Monday 26 July 2010

A is for Almond, B is for Bridge...

C is for companionship, chums and cor blimey, this is a lovely walk!!!



This is a wee while in the writing for various reasons, both personal on my part and for my friend. We are all moving on though and have very good and happy memories of this day that was a last day for us on a couple of levels. So, there will be no sadness here, just gladness and happiness that we made some really good memories that will last for always.

So, C is also for 'come on, let's carry on shall we?'

My companions for this lovely walk through Almondell were Hogy the pooch, and Walter, Susan and Sid, my three intrepid friends! We set off for adventure and excitement, rather like the Famous Five but ever so slightly older and much creakier in the joints!!! Unfortunately I am actually alluding to my own joints as they are very creaky nowadays... no sneaking up any stairs for me, my knees will give me away every time! In fact it's probably only a matter of time before my knees give way altogether, but hey ho, we'll carry on until they do!

So, we set off along the banks of the River Almond in Livingston, not too far from Walter's house and a place he knows very well. It was my first visit here, as it was for Hogy, so we were excited from the start. There were rumours of kingfishers in the area, which is terribly exciting to me... I don't get out much, lol. The banks of the river were muddy and wet and terribly exciting to Hogy... chances of seeing a kingfisher with him charging about? Yep, zero! Oh well. There was still plenty more to see along the way!

We walked along towards the viaduct, which was impressive enough as it soared above the meadows and the trees that line the river banks,



but then we came across this lovely old wooden covered bridge that sits beneath it by the canal feeder.



Two stunning bridges in one place... certainly interesting enough but oh, there was more to come! There's lots of things that the Scots are famous for, and one of them has to be building bridges. My word, they've got some crackers up there!! Everyone knows of the Forth Rail Bridge, and many know the story of the Tay Rail Bridge, but not so many know about the bonny bridges of Almondell... they're not known at all as the bonny bridges of Almondell as it happens, but I think they're very bonny so bonny bridges they shall now be!



As you walk along the path by the viaduct, you follow along a small stream that is chock full of aquatic plants and reeds and streamside flowers. It's absolutely beautiful. Further along it widens and becomes a much more obviously man-made channel and this is actually a canal feeder for the nearby Union Canal, which runs between the fantastic Falkirk Wheel and into the centre of Edinburgh.

The path winds through the woods and back along by the river as the canal feeder crosses over it in a covered pedestrian metal aquaduct. Interesting enough and certainly quite odd... I don't think I've ever walked across the top of a canal before as it crosses a river below. I've walked alongside the Llangollen Canal on the aquaduct at Trevor where it crosses the River Dee, but never directly over the top as you do here. The canal feeder runs in a channel beneath the metal walkway, which makes it a rather interesting and different style of aquaduct.

If you walk further into Almondell there is yet another one, Lin's Mill aquaduct, which has a rather interesting but very sad story attached to it. Apparently, the aquaduct was built by William Lin, who rather than becoming famous for building the bridge, was rather more famous for being the last person to die of the plague in Scotland. As if that's not bad enough, nobody would help to bury him, so his poor wife had to bundle his body into a sack and drag him into the woods to bury him by herself!!! We actually didn't get as far as the aquaduct, but I shall be back and will pay a visit to pay my respects to the poor unfortunate Lin's.

We stayed to the left of the metal aquaduct and made our way through the woods towards the visitor centre, tea, teacakes and the other necessaries! There are a few stepped paths that lead up into the woods in an inviting way,



so Susan and I went to explore... along with Hogy of course! We popped out by a barley field,



so we popped back down to re-join the boys and hot-foot it along to the tea shop! There's a very interesting monument just outside the visitor centre that had us a bit puzzled for a while.



We looked at the inscriptions and carvings and worked out that it was something mathematical and in some way geographical, but couldn't really make head nor tail of it until Susan had the idea of asking someone and brought back a leaflet. The monument is actually an Astronomical Pillar commissioned by the 11th Earl of Buchan in 1777. A leading amateur astronomer and founder of the Society of Antiquaries Scotland, the Earl created a scale model of the solar system in 1776. Not only predicting a transit of Venus in 2225, his calculations have proven to be very accurate, especially given the technology of the time! He carved the pillar in 1777 to record his calculations... though despite his obvious genius, he wasn't quite so hot on spelling and got 'Leith' wrong!



