Crombie Country Park - Another Day, Another Park

Crombie Country Park
Parking	The park has a good car park but you have to pay and dismay, except in winter when it's free.
Distance	Approximately 2 miles to go around the whole park
Height / Ascent	less than 20m - the park is pretty flat
Bogginess	2 / 5
Strenuosity	1 / 5
Other Info	None

Introduction

 

Right! Off we go again! The script was much the same as before. Iffy looking weather so staying close by. Since Monikie proved quite fruitful last time, we decided to go and visit it's sister park, Crombie.

I was also about to have a stab at HDR photography here. I had read a bit about it and had tried it with my camera's built in setting but the results were rubbish. So I though I would get snapping here and use external software when I got home to try it out. Some of the results are posted here. 

Getting There and Parking Up

 

Crombie sits quite close by to Monikie and is located on the B961 which is the back road running between Dundee and Arbroath. You can get onto this road by turning of the main A92 at Muirdrum and heading North. There is then a left turn at a staggered cross junction which takes you onto this road.

There is a good car park but again they charge from Easter Weekend through to September. There really isn't anywhere else to leave your car, as there is in Monikie, so you will have to pony up the fee.

Parklife

 

So we park up and pay up and head into the park. After a short walk along a wooded path we came out at the main pond / reservoir. It is very pictureque set in a backdrop of mature trees. Plenty good enough for a few photos of just the pond alone. In addition, the weather was brightening up too.

The pictureque reservoir

We then had to decide which way to go. The park has a circular walk around it with a few alternate routes as you go round. There are information boards and a leaflet which detail all of these. We decided to go clockwise around along the bank of the reservoir to hopefully grab some more snaps of it while there were blue skies.

One of the small jettys around the reservoir. Pity its locked off

So after walking by the banks of the reservoir, the path heads into the woods. We then hit a crossroad with one way leading further along the banks of the reservoir and past a bird hide or the other, the 'Fallaws Trail', heading deeper into the woods with the promise of much wildlife to be seen. So we head along the Fallaws Trail. Unfortunately, we didn't see any wildlife in there, just dense woodland and muddy, boggy paths. Great! So after the disappointment of Fallaws Trail we come out at Hairy Nicol's Cottage at the far end of the reservoir.

We don't know who Hairy Nicol was but his / her cottage takes pride of place at the far end of the pond. It's stone built but looks like it has been renovated and inhabited in the not to distant past so it kinda lacks that quaint charm we were expecting. And it's all locked up so no entry. However, it is set in an idyllic garden area and some old bits of farm machinery have been left out to give it that hint of rural kitsch. There is also a bench so we were able to take a load off for a while. Not that the walk was that strenuous anyway.

Hairy Nicol's Cottage. Looks like the weather is on the turn as well.

Some of the old farm machinery around the cottage

So after a sit down and a smoke we headed onwards. The cottage is at the far end of the walk and the path turns back here along the other bank of the reservoir. So off we trot back along the other bank.

As we are walking back through the semi-wooded are we notice am information board telling us about Giant's Heads located in the trees throughout the park. We hadn't noticed any. So we tilted our heads upwards and holy shit, there they were. These huge, malign looking sculptures hanging in the trees. Certainly something to give the kids nightmares.

The tree giants. They're like something out of the Wicker Man.

So after that scare, we head on again. We come into a more wooded area and notice a hide. We had a look inside but couldn't see anything of interest from it, apart from the wasps nest constructed inside. Again, the lack of wildlife is quite worrying.

A wasp's nest. The only hint of wildlife we saw from the hide.

However, we make our way back and have a nosy at the jetty on the bank. It has it's share of boats moored up but nobody was taking them out today.

The rowing boats moored at the jetty. That's an HDR photo BTW

So a walk across the small bridge and we are back at the start. Our interesting walk around Crombie is over. Time to get back before the rain starts.

Heading Home - Reflection

We had a good day out at Crombie. It has a pleasant and picturesque walk around the reservoir taking you from the banks of the pond into woodland areas with some nice curios such as Hairy Nicol's cottage thrown in. We got a lot of interesting snaps and although my first real foray into HDR photography wasn't as rewarding as I'd hoped, I still got some not bad results. All in all a good day.

