mountains – Bushcraft Days

December 26, 2018December 27, 2018

My 2019 Bushcraft Days Family Calendar

It is getting a bit of a tradition now of having a family calendar – I get to take all the pictures and my wife Alison creates a wonderful calendar to share with our family at Christmas – here is Alison’s selection for the 2019 Bushcraft Days calendar.

The cover picture

If you have never been to see the Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis I would strongly advise you to add it to your ‘Bucket List’ of places to visit – far older than Stonehenge and set on the idyllic west coast of the Isle of Lewis.

I did ‘over do’ the de-hazing of the picture in Lightroom to get the effect you see in the sky.

January

We had a few snowy days here in the South of England in January, so on a beautiful bimble round the village I came across this rather noble (and toasty) looking lady – she had plenty of hay and was well wrapped up.

February

Sticking with the snow theme this picture of a rather forlorn looking Daffodil was taken behind our local church – St James. This picture made it onto the weather section of Meridian TV here in the UK – first one ever for me 🙂

March

Beautiful Thistles – not taken in Scotland but on the slopes of the Brecon Beacons in South Wales while I was on a Duke of Edinburgh’s Expedition. I used my mobile phone for this shot and was very impressed with the results.

April

I spent a weekend with friends hiking in the Peak District and we were presented with this beautiful temperature inversion. I took the picture from just below the summit of Mam Tor overlooking Hope Valley.

The tall structure is the cement factory however you can just make out the tower of Castleton Castle on the right of the picture.

May

This picture was taken in the grounds of our local National Trust (NT) property – The Vyne. I must have chased this Thistle Down seedhead for at least half an hour before I got a shot I was happy with – nearly got my feet wet but it was worth it.

June

I took a group of friends and their kids from my village to the Brecon Beacons and we had a great time running up and rolling down the hills (well the kids did).

This picture of my son was taken on the ‘Diving Board’ on Fan y Big – it looks more precarious than it actually is.

July

The July spot went to my ‘Morning Classroom’ shot (granted the picture was taken in August). I stepped out of my tipi one morning at the BCUK Bushmoot and was met with this sight of the suns rays streaming through the canopy.

The parachute was set up to hold outdoor classrooms at our bushcraft event.

August

I took an evening stroll with my family while on holiday on the Isle of Lewis to visit my fathers grave. The graveyard is set on the ‘Machair‘ by the coast – as my children stared out across the Atlantic I managed to capture this silhouette shot.

September

On a trip to the mountains of North Wales with my ‘Grumpy Chums’ from Crisis we had ‘All The Seasons’ in one day. While descending from Llyn Idwal were were met by this curtain of hail/sleet moving through the Ogwen Valley.

I used my phone for this picture as it is water proof and my DSLR is not.

October

Another trip down to our local NT property – The Vyne and I managed to capture this lovely shot of my family. The leaves were just turning so producing some lovely purples along the lake side.

November

Each year my sons school host a fireworks night to raise funds. I decided to take my tripod this year and try out some slow shutter speed photography. I got a few good shots however I was particularly impressed with this one – not bad I thought for a first attempt.

December

Not taken in December (in August at the Bushmoot) however I thought that this picture of a long log fire with a sprinkling of ‘Magic Dust’ was a fitting Yuletide end to my calendar.

I hope you all have a great 2019.

Cheers

George

November 3, 2018

Memorable Moments – September 18

The summer holidays were nearly over at the beginning of September however I still had plenty of chances to indulge my photography habit.

A walk round the Roman town of Calleva on the outskirts of Silchester brought me to these two beautiful spots. Just outside St Mary’s Church in Silchester I spotted a British Legion Remembrance silhouette – the sun was just in the perfect position I think.

Inside St Mary’s Church my wife Alison showed me the beautiful Carpe Diem stained glass window – it is in remembrance of two young locals who died tragically, six months of each other.

I get lazy with photography so this month I decided to push myself a little be that with Panoramas and having my kids showing twice and with difficult light conditions such as I found in Abby’s barn.

Mid month found me in North Wales with my Grumpy Chum friends from Crisis. The weather came in all forms from sunshine to hail. We had a fantastic time climbing and the light lent to some great photography moments.

The end of the month found me in East Sussex at the annual Sea Cadet Chosin Cup competition. It was a fantastic Adventure Training weekend where cadets compete for the covetted Chosin Cup. During our Endurance race I snapped this picture of fellow instructor Niamh Kelly as she raced through one of the tunnels.

My final Memorable Moment of September 18 has to be my Birthday. Spent at home with my family.

Cheers

George

March 3, 2018

Pen y Fan with Grumpy Chums – A Welsh Weekend Part 3

The final part of our Welsh Weekend with the Grumpy Chums (Rick, Gordon, myself and Stu – the order of grumpiness) last year brought us down to the Brecon Beacons and Pen y Fan. The drive from Cadair Idris was a long one due to an accident ahead of us but we got there eventually and soon had a fire on.

We stayed at the Pentwyn Farm campsite (I can thoroughly recommend it) which is 7 miles from Brecon Town and within easy reach of Pen y Fan.

We headed off from the car park at Cwm Gwdi (old soldiers may remember this as an army camp) and headed SSE up the track on Cefn Cwm Llwch ridge.

We had very little in terms of wind so the walk was pleasant enough as we ascended the ridge however we were soon in the clouds with very little visibility (I like this route as it is usually quiet).

A young couple did overtake us on the way up (sprightly things) but after about half an hour they appeared out of the clouds heading down hill. We congratulated them on getting to the summit so fast but they quickly admitted that they had not gone too far ahead and had kept us in sight as we ascended. They lost us at one stage (probably when we stopped for a break) and so got a bit concerned for themselves in the thick clouds – turns out they had no map and compass. Thankfully they carried on back down the ridge.

We soon topped out and joined the masses coming up from the Storey Arms, had a dram and got a quick piccie of Flossie Ann before heading off down to Cribben. Along the way I did ‘splash about’ a bit – Rick had a few choice words for me 🙂

Once over Cribben (finally got a view) we were off down the Old Military Road back to Cwm Gwdi car park. Everyone had achy limbs by this stage and if you know this old road then you will know how we felt 🙂

As it was our last night we had a night out in Brecon Town where we downed one or two sherberts to toast our 3 days on the hills.

I had a great weekend with the Grumpy Chums heading over Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan and would thoroughly recommend this gentler 3 Peaks Challenge.

Snowdon with the Grumpy Chums – A Welsh Weekend – Part 1

Cadair Idris with the Grumpy Chums – A Welsh Weekend – Part 2

Cheers

George

February 23, 2018February 23, 2018

Cadair Idris with the Grumpy Chums – A Welsh Weekend – Part 2

A brilliant playground – Cadair Idris

Day 2 of our Grumpy Chums adventure brought us to the beautiful Cadair Idris range. These mountains are stunning to look at and a joy to walk.

The walk starts steeply, up through beautiful woods, with raging waterfalls and great views back down into the valley.

Our route was in a clockwise direction up to Llyn Cau, following the Minffordd path, over Craig Cau, Penygadair, Mynydd Moel before returning to the car park at Dol y cae.

There was a good covering of clouds over the mountains however the views over Llyn Cau were stunning. Once we got up onto the Minffordd path we soon lost the views, except every now and then when a window in the clouds opened up to reveal Llyn Cau below. We stood and watched a helicopter buzzing over the water below us and I spotted a strange shaped rock on a cairn that reminded me of the ‘Sorting Hat’ from Harry Potter – someone had carved a Grumpy Face at its top for some reason (you can see this more clearly in the video below)

We finally reached the summit of Penygadair however the visibility was as usual zero. We had a quick break in the bothy there and were soon heading over to Mynnd Moel and down.

Half way down the clouds lifted and we were treated to a breathtaking view of the whole horseshoe.

Once we got down it was time for the long trip down to the Brecon Beacons.

Enjoy the video below of what I think is a brilliant playground – Cadair Idris.

Part one of the Grumpy Chums Welsh adventure – Snowdon with the Grumpy Chums

Cheers

George

February 18, 2018

Snowdon with the Grumpy Chums – A Welsh Weekend – Part 1

‘We need a new challenge’ – from a conversation one night in the pub with the rest of the Grumpy Chums.

The guys were looking for something a bit more challenging this time and I remembered seeing a picture on Facebook by my friend Shelly Bristow of her completing the Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge – Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan – so I put this to the guys and we were soon on our way.

Unlike Shelly though we opted for the more sedate challenge of one mountain a day and to make a long weekend of the trip. We headed (last September) for North Wales to tackle Snowdon first. As the weather was expected to be very bad with high winds and driving rain I opted to keep the group to the main tracks. We started from Pen y Pass car park, followed the Pyg track to the summit and descended on the Miners track.

Starting off we were in the shelter of Llanberis Pass however as soon as we crossed over the pass below Crib Goch the wind really picked up. There was no rain but we could see the heavily water laden clouds above us – we made best of the views of Llyn Llydaw and cracked on up.

We soon entered the clouds and the rain soon got into every nook and cranny. On the way up I chanced upon two friends Jacques and Deano coming down from the summit (Deano had been getting his nav tested by Jacques in readiness for his Mountain Leaders assessment).

I spotted quite a few people ascending Snowdon in trainers, jeans and cotton jackets – it makes me wonder sometimes what people think mountains are all about!!!!

