I’ll visit the lakes anytime of year, but autumn is my favourite for the colours. After trying to gauge the best time to go by keeping my eye on the weather app and the colours in my local trees I finally thought blow it, I’m going whatever.
I think the colours were past their best but where I was headed it wasn’t as critical. I love to photograph Keswick from the surrounding fells, Latrigg fell being one of my favourite spots, but I’ve often thought what it would look like higher up from Skiddaw, the mountain that provides the impressive backdrop the Keswick
It’s and easy walk to the top, as in there’s a path all the way, but with a camera, drone and tripod, the summit at 3,050 feet felt a long way. According to my Fitbit, it’s nearly 10,000 steps from Latrigg carpark to the summit.
What I really wanted to do was fly my drone from the top. The little wind present in the car park was replaced with a howling gale nearer the top, so strong it was hard to stand up straight, let alone fly a drone. I walked as far as Skiddaw Little Man, although about 200 feet below the main summit it does provide better views. But it was so unpleasant I decided to head back down and made do with a snap on my compact camera (main image above), which actually turned out better than I thought.
With better than expected conditions the next day and not a breath of wind I thought I’d try again, only to again find the wind too strong to fly when I reached the top. Still, at least I now know where to go and how long it will roughly take me, so next time the conditions are right, I’ll be prepared.
What’s the best thing about reaching the Skiddaw’s summit?, a guilt free Greggs All Day Breakfast Wrap when you get back down!
I did manage to fly my DJI Mavic Pro around Derwentwater and was quite pleased with the abstract shot of the nearly bare birch trees. I also took a number of shots of the trees with my DSLR, which while nothing amazing, were still enjoyable to take. Trying to compose a pleasing shot out of a jumble of branches is a challenge.
The panoramic image below was also taken with a drone and features Skiddaw in the background.
I headed to Keswick Launch for sunset, but as sunset was early there was still crowds of people. I’d also taken shots with better lighting and a red sky, so I wasn’t feeling it enough to bother setting up my DSLR. Instead I just played around with my iPhone, taking a number of panoramic shots. I managed to time the below shot just right with the curious goose in the bottom corner.
It was an enjoyable trip with plenty of exercise (and visits to Greggs), I’ll now start keeping my eye on the weather app and local webcams for snow!
