Nine Ladies of Stone and a Tunnel

After being busy with work it was nice to have a weekend for photography and so i headed up to the nine ladies stone circle at Stanton Moor near where i live. This would also be a test for a Map App i have installed on my phone.

It lead me to the circle without trouble and proved to be very accurate and even had some other stones and such listed that i could find. Sadly when i got to the circle i realized i didn't have my tripod adapter! Typical, i actually remember to bring the tripod and the adapter is on another camera - oh well i could adapt it.

The circle is well known but not overly impressive from a photo front, might try in winter when there's a good sunrise.

The Duke of York Stone, where i dropped my lens cap down a sheer quarry face - wasn't a good day for equipment!

The inscribed Stones and a few shots from the old quarry called Lees Cross

The watchtower and Cats Stone, not sure why it's called the cats stone perhaps it had whiskers at some point. The Cat stone also had climbing holes on the back, so i thought it best to show off my inner hand modal!

 Despite some set backs i really enjoyed this walk and given it's only an hours walk from my house, i will be exploring more of this moor.  On a side note i spotted some Hares up there, been a long time since i've seen any of those critters.

TUNNEL TIME!
The day after the Stanton Moor walk i headed along the Monsal trail to finally take some shots of the Head stone Tunnel. Wanted to check it out and take some pics for ages so here we go.

It was alot of fun taking these images and i really liked being in the tunnel, very calm feel to the place abit like walking around graveyards.

Before i headed back to town i decided to challenge myself, you see i have a big fear of exposed heights my mind and imagination run riot and i see the worst that could happen. I knew the "managed" path to the Monsal Head viewpoint was a sheer drop on one side and covered with loose scree. Now tree roots and unsteady rocks i can deal with but pretty little scree i always skid on. I'll be honest i chickened out first try, i needed to calm myself down and clear my head - not an easy thing for me as my mind is well complicated!
But the second try i managed it!

One of the most famous views in Derbyshire and no wonder!!  The viaduct you see is connected to the tunnel i passed through.
With that i headed back, i made it through the path though i skidded twice! Lets just say my walk back was very focused!!
Hope you enjoyed the pics  :)

Yorkshire Day trip to Lavender Farm and Beverley

My first day trip by coach!
I headed to up to the eastern coast area of Yorkshire (not all that far from skeggy in fact) to the small garden of the Yorkshire Lavender Farm. Sadly the lavender was not in bloom yet and as such the displays were un-inspiring, a real shame as i would have managed some stunning images with the lavender in bloom.  No worries though as it was still a great looking garden and i managed some decent shots.

 
After walking round the garden a couple times i spotted some bees and flies, they were already warmed up from the sun (it turned into a very hot day) but i did grab a couple of snaps.

Anyway after the farm we headed to Beverley.
Stunning town to visit! I was soon drawn to a massive building that happened to be the Minster of Beverley! Damn it was big and impressive, so big i couldn't even fit it in frame. May have to get a 10mm lens or something for next time.

An incredible building to say the least and again the size - Incredible! I wanted to check the interior out aswell but there was a wedding taking place so i had to move on. Next time though i'm spending more time with this building.

After that feast for the eyes i found the smaller but still impressive St. Marys church and several other interesting buildings.

The town is incredible for images! But sadly i just ran out of time to keep exploring, i did however check out the local tourist information and bought a book about the history of the town (very interesting read thus far) and also a simple map and a few walk guides. Didn't even get a glimpse of the water way area.
This was a great place to visit and i hope i can return and perhaps spend a full day just wandering and exploring.

Hell ain't no bad place to be!

Shortly after my time in the Spire i went off in search of new local locations for future photo opportunities, checking my maps i came across a place called hell bank plantation.
Well with a name like that i had to check it out!  All i had to go by was a small stream and "falls" stated on the maps.

It's just outside of Beeley and in a round about type of way connects to the moor which is another that interests me.  When i got to the plantation though i was surprised, it was like a mini Padley Gorge! The stream was small but there were falls everywhere, joined by babbling brooks and what appears to be the odd man made rock faces - guessing there was a Mill here at some stage.

Anyway i had a blast! Here's some pics

Pretty cool eh? 

This is definitely a place to return to and most of the falls were easy and safe(ish) to get to aswell, though i did almost slide down to my demise a couple of times!