Topping out on Snowdon was great as the wind and rain really tested everyones spirits. We did not hang around long but did chat for a while with a radio ham who had hauled all his kit to the top of the mountain.

On the way down I bumped into a young couple (a young lady and man) struggling to ascend in the wind and rain and after having a chat with them they decided best to try the mountain again the next day. The young man eventually agreed with me that a waterproof would be a better option the next day rather than the trendy leather jacket he was wearing – his young lady friend backed me up all the way 🙂

We all came off the mountain soaking wet but in good spirits. I put together a short video of what was a very drafty and damp day on Snowdon.

Parts 2 & 3 will cover our days in the Cadair Idris range and around Pen y Fan.

Cheers

George

December 28, 2016

Brecon Gold 2016 – Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of my story on our expedition last October to the Brecon Beacons. Yesterday I published Part 1 in our Brecon Gold Story – Part 2 covers Day 3 and 4 of the expedition.

Day 3

This was a day of mostly walking the valleys from Blaenglyn to Grawen campsite so was much easier to manage for us staff. We had a leisurely wait at the Storey Arms as the cadets walked up from the campsite and then onto the hills.

JK and Deano had gone on ahead to do the high level observation (and practice some micro nav) while Morgan and myself got dropped off further down the route.

The day was one of these usual DofE staff days – wait, wait and wait some more. Eventually the teams started to appear over the hills heading South. We soon lost them all in the woods along the reservoirs then it was a case of nipping through the back routes to keep an eye on them.

While we were waiting for the teams Morgan asked me how to make rope out of the grass around us (I have a habit of doing this since Perry McGee taught me this a year ago) so the time soon passed (I will be writing this How To….. soon),

We also had some younger cadets along for the trip – they were not doing the DofE but were along to learn about campcraft. They were being looked after by Donnah and Carol however they were joined on Day 3 by Dave. They had a wonderful day walking along the trail that is known as the ‘Along the Waterfalls’ route near Ystradfellte. As well as a location for excellent waterfall shots it is a great location for woodland navigation.

Dave did have a chat with me afterwards and the jist of the conversation was around never being asked to lead so many women again 😉

The Waterfall Walk – photos courtesy of John Kelly

That night some of the cadets and staff put a fire together and re-lived the days events around the fire. It is not every trip to Wales that allows you this simple pleasure.

Day 4

The final day was soon upon us and after a drop off at Dolygaer (north of Merthyr Tydfil) everyone was soon climbing high into the hills. The finish point was on the Dam at Talybont Reservoir.

Dave and myself headed off first to get up high to observe the teams and Jess and Carol took the younger cadets around the trail near the Tallybont reservoir. This meant we had good cover of the teams as they moved through the area.

The weather was spectacularly clear and I spent my time getting landscape and macro shots of everything around me. I think Dave had a less spectacular time as where he was the cloud cover was very low (that is the Welsh Mountains for you as we were less than a Kilometre from each other).

Finally everyone (I think Dave and myself were in last) reached the dam on the Tallybont Reservoir. There was time for one last picture and then some very tired but happy Gold adventurers set off on the journey home.

Cheers

George

December 27, 2016December 27, 2016

Brecon Gold 2016 – Part 1

For the last two months my work has been pretty manic so my blogging and bushcraft has been severley curtailed. Time for catch up then on some of my autumnal activities. I have split the story of this expedition into two parts to make it easier to tell.

My last major trip of the year was with the Sea Cadets on a Gold DofE expedition to the Brecon Beacons in South Wales here in the UK.

The expedition started at Blaenau in the North West of the Beacons and finished at the Talybont Resevoir Dam in the East of the Beacons.

I was joined by staff and cadets from both London and Southern Area Sea Cadets.

The staff were John Kelly (JK), Dave Lewis, Chris Bonfield, Alan Lewis, Carol O’Brien, Jess Edwards, Donnah Chandle and Morgan Hina.

All was wet when we got to Wales however we soon had the tents up (next to a field of pigs) and got to work getting ready for the next days walk.

Day 1

Day 1 of the expedition was dominated by extremely low cloud cover however the teams set off in good spirit and were soon marching off into the mists.

Thankfully we had plenty of staff out on the hills to keep an eye on the DofE participants (made up of cadets and staff doing their Gold DofE). We met the participants a number of times during the day as visibility at times was down to about 100 metres.

Day 1 was from Blaenau to the campsite at Dan yr Ogof Caves. This was mostly moorland walking however their navigational skills were really tested here due to the poor visibility and sometimes uniform moorland terrain.

Challenges (Bottom pictures courtesy of Deano and JK)

Some of the staff (Jess and Deano) were using the expedition to test their navigational skills in preparation for their Basic Expedition Leaders (BEL) assessment in November. Helping them along were JK and Chris Bonfield – JK and Chris were also acting as the Expedition Assessors.

I was working alongside Dave as Mountain Safety staff. Our job was to stay up high and keep a close eye on the DofE participants as they moved through the Beacons. Along the way I decided to keep an eye out for a splash of colour and I found it in the lichens.

Micro and Macro (bottom left picture courtesy of JK)

Day 2

This was from a drop off near the Cray Resevoir to a campsite at Blaenglyn. This was a day spent high in the hills and though the cloud cover was high the wind was strong.

I managed to get some better photography on Day 2 and so did Dave (he captured the shepherd marshalling his sheep along with his Collie taking it easy at the back).

I passed a very intense herd of cows watching my every move and wondered at the beauty of the dew on the grass and the wisps of mist floating along the tree tops.

I met the teams along the way as they went from hilltop to hill top. They were all in good spirits in the first half of the day and even found time to dry their tents out from the soaking they got from the night before.

One team developed a couple of injuries and so we directed them to a lower route to the north of the route shown below. All the teams though made it back to camp before it got dark.

I will post Part 2 of the post up tomorrow however here is a quick photo/video of the trip to finish today.

Cheers

George

March 29, 2016

A Colourful Winter

As winters past have gone this last one here in the southern part of the UK has proved to a bit quiet on the snow front. However even though much of nature has been lying dormant there was still plenty to see and do here over the last few months.

The following ‘grouped’ pictures are some of the favourites I have taken (apart from one taken by my wife Alison) since last December. I have spent as much time as I could outdoors with my family however I feel that it could have been more (work has kept me away from home a lot recently). We are definitely a digital family however we try and balance all that screen time out with some quality dirt time.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 30 (1) — Family Fun

I use a Nikon D3200 Digital camera and shoot in RAW format so that I can use Adobe Lightroom to its fullest. I like Lightroom as it allows me to extract from the images (I am still learning about all the settings on my camera) I take something closer to what I saw originally or in some cases something slightly enhanced.

The sunset below was certainly not as dark as that originally however Lightroom allowed me to produce this moodier shot. The blue skies in the bottom picture were like this on the day however the shot I took the blues were all washed out. With a few tweaks though it was looking good again.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 30 — Dramatic skies

The snowdrop and the forlorn looking hazelnut were both taken in mid winter but the wood anemone was shot just a few days ago. I included the wood anemone as it is one of the first woodland spring flowers to pop up and to say that winter is now over.

All beautiful in their own ways and all photographed in different weather conditions.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 31 — Beauty in the detail

I took both these pictures with my Sony Z3 mobile phone as the weather conditions were to bad to bring out my Nikon. The top picture was a bit of an experiment with the guys lighting up the inside of our group parachute with their torches making it look like a downed UFO.

The bottom picture was taken inside a group parachute while we were huddled around the fire on a cold evening awaiting in anticipation for the feast to come being cooked by Dave.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 32 (1) — Parachute time

Mountain time this winter was limited to only one weekend however it was one to remember. The wind and the rain was incessant however this did not dampen the spirits of any of the guys I was walking with – in fact they seemed to revel in all that rain (might be due to the fact we are all either Sea or Royal Marines Cadets instructors).

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 32 — Mountain madness

My daughter Catherine is a keen photographer and she really does think about what she wants to shoot and how to approach each shot.

The top picture was taken by my wife Alison and I like how it contrasts with the one I took of Catherine lining up for her shot.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 33 — Photographing the photographers

I have been experimenting with low light level photography so I do not have to rely on using the flash all the time.

I have found that a great time for that is when there is a fire going. These two photographs were taken on cold winter nights however I have fond memories of both evenings. The young boys had a great time learning to light a fire and the slightly older boys had fun putting the world to right around their fire.

Still on the fire theme I have to mention ‘Fire Faces’. I have been photographing flames for years now looking for faces or figures in the flames. Two of my favourites this year were of the Roadrunner (top left) and a Dove (on the right).

My friend Fraser gets his face included as he always seems drawn to the fire when the camera comes out – kinda like a moth I suppose 😉

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 35 (1) — Fire, fire and more fire

My last two pictures were taken just at the end of winter at the Vyne National Trust property in Hampshire. As many of the trees and flowers were dormant they set up a ‘Wild Wicker Trail’ in the grounds. There were plenty of wicker figures to spot including a heron, flowers and a fish however these two stood out for me – the Hawk and Mr Fox. Both beautifully crafted and positioned in the woodlands.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 35 — Woodland wonders

This last few days (been resting up with a torn calf muscle) I was thinking that I hadn’t gotten out as much as I would have liked this winter however after looking through my albums I must admit that when I did get out and about – they were good times.

Cheers

George