Withstanding the elements

I am embarking on a couple of days photography down on the South Coast (rain permitting). I started the day off with a drive down in pouring rain to Knowlton in Dorset, where there is a ruined church which is situated in the middle of some neolithic earth embankments. Amazingly the rain had stopped and it was nice a bright when I arrived there. I walked the embankments taking some pictures. While I was walking around I saw a hare shoot across the adjacent pasture field, and a little later while I was having my lunch I also saw a Kestral fly over.

After lunch I decided to head to Durdle Door on the coast, partly as a scouting mission for a potential early morning photo shoot. As I parked up in the cliff top car park the weather had changed a bit. I really struggled to open the car door against the force of the wind. I got togged up and made my way down to the cliff top path and it was bracing. Down in the cove there appeared to be coasteering group jumping off rocks into the swell. I also passed a school trip (probably geography students) making their way back up, looking slightly bedraggled. There were also a couple of photographers knocking about too.

I got set up with my tripod with the legs quite low to try and reduce the amount of wind shake,and tooks some long exposures. It was quite tricky keeping the rain droplets off the lens, it took me back to one of the days in Iceland where we were at the coast in torrential rain. I repositioned myself, but then the rain really came in and it hasn't really stopped raining since, although I'm now mostly dried out.

I have chosen this picture of Durdle Door as it is perhaps a slightly different view, and I like the view along the coast with the surf, and Portland emerging out of the haze in the distance.

I'm now settled in my hotel in Weymouth, and the pub across the way serves Wadworth 6X, which is a very tasty pint! I'll try and catch up with journals as and when I get Wi-Fi.