Runner up this time.

  Dead chuffed again. This time following a photo competition run by Fix the Fells, the organisation which repairs some of the bady eroded footpaths in the Lake District. I opted to enter a photo which I hoped had elements which would be appreciated by the judging panel as having a connection with the cause.

Evening Ridge Walking.

This shot was taken on the Hopegill Head, Whiteside Ridge and thankfully the judges deemed it good enough to be a runner up in the competition, the winner being a superb shot of Haystacks and Buttermere by Keith Knight. The reason I was so chuffed was the fact that this photograph was purely fluke and features Esther walking with Zoe and Zeta on a glorious Spring evening.

 Fix the Fells have produced a nice little hard-back book which features some of the competition entries which will be on sale in the new year to raise money for the work on the footpaths.

I will post details when I have more information about the availability of the book.

Got it Covered.

  Not for the first time this year I was asked if one of my photographs could be used for a magazine. This time it was for the Winter Issue of the Wainwright Societies Quarterly Magazine "Footsteps". Of course I was more than happy to oblige, I'm a keen supporter of the Society not only for its promotion of the work of Wainwright but also of the great work that the group does in raising money for good causes.

Thornthwaite Beacon

Followers of the Blog may recall that earlier this year I mentioned the Wainwright Society Calendar 2012 which I am now pleased to say has completely sold out and has raised a substantial amount of money for the Calvert Trust.

For more information on the Wainwright Society follow this link: www.wainwright.org.uk



A sense of Christmas.

  Adjacent to the gallery here in Barnard Castle is the parish church of St Mary's and every other year they hold a Christmas Tree Festival. This involves local groups and businesses sponsoring and decorating about 50 trees within the church. It really is a spectacular sight and gives a real feel to the Christmas celebrations.

St Mary's Church.

I took the opportunity to have a look in to the church and try a couple of shots to capture the scene.

It wasnt easy to shoot the interior and show the trees off to their best. There were also a fair  number of visitors so long exposures were called for. They may not be perfect but I am pretty happy with the results.

The run up to Christmas.

  Its nearly always the case that the last few weeks before Christmas bring a rush of orders for cards and prints and this year is no different. It does mean that my days out on the hills are somewhat curtailed but I live in hope that the New Year will bring some super winter walking conditions and that I will not have missed the best of the winter weather.
  Part of the time limitation is due to the fact that I am the one who mounts and frames the prints for the gallery as well as packaging and dispatching any internet orders.

Framing in  the studio.

Of course I could sub-contract these tasks out to other people but I would probably spend quite a bit of time checking out the quality of that work and there is something about doing the job in full myself.

  In the next week or two I am looking to add new work to the range of photographs and to re-work sections of the website so keep an eye out for these updates.

Snow at last.

 By this time last year we were knee deep in the white stuff, this year- nothing, well that was until yesterday. Overnight and throughout Monday we had a decent covering of snow around the Bowes area and the fells across the dale looked like they had even more. So off I went today for a early drive up to Teesdale in the hope of capturing the scene.

Sunrise over Romaldkirk Moor

Middle Side and Teesdale.

New House Farm.

I was able to take the dogs on a couple of short walks and still come back with a small selection of decent shots, well worth the effort of heading up the dale.

Limited Sun

 There has been a recent spell of wild and windy weather but I reaqlly did need to get out and walk. I picked the best day possible going by the forecast but opted for a low level walk just in case the wild winds and low clouds prevented me from obtaining the references that I needed.
 The Loweswater Fells are a neat group of easily accesssible hills so that's where we headed. Conditions were not too bad and the showers in the main passed us by. There was however very strong winds, especially on the tops and today was no day to hang around to admire the views. The bonus to the winds was the fact that the clouds raced across the skies and the ocassional gap let the sun filter down. That gave me the odd chance to get a decent shot but it was near the end of the walk, just above High Nook Farm that I came back with what I think was the best photo of the day.

Low Fell

The late afternoon sun lights up the slopes of Low Fell across Loweswater. I had to wait for just the right moment to catch the best of the light and the grazing sheep added to the scene. After that it was a simple walk back to the car, a good result from a really mixed day.

Late light.

