In the Land of the Celtic Sea Dragons

I was going to share another image with you this evening, but I haven't quite got it right yet, so I'm going to have to try again. It's almost wonderful - but it's going to have to wait for a few more days. I'm hoping it will be worth it.

So for now I've returned to the last jolly boys' outing in the handful of days when Cornwall was in Tier 1 and the rest of the country regarded us with a hint of jealousy. It didn't last long, which was probably a good thing although more than two months later I'm missing our occasional adventures. We keep discussing how we're going to go and stomp all over Dartmoor waving our cameras at everything in sight one long weekend when the schools reopen and life looks a tiny bit more like how it used to, but it's all idle speculation for the moment. The anticipation means it will be all the more rewarding when those simple freedoms return.

I'd taken a couple of days' break as the long autumn term came towards its conclusion and Christmas lay in wait. None of us were very familiar with the A39 corridor that runs from Wadebridge up towards North Devon and it had been agreed that a foray in that direction would make for a grand day out in the wilds. We'd stopped at a bitterly cold Bude to examine the lido at the edge of the beach for a return visit one day. It was an ideal opportunity to devour the pasties we'd bought along the way whose aroma was driving us to the edge of the distraction. Ever since the Cornish Oven opened a new outlet half a mile from my home I appear to have abandoned all former attempts to remove them from my diet. From Bude we'd headed further north, just over the border into North Devon on a mission to photograph the wonderful, if difficult to get to Blackchurch Rock. You can read all about that adventure and its challenges here:

www.flickr.com/photos/126574513@N04/50683425037/in/datepo...

With the light fading and the temperature falling we arrived at Hartland Quay with barely an hour until sunset. None of us had ever been here before and we each took a while to drag our compositions from the world in front of us as we struggled against the icy sea breeze, Dave disappeared off down to the beach just beyond the hotel, while Lee and I clambered up the slope above the car park. I tried a pano but it wasn't quite working, so in time I found myself standing in the car park on the exact same spot that I'd marched to when we first arrived. The line of rocks in the middle ground had grabbed my attention at first sight, leading out to sea like the bumps on a dragon's back. Beyond lay the distant cliffs of North Cornwall that we'd passed to come here, still waiting to be explored one day soon. It was beautiful and dramatic, and my goodness was it cold.

Photos taken we returned to the car and laboured home through heavy rain and a snow shower on Goss Moor where the car in front of us suddenly decided to stop for no apparent reason, nearly causing a pile up as it did so. I was glad it wasn't my turn to drive.

Tomorrow brings another week, and we even have a bit of snow in the forecast. I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Taken in: UK / England / Torridge District / Blagberry (show map)

Taken on: December 4, 2020

Tags:

Hartland

Devon

ocean

rocks

Sunset

golden hour

West Country

west country clickers

Cornwall

Coast

British Coast

Great Britain

explore_britain

England

Sea

sea shore

seascape

Beach

Screda Point

Screda

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Sets appears in: • Devon

Groups appears in: • Devon & Cornwall • Flickr Social Club more » • Photography Week • The Best of Westcountry Photography • Amateur Photographer Magazine • Flickr Social • LONG DISTANCE PATHS « less

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/11.0, 2 sec, 35mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Lens:	EF24-70mm f/2.8L USM
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	2
Focal Length:	35mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	+2/3 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 10.1.1 (Windows)
Show full info

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