From the Blackdown Hills and East Devon the next and final destination was Dartmoor. Plan was to stay in the Dartmoor national park for the best part of a week. First would stay in North Dartmoor before moving onto the southern side.
Dartmoor Research
I knew very little about Dartmoor before this road trip west. Exploring google maps and online research discovered Dartmoor is a prime location for landscape photography and hiking. Dartmoor has the highest point in southern England south of the Pennies. It has over 160 Tors or hills within a 360 square miles area, including valleys, rivers, waterfalls, ancient woodland and reservoirs. It is also the last real wilderness in the south of England. Was excited about exploring this new location in Devon and the west country of England.
Rowtor Okehampton
The first afternoon in north Dartmoor made my way to Rowtor carpark near Okehampton camp. This is an example of where Google maps can show you public carparks when OS Maps does not. Its always good to check both OS Maps and Google Maps to get the lay of the land. Okehampton camp is a military training area, but when the army are not on exercise you are free to walk over the moor. You can check if you can access the land on a specific date online.
Navigation
Parked up and made my way up to Rowtor. This was a different landscape, a real wilderness. There was fog up on the tors and it would be easy to get lost on Dartmoor. On my first day not want to stray to far. During this roadtrip west OS Maps did stop working for a while. Made me realise cannot 100% rely on a mobile phone for navigation. Places like Dartmoor should back up with a map and compass.
Back down near the carpark there was a fast flowing brook and noticed a lone tree on the bank that would make a good focal point. The weather was bad though. wet and windy.
Long Exposure Texture
Found a composition and setup the tripod with an ND filter to get a long exposure of the running water. Had to keep wiping the lens with the rain hitting it constantly. The sky is completely featureless though. Prefer not too long an exposure on running water to get more texture. The above is 1 second but maybe 1/4 or 1/2 sec would have been better. But was now very excited to explore more of Dartmoor in the coming days.
Combestone Tor Dartmoor
The following morning actually drove down to the south Dartmoor side. Dartmoor is great for scouting in a car. Every 500m to 1km there is often a small free carpark in close proximity to some prominent Tors. Checked out Pork Hill viewpoint then ended up in Combestone Tor. The weather was blustery with rain and sunshine, prime rainbow weather.
Photographing Rainbows
With imminent rainbows in mind that is why I pulled over in a carpark near Combestone Tor. Sure enough the rainbows appeared. Very vivid this time in the morning shortly after dawn.
Usually when a rainbow appears the sun is behind you and the rain in front. Consequently raindrops will keep hitting the lens. Been in this situation once before, few years ago now, on Holywell beach in Cornwall. Need plenty of dry microfibre towels to keep wiping the lens dry.
Rainbows are challenging to photograph not least because they dont last long and usually your not prepared for them. When a rainbox is a semi circle hitting the ground at both ends you will need a wide angle lens to fit it all in. Problem with wide angle lens shots is the subject in the distance can look small. Was using 24-105 lens but not wide enough to fit the complete rainbow in.
It suddenly occurred to me needed to shoot a Pano! hand held at the telephoto end of the lens and then stitch them together post processing. Challenging to do with the rain hitting your lens. To prevent stitching artefacts need to keep the camera level and shoot fast. A rainbow makes such a powerful visual compositional element in itself, you often not have the time to think about the inclusion/exclusion of other compositional elements in the frame.
Luck, Right place Right time
Love rainbows, waited over 3 years to shoot one again like this and was definitely an improvement. Being in the right place at the right time, certain degree of luck. Having left my job, being on Dartmoor for dawn rather than just another empty easy forgotten day sitting at a desk in front of a screen was not luck. With a rare shot of a rainbow over Dartmoor felt more relaxed, that what ever comes now had got a good Dartmoor landscape photograph in the bag. Will always remember this day on Dartmoor.
With a break in the rainbows, could then spend some time on trying to frame a better composition of Combestone Tor. Would have been great with the rainbow directly over the Tor! The Tors of Dartmoor are granite rock outcrops that occur on the crests of each of the hills. Each is unique and distinctive and very photogenic with the right light.
The rainbows occurred throughout the day but less vivid in the afternoon I guess because there is a lot more light. Manage to frame one in the distance with a wild Dartmoor pony in the foreground, which looks very Dartmoor. Should have got lower – eye level with the pony, but was loving Dartmoor.
Becky Falls Dartmoor
The next day, the weather was turning for the worst in Dartmoor. Had been relatively lucky so far at least with the rain, compared to that roadtrip a few years ago through Devon and Cornwall which was almost a complete washout. Always the problem with a roadtrip in England and the UK – the unpredictable weather. Its why Brits love to take a vacation abroad to escape the weather. But as they say
No such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing.
