Into November living and working in East Sussex and I was back into the swing of things. It was good to be earning money again and able to get out at the weekends to new locations around east Sussex and into Kent. Still, inside I yearned for my freedom once again to roam as I please.
Bexhill to Hastings
I was still enjoying the novelty of living on the seafront in Bexhill and being able to ride my bike all the way to Rock A Nore in Hastings and snap some photos along the way usually with my canon compact camara.
Being November, the sunrise was much later in the morning now, often I could take a photo of dawn from my balcony while preparing to goto work.
Riding east towards Hastings is Galley Hill with some great views where often I would pull up to admire and maybe take a shot with my compact camera.
The bike ride ends at Rock A Nore Cliff edge. From this point you can walk along the beach during low tide all the way to Fairlight and then come back over the Hastings Country Park which I explored a few weeks before. If doing so beware of high tide, falling rocks and the cliff collapsing!
Rye Harbour East Sussex
It was a beautiful bright sunny morning in November that I took my first walk along the coast at Rye and back round through the lagoons and nature reserve.
I was still ticking off the far to reach corners of east Sussex, the places that were a little too far to reach for a day trip when I was based in West Sussex.
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
It was a rainy wet day in November, more like what you would expect for this month. Where the winds are strong, blowing the last hanging leafs off the now nearly bare trees. On these days I like to take a walk around a nearby big town or city that I have not been to before. So for this wet miserable day it was going to be Tunbridge Wells in Kent.
Again, I only usually take my canon compact camera with me when walking around an urban area. My first venture into Kent now living in East Sussex, being near the Kent border did open up a lot more opportunities for some landscape photography in this area.
Goudhurst, high weald, Kent
For my first real venture into the High Weald of Kent I chose to start from the village of Goudhurst. I took the walk from the AA’s guide to 50 walks around Kent. It was an afternoon walk with the hope of catching a sunset over the high weald.
November seems to be a month with dramatic lighting catching all those hues of oranges green and yellows. Kent is awash with Oast houses and these make great focal points for your landscape photographs.
I not quite get the dramatic sunset photograph I wanted from Goudhurst over the high weald but it is a great place to go for a hike and very photogenic especially during the shorter crispier days of November. Goudhurst is a great little village to have a bite to eat and a beer after your hike, with 3 pubs all opposite each other, very lively and friendly. I will return to the High Weald.
Burwash, East Sussex
Another beautiful November morning with dramatic lighting and I decide to go for a walk around Burwash in east Sussex where Rudyard Kipling lived out his last years. If its good enough for Rudyard Kipling its going to be good enough for me!
Batemans in Burwash was Rudyard Kiplings refuge from the world. The house occupies a peaceful location in the Dudwell valley.
A good and peaceful place to settle down for keeps’ Is how Rudyard described this part of east Sussex and a walk through this glorious valley on such a glorious day in November its easy to see why.
Bewl Kent
For my second trip back into Kent and the High Weald in November I chose Bewl Reservoir. Bewl is the largest expanse of water in the south east of England.
Bewl water reservoir was built in the mid 70s to supply the ever increasing population in the south east of England with fresh drinking water. Many acres of ancient forest were demolished. On a particularly mild autumn you can see from above the water level is low.
Still its a lovely walk around this part of Kent and the autumn hues of yellow red and orange are clearly visible all around. A nice park bench to sit down on take a rest and enjoy a cup of hot coffee out of your flask on the crisp bright November day.
Hastings Pier Sunset
Although I rarely get up early enough for a sunrise, I do prefer a morning walk, you feel like you have the place to yourself including the roads. With walking in the morning, leaves the afternoon and evening free to recover, relax and do some post processing of the landscape photographs I may have taken earlier.
If I dont make it out for a long walk in the morning, I get restless in the day maybe waiting to head out late afternoon to catch a sunset. If you head out in the afternoon, there are lots of people about, strangers, getting in the way, hell is other people. And so it was one Saturday late in November, late in the day and I wanted to catch a sunset behind Hastings pier.
So as not to draw attention to myself I only took my compact camera and a mini tripod for these low light long exposure photographs of dusk with the pier as the focal point. As always Hastings is a very photogenic place if a little rough around the edges. At least in November you dont have to wait out to late for a sunset on a good day.
Romney Marsh to Dungeness, Kent
Late November and another bright clear sunny day, with winter fast approaching there is now frost on the ground as I follow the footpaths into Romney Marshes in Kent.
Again I was following the AA’s guide Across Romney Mashes and I read it was full of abandoned churches, but I not see one. Having arrived early and still lots of energy I carried on to explore the Kent coast around Dymchurch and Saint Mary’s Bay.
A beautiful stretch on the Kent coastline from Saint Mary’s Bay to Dymchurch during low tide with distance views of Folkstone. Still not finished on the drive back I would stop and explore Dungeness.
What a strange place Dungeness is, like you are in a different world, its very photogenic, lots of subjects, but with signs up saying no photography but I was not the only one ignoring them.
When the weather is good, November is a fantastic month for walking and landscape photography. The days are bright and clear, short and the hues of Autumn colours make fantastic subject matter.