An eventful day

We've had pretty much non-stop rain for about two weeks here in Plymouth now. I have two days off and I was hoping to get to Dartmoor but the forecast gives rain until next Tuesday! Well I was going to give it a miss when I saw the weather this morning, but then it got to midday and I thought 'Sod it, you're not going to beat me Mother Nature' and I drove to Dartmoor. I had a shot in mind that I wanted to do at Leather Tor which the clouds might actually benefit the image, and I wanted to shoot at Black Tor just down the road so.....

It was dry when I left the flat and in the half hour it took me to get to Black Tor it had started to rain. I sat in the car to see what would happen, well within 2 minutes it was lashing it down and it was so windy on the moor that the car was being shaken violently. I decided to sit it out. An hour later the rain started to ease off and I decided to chance it, so I grabbed my gear and made the five minute walk to Black Tor. The wind was ferocious up there today, it was so bad my eyes were watering, I actually had to hold my tripod steady to take my shots, but it stayed dry for a while with the odd light shower and I was able to get a decent amount of shooting in so I walked back to the car and drove up the road a little bit to Sharpitor.

I parked up and walked up past Sharpitor towards Leather Tor. The rain started. Only a light drizzle so I continued. I climbed up to the top of Leather Tor to scout the shot that I had been after, shot a few compositions and started to head back, I wanted to stop on the way back to get a full shot of Leather Tor so I kept my camera out attached to tripod and started heading back the way I'd come. I did a few compositions of an interesting tree and halfway between the two tors the heavens opened! And I'm talking major hailstorm, ouch! I was cursing at this point, legging it back up to Sharpitor so I could pack my gear up in a little bit of shelter. I fully intended to call it a day at this point but just as I unscrewed my filter system and put my grads away it suddenly stopped hailing and the sun came out (one bonus of the strong wind I found, it blew any bad weather over you before too long). It was magnificent, I was treated to a short spell of beautiful golden sunshine so I made the most of it and took some shots of Leather Tor, which I'm quite excited about. They looked great on the LCD so I'm hoping they come out well.



I am so glad I went out today, I feel refreshed and so alive, and I am glad I didn't get my kit packed away quicker and miss that sunshine. So I got wet, had to sit in the car for an hour, stung my eyes with the wind and stung my face and hands with hailstones, but it was one heck of a day, one of the best I've had in a long time.