  After a day in the gallery I was all set just to head home. It was only by chance that I had parked further along the road than usual and as I approached the car I could see the roof of the Bowes Museum just above the tree line. It was glowing. Quickly jumping in the car I drove the short distance to the grounds of the museum, grabbed the camera and was just in time to fire off a couple of shots of the last of the evening light.

Bowes Museum.

Within a minute or so after this shot the light had faded so it really was just in the nick of time. Then it was time to head home and tea was hardly late at all. Well worth the effort I think.

Beautiful Buttermere.

 There are certain locations in the lake district which are really popular with photographers and just a couple of these require little effort to reach. One of the most popular of these is the view of Haystacks across Buttermere which was on my plan for today, not just for the photo opportunity but mainly to obtain a reference on a route up to Robinson's high ground.
 Before setting off on the actual walk I drove along the Buttermere road towards Gatesgarth and I timed it just right as the first sun of the day was striking the tops of the High Stile range.

High Stile.

I returned to Buttermere village where I parked the car before setting off on my walk. The early stages of this route followed the lakeside path and due to the stunning colours and light on the fells my first mile took about an hour. There were quite a few other people about, mostly photographers trying to capture the scene of this autumn morning. It was hard to resist taking lots of images especially as the scene was almost perfect, no doubt some of those photographers captured the scene better than me but I am more than  pleased with the result.

Mist on the water.

Boardale round

  The third route of this weekend was a tour around Boardale taking in  Beda Fell and continuing round to Place Fell. It was one of those days where the weather could have gone either way but we were lucky the cloud did last most of the time but we were treated to some wonderful patches of sun later on the route. There was the possibility of heading over Rest Dodd and down to The Nab but recent wet weather meant that the ground was quite boggy and anyone who knows the route between those two fells will understand my reason for avoiding that section today.

Boardale Hause

As we headed from Brock Crags and ascended Place Fell the sun burst through the clouds and lit the dark fellsides. It gave some wonderful opportunities for stopping to take photographs despite the really strong breeze.

Fusedale

 It turned out that this short walking weekend would involve three routes in three small quiet valleys, Swindale, Fusedale and Boardale.
 Today was a couple of hours on the fells that encompass Fusedale. This small valley sits just south of Howtown so we began our route from the hause which seperates Martindale from the open land to the north. From there it was a direct ascent of Steel Knotts, round to the ruins at the top of Fusedale and then a gentle climb up to Wether Hill.

Once Wether Hill the cloud closed in and the visability dropped to a matter of yards. This wasnt really a problem as once we reached Loadpot Hill we had a straightforward descent down Dodd Gill. There was only us and a few Red Deer wandering over this pathless route. Fortunately by dropping down a couple of hundred feet we cleared the cloud and I was able to get the reference that I needed on this visit. Soon back in Fusedale we only had to skirt round the foot of Steel Knotts to return to our start.

Not an over exciting route but another day when we saw hardly a soul.

A Quiet Lakeland Valley

 With a bit of research it is still possible to find a peaceful Lake District valley for some quiet walking. OK so Swindale in the far eastern region isn't surrounded by huge crags and dramatic scenery but that doesnt mean its not worth a visit.
 Today I was after a reference or two from this dale and I planned a route which took in one fell, Selside Pike. We were fortunate with the weather with patches of bright autumn sunshine lighting up the changing colours of the landscape.

Above Swindale.

Views from near Selside Pike to the west give a fine vista of the High Street range which today had a touch of low cloud. To the north and east the scene is of the North Pennines and the Howgills.

 We had a fine half days walk and I have already pencilled in a return visit.

Of Course I'm chuffed!

 When asked to submit a high res copy of one of my recent photos to a popular walking magazine I was a bit sceptical. Sure, nice to be asked but I was thinking it would be used in a small corner of a page and hardly noticeable, how wrong I was. Spread across a full two pages of Trail Magazine December issue is the image.

Taken on a wild camping trip a few months ago the view down into the Langdale Valley from near Shelter Crags. It was a perfect morning with the low mist right down in the valley and the sun just coming up.

 Techy stuff.: I have already been emailed regarding the camera etc that I used for this shot. Unfortunately there is not much to say as the camera used was just my simple Samsung WB500 compact camera set on "scene" and mounted on a small mini tripod, no filter etc. I took several shots using the self-timer and this was the best as the others had the dogs in not such pleasing positions. Hopefully it just goes to show that you dont need to have a big DSLR all the time to get that memorable picture.