Worth a Visit?

Definately worth a visit. It's sister park Monikie is geared up more for outdoor sports whereas Crombie is more for nature enthusiats. It has a number of predefined walks all set in an idyllic natural landscape. There is supposedly a lot of wildlife to see but we hardly saw any. That might be better in the warmer weather. However, there is still plenty to see and photograph and the park is well geared up for visitors of all ages and abilites.

Monikie Country Park - Rain Stops Play

Monikie Country Park
Parking	The park has a good car park but you have to pay to play. Alternatively, you can just park in the village and walk in.
Distance	Variable depending on how far you want to walk around the park. But no more than a few miles if you want to go all the way around.
Height / Ascent	less than 20m - the park is pretty flat
Bogginess	1 / 5
Strenuosity	1 / 5
Other Info	None

Introduction

After being geed up from our last outing we couldn't wait to get out again somewhere new. Unfortunately, on the day we picked, the weather was (you guessed it) dull, grey and looked like it was about to pour down. So again we decided to stay close and plumped for a trip to Monikie Country Park. It was close by and we thought there was bound to be plenty to photograph at a big park such as this. Moreover, it was a school day so there wouldn't be any annoying little shits running around either. Enter car - exit Carnoustie

Getting There and Parking Up

The park is easy to find. Its located off Panmure Road in the village of Monikie. You can get to the village by turning off the A92 (the main dual carriageway between Arbroath and Dundee) onto the B962. The village and the park are well signposted so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it.

There is a car park but there is a charge for it between spring and autumn. Outwith this period they welcome contributions. Alternatively, you can do like we did and park in the village of Monikie and walk into the park, it's not far. You might be thinking we are a couple of tightwads trying to avoid charges wherever possible. I guess we are to an extent but facilities such as Monikie are run by the Council and as such should probably be a free service. Maybe I am asking too much.

Anyway, after parking in the village just across from the entrance to the park, we headed in.

Duck Tales

Afer we got into the park we headed to the southern pond titled 'Island Pond' for obvious reasons. We were met by a group of ducks paddling close by. They seemed to like getting their photo taken.

One of the many ducks lurking around Monikie Park

After the ducks had finished their photoshoot we headed over to the small hut and jetty where a load of rowing boats were tied up. A couple of old geezers clocked our cameras and asked us if we worked for The Courier (the local paper). They seemed a bit disappointed when we told them we didn't. I think they just wanted there mugshots in the paper to show their friends.

So after a little banter with those two we started snapping at the jetty. The weather was really closing in and rain wasn't far away so none of the boats had been taken out. Still, the jetty and the dramatic cloudy sky made for some good photos.

The jetty at Island Pond

We then headed on past the high ropes adventue area and up to the North Pond. Again there was a jetty with some boats moored up but not much else happening. As we started snapping, the rain started pouring down and it didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon, so this terminated our very short journey to Monikie.

On the jetty at the North Pond. The storm clouds gather

Heading Home - Reflection

 

Considering how little time we actually spent there we got a good haul of snaps. The stormy skies made for some dramatic photos. If the rain hadn't sent us running we may have walked around the perimeter of the ponds to see what else there was but I doubt thee would have been a great deal more to see. All in all it was a fun day albeit a short one and there were some good photos to show from it.

Worth a Visit?

 

It depends what you want to do. Monikie is geared up for recreational pursuits such as fishing and watersports and has a large picnic area for families. If this is your thing then Monikie is perfect. As for our pursuts walking and photographing it is less well equiped. Although you can walk around the perimeter of the ponds there won't be a great amount to see although it would still be a pleasant walk. Photographic opportunites are limited to the local wildlife and whatever is happening on the ponds. However, it would make a good place to photograph sunsets over the ponds.

