Learning to use the E-P2 (and some new Software)

Well, a day off work yesterday and as the weather cleared a little in the afternoon I drove through the little village of Belmont and parked up, then walked through the ruins of Hollinshead Hall.
There's not too much to see there apart from the Well House which does make a great subject for a moody photo:

 

is just how it looks (the out of the camera jpgs from the E-P2 are just fantastic!!).

But that then leads me on to the new software I've discovered, LightZone from LightCrafts the most intuitive way yet of post processing - here's a "tweak" done with LightZone:

 

But of course the E-P2 has capabilities of it's own, a set of "Art Filters" for all sorts of effects, the Well House just seemed to lend itself to the "Grainy B&W Film" filter:

 

Some more shots, looking up the lane that wends it's way through Tockholes Plantation first the "out of camera" shot, then a B&W conversion, again done with LightZone

 

Then onwards through the woods, following the upper reaches of the River Roddlesworth before it enters the Roddlesworth Reservoirs - more excellent photo opportunities

All in all, a very pleasant couple of hours and the more I use the E-P2 the more I like it !

Walking the Levadas

Madeira is famous in walking fraternities for its Levadas. These are small (in width) watercourses built to bring water from the wet north and central mountains to the southern part of the island.

They are typically small concrete channels, sometimes with path alongside, but sometimes with one wall of the channel a bit wider than the other so it can be used to walk along.
The picture is of the Levada Piornais near Funchal - a little earlier in its course it is covered over and you walk on the covers.

The levada meanders along up one side of the Socoridos valley, in some parts protected by a handrail (though whether that would pass UK Health & Safety is pretty debatable!)

It also goes through a number of small tunnels driven through the rock, and populated, rather alarmingly when we were there by men with shotguns - who gave a warning "be very careful", though whether that was relating to balancing along the levada edge or dodging the shooting was not immediately clear!


After the tunnels you finally emerge on what seems a very precarious path - one of our party definitely needing two hands and a list to starboard to avoid looking into the gorge to the left

A walk from Bolton-by-Bowland

With rain forecast for the afternoon, I made a (relatively) early start and parked up at the information centre in the village.

The walk is another from the Hillside Publications "Walking Country - Pendle & the Ribble" - an easy circular route heading North from Bolton-by-Bowland, then circling clockwise to return to the village.

Bolton-by-Bowland is a very pretty spot, the village green and church both being extremely attractive:


The walk took around 2 1/2 hours, with plenty of stops for photographs - that of course is the great excuse for the unfit walker!







One interesting area was near the end of the walk which went past Bolton Hall. Now a rather luxurious set of residences created from the old stable blocks. The grounds of the hall are still pretty extensive and have a lot of rhododendrons which were in spectacular bloom on the day I passed by.

Walking near Pendle

With my new found leisure time, one aim is to get back into walking in the countryside. So armed with a new guidebook "Walking Country - Pendle & the Ribble" from Hillside Publications
I chose walk no 7 - Rimington and set off for the car park in Downham.

The walk was easy going but well planned taking in some great scenery and a fair bit of industrial heritage - mines and lime kilns as well as mills and farms.

Being June, buttercups were out in force and rather suprisingly (to me anyway) a lot of large fungus on trees.

I said it was well planned and with a carefully chosen start time and leaving plenty of time for photo-opportunities I contrived to arrive at Rimington, or more specifically the Black Bull just in time for lunch. A Thwaites house with properly hand-pulled cask beers and an excellent range of sandwiches - thoroughly recommended.

Some photos taken on the way, this is Ings Beck.

Everywhere on this walk, Pendle Hill imposes it's looming prescence














These two were taken after Rimington on the
walk towards Hollins & Ings End.










The clouds really were threatening, though thankfully it did not really start raining until the walk was almost finished.

Looking in the other direction from Pendle there is a terrific view towards the giants of Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent.