Weavers' Way part two: windmills and big skies

Distance: 31 miles
Walked: Sunday 24 March 2013
Total miles walked this year: 92

I was sad to wash the Norfolk muck from my boots yesterday. I was born and raised in Norfolk, lived there for thirty-odd years but now that I've been away for some years it feels more like home than ever.

I've seen pictures of Broadland's flat horizon and I've holidayed on the Broads, but on Sunday when I walked the second half of Weavers' Way (I walked the first half around this time last year) I saw countryside that was new to me. The windmills, half a dozen in view at one time. The reeds. The easterly wind blowing in from the sea with nothing to stop it. And the huge sky which simply couldn't be any bigger.

Weavers' Way is sixty miles and can be broken down into up to seven sections. For a good all-day walk and it breaks down perfectly into two equal sections at Stalham, which happily has a fantastic chip shop.

I walked the first half; Cromer to Stalham and for convenience of transport I then walked the second section in reverse; Great Yarmouth to Stalham.

I'll be writing about some misadventures separately, and adding details of the second half of this long-distance path to my site at uk-walks.info.

More pictures from today's Weavers' Way walk at Flickr

Woodland - trying to be creative

Mum and I both like taking photographs, but at Christmas discussed that we were both a bit fed up with the regular old cheesy shots and decided to have a monthly(ish) challenge to get more creative.

For March our theme was 'Woodland' and so while out walking on Wednesday I tried some interesting compositions and also some special effects (nothing very clever).

Can you see what's wrong here?

This oil painting effect is achieved with the camera while snapping.

More photos from this walk are on Flickr

Misty

I wouldn't normally have turned out in such low-vis weather. But I couldn't wait to get out and start breaking in my new boots - more of that another time.

Maybe sunny shots look better but there's an eerie atmosphere on a foggy day and I challenged myself to try and capture it.

Close-up shots have a different quality, with the light being so unusually flat and even.

I was fascinated by this new willow fence / hedge, see the catkins!

Trying not to take the same ol' snowdrop picture

Mum and I were talking about how we tend to take point-and-click pictures when we walk. She laid down a challenge - we should get more creative and make it a competition.

So I put the thinking cap on for a while and came up with an effect that I wanted to try. Not an original idea but I'll take full credit for the execution:

Fantastic day for walking today and with the snowdrops in full effect it would have been wrong not to nip over to Dimminsdale on the Derbyshire / Leicestershire border. A round trip to Breedon Church made it a nice 6-mile leg-stretch.

More pictures from today here on Flickr

Seizing the day - Froggatt Edge under snow

Hard work pays you back in many ways. One is that a pint tastes so much better, and another is the wonderful views

I'd normally take these 9 miles in my stride, but snow and ice (not to mention being a bit out of shape) made the walk - not to put too fine a point on it - bloody hard work.

But on a day that has interesting skies and a blanket of snow, the high places call. I feel lucky that these amazing views along Froggatt Edge and Curbar Edge, with a lovely Derwent riverside walk are all about an hour from home.

My get-up-and-go has been on extended leave, and I am a confirmed fair-weather walker, but a day that has all this with a promise of rising temperatures and an imminent big melt is one that needs to be seized.

Many more photos are on Flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shieladixon/sets/72157632615453431/

Details of the route are here:

http://uk-walks.info/froggatt_edge_short_walk.html

The pint tasted amazing!

drawing a line between weight and photo quality

I've been struggling with this a little bit. On a long walk I don't want to be encumbered by weight and bulk, but at the same time I've been feeling the need for higher-quality images.

I've been using a Sony bridge camera for the last two or three years. It's close to an slr in its features, has a huge optical zoom and it's very light. But I've been seeing its limitations, so I've moved to a dslr, which is obviously much heavier. I've gone for a bumbag case so that I can carry it reasonably comfortably with easy access to it and no space taken up in the rucksack.

I'd love to take a tripod around with me, especially on dull days, but even my fairly light and portable one is out of the question. I've just invested in one of these: Which I bought as a monopod but is clearly a combined 'pod, walking stick and handy weapon!

I won't use it as a walking stick, I know that some are designed for that but this one isn't. But it will travel happily in or on the side of the rucksack.

If I can carry these things comfortably on a long walk, that should allow me to capture more professional-looking images without hampering my walking too much.

How do you manage to tread the line between portability and quality?