Wales, Scotland, and a bit of Ireland.

[Vaughn]

Back from a month of travels (Wales, Scotland, and a bit of Ireland) with family; my two sons (26 yrs) and my oldest sister (77 yrs) -- and me at a sprite not-quite 69. Interesting family/generational/sibling dynamics on many levels, all based on a combination of commonly held family tendencies towards strong-willed stubbornness and the true love and care for each other. Just don't let anyone get to the point of getting hangry. About 2700 miles in the rental car. Exploring roads to nowhere and exploring beyond by foot.

I have no advice about weather and/or midges. We had no rain until a sprinkle in Galway, Ireland, a few days ago, but walking around Dublin two afternoons ago was just plain hot. A tiny taste of midges in NW Scotland one day and a change of hiking direction to avoid some one other day.

Northern Wales around the Snowdonia National Park was great...my son going to grad school at Bangor, Wales, has been hiking to the tops of the peaks this past year, so we avoided the tourists on our own tour...based out of his house in Bangor.

We then drove north through England and the Border lands to northwestern Scotland. We spent 4 days on the Isle of Skye in a converted mill, which worked very well...far enough north to miss a lot of the other tourists in the mornings and later afternoons. I left the old mill at 10pm for a short walk one evening (no flashlight no camera no phone)...ended up walking through the moors after dark (twilight lasting past 11pm) with the full moon guiding me on a faint trail amongst the peat bog...fortunately fairly dry due to the weeks of sun. We left the Isle and headed further north for another week or so before heading down back to Wales.

More castles, ruins, and stone walls for miles than one could shake a sheep at. I have always been impressed with the stone walls of the western foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. But no longer -- in comparison to Scotland (and all the isles in general) they are an equivilent to a child's Lincoln Logs set. As friendly of a people as one will ever meet. As friendly as I remember the people I met in New Zealand when I was there in 1975, 1980, and 1986.

I have 9 rolls of 120 B&W to develop. Mostly FP4, but also a couple rolls each of Acros and Delta 100. The ninth roll is a bit of a loss...quickly firing it off before getting on the plane home. No issues getting the film hand-inspected on the way home. The film was bought or was given to me in Wales. As it was a fast-moving family trip, time to slow down and work in an area did not happen often. The attached photo was taken a couple mornings after my moon-lit moors walk, starting from this area.

[Hugo Zhang]

Vaughn,

Sounds like a great trip and I will put this on my list. :-)

If I go to the Isle of Skye, is it practical to take a lightweight 810 camera and a few holders? How far did you have to walk until you find a tripod spot on average?

Thanks.
Hugo

[Tin Can]

Very good!

and wonderful

[mpirie]

If I go to the Isle of Skye, is it practical to take a lightweight 810 camera and a few holders? How far did you have to walk until you find a tripod spot on average?

If you do come over with your 10x8 Hugo, aim for very long exposures so the masses of tourists will disappear from the film!

Mike

[Vaughn]

Hugo, it will depend on what one wants to photograph...and luck with the weather and presence of the midges (no-see-ems for those in North America). Mpirie will be far better informed about how much luck is needed. I had a ton of luck...thus my lack of experience of dealing with the extremes of Scotland. I was spoiled. Having just the Rolleicord made images in the wind easier to deal with -- many times an 8x10 would have been difficult to work with.

Photographing before breakfast and after an early dinner is highly recommended if one wants to avoid some of the crowds -- this time of year the sun is up at 4:30 and down at 10:30 -- take advantage of it. The named places that make the tour guidebooks can be a mess of tourists. On the Isle of Skye, the Fairy Pools are such a place -- we drove by, shook our heads, and found a smaller version elsewhere.

If one wants to photograph old stone houses, barns, bridges, and other structures (castles and such) several centuries old, in various stages of deconstruction, Scotland will be a goldmine. Scotland has a serious "Right-to-travel" tradition (and law) which allows anyone to walk basically anywhere except in landowners' back gardens. So such structures are easily accessable right off the road. Close gates behind you, mind the bulls, leave no trace -- be respectful.

Boats in various conditions (working boats, sailboats, wrecks) abound within easy strolls when low tides leave them high and dry. No wilderness, but plenty of wildness. The attached image was an easy walk down from the road -- one of my boys for scale. I exposed a couple frames of 120 there.

To photograph Scotland would take me a couple years of being in Scotland to even get a good start at it. There is a depth of history there that it is difficult for us born and educated in the USA to understand and grasp fully. it would take time to get to know the light and the landscape. I was lucky to have my son with us who has spent a year in Wales studying ag/forestry -- and could explain a lot of the historical land practices and their results on the present ecological state of Scotland.

[domaz]

Isle of Skye is pretty overrun at the standard locations but you can get away from the crowds pretty easily. We followed a right-of-way through farmer's fields and gates to a less visited castle ruin (Caisteal Uisdean?) and saw no one. It was an amazing location with broad views of a bay, you don't get that kind of history in the US, that's for sure.

[mpirie]

Vaughn's right, we have the right to roam, provided we do not cause any damage and respect those that live here. If you stay away from the tourist hotspots, then there's a lifetime's worth of photographic material to be had here (part of the reason I moved here).

The midges can make any outdoor activity a misery......large format photography by its nature means taking time and the midges love to keep you company......as do the horse-flies.

There are sprays that have some effect on the midges, but to be honest, none of them give you freedom for the little bu**ers! Stick to the coast, stay away from wooded areas.

Mike

[domaz]

I must have gotten lucky when I visited Scotland in April a few years ago. I never saw a midge and we had mostly sunny days. This is probably not the usual April weather.

[Tin Can]

I always wanted to go the the bike races at Isle of Man

Sounds like madness

[interneg]

No wilderness, but plenty of wildness...

...There is a depth of history there that it is difficult for us born and educated in the USA to understand and grasp fully

Depends on your definition of how long after a populace is cleared from a given landscape it is counted as having returned to 'wilderness' and thus gets defined as forms of the sublime and picturesque and therefore safely marketable to tourists...

That those (and their diaspora) who were on the receiving end of clearances in Scotland were effectively agents of clearance elsewhere in the world is very well documented.

I never saw a midge and we had mostly sunny days.

Needs a certain amount of humidity & minimal wind. Still, they're really a minor irritant compared to ticks etc.