Marwell Zoo

Time to give the telephoto lens a workout, and what better place for that than Marwell Zoo.

Leopard

Leith Hill

Leith Hill (294m) in the Surrey Hills is the highest place in South East England below Berkshire, with panoramic views northwards to London and the English Channel to the south.
On a clear day, fourteen counties can be seen from the telescope at the top of the 18th century Gothic tower.  The 20m tower became National Trust property in 1923 and still attracts visitors from across the country.  The spectacular views from Leith Hill's treeless summit made it a popular spot for Victorian picnics.

Looking south towards the South Downs (20 miles away).

Looking east towards Gatwick airport (13 miles away).

Looking north towards London (26 miles away).

 The London Shard (26 miles away).

Brompton World Championships - July 2014 at Goodwood

The Brompton is the world's best-selling folding bike, and every July Brompton host the World Championships race, which is now held at Goodwood race track in Chichester.  The only bizarre rule is that the dress code has to be jackets and ties, which is to reflect the fact that the bike is popular with commuters.

Here I am, leading what looks like a peloton, with a GoPro on my helmet filming the race.  And here's the video I made afterwards:   Video of Brompton World Championships 2014

Brecon Beacons - April 2014

With the arrival of Spring, it felt like a good time to head off to the Brecon Beacons for a couple of days.  The mission would be to fly a glider from the summit of Pen-y-Fan (the highest mountain in southern England & Wales) and then explore the waterfalls in the heart of the National Park.
The only other time I've climbed Pen-y-Fan was from the south side; this time I would walk up from the north side.

Approaching Pen-y-Fan from the north.

Looking east towards Cribyn (795m) from Pen-y-Fan.

Sweet little lamb and mother sheep.

Waterfalls along the Afon Mellte river.

The tall Sgwd yr Elra waterfall, which you can walk behind.

Lake District trip - September 2013

Time for another trip to the Lake District!

September is a great month to go because the campsites are relatively empty and the weather can still be quite pleasant.  So after following the weather forecast for a while, a stretch of several days fine weather towards the end of September became apparent, and I went for it.

Day One:  Set up camp at Castlerigg campsite near Keswick and then went up Cat bells (451m) - a popular ridge walk on the west side of Derwent Water; an hour to the summit and then followed the lakeside path back to the start point.    (Click on photos to view them in full size)

View from Castlerigg campsite near Keswick

Day Two:  Hay Stacks (597m) is reputed to have one of the best summit views in the Lake District.  The five hour slog began at Buttermere with a 3 mile walk along Buttermere lake and the valley before a steep climb up to Hay Stacks.  As often happens, the path became less than clear and I found myself scrambling up a gully before working my way round to the summit with spectacular views on all sides.

The photo above shows the end of Buttermere lake with Fleetwith Pike (648m) rising in the foreground.  Haystacks is slightly off the right of the photo. 

Here I am on the summit of Hay Stacks with Buttermere lake and Crummock Water in the background.

Innominate Tarn with Great Gable two miles away in the background - the view looking SE from Haystacks.

The sun had just set, and this view from the west side of Buttermere lake on the return part of the walk was certainly worth a photo.

Day Three:  After yesterday's long walk, I decided it might be nice to do a spot of gliding, but the winds were light and SE which presented a challenge in finding somewhere suitable to fly.  Binsey hill (447m) near Bewaldeth, a few miles north of Bassenthwaite Lake is a recommended flight site, but the contours make this more of a slope for SW/ S winds.

Here's the wonderful view looking south from Binsey hill, with Bassenthwaite Lake three miles away and Skiddaw looming on the left of the picture.  I didn't fly there in the end as the wind was too light and unpredictable, but it was worth the climb for the view.

Back at base camp, this was the evening sky, looking west towards the Derwent Fells.

Day Four:  Another fantastic day of blue skies and perfect conditions.  This photo was taken while walking up Dodd (491m), which is a beautiful little mountain on the SW side of Skiddaw Forest, a few miles from Keswick.  It is surrounded by forest and has the most charming views from the top.

Derwent Water over Dodd Wood from the summit approach of Dodd.

 Panoramic photo of Bassenthwaite Lake from the summit of Dodd (3 miles NW of Keswick)

In the later afternoon it was definitely time to do some gliding.  So with the wind blowing from the ESE, a study of the maps suggested Souther Fell (522m) seven miles to the east of Dodd should give some superb slope soaring.

And here is the view from Souther Fell looking SE towards Great Mell Fell (537m), a little over 3 miles away.  My MULTIPLEX SOLIUS glider (2.2m wingspan ) had a great flight on one of the biggest slopes I have ever flown, as can be seen in these next two photos.  It was one heck of a climb up there, and in retrospect I think it might have been better to have given the east face of Latrigg a go instead, which although semi-forested on the lower slopes, can at least be reached by car with relative ease.

Slope soaring on Souther Fell looking across to Great Mell Fell.

Slope soaring on Souther Fell.

Here I am on the summit of Souther Fell; the final shot of the holiday.  It might look warm but it certainly wasn't!

Bwlch flying trip - June 2013

Bwlch lies midway between the Brecon Beacons and the Black Mountains in south Wales.  I'd heard that it was a particularly good place to fly with superb lift and parking near the flight site, so I thought I'd give it a go.  The actual recommended flight site is on the edge of a large bowl, a couple miles west of Treorchy. By chance, my trip just happened to coincide with the the National Slope Soaring Championships which turned out to be something of a mixed blessing; on the one hand it was interesting to see the pros flying their super-fast carbon fuselage gliders whistling through the air at astonishing speeds, while on the other hand it meant that I had to fly further along the bowl so as not to infringe their airspace.  Still, the weather made up for it, as did some phenomenal lift.  It was a fair distance to go to fly the slopes of Bwlch, but it was worth doing, and I camped there overnight.

Looking east from the flying bowl towards Treorchy.

Snowdonia trip - May 2013

This was an early spring trip to explore some of the mountainous area of northern Snowdonia.
We started at the well-known Pen-y-benglog site, where we had visited before when we climbed Tryfan five years previously, and then walked up to Carnedd Llewelyn (1064m) which is virtually the same height as Snowdon, before bearing east and arcing round to meet the A5.  It was a ten mile hike with great views, especially of Tryfan, setting off at noon and arriving back at the car just before sunset. We camped that night at the camp-site close to Lake Ogwen.

Facing south after first stage of climb.

Looking west with Anglesey in far distance.

Red line is the 10 mile route taken.