Snow shower on Yar Tor

With no particular venue in mind, today's venture up onto the moor was a case of following where the 4/4 Morgan wanted to go. The Dart bridge, under repair has been closed off to traffic for a few days but today was clear. On the way up the steep incline towards Poundsgate the birds were in full song, even above the drum of the twin cam engine.

FL24mm/1/160s/f4.0/ISO 100

From Sharp Tor I was soon up beside Yar Tor but nothing dramatic came in view until in the north west appeared a mighty threatening cloud-bank.  A snow shower heading directly towards the Tor forced a dashing about to raise the hood of the Morgan.

Imaginary fears of being marooned by deep snowdrifts were quickly dispelled as no more than a gentle reminder that the moor can sometimes surprise. 

FL32.mm/1/125s/f4.5/ISO  100

From the variety of light and shade you may think these shots were taken on different days of the week but you would be quite wrong since they were all done within 40 minutes as the shower passed and revealed its powdering of bright white icing across the scene.

FL32mm/1/125s/f4.5/ISO 100

FL46mm/Ex1/500/f14.0/ISO 500

The shower passed overhead and here is seen heading away towards Torbay and out to sea.

FL50mm/Ex 1/80/f4.5/ISO 100

FL28mm/Ex 1/160/ f6.3/ISO 100

FL 32mm /Ex 1/160 /f18.0/  ISO 320

FL 24mm/ Ex 1/200 /f 20.0 / ISO 320

FL24mm / Ex 1/160 / f18.0 / ISO 320

Adding camera settings here is something not normally done by me. With the light rapidly changing minute by minute a degree of guesswork is called for.

First light on a frosty morning

Determined to put a camera gadget to the test my early start led to the Babeny cul-de-sac between Yar Tor and Sharp Tor. I allowed myself thirty five minutes to reach the spot, having sped down the A38 leaving the dual carriageway at Ashburton.  From there the road leads up to Poundsgate and eventually to Princetown. 

The lane leading to Babeny up past Yar Tor

Frosted tussocks and frozen pools

Sharp Tor

 Just in time to see the sun up at 7.10 am, several pairs of skylark were to be heard in full song but the wind was keen and carried within it, specks of light rain, enough to spoil some images that might otherwise have been of use. 

Ancient field systems

Excited at the prospect of  the ever changing light and seeking out what I hoped would be good vantage points, but the wind chill soon chased me back to the relative warmth of the car, my fingers tingling and too chilled to operate the camera for more than twenty minutes. 

The same scene ten minutes later and the colours have changed

Time to head home for a warm cup of tea

Babeny, Dartmoor, Devon.

I chose the wrong day today and whatever snow fell earlier, all had quickly melted away in the blustery North-Westerly wind.
Feeling brave at having just submitted to the dentists chair . The filling shade was B3 and a few shades of a similar hue were spoken of;  Magnolia, Apple White, Buttermilk and, Royal Ivory (Morgan  number 0044), but none appear in the dentists tray.

This morning its time to celebrate with a walk on the wild side

Sleat bouncing off the bonnet signals time for the hood to go up

Babeny is an undisturbed valley on the south east edge of the moor. No shops, no post office, telephone wires or telegraph poles to spoil a timeless landscape. The ancient farmsteads and granite walls meld naturally into the landscape . There is one lane in and the same lane leads out, the cul-de-sac of choice if peace and quiet is your goal.

I am caught in a flurry of hailstones that whip across the hillside and forced to raise the Morgan hood. A temporary measure till the cloud passes and a bright blue sky is revealed once more. 

Taking the brisk walk to the top of Yar Tor is chilly but would have felt harder if my mouth was not still numb from the dentists. 

The Moorland pools have frog-spawn in them and the Dartmoor ponies are about to give birth.   

Frog spawn 03-03-2015 promising a vintage year for global warming

To carry on from here means to arrive in someones' farm yard

Blackthorn tree sculpted by the west wind

Behind the ponies can be seen a dome shaped collection of fields like the hub of a wheel. One day I keep promising myself, I shall explore deeper into this landscape that is so appealing.

Something to do with the Ottoman Empire and one young man.  Here on the side of Corndon Tor is a monument erected to the memory of a fallen soldier aged 19. Wreaths are newly laid around about and tributes left in the form of a single candle and some small crosses laid at the foot of the granite outcrop. 

This Englishman rings a bell.