If you have read any other posts on my blog, you’ve probably sussed that I get quite excited when the ford at the bottom of my lane floods.  I have only lived here a year now and in that year (the wettest summer on record) i have seen it flood maybe 2 or 3 times. Now when I say flood I mean coming over the road. It usually doesn’t get muckh over 18 inches but at that level it’s un passable in a car and even most 4×4′s. only myself and a neighbor in a range rover can pass at this level.

So on Sunday 23rd the weather forecasters were predicting severe weather and flood warnings were in place across most of the north east. not trying to get to excited about it as usually it passes with not to much drama and that’s how it was on the following Monday. Yep it rained all day or should I say drizzled ! but by 5.30pm the ford was over the road and about 4 inches.

So the usual scenario played out, “get partner to leave her car on other side in case it’s impassable for her in the morning. (she has to get to work). the forcast was for more heavy rain through the night.

Tuesday the 25th September came and we did here some heavy downpours through the night.

No worries though I will probably get my Land Rover through whatever it throws at us and if not my partner can walk over the footbridge.

On our way down the lane that morning at 8am ish our first encounter was our neighbour in his range rover. he stopped to tell us there was no way we would get through this morning!

Now i’m excited! a proper challenge for my land rover!

here is the video of what we encountered.

As you can see it’s over 3 foot deep and we couldn’t even get near the footbridge! now i like a challenge but I’m also not stupid. There was no way any 4×4 would cross that with being forced against the railings and probably over the edge.

So back we went to have a day off work. 9luckily we are both able to work from home in such emergencies. We watch the news through out the day to see the North East come to a stand still. Over 80 flood warnings in place all of the major rivers bursting their banks somewhere! 100 of houses and towns flooded again for the second time in 4 years.

I don’t think anything can really protect us from the force of mother nature, we are at her mercy!

How was that day for you? Got any stories of your own? or video of the flooding? please comment below.

Every journey I make sees me crossing an Irish Bridge At the end of the lane that leads to my house. Although it is listed as a Ford, it is actually an Irish Bridge. The difference being a ford always has water running over it where an Irish Bridge is designed to allow water to flow under it until the river floods, then the water flows over it.

Now If you follow my blog, you will know I have a landrover Discovery, so naturally I get quite excited when the Ford floods and the river is in spate.

Last week we had an awful lot of rain, I think it went on for nearly 2 days. As expected the ford flooded so i jumped in the landrover to see how bad it was. When I got there it was only about a 8 inches deep, but flowing really fast. Naturally I went through it a few time just for fun. It was probably at the max depth I would take our VW Golf through but easy stuff for the Landrover.

I of course filmed it for all to see.

(Excuse the spelling mistake in the title)

The next morning after more heavy rain we woke up to the neigbours saying it was impassable! Great I thought a real test for the Landrover. When I got down there It definitely was worse, it was close to 15 inches and a torrent of water flowing. So Just to be cautious I raised to air suspension for maximum clearance and slipped it into low range gears. This makes it almost impossible to stall, very handy when going wading through a flood. Of course it went through without drama.This was all at 7.30am by 2.30pm it had risen a little further, So I decided to grab my camera and get some piccys.

And here they are.

At this point I realised I didn’t have my Iphone to film it So I decided to come back along with Bailey (my dog) and record a little of the action.

Over the next few days the rain stopped and the river subsided and went back to it’s usual state of tranquility.

So If you ever pass through Ulgham and see a strange man doing an Indian rain dance, it’s probably me! Bring on the rain I say!!

For the first time in years I actually had a Saturday off work and it was glorious weather so I thought I would lace up the old hiking boots and get out into the hills.

So after a quick phone call to my bezzy mate Mark (yep that’s the same Mark that regularly writes guest posts on here) to ask if he wanted to join me, a super quick response of ” I’ll be there for 2 O’clock” and that was my afternoon sorted.

Taken from forest car park on my Iphone 4

So we decided to have a run over to Rothbury and take a walk up Simoneside crags. Parking in the forest car park ( not the one out in the open) we set off up the trail to the immediate left. It is fairly easy going at this point but as you enter into the denser part of the forest you start to climb, you also have to really pick your foot steps here because there are a lot of exposed roots and it would be easy to catch one and fall.

