Industrial giants

Shipyard cranes, Wallsend

I took this picture to record the ending of a long tradition of heavy engineering and shipbuilding on Tyneside. This is the former Swan Hunter yard in Wallsend where hundreds of shipbuilders from South Shields used to work, the cranes are now being dismantled in readiness for shipping to their new owners Bharati Shipyards in India. Swan hunter’s most famous ship was probably the RMS Mauretania built for Cunard, the HMS Ark Royal and the Esso Northumbria were also built here.

Picture taken from the Hebburn Marina and riverside park on the south bank of the River Tyne.

Camera details: Pentax K100D, 220mm lens, 1/1000 second, f8, iso 200

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Cleadon Tower

South Shields from a distance

The old water tower on Cleadon Hills, South Shields is a landmark and it can be seen from many miles away in all directions as it sits on the higher part of Cleadon Hills. This semi rural landscape was captured from Hylton Lane, Boldon just off the edge of the golf course.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, 450mm lens, 1/350 second, f13, iso 200

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Falling fast

Aira Force

As promised in yesterday’s post here is the view of Aira Force from the point where the water trickles over the rocks under the bridge all the way down to the pool at the bottom. It’s awesome sight when you are up close and personal. Although on this visit from South Shields to the Lake District the volume of water flowing was less than I have witnessed in the past.

Normally when the beck is running at full volume there are clouds of spray surrounding the pool and viewers on the small platform generally get wet!

I would have like to have taken a tripod with me but the extra weight was too much to bear on the trek up the fell, and I needed to take a couple of stops just to recover my breath, luckily the anti shake device built into the camera body does a half reasonable job in low light or when using longer exposures.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, 28mm lens, 1/4 second, f22, iso 200 hand held.

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Lakeland view

Waterfalls

I’m a bit short of new material and inspiration from South Shields today, it’s been another one of those grey overcast damp days which do nothing to help your motivation to get out with a camera. So I’ve burrowed into the archives to bring you this picture taken on one of our weekends away from South Shields recently.

It’s Aira Beck just trickling along before it takes the big leap downhill at England’s tallest waterfall Aira Force. It’s situated just off Ullswater in England’s Lake District, one of our favourite places to visit (check the map link). Tomorrow I’ll show you the main waterfall.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, 82mm lens, 1/2 second, f3.8, iso 200 hand held.

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Solitude

Away from South Shields

Whilst South Shields does not suffer quite as much hustle and bustle as it’s neighbours Sunderland or Newcastle, it is still a fair bit busier than many UK small towns and cities. So it does us some good to get away from time to time just in order to relax in the quiet English countryside and breathe a fresher air which wafts from a different coast.

That’s why we had a few days away in the Lake District recently, so I thought I’d share this picture of Ullswater, taken just outside of the small village of Pooley Bridge where we were staying. The lakeshore was fairly quiet despite the local population having been boosted by thousands of campers taking a good break over the Bank Holiday weekend, and the waters had receded a fair bit because of a lack of rain over recent months. Still, it was good place to find solitude and a quiet walk as the sun went down.

Camera details; Pentax K100D, 40mm lens, /180 second, f11, iso 200

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