I had the right clothing for the weather just needed to match the location to the conditions. With rain and overcast skies, waterfalls make good subjects and there is quite a few of them in Dartmoor. Did attempt a visit to Canonteign falls first but was closed so then tried Becky Falls which was open.
The main Becky Falls were much more rocks than water but further down the compositions of water and rocks was more evenly distributed. Usually the advice is to use a polariser in such conditions. Did try a few polarised shots but the non polarised were better. Again constantly raining continually wiping the lens with microfibre cloths. To get the best compositions going to need to stand in the water so Wellington boots essential too.
Had to pay to enter Becky Falls and short walk from carpark down to the main waterfall and ancient woodland. You are given a map but not really look at it until after I had left. Then realised I had missed a smaller waterfall lower down 🙁 neither of which show on OS Maps or Google maps.
Brentor Church Dartmoor
With the dull overcast wet weather in Dartmoor it was a case of driving to each location to scout it out and try and get a passable photograph. An iconic location to visit on Dartmoor is Brentor church. Brentor church sits on top of its own Tor and can be seen for miles around. With the right light, some mist maybe it would make an excellent focal point and subject.
Managed a shot in driving wind and rain having scouted out a few good compositions. The sky completely featureless. Was very slippery even with Vibram soles, slipped on my ass a few times, luckily not on the sharp rocks.
Dartmoor Prison
With such bleak and dismal weather a trip to Dartmoor would not be complete without a visit to Dartmoor Prison in Princetown. The conditions matched the subject. Would not want to photograph Dartmoor prison on a blue sky sunny day.
Got a passable shot of the Victorian structure from a good side angle showing two dimensions of the building. Sky is so boring though. Stopped off in Princetown for a pint and some fish and chips before moving on.
Lydford Gorge Castle
With no let up in the wet dull overcast weather headed for Lydford Castle and Lydford Gorge between Okehampton and Tavistock. The idea was that both a castle and gorge would make good subjects in such conditions.
Unfortunately Lydford Gorge was closed due to strong winds but could wander around the grounds of Lydford Castle. Tempting to shoot the castle face on to get the light through the windows. But very one dimensional, better to photograph buildings like this from the side to get two dimensions and more depth.
Hound Tor Dartmoor
In the bad weather was scouting around in the car. Had to pull over at Hound Tor and check out the location. Very strong winds, hard to even hold a compact camera steady.
Each Tor has its own unique crop of granite rock which makes great foreground interest. For Hound Tor had some detail in the overcast sky.
High Willhays
High Willhays near Okehampton is the highest Tor on Dartmoor and the highest point in the south of England at 621m. It was my intention to hike to the top of High Willhays. This was more about hiking than photography but hoping for some good landscape photos too. Its always a goal of mine to ascend the highest point of a range of hills or of a county. Was now based in the south of Dartmoor at Tavistock. But given a break in the weather returned to Okehampton to attempt the hike to the top of High Willhays.
The shortest distance up to High Willhays is to park up at Rowtor. Cars are prohibited from going beyond this point. But basically can follow dirt roads up to Yes Tor with its distinctive trig point.
Yes Tor is one or two metres lower than High Willhays about 200 yards across the moor. On top of High Willhays the weather turned for the worst. 40mph winds, hale stones and rain. I could not look west, it hurt! Still made it to High Willhays and took shelter under the Granite rocks.
Could now see to the west that better weather was coming in but still wanted to make my descent. Its still quite a hike from Rowtor to High Willhays and my feet were feeling it.
Great light on the descent first with spotlights on the distance tors. Had used wide angle lens 16-35mm exclusively this day but kept wanting to switch to 70-200mm but to much effort changing lens. Chuffed made it High Willhays this was top of my to do list.
Burrator Reservoir
The last day in Dartmoor saw storm Eunice come and go. Never seen such strong winds forecast. Everyone was a little apprehensive and decided to stay in the hotel and extra day rather then attempt the journey home. What I should have done is check out early and booked a hotel on the Devon seafront and photographed the crashing waves somewhere. Spent the morning of storm Eunice in the hotel room watching the news. Felt like a wimp and a waste. Come the afternoon it had calmed down a bit and decided to venture out to Burrator Reservoir.
There were a few fallen trees on route to Burrator reservoir. Got chatting to a local who recommended a few viewpoints. Checked out the waterfall and finally the damn.
At Burrator damn managed to capture the last of the sunset golden line on the bridge stonework.
On the drive back to the hotel in Tavistock, my last night in Dartmoor, stopped off at Pork Hill for a vivid sunset during the backend of storm Eunice. On the drive home the next day, did stop off at Bennetts Cross but the rain and wind so bad not possible to take a passable photograph.
Dartmoor, the end
Great road trip through Dartmoor. Dartmoor is a great location for landscape photography and hiking. Only scratched the surface, lots more to discover and surely I will return.
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