please like if you do and share with your mates and fellow photogs and adventurers.
All the best and i will see you all soon with another post.
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