Once you are up the first climb you come to the forestry commission access road, here you turn left. This part is really quite easy as it is a steady climb for maybe a mile or so.

You can also see Simonside on you left all the way up.

Once you get to the highest part of the road there are 3 benches so you can take a well earned rest and sample the views.

Now if your feeling brave you can turn off the track and head up the Simonside crags. I wasn’t to sure about doing it as I had my dog Bailey with me, going up isn’t a problem but when your trying to gently make your way down the steep and treacherous crags a 6 stone bundle of fun pulling you down at his pace  is not great.

Never the less I had come this far so I was going up.

It is pretty hard going scrambling up the crags but well worth it for the view once your up there.

Mark and Bailey on the crags

The view from here is breath taking you can easily see  the Alcan blast furnace on the Northumberland coast near Ashington (about an hours drive) and to the North the Cheviot hills are in plain sight.

As we made are descent we heard the loudest bang, like thunder only 10 times more powerful, a split second later the whole hillside shook like an earthquake. This sent Bailey into a frenzy and of course we were a bit taken back.

We still don’t know what it was but decided it must have been a sonic boom from the near by Otturburn ranges.

Did any one else hear or feel this? It is quite a strange thing to experience I can tell you.

After a short break for a drink and an energy bar we headed back of down the hillside.

All in I think it probably took about an hour and a half to walk but might have been quicker if it wasn’t for Bailey stopping for a sniff every two minutes along the way.

I can definitely recommend this walk if are looking for a short venture into the countryside.

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Mention running to me and I immediately thing of lone individuals pounding the pavements, passing the housing estates and occasionally going “off road” and crossing the grass of the local park. Now I know all about fell runners and cross country running too. But It has never really inspired me to go out running myself.

I now stand corrected! Whilst scouring the internet for subjects that interest me I stumbled across a guy named Killian Jornet.

This guy puts a new perspective to running. Take a look at this video I found, it will  both blow you away and inspire you to want to do something exciting!

Come the end of the summer of 2011, we were starting to get a lot of reports about the forth coming winter of 2011/12. Meterologists were predicting another severe winter, in fact they thought it would be worse than the last two! Now if you remember our last two winters, we did have some pretty severe snow fall and long periods of minus temperatures meant it stayed for months.
Now if you follow my blog you may have noticed a slight pattern to how I feel about bad weather. For me the worse it it the happier I am. I don’t know why that is, I just seem to love to hear a weather warning has been issued. Of course I’m only talking about snow. I’m not sitting here praying for rain or wind! but when it comes to snow the more the merrier.
Why? I hear you ask, I mean it’s not like I’m going to get the day off school to make snow men or go sledging. I’m not out there making ice slides and having snowball fights with the neighbours!
I can’t really put my finger on it, but I’m guessing I just love how the countryside looks when it’s covered in the white stuff, it creates a whole new world to see. I also love the feeling of discovering virgin snow and knowing I’m the first to a location that day.

For some bizarre reason I seem to enjoy the chaos it creates. I suppose I just like the idea that my Land Rover Discovery will pretty much take me anywhere and will rarely get stuck on a snow covered road.
So Here we are February 2012 And it has been one of the mildest winters for years! We did have a light dusting Around Rothbury in December but I walked up Simon Side (biggish hill near me) that day and it was gone by the time I had made my descent.
So you could imagine how happy I was when weather forecasters on Sunday said the snow is on its way. Yay I thought, a nice cold front coming in from Siberia, that normally brings the snow.
So here we are three days into the “cold snap” and have my prayers been answered? Have they h*ll! Im sitting here at work looking out the window as I type thinking ”it looks like it might snow” but it probably won’t.
I know there is still plenty of time, but before we know it spring will be upon us and my dreams of a winter wonderland will be scuppered for another year.
I think we were just spoilt with the last two winters and I prey for a return, others probably think I’m nuts! and pray it never returns!
What do you think? Do you love it or hate it? leave a comment and let me know.

I don’t watch a lot of television! by the time my day ends and I am sitting down to relax is usually about 9.30 pm. Thats fine, as I never feel deprived of lazing around in front of “the box” .
The problem with living this way is you tend to miss certain newsworthy information, for example last night I just happened to catch the 6.30pm regional news. They were reporting multiple sightings of the Aurora Borealis, more commonly known as “the Northern lights”.

