Since scouting the east hill of Corfe castle I was keen to return to Purbeck and shoot some landscape photos of the castle ruins from the West Hill.  Then walk the west side of the Purbeck Hills towards Povington Hill.

OS Map West Hill Purbeck

As always before a new hike and landscape photography shoot I study the surrounding area of the west hill at Corfe Castle on OS maps online.

The great thing with OS Maps is that you can install on multiple devices with one account.  So I could study footpaths from west hill on the big screen at home.  The other great thing about OS maps is it clearly shows all the car parks.   I managed to park up for free by the side of the castle at the foot of the Purbeck West Hill.

New Tripod  Ball Head Manfrotto

Finally I had invested in a new tripod and bullhead.  With my hike from the west hill, I was going to be breaking my new tripod in and testing it out.

The Manfrotto 190 Carbon Fibre 4 Section Tripod with Horizontal Column. What I liked immediately were the easy release and lock clips and that it was carbon fibre.  What I not like was that I could not screw in spikes when you are outside.  But it was a huge improvement.  Nearly as much was the accompanying ball head.

The Manfrotto XPRO Magnesium Ball Head with Top Lock plate another great improvement.  The right tripod and ball head is very important in Landscape photography and you should go with the most expensive you can afford from the off.

I recommend watching the above video about the right tripods to use for your landscape photography.  I would have liked to have spent a lot more on a tripod.

Corfe Castle from the West Hill

It was a cold dull cloudy morning when I arrived at the West Hill beside Corfe Castle.   I found a few locations behind some gorse bush and took some compositions.

I liked the light of the sky backdrop behind the windows of the castle wall.  Taken lower down on the ascent up the west hill.  Corfe castle always makes a great focal point whatever the weather or time of day.

Higher up the west hill then the backdrop to the castle ruins is the east hill of Purbeck.  Take your pick.   Wherever you shoot from there are many distractions you have to try to exclude.  From this high angle the sky was a large dull empty space and ideally excluded via the telephoto range of my lens.

Along the Purbeck Hills

After getting my fill of shooting Corfe castle from the west hill it was a straight path along the Purbeck ridge as far as my legs would allow before turning back.  Always enjoy exploring new areas and always on the lookout for interesting new landscape compositions to shoot.

To the south-west was the coast and the bay of Kimmeridge.  Continuing west takes you to Worbarrow bay and eventually a viewpoint on top of Povington hill.

I walked as far as the viewpoint at Ridgeway hill just past the Grange Arch folly.  A nice spot to stop for a break and some coffee on a cold dull winters day up on the Purbeck hills.

Creech Barrow Hill

On the walk back to the west hill and Corfe castle I did a detour to Creech Barrow hill with a trig point, benches and good views.

Using Photopills the summit of Creech Barrow hill would be a great location for catching a sunrise just over the distant hills of the east side of the Purbeck ridge.  There was some parking on the country lane below too.  I noticed a few stags in the trees below.  Also there was some hunters with shotguns moving through the area.

Povington Hill Viewpoint

Before going home I took a drive to Povington hill to check out the viewpoint from there down to Worbarrow with Portland Bill in the distance.  The light was fading and had to bump up my ISO on my compact.  Problem is with this area is much of it is out-of-bounds due to military training.  It is usually open weekends though.