He maybe knew the 'I before E' bit, but wasn't aware of the rest (except after C or when it rhymes with D). Despite the spelling mistake, and we'll certainly forgive him for that, the Pillar is astounding. The inscription on the front translates from Latin into 'Pay homage to the heavenly sent land' which is rather apt and also extremely indicative of the Earl's feelings and spirit. Marvellous... in the truest sense of the word!

Having refreshed ourselves with tea and teacakes and water for the dog, we headed back along the river to the Naysmith Bridge. We set out via a peek at the modern and, it has to be said, beautiful suspension bridge, and then back towards the older stone bridge in the park by the meadows.



That actually turned into a bit of an adventure in itself, as Hogy took a fancy to a football that a few lads were kicking about! Oops!! Having retrieved it for them, I had to distract him and entertain him with a run along the path away from the lads. It never fails to amuse him, and it never failed to half kill me as my lungs feel about ready to explode from my mouth!! I'm really not built for speed! The others caught us up and I was rather grateful for Walter's offer of a lend of his lens as I looked for any excuse for a rest to get some breath back!

So, attaching Walter's 10-24mm lens onto my camera, I dropped down to the riverside to get some wide-angle views up to the bridge. Unfortunately there had been a recent diesel spill here, but it wasn't too bad and the view was still good.



The Naysmith Bridge was designed by the landscape painter Alexander Naysmith in 1800. The bridge has been restored after collapsing in recent years, and the restoration work is quite evident in the new fresh stonework, although it has been carried out extremely well and with great care to restore the glory and beauty of this wonderful old bridge. The meadows down beside the bridge are equally glorious, speckled with pyramidal orchids and other wildflower species right down to the river bank.



Across to the other side of the meadow is a wooded hill, bound by the same canal feeder that we'd followed before. Hogy spied a rabbit up in the woods and hot-pawed it across the canal... no mean feat as it is quite deep there and very steep-sided. Hogy has rather bad hips, so it was with some trepidation that I ran over to it, fully expecting to see him struggling in the water!

No sign of the pooch though, the lure of the rabbit was clearly stronger than the gravitational pull of the canal sides and he was up in the woods chasing fluffy tails!! Unfortunately gravity had taken it's toll on the frisbee that had been dangling from his chops when he'd spotted the bunny.

Now lying at the bottom of the canal feeder, I considered it to be all but lost. Sid, however, is a true intrepid and was determined to recover the pink rubber disc at all costs. I really did think it was going to be at the cost of a headlong bath in the canal, but Sid managed to flick it up with a stick and across to the nearside bank where I could lay down (in the nettles!!!) and pick it up from the water. It was a fairly precarious operation as I had nothing to hold onto and I was outstretched in a particularly wobbly position, but we made it... teamwork triumphed and Hogy got his frisbee back thanks to Sid! Well done indeed!!!

Following the path back across the metal aquaduct, we peered over the side to see Mrs Mallard encouraging her brood into the perilous looking waters of the river below.



Thankful that we were still drier than the ducks, we headed back the way we came and on to Walter's for a smashing meal and a giggle with Walter's lovely Mum. En route, we heard the distinctive metallic call of a kingfisher that was so tantalisingly close, but could we see it? Could we 'eck as like!! Did we care? Not really! We'd had a lovely day out as it was!

A day I shall never, ever forget. Thank you Walter, Susan and Sid, and of course to Walter's mum. A special day that was eventually made all the more precious. Thank you.

Rebecca, XX.

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Sunday 11 July 2010

Of Pigs & Pooches!!

I think you all know by now how much I love pooches and, after having recently lost my furry-chopped companion of the last 18 months, I've been a bit down in the mouth for a while. I've turned a corner now though.



Quite literally actually... a new corner on a new walk that I never knew existed even though it's only a couple of miles away from here! I met up with my pal Helen, who also happens to be related in a very convoluted kind of way, but she was a friend before I knew of the family connection... one of those oddly coincidental things! Anyway, Helen is a dog walker down here in Wokingham (http://www.skippiescaninewalkabout.co.uk/) and that's how we met, as she walks her charges where I used to walk with Hogy.