This is a quick video I found from last night. ( not by me)

For those un aware of the phenomenon, it is best described as beautiful curtains of light created when fast electrons from the solar winds hit the rarefied gas of the upper atmosphere.
Now This is pretty rare in my part of the word, apparently it is more common on the tip of North Scotland but that’s nearly 400 miles north of me. So when I saw the news report I was stunned to see beautiful displays in our Northumberland skies, and apparently as far south as North Yorkshire.
Needless to say I was gutted I had not witnessed this for myself. It is one of those life long ambitions to see them. My partner Helen and I have discussed many times the possibility of arranging a trip to Iceland for the sole purpose of seeing the Aurora Borealis!
Never mind, the weather forecaster predicted clear skies for the next night and apparently the Aurora Borealis will be visible for the next few days.
So armed with this information I was on sky watch! I live in a great location in the Northumberland countryside with Pretty much zero light pollution, it’s a stargazers dream.
So I had a great chance of finally witnessing it for myself.
Every Five minutes I would go to the bedroom window for un interrupted views of the north skies, if I were to see them my plan was to run out the back garden gate and up the hill with my camera. From here the view stretches  across the Simonside hills up to the Cheviots and east across the Northumberland coastline. A spectacular photo in the making!
By 11.30pm there hadn’t been any sign of the Aurora Borealis, once again disappointment, but I’m keeping my hopes up as the forecasters are saying it may be visible for a few more nights yet.
Here’s hoping!

P.s here is a link to the report.

Blawearie Photographed whilst out walking on bewick moor northumberland

Take a look out your window, what do you see? buildings?traffic? but look further beyond all that, past the urban sprawl, what do you see know? yep thats right. Fields, hills forests, all the damp green cold muddy stuff, perfect for walking, fishing, climbing, cycling and picnics! so get your water proofs on people, and welcome to the great outdoors.
I love the great outdoors, I can’t wait to get out in it. Fresh air and sunshine, spongy mountain turf underfoot, the hope of spotting a bird of prey overhead….
But hang on a minute, I haven’t really thought this through, I live in Britain, What I actually get is RAIN!!, midgys’, barbered wire and angry land owners! more rain and mud, lots and lots of mud.
So whats in it for us? every year millions of us head for the British countryside, we spent a fortune on gear and clothing just to get damp and eat tinned soup. What is it in our make-up that makes us do this? why do we really want to “get back to nature” as the saying goes.
I think we started to realize the idea of hauling ourselves up a mountain is actually good for us both mentally and physically, the fact that there is also the opportunity to see a fantastic view certainly helped. To me It’s the view from the top that matters, but we have never really been able to shake of the fact that doing this is “good for us”, that sleeping in a field, using S.A.S survival techniques, trudging down an muddy hillside in the fog is somehow going to make us stronger happier, better.
So why are we out there? in the countryside? we could be warm and comfy and well fed, with a nice cold beer in our hands and a nice warm bed beckoning.
We could be…
Indoors!
No rain, no mud, no drops running from our noses as we make our decent off the wet hillside. But we know we would be missing something, something we crave, desire even!
Yes it can be cold, wet and muddy, but it’s worth it isn’t it? So get out there, ride a bike, climb a hill abseil down a cliff. Because only then will you see the magnificence of our countryside and and lay claim to be really “at one with nature” in “the great outdoors”

Well it’s getting so close to Christmas the inevitable had to happen. I was summoned by my better half to go shopping. So on Sunday we dropped the dog of at the in laws and headed to the mall. Now I like my walking, Its one of my passions, but somehow to trail around the shops for four hours stretching my arms with the weight of the shopping bags wasn’t much fun. Plus I’m a few hundred quid lighter!

On our journey home it was apparent that the weather had taken a turn for the worst. The car was saying an outside temp of 2℃ I know that’s not cold, but if you add in the gale force winds it felt very unpleasant. All I could think was, crap I have to take the dog out when I get back. A task I wasn’t looking forward too.

