Tag: hiking

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Sheldon

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The village of Sheldon stands a short distance from Magpie Mine. It’s a pretty and picturesque place, although these days slightly blighted by the number of cars parked on the streets, I think. But that’s progress, and the inhabitants have a need for transport.

Pictured below are the village pub, The Cock and Pullet, the village hall, a nativity scene including two tyre snowmen (it was just after Christmas when these pictures were taken), some cottages, and a wreath on the church gate.

Sheldon also has an interesting local story:

Sheldon has a curious tale in its history. In 1601 a duck was seen by a local resident to fly into a hollow tree and not to come out again. It gained the name from then on as the Duck Tree. Some three hundred years later when the tree was felled and sawn into planks, each plank contained the life-sized outline of a duck. The wood was reputedly used to make a mantelpiece for Greatbach Hall in Ashford.

Cock & Pullet
Village hall
Monochrome festivities
Village houses
Wreath

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.

Taken on 27 December 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Hill sheep at 300mm

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Right at the limit of the 28-300mm Tamron lens I was using.

I bought this lens as a good walkabout lens. It’s compact, quite light, has a good range of focal lengths, and the vibration reduction means handholding it is very easy. Unfortunately, despite the reviews, I found it to be a bit soft, particularly at the edges of the frame.

I wondered about putting up with it for the convenience but, after some umming and aahing, decided that image quality was important to me and so traded it in against a used Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 VR lens. This lens is considerably less convenient in a number of ways (weight and size, certainly), but I’m hoping it will live up to its reputation for being very sharp. If I pair it with my cheap, but very good 28-80mm lens, then I still have most of the focal length range (it was quite rare for me to go beyond 200mm with the Tamron).

I’m hoping to finish off a roll shot with the 70-200mm this weekend, and am keen to see the results.

Hill sheep

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Kodak Tri-X. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 8mins @ 20°.

Taken on 27 December 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A trip to Spurn Point (part 6)

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And so we reach the final set of pictures from my trip to Spurn Point.

The first three pictures are of the lifeboatmen’s (lifeboatpersons?) houses that were visible in my picture from the top of the lighthouse in yesterday’s post. They were built in 1975 and replaced the original cottages that dated to 1819. There are now no lifeboat crews based at Spurn with the service being covered from Grimsby and the new inshore lifeboat station at Cleethorpes.

Lifeboat crew houses
Lifeboat crew houses-2
Spurn Point buildings

And then a final set of pictures featuring the lighthouse. The first shot is probably my favourite of the whole trip. The Ultramax has produced some subtle but nice colours. The window at the top of the lighthouse is tinted and opens into the upper floor of the building (below the light) where there is a display on view.

Views of Spurn Point lighthouse
Views of Spurn Point lighthouse-3
Views of Spurn Point lighthouse-4
Views of Spurn Point lighthouse-5

So that’s the final post in this set. Spurn (and the Holderness coast) is somewhere I’d wanted to visit for a long time, and it’s somewhere I’d like to return to. There are lots more pictures to be had. Maybe I’ll get another chance next year.

Olympus 35 RC and Kodak Ultramax. Lab developed. Home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 24 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A trip to Spurn Point (part 5)

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On to the final set of black and white photos I made at Spurn Point. Following directly on from yesterday the first two images are of the views from the top of the lighthouse. It’s not possible to go outside and you have to stand on the platform where the light itself once stood in order to see out of the windows properly, but the views are good. I actually quite like the effect of the “leading” on the glass.

This first shot is the view looking back up the spit towards the Holderness coast (where the land disappears off the left middle edge of the frame). You can see the road, plus the sandy eastern beach, and the tidal mud flats to the west.

From whence I came

Looking the other way (roughly south east) gives a view of the tip of the point with the Humber estuary and the Lincolnshire coat beyond. The road is clearly visible as it makes it’s way to the former lifeboatmen’s houses. The sea traffic tower stands in the middle of the scene, and one of the Humber sea forts can be found at upper right.

Spurn Point

Looking to the west give a view of the old lighthouse with its water tank cap. Some people were digging for bait on the mudflats and their electric bike can be seen.

The old lighthouse

After descending the steep steps of the lighthouse (not easy with a heavy backpack and a tripod!), I treated myself to an ice-cream and then set of towards the tip of the point, first following the road towards the sea traffic tower..

To the end of the land

Beyond the tower the land gives way to dunes and a series of sandy footpaths. There are numerous ex-military buildings in various states of repair in this area.

Bunker and lighthouse

As I reached the beach at the end of the point I turned round and took this photo looking back the way I’d come.

Structures

The beach at the end of the point shows clear signs of the tidal forces that come into play when the water is high, the sand sculpted into channels and craters. The fisherman who I’#’d earlier seen digging bait can also be seen putting it to use.

Tidal lands

And the final shot from this roll shows a freighter heading up the estuary past the end of the point. This is a relatively small vessel and much larger ships pass through this channel.

Alignment

The final set of Spurn Point photos to come tomorrow, this time in exciting colour! 🙂

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 August 2025

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

A trip to Spurn Point (part 4)

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Other than a couple of electric bikes, the only mode of vehicular transport I saw while walking to the end of Spurn Point was this Unimog all-terrain truck, which carries passengers from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust centre to the lighthouse.. It has to traverse the soft sands of the beach at the neck of the point until it can rejoin the remaining road that hasn’t been washed away by the sea. Here it is heading back north.

Unimog departure

There are a number of trails leading from the beach, up over the dunes, and to the road. This one looks a little overgrown.

Dune grass

After crossing the road I stuck to the western side of the spit which is mostly flat, grassy terrain with a scattering of gorse and some bird-watching shelters overlooking the tidal mud flats of the estuary.

Given the length of the walk to the end of the point, it’s good to see a bench along the way. My telephoto lens has compressed the distance a little and it’s further to the lighthouse from the bench than it might appear in this shot.

Bench on the point

Also present are the reamains of some WW2-era tank traps.

Tank trap

IAs I got closer to the lighthouse I made a number of photographs.

Lighthouse #1
Lighthouse #2
Lighthouse #3

More to come tomorrow, including views from the top of the lighthouse!

Nikon F80, Tamron 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD on Fujifilm Acros. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 9mins @ 20°.

Taken on 24 August 2025