Peter Bargh

Sights & Sounds

Archive for the ‘Diary’ Category

July 16th, 2014 by Peter Bargh

Scafell

I keep forgetting to update this blog! Today I drove for 4 hours, using the sat nav for directions, from Sheffield to Wasdale Head. The route was fine and expected at the beginning via motorways to Lancaster, then as I hit the lakes I started to notice it taking me the “shortcut” and not around the coastline on the A595 as I would have done via map nav. I ended up on Hardknott Pass.  This seriously dodgy road has some parts with 45 degree inclines, and in most places is only wide enough for one car. Quite an experience, especially when the air ambulance came and blocked the road so a fallen cyclist could be scooped up and whisked off by helicopter to hospital.

I arrived at Wasdale Head and parked in the village green, and then set of up through Seathwaite Farm and by the base of  Great Gable.

A quick stop for a self portrait (camera on self timer resting on a rock) showing Scafell in the distance.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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March 19th, 2014 by Peter Bargh

Doctor’s Gate

Doctor's Gate near Bleaklow

Walk with Nigel Darnborough to the Aircraft crash site near Higher Stones Shelf. This is on the descent with Doctor’s gate path in the background. A lovely sunny day, but the wind was quite ferocious.

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January 1st, 2014 by Peter Bargh

Films watched and rated

For personal use I’m making a list of films I’ve watched and rated. It’s no where near comprehensive…I’ve watched 1000s of films, but these are ones I remembered to list in 2014

Film Title Pete’s rating Comment
10 Deadmen 0/5 Absolute rubbish, stopped watching
10,000BC 0/5 Absolute rubbish, stopped watching
10th and Wolf 3/5 Good
20 Years After 2/5 Average

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September 9th, 2013 by Peter Bargh

Higher Shelf Stones

It’s bleak on the moors…a trip out to Bleaklow and Higher Shelf Stones with a stop off at the crash site of the 16th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron’s  Boeing RB-29A

This was taken while we (Myself, Dave Ange and Jenny Horton) stopped for a very quick and very cold food break. Still arguably summer so I was surprised we got showered with hail stones!

 

 

 

 

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August 13th, 2013 by Peter Bargh

Photographing the Perseids Meteor Shower

The Perseids Meteor Shower can be seen each year when up to 60 firework like streaks  are seen per hour in the Northern Hemisphere.  The event occurs mid July to Mid August with the most activity around the 13th of August.

I went out last night from Midnight until 1:30am and saw around15 meteors. I sat in a field with my Olympus OM-D camera mounted on a tripod pointing up at the sky in a south facing direction with a 9mm wide angle lens so it would capture a wide zone of sky.

I set the ISO to 800 and exposure to manual with a duration of 8seconds. I then took photos hoping that a meteor would appear during the exposure. The camera needed to process each frame to reduce noise between shots and that was also about 8 seconds.  I took around 300 photos and managed to capture two trails.

This was the best one

Perseids meteor

Perseids meteor

 

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August 3rd, 2013 by Peter Bargh

Snowdon 2013

Spent a weekend away with David Horton and his daughter Jenny and son Daniel. We went over to North Wales for a walk up Snowdon stopping in the Pen-Y-Pass Youth Hostel. We got the family room which was surreal…three bunk beds and an upright piano!

We headed off up the Miners Track to the summit. One person passed and said you can see the sea today. Things changed as we got to the final ascent just passed Llyn Glaslyn. The cloud came down and by the time we’d reached the top it was the usual limited visibility that I’ve become used to at the top. Coffee in the cafe warmed us up, but then made it appear colder on exit. After a few photos of mist we headed off back down taking the Pyg track back to the Hostel.

At the top

A drive into LLanberis for tea and a couple of pints at the The Heights and then back to the hostel for a few games of pool, before bedding down for the night.

After a hearty breakfast at the hostel on Sunday morning we drove off considering what else to do before going home. The weather was cloudy with showers but it didn’t stop us deciding to do Snowdon from another route. We headed for the Snowdon Ranger path accessed from Llyn Cwellyn Car Park, off the A4085. It’s a similar 8mile walk, but for me it was quite a challenge towards the summit as my legs were cold and, despite wearing decent clothing, I was soaked and my boots leaked too. After a pie in the cafe I really felt the cold on that descent.