Photography Time - Shooting in dull, overcast weather

Introduction

Welcome to photography time (really original name, I know), the section of the blog giving tips and advice on photography. We are not professionals but we have picked up a fair amount of knowledge which we would like to share. We will try and post photographic advice relating to the places we have visited and written about in the previous posts. This should give some continuity to the whole thing and hopefully make it easier to understand what we are talking about.

Our first two outings were in pretty dreich (that's a Scottish word for dull and miserable) weather conditions so it seems logical that this first post should give some advice on shooting in these conditions.

Cloud Diffuser

On dull and overcast days you have a lot of cloud cover. Often this will be a flat blanket of cloud all over the sky.  This has the effect of acting like a massive soft box on the sunlight hidden behind it, diffusing the light all across the clouds. Why is this a problem? Well, because of the dull, low light you can be tricked into thinking the sky is darker than it actually is. You shoot merrily away and then come home to find out all the snaps have a sky blown out to eye-popping bright white, loosing what little definition there is in the sky. Depending on the camera it will handle auto-exposure differently but from my experience in these conditions, the sky very often blows out when the foreground is at the correct exposure.

Of course, skies blowing out is a problem in any weather but because of the way the light gets spread across the blanket of cloud on a dull day, it can effect more of the sky than on a sunny day and be harder to spot in advance.

Solution: Don't over expose the sky. This can be done in a number of ways:

• Altering the exposure compensation setting on your camera
• Altering the cameras exposure point to expose for the sky rather than the foreground (although this may make the image too dark in some cases)
• If shooting in manual mode, increasing the shutter speed.
• Use a graduated ND (neutral density) filter on the lens to reduce the amount of light coming into the camera from the sky. This will cause problems if you have foreground objects jutting over the horizon.
• Use HDR. I will not go into HDR just now but I will do a full post on it at a later date.

Hopefully, depending on what camera you use, one of these options should be available to you. In addition, if you can view the histogram I recommend you use it to help identify blow outs.

The foreground is correctly exposed but the sky is blown out,
losing what little definition there was and producing a
glaringly bright wall of white.

By slightly underexposing you can stop the sky
blowing out and retain what little definition there is.
The foreground can then be lightened in post-processing
giving a more natural picture and a slightly more
interesting sky.

Voila! The previous photo with a bit of post-processing to
lighten the foreground. Notice how the sky
still has some tone and definition which would
have been lost if it had blown out

Contrast and Definition

In dull conditions images can look flat and lifeless. The more direct sunlight in sunnier conditions provides more contrasting elements which brings more definition to objects in the photo. On dull days, the dull, diffuse light does not.

Solution: There isn't really a great deal you can do about this as the camera only captures what is out there. The only real solutions are to either buy a better camera. Higher end camers and lenses will provide better contrast and definition although the difference may be negligable in such conditions. Or, to tweak the image in post-processning. This can be done in-camera by altering whatever settings are available which govern how your camera coverts the RAW image data to jpg, and / or with external software afterards. Using external software needn't be a complex process and the example below just took me 5 mins to do.

The image as it was shot from the camera. Notice how I deliberately underexposed it to stop the sky
blowing out and retain definition.

Literally 5 mins using Lightroom and I have been able to make a dramatic difference.

Low Light

On dull days there will obviously be less light available as the clouds are blocking our light source the sun. This can cause a number of problems depending on how your camera is set. On cameras set to automatic mode or on mobile phones, it is likely to compensate for the low light by ramping up the ISO. If you have a camera where you can set the ISO manually and have the ISO fixed at a low value, it will result in either a lengthing of the shutter speed or a widening of the aperture.   

Solutions: The best solution is to use a tripod or monopod to stabilise the camera. This will allow you to retain a low ISO value and keep a suitable aperture without worrying about camera shake and motion blur from the reduced shutter speed. You can also try resting your camera on a fixed object to help stabilise it. If none of these options are available and you have to take the photo hand-held hen the following options are available. Which one to use is a matter of preference depending on what you want from your photo.

