With hot weather forecast, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take my new (well 20 years old) convertible to the Lake District for some spring sunshine.

Although the MX5 was out of its element on the motorway and the boot is about the same size as my ideal camera bag it was well worth cramming my gear in and enduring the M6 once I was there with the top down!

Travelling light (for me)

I’d decided to travel light, just 3 cameras, 3 lenses, drone, tripod and camera mounts for the car, oh and case of Pepsi Max. As everyone else seems to be down-sizing to compact system cameras I seem to be going the opposite way and finding more things to squeeze into my camera bag.
Although I took all that kit, I was really going for a good walk and a cruise round with the top down. As usual I carried most of that gear for over 10 miles and didn’t use half of it … still, you never know!

High Spy

I took a walk up High Spy via Cat Bells, it was a lovely clear day, a bit warm on the way up but nice and cool when you climbed high enough. As there wasn’t any mist or clouds I didn’t put too much effort in to taking many photos, which was a mistake as when I got them on the computer I was surprised at how much I liked them and wished I’d taken a few more … there’s always next time.

Car video / photos

The video (below) was shot using a mix of 1 and 2 cup suction mounts and either a Sony compact or a Canon Legria Mini. The Canon camera is actually meant for vlogging, but the fisheye lens is great for car videos too.
The Sony compact (RX100 IV) can be operated using an app on your phone, this comes in handy when you see a shot coming up, a quick tap of your screen and you’ve got your shot (hopefully). I set it to a 2 second delay so my hand wasn’t in the shot.

Lamb

I’d pulled into a gateway to remove the camera mounts when a jolly young lamb came bounding by. I pulled out the camera as quick as I could and snapped the below shot. I think he’d been been playing in a nearby muddy puddle.

Video

You can only say so much with pictures, so here’s a short video from my trip.

Next time

Although the MX5 was brilliant with the top down, having seen an electric Renualt Twizy drive by, I think I might ditch the MX5’s racing green for the day and go electric green instead. You can hire them from Co-wheels – see here. They look fun!

Above image © 2016 Co-wheels.