matrobinsonphoto: Just Another Mam Tor Walk

This one seems such a long time ago now. Way back in February in what I thought might be the last snow of the winter (how wrong I was!) I headed out for my last sunrise shoot of the year. Relying on trains means that the earliest I can arrive at Edale is 6.55am so as sunrise gets earlier, it gets increasingly difficult before becoming impossible. On this occasion the sun was due to rise at 7.16 - so I had 21 minutes exactly to reach the ridge... and I have to admit, even I never thought I'd be able to make it up in that time, not least carrying all my usual kit. However, I did. Jogging as much of it as possible, and instead of heading directly up to Mam Tor but towards Hollins Cross - my feet stepped onto the footpath along the top at the exact moment the sun popped over the horizon, I couldn't quite believe it. I'm pretty sure the one other photographer up there that morning couldn't believe what he saw either, me turning up in just a t-shirt in subzero temperatures on top of a somewhat exposed hill... but he didn't witness the effort I had to put in to get there!

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Anyway, the forecast had been perfect for another cloud inversion so I was very hopeful for one that morning, but upon leaving the train at Edale there was no sign of mist - quite disappointing. Although, as you'll see from the photos, it turned out that there was a beautiful soft veil of mist over Hope and Castleton on the other side of the ridge which meant it wasn't all bad - it also held the frost in the valley despite a very warm sun, so the nice conditions lasted longer into the morning.

Just a little warning too, the photos are in no particular order due to problems with the Flickr uploads... My actual walk went from Edale, up to the ridge then along both sides of Winnats Pass before heading down, through Castleton and back via Hope. Also, due to such a bland, empty sky I think a lot of them fit the 2:1 ratio that I've used a lot lately, I hope you all agree!