We met up for a walk and a chat about pet portraits in the woods off Coombes Lane. I'd never heard of it before but it's absolutely beautiful. I will definitely be back over the next few weeks and months, for sure! It's a mixed deciduous woodland where the canopy is open enough for light to filter down to the understorey to create a nicely diverse woodland floor, with evidence of the remains of thousands of bluebells! Definitely the place to be in the spring next year!! Helen was walking Lou, a Harlequin Great Dane who was often companionable with Hogan...



well, she was an opportunist companion actually, pretending to be his friend but she was only really interested in his frisbee! It was hilarious to watch her!! Exceptionally slobbery, Lou is a lovely dog. She's always good fun and so good natured... but wow, she is very slobbery! Clean-on that day cream coloured trousers, d'oh!!

Along Coombes Lane and around the corner, Helen took me to a truly wonderful find... 'Wysipig' (what you see is pig). What a place!



Not only is there a farm shop and coffee shop, but there are all sorts of vintage vehicles in various states of repair and disrepair,



as well as Mabel the pig who roamed at will around the yard... and who also nibbled at my clean-on cream coloured trousers with her grubby but clearly hungry and inquisitive snout!! D'oh again!



Mabel was gorgeous though, and although a little bit shy at first she responded very well to a good scratch behind her ears. She's obviously rather partial to it because she just kept coming back for more... or was it for another nibble at my trousers? Hmm.

If you're in the area Wednesdays to Saturdays, look out for Wysipig http://www.wysipig.co.uk/. It is a truly astonishing little place, the produce is totally organic and, Helen assures me, the ham is to die for!

But aside from all of that, my walk out with Helen was very restorative in lots of ways and I can't thank her enough for that. We're having a practice barbecue for her 40th birthday at my younger sister's house next weekend. She won't be 40 until next year, but we thought it best to have a practice this year to be ready for the big day next year!! Practice makes perfect eh? At least I know where I shall get the sausages from!! Sorry Mabel.

Rebecca, x
www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk



Wedding Daze!

Well here it is, my first wedding assignment!

I honestly thought it would also be the last as I was absolutely terrified at the prospect and always said that I wouldn't do weddings. Hey ho, never say never eh? I LOVED it!! Every minute of it was exciting, fun, challenging and yes, the day did go by rather in a bit of a daze!

You need to be so aware of what is going on all around all the time. Every wedding will have those little moments that make it special, that make it unique to that couple and their families and friends.



I considered it my job (and that of my very able assistant) to look for those moments and capture them forever so that the bride and groom can relive their very special day for years to come.



The wedding was in Dundee and as I now reside waaaaay down south in Berkshire, I had to be doubly and trebly sure that I had everything I needed. Batteries, cards, lighting equipment and a plan B in case of rain... all needed to be checked and re-checked before I travelled back up north of the border. I'd thought of everything, laid it all out on the bed and ticked it all off the list I'd made, packed it up, unpacked it and checked it again, and then went to bed happy in the knowledge that I was ready.

Oops!!

How on earth did I forget the spare camera? D'oh!! Thank goodness for the goodness of my very good friend Walter, who happily lives down in Livingston... which though a fair drive down from Dundee is at least in Scotland and so a darn sight more useful than having to go home to pick up the one I'd forgotten! Another bonus was being at the Forth Bridges at sunset... (coming in another blog post here soon).

So, the wedding day dawned and I was up early checking and re-checking the equipment and batteries and a plan of the day. I knew that a huge amount of flexibility would be required, as there will be all those little moments and unexpected things to scupper any hard and fast plans, but I felt that it was still important to have a plan. And a plan B... a good weather plan and a bad weather plan!

The forecast was mixed so it was actually very important to have a plan B just in case! Luckily it wasn't required in the end, though we did get a few spots of rain when doing the family shots outside after the ceremony. Not enough to dampen anything though, and the cloud cover also meant that we didn't get any harsh shadows to contend with! The day went really well. Rachel looked absolutely beautiful, and it was hard not to blub at the beginning of the ceremony when Jason saw her for the first time and broke into tears because she looked so gorgeous! He spent the whole day looking like the cat who'd got the cream, it was wonderful.



Ooh, I do love a wedding!! I have always loved weddings actually. It used to be a standing joke with my old crew mate back in the days when I worked as a paramedic in Sevenoaks (I'm going back a few years here, by gum!). If we were sent on standby and I was driving then I would always park by a wedding dress shop to see what was in the window... yes, I know, wedding dresses lol. I've been a bridesmaid four times now, and I love seeing a wedding car drive by or seeing couples at the church as we go past, but to be the actual wedding photographer... oh my word, that filled me with horror!!!