• Setting the ISO higher will result in faster shutter speeds but will increase image noise
• Keeping a low ISO and a smaller aperture will retain image quality and depth of field but will result in a slower shutter speed which can cause camera shake and motion blur
• Opening the aperture will result in faster shutter speeds but will reduce depth of field which can be problemtic if there are prominent foreground objects in the photo.

Another point is to watch which filters you have on your lens. Some filters such as polarisers can reduce the exposure by a number of stops. Only put such filters on if you really need them in these conditions.

Weather Sealing

One last point. On dull days there is a good chance it will rain or even snow. If your camera is not weather sealed then it could get damaged by the precipitation so put it away in a safe, dry place until the rain stops.

Summary

Shooting on dull days can be challenging for the reasons listed above and the end results can be disappointing. However, if you get your camera set right and maybe use a bit of subtle post-processing there is no reason you can't get some good snaps.

Barry Mill - Down to the Dingly Dell

Barry Mill
Parking	Car park provided off Mill Road
Distance	Approx 1.5 miles
Height / Ascent	Less than 20m
Bogginess	3 / 5
Strenuosity	1 / 5
Other Info	None

 

Introduction

 

A week later after out first little excursion we decided to go out exploring again. Like last time, the weather was pretty crappy (you get used to it in this part of the world) so again, we opted against venturing too far. After a quick look at the map we decided to head along to Barry Mill. It ticked all the boxes; it was close by, it had a nice, well maintained Listed building as a centrepiece, and it was free (or so we thought). Ideal place for photo opportunites. So with gusto, we jumped into the car and got going.

Getting There

 

Barry Mill is a doddle to get to. Its located approximately 2 miles west of Carnoustie just off Mill Road. You can access Mill Road either from the small village of Barry or from the A92, the dual carraigeway between Arbroath and Dundee. Once on Mill Road there is a turn off for the Mill approximately half way down the road. It's well signposted all the way so it's hard to miss. Once you turn off Mill Road you have a short stretch down a dirt road before reaching the car park.

A word of note: The dirt track leading to the car park is pretty rough and has a fair peppering of potholes. Thus, I wouldn't recommend taking any low slung sports cars down it. Unless, of course, you like carrying your exhaust home in the boot.

Not like that's a problem I have. The old Megane merrily bounces over the potholes with the exhaust only occasionaly clanking on the ground.

So, after a short journey and a few smacks on the undeside of the car, we reach the car park and head out towards the Mill.

The Miller's Tale

 

When we get out of the car we head down the small path leading down to the Mill and are greeted by this information board. Oh oh, it's owned by the National Trust, which usually means it's time to get your hands in your pockets and pay. And sure enough, you have to pay to get into the Mill itself but thankfully car parking is free and you can walk around outside the mill without having to pay (I think.).

That aside, the information board helpfully details the walk around the Mill

The Information Board for Barry Mill

Just beyond the info board sits the mill itself and it's quite impressive. It's a Category A-Listed watermill and it's still operational so it would be good to see it's inner workings. But screw that, we are not paying £6.50 each to go inside and see it so we will have to make do with going around the outside. Thankfully, you get plenty of nice angles to photograph the building in it's idyllic surroundings and you can see some of the waterwheel from outside. So after getting our photographic fill of the main attraction we head down the mill lade walk.

The impressive looking Barry Mill

We go trotting down the leafy walk by the lade. It's a very beautiful walk through a lightly wooded area and we are getting plenty of nice snaps. Shame the weather wasn't a bit better but at least there are some blue skies starting to peep through. A bit down the path we come across this little pond with a family of swans living in it. A great photo opportunity in itself but we were lucky that one of the swans was a right poser and kept swimming back and forth in front of us. The only downside was the far end of the pond had a bit of a problem with algal bloom. And by a bit of problem, I mean it was absolutely covered in it. C'mon National Trust. At £6.50 a pop you must be raking it in so get your finger out and clean up the pond.

The small pond along the mill lade walk

As we walked further down the path and things started to get a bit muddy and boggy. As nice as it was walking down the path with the little stream by its side, I wouldn't recommend wearing your best shoes to do it in. At the end of the path we are greeted by a wonderful waterfall which sits at the far end of the walk. The views to it are not that great from the path so we decided to clamber down the embankment and hop across the rocks to get better views. It wasn't too treacherous getting down there and it gave us much better views of the waterfall.