How blue?

 Whilst out on the Far Eastern Fells on a bright but chilly day yesterday we were walking over the tops of Grey Crag and Tarn Crag. The skies were bright blue with just one or two fluffy white clouds to add interest and cast shadows on the land. These summits are well down the popular list as they sit at the head of the quiet valley of Longsleddale.
 Most of the Lakeland Fells are only marked by cairns or the ocassional Trig column. Tarn crag is a bit different, close to the actual highest point stands a tall pillar, an old survey column from the days of the construction of the water supply to the industrial heartland of the north west.

Today it made for a near perfect photograph. The small pool that lies adjacent to it perfectly reflected this blue Autumn sky and the distant fells of the High street range were defined by cloud shadows.

 It only took the use of a polarising filter on the camera to give the clouds and water reflections extra punch and that was it, no need for colour enhancement in photoshop or lightroom the colours are as good as they were on the fell. I may need to look at it more closely and perhaps level it up a bit but thats about all I think. Right place, right time has come up trumps again.

It's never too late.

 After a good day out on the Northern Fells in mixed weather it was only on the way home did I perhaps catch the best light of the day. As I was driving home along the A66 I saw the glow of the sky in my car's rear view mirror. I just had to stop and try and capture the scene.

With Clough Head on the left and Blencathra on the right the setting sun was neatly framed in  the natural gap. Glad that I pulled in.

More good light

  The autumn is producing some excellent days weather. Combined with the changing colours of the vegetation the potential for good photographs is an opportunity too good to miss. My walk today was hardly a Lake District classic but a route into the Langstrath Valley to get a couple of references .

As we were quite high up in the valley we were treated to a few patches of bright sun on the landscape and  by chance we were in a prime location to capture the scene. No need for fancy treatment in lightroom or photoshop, nature has done all the work. It also goes to show that you do not need to get upo really high to see the wonderful landscape of the area.
Within a short time the sun had disappeared behind a thick cloud cover and the opportunity for any more decent shots had passed.

Well worth the effort.

 Sometimes it takes planning and effort as well as a touch of good luck to produce good results. So it was for this trip, a route over in the North Western Lake District. It involved a steep ascent of Grasmoor and an overnight wild camp on the summit.

It was a fine location to pitch the tent with the sun setting behind the Loweswater Fells. Despite the really strong wind it was a clear starlit night followed by a rather wonderful sunrise. The full range of photographs from the route are now online: http://www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk/ and check out the Grasmoor link on the On Location section.

Another good day

  Nearly all of my fellwalking is done solo but today I had company. Not only does this make a nice change but it also allows me to include a person in some of my photos which I feel can sometimes give these big landscapes a real sense of scale.

Ascending out of Hartsop.

By chance the figure in this shot wasnt my companion but another unknown walker behind us. I waited until I thought he reached the ideal spot on the track before taking the shot. Well worth keeping an eye out to capture these opportune moments.

 The day was almost perfect weatherwise with some patches of sun in between periods of cloud. We were walking in the Far Eastern Fells with some excellent views over to the Fairfield range.

Something from nothing

  I had planned to go over to the western fells today as it looked like bering the best day of the week and by chance I had arranged to make a delivery to the area. Not for the first time the weather didnt quite play ball with low cloud covering some of the fell tops and more importantly it was one of those fell tops which I needed to see on this walk. Luckily by the time we reached the required location I was able to see just the view I needed so it wasnt a wasted trip.
 It was later on in the day as we were heading home that the clouds dispersed and the early evening sun made an  apearance. A slight detour to Ennerdale on the off chance of a late bonus was well worth the effort.

Afternoon sun on Great Borne.

A short walk from the car park and I was able to find a good location to try and capture this warm evening light and to recover something from this dull and overcast day.

Windy at Cauldron Snout

 This afternoon I headed up to Upper Teesdale for a short "there and back" walk to Cow green reservoir. Even though the strong winds of the past few days continue there were periods of good sunshine and the clouds chased across the sky at speed. We were caught in a couple of passing storm showers which made for interesting skies.