Imagine the pressure! Good grief, you can hardly ask the couple to come back on Monday 'cos you've cocked up their photos can you? Although that did actually happen to my younger sister when she got married nearly 25 years ago.

The horror of finding out that she had no proper photos actually taken on the wedding day still hurts her now. I can only imagine how the poor photographer must have felt! He did get them back into the garden of his studio, but it's obviously not the same; there's no family or friends or bridesmaids, or their little boy who was all dressed up in a cutie wee sailor costume... it was the '80's... it was thought cute at the time! Roy is obviously all grown up now and is understandably relieved that there are no photos of him in his sailor suit, but that doesn't make it any better really does it?

So, fully aware of how things could go horribly wrong and of the enormous responsibility that I was undertaking, it was with huge trepidation that we set out to Dundee. Luckily there were no disasters, everything went by in a bit of a blur but it all went pretty well I think.



Rachel did know that I wasn't a wedding photographer but she put her faith in me and I'm pleased to say that she wasn't disappointed. Phew!!

So will I do another wedding? Oh yes, in a heartbeat!! There's so much more I'd like to do with the weddings, and I think they will only get better and better and more and more fun. I also hope that I will also always be a little bit nervous, as to not be scared means that you can't be fully appreciative of the enormity of what you are doing for the couple. Yes, I will definitely do it again!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Saturday 3 July 2010

Ambling about at Aberlady!!

Just about 20 miles east of Edinburgh, and signposted off the A1, is a real hidden gem. Aberlady local nature reserve was actually the first in Britain, designated in 1952 and now also a site of special scientific interest (SSSI).



It is managed by East Lothian Council and, I am very proud to say, my friend John! I'm not so proud to say that in all the time I lived in Scotland I never once went along to the reserve. It was, admittedly, a long way from where I used to stay but that's no excuse. I have now made up for past failings however, and paid a visit to the reserve on Tuesday before I continued south back across the border and into England.

I didn't get to see my pal, but I did leave a not very cryptic hello for him on the sightings sheet before I left! I was going to leave a note that I'd spotted a plastic bag on the reserve but thought I'd better not in the end. There is a story attached to that and John will know what I mean, but if anyone else reads the sightings sheet then they'd think I was being facetious and cross it out!!

Mr H and myself were both at university in Aberdeen together... crikey, just realised that it was last century, lol, and we shared a flat as well as a love of all things ornithological. John was far more knowledgeable than me (and obviously still is) as I only joined the University Bird Club as a way of getting across Scotland and seeing the place. I quickly caught the bug for birding though, and have many smashing memories of many smashing trips!!

My trip to Aberlady was tinged with sadness however. I was feeling really blue for having had to leave the dog in Scotland. He was never mine to keep, but to give him back hurt like hell and is still hurting now. So it was with a heavy heart that I actually set off across the wooden bridge and as the Scottish author Nigel Tranter put it, into 'Enchantment'.



As it turns out, dogs aren't allowed on the reserve between April and July anyway, so I could amble about and not keep thinking 'Hogy would have loved it here' and other such mournful thoughts. He would have loved it there, I've no doubt, but at least the knowledge that I couldn't have taken him if I'd had him made it easier to walk and look ahead to life without him. Not much easier, but a bit easier. By the time I'd returned to the car, my heart felt a bit lighter and I did start to feel a lot better... 'Enchantment' indeed!!

Covering 582 hectares (which is 1,439 acres for those of us who still work in old money), Aberlady is a stunning mix of tidal sand, mud flats, dune systems, pioneer salt marsh, and also has the wee Marl Loch



as well as the Peffer Burn and its estuarine landscape. With a backdrop of industrial Edinburgh to the west,



and the golf course to the east, Aberlady local nature reserve manages to squeeze rare and splendid isolation into a modern age of bustle and business. From the moment you cross the bridge, the noise of the road and the 21st century slowly dissipates into a new world of rustling grasses, birdsong, crickets and, eventually, the lapping of waves on the shore.

The footpath winds its way through the marshes and you are accompanied along the way by hundreds of butterflies flitting along from flower to flower and leaf to leaf.



There are 15 different species of butterfly here, and they flutter alongside the path as if you're walking into a Disney film!! To add to the slightly fairytale feel, the path then leads you through a tunnel of sea buckthorn that is cut in such a way you could be walking into a set for a Lord of the Rings movie or something!



