Freedom, at long last, the beginning of the end of lock down in England.
As the Easter holidays were upon us, and we had been given the green light to travel locally, I checked the weather forecast and decided that Friday morning was going to be the best day to plan a photography trip.
I decided to head for Catbells with the aim of capturing a sunrise shot of the sun rising over Keswick with the early light down light across the scene towards the Skiddaw mountains in the distance.
Kit packed, drinks made and food prepared, alarm set and full of enthusiasm, until I got outside, I was surprised to see that there was a fine covering of ice on the car windscreen when I went outside. As I traveled towards Keswick in the dark, the outside temperatures fluctuated between -1 to -3.5 degrees, I was not expecting it to be this cold.
Once parked I donned a couple of layers, hat and gloves and set off up the fell in the dark using a head torch, aiming for the top of Catbells before sunrise which was in a hours time.
A BIG shock to the system, as I started climbing, my body was suddenly telling me that it did not fancy this at all, huffing and puffing, getting hotter and hotter, reality struck, I am far from being in a suitable physical condition to be climbing up the side of a mountain!!
Regular rest stops were made, and time to get my breath back, still the steepness did not reduce, mind over matter, i will make it over this damn hill.
I finally got on the to lower summit of Skelgill Bank, and it was here that I decided to take some time to recover from the climb, boy was I in a state.
After 20 minutes or so, I could now see what was in front of me to reach Catbells summit, reality check needed, i decided I would struggle to get to the summit with the real possibly of missing the sunrise, so I decided to stay put and see if I could get some photographs from where I was.
I set up the tripod, and began trying to pick out compositions in readiness for the sunrise. The sky to the east was clear, but not a cloud to be seen, this meant that there would be little or no interest in the sky so any photos would need to accommodate this.
I was initially aiming to get a photo looking in to the sunrise, but has I scanned around me I noticed that the sky behind me (to the west) was beginning to turn pink/blue. I then turned through 180 degrees and began to look for compositions here.
I captured a good photo looking up Newlands Valley towards Buttermere, but there was little interesting light at this time. The frost covered valley floor did add a comparison the the higher slopes of the fells.
Has the sun rose, it began to hit the peaks of the Cumbrian Mountains across Newlands Valley, so I picked out some photos from what was in front of me.
As time went by, I was waiting for the light to strike the Skiddaw range in the far distance in the hope that this would have enough detail in it to make a good photograph. Sure the light began to strike the mountains, but a haze had developed in the valley which removed a lot of the details in the scene.
Once back at home and upon reviewing the images I took, the foreground that I used was not very complimentary to the scene, too much fuss and confusion.
So here I was, about 60 minutes after sunrise and the light was becoming harsh, so i decide to pack up and look forward to re-tracing my route back down to the road.
What a surprise I got, literally dozens of people coming up the mountain towards me, so early in the morning, a sign of things to come later in the day me thinks.
I made it safely back to the car where I had a drink and a bite to eat, silently contemplating my morning so far, number one priority, I need to get some exercise quickly, I am so out of shape, I blame nearly 12 months of constant lock down, but there again I am biased in my judgement.
As it was not too late at this point, I decided to head for Isthmus Bay on Derwent Water to see if the old jetty would be poking through the high waters from the recent heavy rain fall we have had, and maybe have a walk around the northern shore of the lake.
Once at Isthmus Bay, I was disappointed to see that the jetty was still underwater, and that the path to Crow Park was underwater, as I did not have wellies on my feet, i decided to call it a day and head for home to help ease my old aching body.