 The route from the Cow Green car park along to the dam is relavitely easy being on a tarmac road and just below the dam is the impressive series of cascades know as Cauldron Snout. This is reputedly the longest series of falls in the country and is well worth a visit. Of course this location is also good for the spotting of the rare Spring Gentian earlier in the year.

Cauldron Snout.

if you would like to asee the other photos from this set then do visit the On Location section of the website: www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk

A bit of free publicity.

 It's not my thing at this time to go out seeking publicity for my photographs so they only get promoted through my websites or social networking sites such as Flickr or Facebook. So when I got asked last week to provided two photos for use in a couple of articles I was surprised to say the least (and quite chuffed of course).
 The first was for a blog post for the Liverpool Echo and they used this shot of Steeple.

Steeple.

http://blogs.liverpoolecho.co.uk/aintnomountainhighenough/

 The second photo was the photo "coffee and breakfast" taken high above Great Langdale and featured in a recent blog post. This request was from a walking magazine for a future edition. Of course it may get use at the size of a small postage stamp (or not at all) so I wait with baited breath.
  I appreciate there are much better photographers out there with all singing and all dancing kit who get their work in magazines on a regular basis but there is just something quite pleasing about getting work selected out of the blue.

Just a snap

 Whilst looking out of the gallery window late this afternoon the sky seemed a stormy grey but the sun shone brightly on the street, even the Indian takeaway opposite looked almost worth a photograph! With this in mind after shutting the gallery for the day instead of heading straight home I drove up to the grounds of the Bowes Museum just on the edge of town in the hope of capturig some of this dramatic light. Unfortunately the grey skies were not as moody as they were earlier and the sun had all but gone. However with a bit of patience and luck the sun made a brief appearance to light up the scene and produce quite an acceptable result.

The Bowes Museum.

The boldness of the red flowers help to make the photgraph. Well worth the diversion on the way home I think.

Picking the right day.

 The long range forecast for this week didnt look too promising so I took a chance that Tuesday would live up to expectations. Recently I have been extremely busy with paintings so a day out on the fells was called for as a bit of change of scenery. My choice of route in the northern fells was slightly obscure but it did give me some unusual angles on familiar landscapes.

Derwentwater from Skiddaw Little Man.

The set of photos from this walk are now online: www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk and visit the On Location page where you will find the link.

On high

The forecast looked pretty good for an overnight trip so I headed up to Shelter Crags near Crinkle Crags for a wildcamp. carrying the extra kit, tent, sleeping bag etc is a bit of a pain especialy as I carry the dog food etc as well but for nights like these its well worth the effort in the end.
 Even thought the sunset wasn't as dramatic as I would have liked the swirling low cloud added a real sense of atmosphere. Sadly the compact camera cant capture the low light as well as a DSLR would but thats something that I have to live with for now.
Dawn next morning was different, perfectly calm with some wonderful warming light. I was able to take it all in high above the Langdale valley which even had a touch of low mist for good measure.

Dawn over the Scafells

Coffee above Langdale.

If you would like to see the full set of the photos then do pay a visit to the On Location section of the website: www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk

March 2012?

  I have just had a copy of a 2012 calendar land on the doormat, well I suppose we are over halfway through the year and people are thinking about 2012 already. The 2012 Wainwright Society Calendar is produced to help raise money for good causes and hopefully the new copy will do the same.
I was fortunate enough to have one of my photos selected for inclusion in the calendar, a view of the High Stile Ridge from near Grey Knotts.

To check out more information on the claendar and to buy online then here is the link: http://www.wainwright.org.uk/calendar/index.html

Summer photo competition

 Following the recent blog post regarding the Spring Photo Competition here's the PR photo from TBI.

Note how they put the old ugly one to the back in the photo. (lol)

The main reason for post this is to give the next competition a plug which is now on. The competition is open to all on the theme of Summer. Check out this link and submit your entries, good luck!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/tbilaw/ 

The Golden Hour

  As I work in my studio I am able to look out across the farmland and moors to the south. The evening sun often casts its last light over this landscape and I can watch the warming colours as the sun sinks over to the west. So it was last night, I could see that there was potentially a good sunset taking shape so I headed out along the lane with the dogs to get a good view. Actually the sunset was pretty plain, no clouds but just a red ball dipping below the horizon. However I did get one good shot, as I walked up through the field a Texel Tup was standing proud in the pasture. Whether he was warming himself in the sun or not I dont know but as he was watching the dogs I mangaged to catch the last of the sun lighting up his front.

