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It was a dull day but good for waterfalls. It’s much easier to print waterfalls that are not sunlit than those that are! Watersmeet house was also still closed up for the winter so no advertising signs and few people in my pictures. The last time I took photos here it was really busy and not as much water, the recent rain really helped the waterfalls.

The temporary link to these new images on my gallery website is:
www.davebutcher.co.uk/gallery/recent?key=Watersmeet

To see all of the Watersmeet photos that I have on my website follow this link:
www.davebutcher.co.uk/gallery/landscapes?key=Watersmeet

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This was to be our last day of the trip before heading home tomorrow (Thursday) and we decided to have one last coastal walk. One thing that we can’t do in the Peak District!

We headed west towards Combe Martin, parking a few miles east then walking the Coast Path.

It was a good walk but I didn’t take many photos, in fact just 8 shots all day. All with my Mamiya 7 camera, 65mm wide angle lens and Ilford 400 Delta at 500 ISO. All handheld, no tripod, travelling light.

The walk was a bit under 10 miles and took 5 hours so we weren’t rushing. I almost forgot to take a phone photo to illustrate this blog post but took just one from Great Hangman Hill looking east.

The whole trip was just over 6 days, including Bristol and Exmoor. I took 19 rolls of 120 Ilford film, mostly FP4+ with a few 400 Delta when I didn’t carry a tripod. With 10 shots per roll that’s 190 7x6cm  negatives for my week’s work.

I used a Mamiya 7 camera exclusively, in fact I used 2 as the cable release socket on the first one didn’t work so I switched to the spare that I had packed. I suspect part of the metal screw thread of a cable release has broken off and blocked the socket. It’s so difficult to buy good quality old-fashioned screw thread cable releases!

I used 3 lenses. Mostly 65mm and 43mm wide angle lenses but I also used a 150mm short telephoto in Bristol. On using Google Street View for planning shots before leaving home I could see images across the river to the SS Great Britain that needed a short telephoto lens. These were the only shots that I used the 150mm lens for.

I took 2 tripods. Both Gitzo’s. One a series 1 that weighs about 1.5kg that I used around Bristol. It’s more sturdy and higher. The other is a series 0 that weighs about 1kg and I can carry when Hill walking. In fact on this trip Jan carried it when I decided I would need to use it for long exposure waterfall shots on Monday.

Best of all though, my bad back survived some pretty strenuous walks and the hardest I’ve done since July. All without taking any drugs. Fingers crossed I can keep it under control in the future.

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On days like these big views often look flat but it’s perfect for waterfalls. Sunlit waterfalls often disappoint because details can be lost in the brightest areas.

We started off following the Coast Path for a couple of miles to Countisbury Hill. A jolly fine viewpoint overlooking Lynmouth but very windy too. A good one to come back to on a bright day.

It was just about midday and we happened to be passing the Blue Ball Inn so we ventured in for a swift pint. It would have been churlish not to!

From here it was all downhill to Watersmeet. With all the recent rain the waterfalls were spectacular, much more water than on our last visit a few years back.

Jan carried my tripod for me as I knew it would be needed to give me the streaky water effect that I like. I just carried my Mamiya 7 camera with 43mm wide angle lens, Sekonic spot meter and a few rolls of Ilford 120 FP4+ and 400 Delta. I only used the FP4+.

The pictures needed me to wade into the river in several places to put white water in the right part of the frame. Fortunately my Hill walking boots are 10 inches high and Gore Tex lined (Meindl Dovre Extreme GTX) so I remained dry shod.

2 films later we moved off on the final 2 mile riverside walk to Lynmouth. A bit under 8 miles in total and my bad back still seems to be as well as can be expected!

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