Mike getting his fill of the waterfall

After we had finished with the waterfall we started to head back. After a while of trudging back along the muddy path we take the other path back, away from the stream. The grassy path here is thankfully less boggy and it takes us along into a wonderfully idyllic little dingly dell.

The grassy path on the mill lade walk

The dingly dell is a cute little alcove in the woods. Some logs have been left out to sit on and there is an area for a campfire. Although it seemed very pleasant here we both kinda sensed a sinister undertone. It gave us both an unnerving feeling like something that would be used in some wierd ritual or something. I think we have both seen too many tacky horror flicks.

The dingly dell (a bit freaky, isn't it?)

Once we had been suitably freaked out by the dingly dell we headed back along the path and back to the mill. Just beside the mill sits a small orchard and a few sheep so there were a good few photo opps there as well. So we snapped up and packed up and headed off.

One of the resident sheep at the mill.

Heading Home - Reflection

 

It didn't take long walking around the mill even with our constant stopping to take photos. When we got back we had a quick flick through the snaps and were far more pleased with the results. Once again, we were both snap happy but there ws far more to photograph here and we definitely got a far better haul of snaps. All in all it was a good day out that yielded good results. Just a pity the weather wasn't better to get some of that sunny sky action into the photos.

Worth a Visit?

 

Definately worth a visit. Its easy to get to and most of it is free. The walk around the mill and along the lade is very idyllic and has plenty to see considering how short a walk it is. There is also picnic benches set out around the mill if you fancy having a little family outing. We think the entry fee to the mill is excessive but i'm sure its interesting inside (just not £6.50 interesting that's all) but there are concession rates as well.

Carnoustie Beach Where it all began!

Carnoustie Beach
Parking	Small car park shown on map. Easy to access from town centre. No parking charges
Distance	Variable depending on how far you want to walk along the beach
Height / Ascent	0 - It' a beach
Bogginess	1 / 5
Strenuosity	1 / 5
Other Info	None

Introduction

It all started on a rainy day last year in April. I was over at Mike's and we needed something to do. We could stay inside and play through the Ramones back catalogue on the guitars again or we could maybe do something different. So we came up with the idea of going out and taking some photos. We both had a passing interest in photography but had never taken it very seriously so it seemed like a top plan.  Next we had to pick a destination. A quick look outside told us the weather was shit. The usual dull, dreary day you get used to here, so we decided it was best not to venture too far in case it started lashing down with rain. So we plumped for a trip down to Carnoustie beach. It was nearby and surely had some potential for interesting snaps even when the weather was crap. So we grabbed our cameras, jumped in the car and set off....

Getting Parked

 
First off we had to get down to the beach. It's really simple to find as it's down on the coast (surprise, surprise). If you get on the main street through Carnoustie, the A930 (or Dundee Street as it is more affectionately known) you just have to take one of the turn offs down to the coast. The signposts tell you to turn down Station Road at the east side of the town but you have to go over a level crossing down there so there is a chance of getting stuck for a while if the gates are down. Ferrier Street or Links Avenue a bit further to the west are better options as they have underpasses under the rail line.

A word of note:  Carnoustie is terrible to drive through. The main street (the A930) realistically can only accommodate the width of two cars. The Council have marked out many bays for on-street parking at the side of the street, bottlenecking the traffic down to a single lane in many places. This trend can also be seen down many other of the town's narrow streets, so be prepared for a frustrating stop-start journey driving down to the beach (or getting to anywhere else in Carnoustie for that matter)

Anyhow, back to the directions. Once you take one of the roads down to the coast you will hit Links Parade which is the road running along the coast of the town. The car park is located on this road near the train station. It's marked on the map above and you really can't miss it. It's actually pretty good as far as car parks go. It's spacious, well surfaced and free. Top marks to the Council this time.