The Golden Fleece.

Yet again, another case of right place, right time.

Wildcamp in Eskdale

  A drive round to Eskdale in the south west region of the lakes and a walk up to High Gaits Crags. That was the first part of my overnight trip this week. Sadly the weather wasnt as good as I hoped but the odd break in the clouds did give the chance of one or two good shots.

Light at Scar Lathing.

I pitched the tent on the crags in the hope that either the late sun or dawn would afford some good light but that didnt happen, there is no accounting for the weather. The next day took me up and over the high fells of Scafell Pike and Scafell using some unusual and entertaining routes.

Mickledore from Broadcrag Tarn.

All in all a very enjoyable trip. To see the rest of the photographs from the route do visit the On Location section of the website www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk

New Image

 With the first batch of prints back from the printers for the new image "A Splash of Red" I had to get them mounted and framed ready for display in the gallery and available for online sales.

From the interest shown already it looks like this will be a popular image and I hope to update the website in the next 24 hours for orders online.

High Force re-visited

  Today I had a bit of a business meeting planned up in Teesdale which included a bit of a recce to both Low Force and High Force. I wasn't too optimistic about the forecast though as showers or rain seemed to be covering the area. However, once we got to the locations late in the afternoon it really turned out to be rather pleasant. Now I wasn't really on a walk but as always I did have my camera with me and with such good subject to hand I couldnt resist taking a couple of shots.

High Force.

The late afternoon sun lights the cliff on the southern side of the falls. so not only was it a productive meeting but I also managed to get a couple of interesting shots as a bonus.

Second second

 Once again I had to head over to Hartlepool today as it was the presentation of prizes for the TBI Spring photographic competition. Followers of this blog may recall that in their winter competition I came second with my "Spindrift" shot. This time I picked up second again with my group shot of sheep.

Family Portrait.

I think the fact that the two lambs are so different in size adds a bit of a story to the shot which made it quite appealing.

 However, the winning shot was a simple but stunning shot of daffodils by "Tete-en-l'air". Do take a look at the flickr site to see the shot. Details are also there about the new Summer competition, anyone can enter, it's free and if I can get second then there is hope for anyone.

Here's the link: http://www.flickr.com/groups/tbilaw/

Good luck!

Watching the sunrise

 The forecast looked pretty favourable so late on Sunday I headed up to Upper Teesdale for a late evening walk. If the conditions were as expected I hoped to test out my new tent, better to give it a trial near to home than up on the high lakeland fells. I will be posting more of the photos on the website shortly but here is a taster for now.

First rays of the sun.

Pastel coloured sky as the sun makes its appearance for the day.

Goldsborough glow.

  Following the rather nice sunset on Tuesday I took a drive out this evening to give the dogs a bit of a leg stretch up onto Cotherstone Moor. I timed it in the hope that we may get a repeat of the colours of the setting sun as we did the night before. A short walk across the moor took us up to the Millstone grit outcrop that is Goldsborough, this is one of my favourite places in the dale with excellent views across the wide landscape. just as I got there the sun dropped below a layer of cloud and lit the crags with a golden glow.

Goldsborough.

I am hoping to do a bit of work up here in the near future so this was a good chance to check out some of the crags of this outcrop (is that a witches face in the photograph? lol)

 As I headed home the sun did indeed put up a last touch of rich colour so i just had to take a shot or two.

Late sun

  Whilst working in the studio this evening I looked out across the fields to see the glow of the evening sun lighting the landscape. As my view is to the south I needed to take a walk out along the lane to give me a clear view to the west to see if the setting sun lived up to expectations. It was well worth the little effort as from the lane there was a clear view. At this time of the year the sun goes down behind Mickle Fell which at just over 2500' was formerly the highest point in North Yorkshire.

The time was a little after 9.45 when I took this shot, still plenty of light if you were out on the hills. Now there's an idea!

Poppyular

 After my trip out to the poppy fields on Tuesday the response to the images has been really amazing, many thanks to all who left comments or likes on forums, photo-hosting sites, emails and Facebook. It seems that despite the fact that I was drawn to the mass of poppies in the main field the photo which has had the most reaction is this.

A splash of red.