I’m sure it did me good health wise though.

Most remembered phrase:

  • Look at that
  • Don’t do that
  • “Fireman Sam”….”I’m not saying ought about that”
  • Nice

Facts:

  • David, Jenny and Daniel talk in their sleep
  • Rain can be very wet
  • Snowdon Mountain Cafe Meat pies are great
  • A piano with broken keys can be frustrating when playing a tune
  • Jenny is good with angles
  • Youth hostel water has a high iron content

 

 

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February 23rd, 2013 by Peter Bargh

Lost on t’ Moors

Today proved to be a bit of a mare. I decide to go to Three Shires Head for the first time and forgot to take a road map. I headed off to the Cat and Fiddle with the knowledge that Flash was nearby. Had lunch – lovely bacon baguette, and then asked for directions to Flash. I parked the car in a lay-by on the main road with a plan to do a walk from the Mark Richards White Peak Walks book.

It was freezing even with several layers, so we decided to cut it short and park closer, which meant taking a back road. At one point I reversed to turn around and got the car stuck – heard a huge scraping sound under the front bumper and thought I’d done serious damage. Bizarrely on inspection it was just a scuff to the underside. I parked in the road side and we headed of to Three Shires Head.

River Dane at Three Shires Head

This was one of the mini waterfalls half way down the track

It’s a lovely photogenic spot with a couple of bridges and several waterfalls. There was ice all around and sadly it started to snow with fine specks that kept getting on the filter during the exposure, so I had to give up and put the camera away.

We headed of back up a hill and somehow took a wrong turning. It was starting to go dark and we were on the top of the moors – no map, no idea which direction and no idea where we’d parked. The book wasn’t helping!  Quite scary, but after a while of rambling around aimlessly I noticed a familiar landmark and was able to find the way back.

Note to self must be more prepared!

All came good when we ended up in the Indian Palace restaurant in Buxton – superb food!

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February 4th, 2013 by Peter Bargh

Monsal Dale Viaduct

I wasn’t aware the tunnel at Monsal Dale had been reopened. Well I’m way out of date as it was back in 2011 when the passage through Headstone Tunnel was reopened. The tunnel is at the edge of what I also found was the incorrectly named Monsal Dale viaduct (actually called the Headstone Viaduct). I went to take a walk through with friends Dave and Ange.

This photo was taken some way into the tunnel with the Olympus OM-D camera mounted on a tripod. I ask the couple to stand still an the shot was 33 seconds exposures so they did quite well. Harvey the dog was less inanimate

Headstone Tunnel

We’d walked from Ashford in the Water over to Monsal Head, then down to the viaduct, through the tunnel and back round to Monsal Dale and then down into the valley and followed the river Wye to Deep Dale and Marie Ann Grace Wood. A short but pleasant 5.5 mile walk.

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October 12th, 2012 by Peter Bargh

Brian Eno’s Scape

I bought the Scape App for the iPad a few days ago.

Scape is a venture into generative music developed by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers.

The pair created Bloom a few years ago and that app alone was the reason I invested in an iPhone.

Bloom was good. Scape is incredible. With this app you select a backdrop drone  and then drag ambient bells and synth sounds over the backdrop. The speed in which you work creates the flow of the music, and you can be as minimal or busy as you like. It’s highly unlikely that any two creations will be the same  so you can create some unique ambient music which has a sound that resembles aspects of albums you may have heard from Brian Eno over the past few decades.

You can save your construction and play it back at another time. The track will go on infinitely and small nuances of sound will change as it flows. Incredibly good and easy to develop a set of meditative music with ease.  In short I love it

Incidentally it’s not just the iPhone that was a purchase as a result of an Eno bi-product. Back in the 80s I bought a CD player when they were still at their early stages of development. At the time few albums were available on CD other than classical music. Eno brought out an album called Thursday Afternoon. It had one track so wasn’t appropriate for its release.  I had to have it, so I bought a CD player just for that one CD and I only had that one CD for several months.

You can here some of the tracks I’ve created on Soundcloud here:

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September 14th, 2012 by Peter Bargh

Fine Art America

I’ve just joined to see what it’s all about. I’ve added a photo for sale…one of my favourite landscapes

Pete on Fine Art America

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