The first evening on Bamburgh beach proved so traumatic, that I made the decision to skip sunrise the following morning. However, getting up repeatedly through the night to keep turning my wet clothes on the lukewarm radiator, I changed my mind and at some point, I set the alarm for 4.00. It wasn’t needed though, as I woke again at 3.50 to check on my coat. Turning off the now redundant alarm, I was relieved to be able to dress in dry clothes. Lugging all my gear downstairs before 5.00, I was thrilled to find the night porter, who kindly helped me outside. It was only a two-minute drive to the northerly beach, where I parked up next to the dunes.
I had planned to wander around the rock formations looking for useful leading lines to the castle. The first one wasn’t ideal, but I thought it was worth a try, so setting up my tripod, camera and cable release, I took my first shot of the day. I heard the click, but other than that nothing appeared to be functioning. I couldn’t review the image, there was no live view and the menu was dead. I felt as though I was still back in the hotel bed having a bad nightmare. I spent the next twenty minutes or so trying desperately to get the camera to work, but there was an impending feeling of doom that I would have to drive back home. Just as I came to the conclusion my trip was finished before it had even started, something changed and all the buttons were working again. (I only found out a few days ago that I must have left the button locked on my cable release).
I was so relieved, but by that time the sun had risen and I had no time left to explore the beach. I had only taken one image, so I looked around for anything I could use in the foreground. Finding a seaweed-covered rock not far away, I decided that would have to do.
Then I spotted two photographers off in the distance. With my new set up the longest lens is now only 70mm, so I had to rush to get closer and capture them in the brightest spot on the wet sand. The image is featured at the top and has since become one of my all-time favourites.
Not long afterwards, I was back at my car, cleaning all the gear and thinking about moving on to Scotland. I had already had more than enough problems for one trip and yet there were more to come. My Sat Nav stopped talking to me and there were several occasions when my car refused to lock. One day was completely written off due to rain and yet throughout my entire adventure, I was thwarted at rivers and waterfalls by a distinct lack of water. There were times when I didn’t eat for 24 hours or more and yet I had the most amazing time.