The threatening clouds, the light on the tree, the tracks in the crop and the brilliant colour of the poppies all came together to make such an appealing scene. It just so happened I was there at the right time. Needless to say I will be producing prints of this image, in fact they are being printed now and hopefully we will have copies here at the gallery by the end of the week. more information on the website shortly.

A mass of red.

  Teesdale is an area not reknowned for arable landscape but when I got a tip-off about a stunning flowering of poppies in a field of Oilseed Rape then I thought I would go and take a look. The weather was just about right with sunshine and some cloud which brought out the intense colour of the flowers. The field was well away from public footpaths so I had to get special permission to visit the site and the difficulties of walking through waisthigh nettles and thistles on the field edges was well worth while.

Of course I took loads of photos, some of which can be viewed on the website: http://www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk/Teesdale%20gallery%2021.6.11.htm

Teesdale in bloom.

 Following my recent post about the hay meadows in Swaledale I took another look at the meadows here in Teesdale. We are doing a bit of work at the minute on an exciting new project so these visits to the meadows were really part of the research for this idea. Mind you, I dont really need and excuse to get out and visit these places right on my doorstep.
 I incorporated this visit with a walk around one of our small reservoirs here in Teesdale, Blackton. It was a beautiful morning and a joy to take in the sights and sounds of Baldersdale, a branch valley of Teesdale in which the reservoir sits.

Hay Meadows above Blackton.

This route is also a good opportunity to visit the Durham Wildlife Trust reserve of Hannah's Meadows which once were worked by Hannah Hauxwell. These meadows have been kept free from artificial fertilisers and are an ideal habitat for a wide variety of meadow flowers. The full set of photographs from this walk can be found on the website: http://www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk/Teesdale%20gallery%2020.6.11.htm

A Swaledale wander

 Late afternoon was a good time to set of with the intention of having a good walk in Swaledale. The light was still good and this time of day means that there is usually less people about. Late June or early July is the best time to see the Hay Meadows near Muker at their best. The controlling of the use of artificial fertilisers and chemicals in these fields means that the herbage is how most meadows in the dales would have looked in days gone by.

Hay Meadows at Muker.

The flowers were looking at their best with a fine show of Buttercups, Red Clover, Cranesbill and other species adding to the colour mix. This display is spread over serveral pastures on the valley bottom. Once through these meadows I decided to continue my walk up towards Keld.

Kisdon Force.

The route is fairly straight forward and makes for a pleasant hour or twos walk. The photos from the walk are now on the website which will show how you can follow the route to take in the meadows, the falls and the industrial landscape of Swinnergill. http://www.theteesdalegallery.co.uk/On%20Location%2014.6.11.htm

Down the lane.

 Only time for a short walk this morning so I took the dogs along the lane from the house. This is quite a regular leg stretch for us as it avoids using the car and very sledom do we see traffic along the way. Plenty of life in the adjoining fields but by keeping to the lane I can let the dogs run a bit free but still keep a close eye on them. The verges and hedgerows are a good hiding place for young birds such as Pheasants, Partridge etc so I have to keep both of them under fairly close control.
 Less than half a mile from the house we have a couple of hay meadows which are currently in full colour and on such a nice day the sight of the meadow really is a wonderful sight.

Just as I was down getting this photograph the dogs who were sitting close by me were watching something along the lane intently. There sitting on the grass verge about 10m away was a young hare casually going about his business. As soon as I moved he crept into the longer vegitation. Making the dogs sit and stay I crept up to see if the hare was alright and to get a better view. He was fine so I quickly took a couple of photos before retreating back to the dogs.

We walked off in the other direction and left the hare to enjoy the summer sunshine.

Teesdale Meadows

 We took ourselves off to Middleton in Teesdale this morning to check out the hay meadows which lie adjacent to the River Tees in that area. It was not only a good excuse for a walk but also an opportunity to walk a short section of the Pennine Way for part of an idea which I am working on at the minute.
 It was a bright sunny morning and the meadows were looking rather good but I think it will be a week or so before they are at their peak. There were even still a few patches of late Bluebells which added that extra colour to the flowering vegetation.

 This is really a pleasant 6 mile walk and the full set of photographs will be up on the Teesdale Gallery website shortly, worth a look if ever you are up in the area. Even when out of season it is a nice route.