So we arrived home about 8pm, I hadn’t eaten for hours and was really looking forward to some grub, but instead I had the pleasure of  getting all my winter gear on and hitting the wet muddy fields with my boy Bailey (black lab in pic).

my boy Bailey

He is an all weather dog. In that I mean come rain hail or shine he is always ready to go walkies. In his short 4 years living he has never missed a single walk! that’s twice a day everyday. I don’t be-grudge him his walks, he is the most important part of our life’s, believe me this dog wants for nothing!

As I set off through the fields, sleet was driving in hard from the east (the coldest direction around here as it is from the north sea) making the going quite hard. As I walked I started to realise as I always do, being out in these terrible dark wet and windy conditions isn’t a chore, in fact I actually love it. I get excited by the harsh conditions, the inclement weather refreshes the mind body and soul.

I guess there is something in my genes, something that makes me happy when I am outside in the the country, I can’t say what exactly it is, but if you asked where I would rather be; in a nice warm shopping center or struggling up a hillside in a gale force wind, the hillside wins every time.

Now where is Baileys leader? its peeing down rain outside and it’s that time again, yippee!

As I go about doing all the usual things you need to do to set up a pleasing blog site, I thought long and hard about the header (that’s the photo at the top of the website). Should I do a generic title, maybe with a flashy graphic or easier still download a generic picture from one of the many royalty free image sites. Nope, I’m gonna put my creative skills to use and create a personal image header that represents my site.

So what would it be, well that was easy, one of my main interests is my Land Rover Discovery, its a rugged outdoorsy utility vehicle which will take me pretty much anywhere I want and though I haven’t had it long I absolutely the the thing! So it stands to reason it would be the focus (no pun intended) 0f my website header image.

OK next, where to take the image, yep there are many scenic views through out Northumberland but once I decide I want to do something, it has to be done straight away. So I decided to take the afternoon of work ( I can do that being self employed) and find myself a location to shoot the image.

After several cups of coffee and 3-4 M&S cranberry jaffa cakes ( sorry Mark was I supposed to keep them?) and a combination of google street view and an OS land ranger  map I  soon decided on my location.

Causey Park view

Causey Park Just of the A1 north of Morpeth. why here? Well for one its very scenic, but the main reason is it’s 10 mins’ from where I live! Although I had taken all afternoon off just to take this photo, I seemed to get lost in Google street view! it’s very addictive.

The location is totally accessibly by normal cars even though as you approach it is labeled as a by-way which can often translate to “not suitable for normal cars” . Anyway the plan was to arrive there about an hour before sunset in what us photographer call “the golden hour” because the beautiful warm colour the sun emits at this time.

I hadn’t actually planned to take the photograph during the “golden hour” I actually wanted to walk my best friend Bailey ( he is my 4 year old Labrador you can see in the front passenger seat in the photos) before I started taking pics and the sun would actually be setting as I photographed.

So once I had positioned the car in the suitably muddy field and I was sure the sun was below the horizon I was ready to start.

I decided to take multiple shots and use off camera speed lights (flash to the non technical). The photo consists of 4 shots.

1.  Background- 1 stops under exposed

2  headlights- exposed to get headlights correct

3 flash lit side

4 flash lit front

of course they were all taken on a tripod so the composition stayed the same.

Once I got home it was just a case of layering and masking in photoshop to hide and reveal the different parts of the image, simples.

So you can see the photo in the header but I also done one a little closer just for me and here it is pretty cool eh.

Well here I am in front of my keyboard and wondering why I have created this blog site. Well I’m not 100% sure myself, I think it may be because I’m an avid reader of blogs myself and find them a wealth of information and entertainment. They are also a great resource when you are thinking of making a purchase, whether its online or in a store, I always look for blogs to see what people are saying about the products I’m interested in.

So whats it going to be about? what have I got to say to the world? Well I love being outdoors, walking my dog Bailey, a black Labrador retriever and driving my land rover around the countryside. Oh and As I’m a professional photographer there is a good chance of plenty photo being posted too.

I am also a bit of a gear freak! and I’m always searching the net for real user reviews of gear I’m after, from shovels to torches, tow ropes to mapping. So I will be posting my own reviews of the gear I buy and where I got it from.

OK That’s it my first post complete, bring on the next few thousand!