Some of you may have heard me talk recently about my involvement with a bunch of videos that Terrybnd has been filming. Well today is the day that the first fully finished movie went live on YouTube. The videos were made for Karrimor and it showcases some of their great new gear. It also shows off some great locations in the Peak District too.
I was the willing model, dummy, manikin, Subject in the videos and I really enjoyed being involved. We started off on the first day by doing a spot of filming up on Curbar Edge and some of those scenes have made it to the final edit.
It was rather Hazy that day so our next location was down in Padley Gorge, there is plenty of footage from there in the movie and its a place all must visit.. not at the same time though. We then headed for Monsal to record some footage on the viaduct before heading to the Social Hiking Meet.
I've just got home from a fantastic meet up in the Peak District with my friends from Social Hiking - ShareYourAdventure.com. It was great to finally meet some of the people who I've been chatting to for the last year or so, we have all become friends while Sharing our Adventures on this fantastic website that was created by Phil Sorrel. The weekend event took place at Monsal Head but I could only make the Friday night and Saturday daytime due to other commitments.
Friday was a great day indeed, I had been out filming that day with another twitter friend and landscape Videographer Terrybnd. He is producing a video for Karrimor and I am his model for this particular shoot (More Details of this to follow very soon). We started by heading to Curbar Edge to get a few shots but eventually made our way to Padley Gorge near Grindleford. I had not been to this lower part of the Gorge before and was very impressed by it. I have walked the upper part in the past while out Geocaching but it was nice to finally explore it's entire length.
[caption id="attachment_1202" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Terrybnd in action at Padley Gorge"][/caption]
We called off at Monsal to record some footage of Karrimor's new footwear on the viaduct, then some quick shots in the Headstone Tunnel, we then got back in the car again and headed over for a quick visit to the Royal Oak at Hurdlow. As the weather was pretty flat today we deciding not to film any more and made our way to the Park House Campsite at Monsal Head to await the arrival of the others for the meet up.
[caption id="attachment_1204" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Tim, Terry, Phil & Angel at Park House Campsite"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1203" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Terry's Terra Nova Tarp"][/caption]
A great night was had by all in the Stable Bar at the Monsal Head Hotel and I retired to the tent only to be rudely awoken by the crows in the trees above at around 4am. I had a rather thick head from the fine ales consumed so I stuck my headphones in and managed to drop back off to sleep.
After breakfast we said our goodbyes to Terry who was heading home and the rest of us set off on a walk down Monsal Dale. We were following a route I had walked before which I originally started in Bakewell (Peak District – Bakewell and Monsal Loop).
The weather today was not too bad considering that in the previous weeks we seem to have had nothing but rain. It was rather grey and the sky was a very flat white which didn't make for very good photographic conditions, I had to stick to using my iPhone to take a few snaps of the day.. basically I had no choice as foolishly I had forgotten to bring my DSLR :-)
[caption id="attachment_1197" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Entrance to the Head Stone Tunnel from the Headstone Viaduct at Monsal"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_1200" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="The Wier on the River Wye at Monsal"][/caption]
We had a great wander down Monsal Dale while chatting and taking in the stunning views. We then crossed over the road and headed up along the path into Great Shacklow Woods.
[caption id="attachment_1201" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="The Packhorse Bridge at Ashford-in-the-water"][/caption]
The route we took then rises and falls back down to follow the River Wye to Ashford-in-the-Water, we decided that it would be another perfect opportunity to sample the local ales by stopping of at the Bull's Head. I only had a shandy as it was fast approaching the time for me to make my way back to the car to head home, I said my goodbyes and then headed straight back up the road to the campsite where I had left my car.
It was nice to finally meet up with so many great people who have been using ShareYourAdventure.com for what seems like a long time now. I really hope to see them all again soon at another event in the not too distant future. So what am I doing tonight? Well... I'm heading to Nottingham to see Thin Lizzy and Guns N' Roses, admittedly it is a very stark contrast to the last couple of days but as they say variety is the spice of life :-).
I have just returned home from another rather impromptu walk in the glorious Peak District. This time we headed for the White Peak, Bakewell to be precise. I had been wanting to do a walk in that area for some time but the lure of the slightly more mountainous feel of the Dark Peak pulls me back every time, we only had limited time so it was the perfect choice as it's a short ride from home.
We parked the car near Bakewell Station and set off along the Monsal Trail, I haven't walked along this trail for some time so it was nice to come back and see the improvements that have been made recently. We walked North West and passed Hassop Station, This would be a nice place to stop i'm lead to believe as there is a great cafe here... We just had a quick look over the fence as we went by. We carried on passing through Great Longstone station and it wasn't long until we reached the newly opened Headstone Tunnel. This was perhaps the main reason why we had chosen to do this route, I had been wanting to check it out for some time and I wasn't at all disappointed.
The Headstone Tunnel was opened to the Public back in May 2011, It has been fitted with lights and it makes a perfect photographic venue. Sadly I didn't have my Canon DSLR with me today but I did have my old Canon A640. I set it to manual mode, adjusted a few settings and posed for another picture while wearing my Social Hiking T-shirt.
The tunnel is very impressive indeed as is the very famous Headstone Viaduct, some would call it the Monsal Dale Viaduct but I'll give it its correct name here. Looking up from below the Viaduct you really do get a sense of the engineering mastery that has been used to construct it, It reminded me of when I stood underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge... The only difference is the materials, they are both equally breathtaking.
From the Monsal trail we took a left turn and headed down off the Viaduct and along the River Wye through Monsal Dale. The place was deserted today which is the way I prefer it, It can become rather busy here in summer and at weekends. I took a quick picture at the Weir and then we kept going towards Great Shacklow Woods. We climbed up the footpath which weaves its way through the forest then drops back down towards the River.
The sun had begun to break through the clouds as we continued down the valley to Ashford-in-the-Water, this is another place that gets very busy. The ancient bridge here is another great photographic spot, There was a bus load of students doing surveys in the river so I couldn't get in to the spot I wanted for a picture. Not to worry.. We continued along the river and in no time at all we were back in Bakewell.
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