The beautiful river Irthing

This afternoon I went for a short circular walk from Chapelburn, west of Gilsland, taking in the bluebell woods and the riverside. I decided to take the tripod and a couple of lenses while I work out what will be best when I go on a week's photographic holiday in Glen Coe in a few weeks time.

The walk was full of delights, but I found the tripod very awkward and heavy on the backpack. My centre of gravity felt wrong and I realised that a fall forwards would allow the tripod to fall on top of me and hit me on the head!!! It was rather slippery after the rain and I left my walking poles behind, thinking I had enough to cope with the tripod etc. The outcome - I have not found a good set up for Glen Coe.

This image shows the glorious amber brown of the water in the Irthing. It brings peat from Butterburn Flow.

I did use the tripod and used a slow shutter speed with a ND4 filter to make a small waterfall look milky, but decided I preferred this image.

Can't wait to go back again - this stretch of the river is a little visited gem.