The Great Ridge

I've gone a little mad this week, deciding to take advantage of my training course in Stoke and making a couple of visits into the Peak District before breakfast. This morning meant being up at 4 am to be on the Great Ridge between the Edale and Hope Valleys before sunrise.

Driving along the A53 between Leek and Buxton a persistent rain set in and I began to think this was going to be a fruitless waste of time. To make matters worse my car's display suddenly switched off, leaving me with the worry of major electrical failure; not to mention the difficulty of keeping to the speed limit! Thankfully after about 15 minutes it came back on without reason. I still had a lingering worry that the car may just stop and leave me stranded.

I parked up underneath Mam Tor and headed towards Lord's Seat on Rushup Edge. The moon was my main source of light , but at least that meant the clouds were clearing. I took lots of photos but this shot, just as the sun rose will remind me in years to come of the beauty of the scene.

Technical: Yes, it's an HDR, 5 shots at 1 stop separation. There are also 4 stops of ND filtration to hold back the sky (and sun).