So anyway, me and Mike haul ass down to the beach car park which was unsuprisingly quite empty on this rainy weekday. Once there, we grab our cameras and head out to brave the elements.

Down on the Beach - What's There?

 

Once we jump out of the car we are greeted with a nicely manicured footpath. This footpath runs all the way along the front in Carnoustie and continues on beside the golf course to the west. Beyond that lies the beach itself. Good stuff! We have a little wander down the path and are greeted by a bunch of giant lorries. The carny's are in town! I'm sure the kids will love it.

The footpath along the top of the beach. 
The carnival was in town today

Further along to the west we notice a playpark. As tempting as a shot on the roundabout seemed, we thought we would give it a miss and head off the path and down onto the beach itself.

Looking west towards Barry. The
playpark off in the distance.

Once on the beach we were pleasantly surprised. It's a pretty decent beach. Wide streches of golden sand, not too rocky and relatively clean. That being said, although a clean beach is nice to see, a bit of junk lying around provides some good photographic opportunites. Although it was misty, there were still good views back to Carnoustie to the east and westward along the more craggy shoreline. We were certainly getting our flll and snapping away like there was no tomorrow at everything we could find.

Looking east back to Carnoustie

We walked further along to the west and came across this small stream and a metal bridge. Again a nice photo opportunity so snappity snap we went. By the time we reached here the weather was really closing in and we had run out of things to photograph (there really wasn't that many to begin with on reflection) so we decided to call it a day and head back.

A small stream and footpath bridge

 

Heading Home - Relection

 

It was a fairly short journey but after we got back we congratulated ourselves on a job well done and we looked with anticipation at the photos we had taken. Unfortunately, they weren't that great. The poor weather didn't help leaving the photos quite lifeless and dull. However, we also realised we needed a lot more skill and practise with a camera to get top notch shots as we were making some amateurish mistakes. Not least, snapping like crazy at stuff that really doesn't make for a great photo. However, all in all it was a good day and we were pretty fired up about where we could head out to on our next journey.

Worth a visit?

 

Carnoustie has a pretty good beach. It is fairly clean and isn't covered in rocks. There is a playpark and other visitor attractions so it's well geared up for family outings. Over and above that there isnt really much to see and not much to photograph other than the beach itself with some pleasant, if not particularly exciting, views down the coast.

Off we go into the wild blue yonder

Hello and welcome to our blog. The little corner of the sprawling internet dedicated to our adventures.

That's us up there in the photo, the two handsome dudes standing atop Kinpurney Hill getting buffeted by the howling wind. For clarification, I am on the left of the photo and Mike is on the right.

We live in the east of Scotland and in our free time we like to go a walking in the hills, or the forests, or the towns. Really anywhere that might be of some interest in the nearby area and this blog will be a chronicle of our exploits.

It all started about a year ago on a rainy day in April. We decided to get our cameras out and head down the beach with the objective of taking some stunning photos. The weather coupled with our technical prowess (or lack of it) meant we never quite fullfilled our initial goal but it did fuel our explorative and creative fires. So we got out the trusty OS Maps and hit the net to find new places to go visit and get photographing.

Since then, we have visited loads of cool places and taken loads of awesome (in our opinion) photos. We honestly didn't realise there was so much to see around this part of Scotland. So, after nearly a year of doing this, we decided to share the tales of our adventures with the wider world. 

In addition to the humorous, swashbuckling narratives of our outings, we hope this blog is able to provide a useful information resource to others wishing to visit these places. We will try our best to cram as much info in as possible so people can find and navigate these areas. We are not 'professional' hillwalkers (as you might have guessed from our get-up in the photo) but we have gained a lot of knowledge about getting around these places which will hopefully prove useful to anyone wishing to visit them.

As well as acting as tour guide we want to share the photographic knowledge we have picked up whilst snapping away on our journeys. We have both learned a lot in this area and hopefully the photos should reflect this. We will try and provide as many tips and guides as possible to ensure you get great snaps when you are out irrespective of whether you are shooting with a mobile phone or a DSLR.

Anyway, that's enough jibber-jabber in this post, let's head on to our first destination....