east coast | PK PERSPECTIVE

Tues 1st March Ferryden, Montrose and Arbroath

The Sun was finally shining and I was finished with my Nightshifts so I arranged to meet father and head out to my beloved East coast, the best place in the world, especially when the sun is shining off the red sandstone. After picking father up in Carnoustie we decided to do a relatively flat coastal walk as I was still pretty tired from working nights and I was running a bit late thanks to mother locking me out of the garage so when I went to fill the wiper fluid I couldn’t get tot he screen wash and after searching her house for a key just gave up and put in water only!

Montrose Basin Looking Stunning in the Sunshine

Anyway me and father had a lunch in Arbroath in a very nice new cafe, turns out Arbroath is like Perth and full of Sconies (people who drink tea and eat scones in cafes all day) and the place is full of little coffee shops. As father had been up the cliffs recently we headed further up the coast and to Montrose and Ferryden. As I took the wrong turning off the roundabout (still had nightshift head!) we went to the Montrose Basin 1st, where the view was lovely and quite exotic looking in the sunshine and starting with the zoom lens I shot some of the quaint little boats floating gently in the shallow water of the Basin. Dodging the taut ropes hiding in the sunshine and trying to take our heads off we walked along to the bridges and up to the view point which neither of us had been on before although we had both been to Montrose many times. Then following my sense of direction (a dangerous business usually) we went back to the car and Dad had to admit I was right with which way to go, which is a very odd occurrence. And we nipped down the road, taking the right exist to Ferryden, passing the good ship Sarah!

After a rather tricky several point turn on a thin road with walls on one side and a steep drop on the other we managed to park up and walk the top road to the Ferryden Lighthouse, the Scurdie Lighthouse is its official name and was 1st lit on the Tues the 1st March 1870 (141 years ago to the day). Anyway The view was spectacular with the Harr giving a blurred line between blue sky and blue sea. The White of the lighthouse and near by beacons just shimmered in the light, which looked fabulous but was a bit of a photographic nightmare as even with ISO low and under exposing it kept blowing out the detail of the buildings. But i got a few shots of Lighthouse and surrounding cottages and the expanse of the North sea. We went to walk along to Usan, but the ground became too marshy so we turned back and walked back along the front to the car.

After stopping off at another Arbroath coffee shop, this one designed like a 1950s diner and just at the Auchmithie turn off, we decided as the sun was still brilliant and the day still relatively young we would have a wee walk along the Seaton cliffs at Arbroath. Now as a child I used to climb these cliffs a lot, venturing into coves and caves and through holes in the sandstone cliffs, and being caught out by the tide occasionally and needing to clamber up the cliffsides to safety. Of course I was not alone, father and my sisters were there too and now he looks back and cringes at the dangers he put us in, as now he tuts and parents doing the same with their children. But no harm done and we made it through with a healthy sense of adventure and respect for the sea and its shoreline. So walking the meandering beauty of the Seaton cliffs is always a joy for me. Photo wise though I is hard to capture as it is pretty vast and far reaching and this is hard to show in a photo. So armed with only the wide lens on the camera I decided to do panoramic shots, which isn’t always a good idea with the wide as the distortion can make it hard to stitch photos well. But I decided to give it a go anyway. Standing on the outcrops of the cliff I took a few shots along the view, making sure each shot overlapped with the next. Once back home I stitched the photos together the easy way and put it through PTGui software which matches the overlap points and puts together the panoramic shot. Which I’m glad to say turned out well, which made getting a bit muddy climbing to the outcrop off the path worth it.

So all in all a successful day in the late winter sun. Not only did I get some good shots but i also got to see the sunshine at long last and got to be on my beloved coast line, home at last!

Castlesea Bay Panoramic, 7 shots stitched together

Location:- Stonehaven 13th November 2010 at 1400 ish

Finally had a day off when it wasn’t pouring down with rain so arranged to take father out for a wee trip. As the forecast said the better weather was North we decided to head up the east coast a bit. After having Lunch in a lovely little place in Arbroath (which I can’t remember the name of!) we decided to head up to Stonehaven by Aberdeen. Luckily I had come prepared with hat, gloves and 2 jackets as it’s not exactly the warmest place in the country. We drove though some pretty rough weather before we broke out of the cloud into a lovely sunny but cold day.

Kissing gate with a rather large step on the other side

Our 1st idea was to walk along to the dramatic Dunnottar castle, but on a whim we headed the other way along the cliffs to Aberdeen, which was a 1st for us, a little adventure. Also a challenge for my poor legs after playing short tennis the day before, which really involved me doing all the running around! Also led to some slightly dodgy texts about tennis skirts, but less said about that the better! Anyway me and father headed off along the cliffs. The cloud was starting to catch up with us but the sun was managing to break through a bit and reflected off the water like diamond on ice. On a bit of a whim and with encouragement form father I did something I have never done before, I turned my camera settings to Black and white. It was like the good old days of film when you can’t just swap it over in photoshop, and really got me thinking about the light and compositions again and not relying on colour to make the shot.

After I took a few shots of the castle from across the bay and by standing on the edge of the bench, and trusting father to tell me if I was going to step off it, we wandered onwards and came to an old Kirk which we never knew existed. It was beautiful especially with the strong winter sun on it. We climbed up the very eroded step through the kissing gate and explored. We found it was called Cowie Kirkyard and had been the site of a Kirk since the 7th Century and the standing remains date from the 13th Century and were dedicated to St Nathalan, a Scottish Saint although the Kirk is of English style. It had an odd bump at one end which ended up being Victorian and was used to store bodies, tried to find the way in but couldn’t!

Keeping on Black and white I captured the light through the graves, doorways and gate and must say thoroughly enjoyed it. As the weather was creeping in behind us we retraced our steps back into town and had a wee drink and cake at a coffee shop before starting the longish journey home. So although rather cold it was well worth it and has got me challenging myself again so I have decided to keep the camera on Black and White for a few weeks yet.

13th Century Kirk with Victorian body storage bump

Tag Archives: east coast

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