Once through the tunnel, all sounds of the road have disappeared and you're in a truly magical place. The wildflowers are absolutely stunning, the diversity is wonderful and is clearly appreciated by the number of different birds that sing and chirrup as you walk by.

The walk up to the beach at Gullane Point is roughly one and a half miles, and if you go in the middle of the day in the middle of summer as I did, make sure you have plenty of high factor sunscreen with you!! I couldn't reach my back to put on the factor 30 and came back looking like I'd laid down in a blast furnace for half an hour!!!



Popping over the top of the dunes to the beach pops you back into the 21st century again, but there are still reminders of the past even here!



Fences stick out of dunes where the wind blown sand is reclaiming its lands, and out on the beach at low tide is an even stranger reminder of days gone by... a submarine being reclaimed by the sea!



A submarine in death as it was in its life!! I was fascinated by the different shapes and stood for a while thinking about how small it looked and how it must have been to have worked on her, when I realised that the water was creeping back in and was taking her back for another few hours until releasing her again at the next low tide. I stopped a while longer just to get a shot as low to the water as I could... I'd already got my backside wet when I squatted down for an earlier photo (which is how I noticed that the tide was coming in, lol), so I sat right down in the water for this one!



The things I do to bring you a photo!!! Getting a wet bottom in the pursuit of photography is one thing, walking back across the sands in wet trousers is another thing altogether! The beach here has a few posts and pillars scattered about,



but eventually I found a lovely big bleached driftwood log to sit on while I hung my wet trousers up on a post to dry.



It didn't take long, and I soon returned back the way that I came and back into real life again... and just as if to emphasise the end to my few hours in enchantment, a toad crossed in front of me under the buckthorn tunnel on his way to Marl Loch.



A fitting end to a few hours in fairyland!! If you happen to be in the area, look out for the bridge across to the reserve and let your dreams take you somewhere else for a while...

Nigel Tranter called it the 'Footbridge to Enchantment', it is!!

Read more about the reserve here and put a wee circle round it on your road map, it's a very special little place. http://www.aberlady.org/Nature%20reserve.html

Rebecca, x
http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Discovering Derbyshire!

Well, it's been another hectic week and there's a lot to blog about, so I'll start here in Derbyshire.



I had a very enjoyable day out and about, eating my way round the Derbyshire countryside... from Bakewell Pudding in, erm, yep, Bakewell, to ice cream in Monyash and a lovely pub lunch somewhere in between! Even managed to squeeze in a pint of the landlord's finest, 'cos it was a locally brewed ale and it would have been terribly rude not to!!

So, did you know that the real Bakewell Tart is actually Bakewell Pudding? No, I didn't either! It's not entirely dissimilar, but not as we all know the Mr Kipling version with the icing on top. I bought one for Mum and Dad to try (and me too, obviously, ha ha), and it was exceedingly good... sorry Mr Kipling, but theirs is better... quite rightly, they've been making it for a whole lot longer and should know how to do it eh? Mmmm, it was good!! Warm with ice cream, slurp!!!!

So, back to Derbyshire, not only does it taste exceedingly good, Derbyshire looks exceedingly pretty too! I was lucky enough to be seeing it in brilliant sunshine... which means the locals were unlucky enough to be seeing me looking at it in my shorts! I must apologise to the people of Derbyshire for my pasty white legs, and I hope it didn't put you all off your tea!! This is somewhere up near Chatsworth House (could it be Hassop? Or was it Pilsley? I think it might be Pilsley!!).



It's such a beautiful wee place, and I wish I'd made notes on my way round to remember where I was!!! Apparently all the houses in the area that have blue doors and windows belong to the Chatsworth Estate, including the farms nearby. What a wonderful place to live and work.

Monyash was beautiful too, as was the ice cream from the old forge. There is so much history evident there, from the ancient market cross that still has holes bored into the base of it from the lead miners testing their new drill bits, to the old field systems and ancient walls that haven't been touched for centuries! The fields are so small compared to today's modern farms... no room for modern machinery, these fields were worked by labourers and are still used for livestock. The soil looks to be rather too thin for arable farming, with limestone outcrops everywhere, but is perfect for sheep and cattle!



Is that why there are so many local dairy's and places selling homemade ice cream? Mmmmmm. My day in Derbyshire was, quite literally, a trail of discovery and newfound delights. I can't wait to go back... which is handy, as I'm going up with my family tomorrow!!!!

Rebecca, x

www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk