My favourite view

Taken on the same day as Mam Tor (in my previous blog post), I had also photographed this dilapidated old barn seven years earlier. My plans for the day had actually been to spend the late afternoon up on Ramshaw Rocks and to remain there for sunset if the conditions were suitable. In fact, the conditions weren’t ideal for any kind of photography. This gritstone escarpment runs almost directly north to south and I had already seen warnings on some YouTube videos. However, I had also seen how the low evening light could turn it into a magical scene, but I forgot one thing. The videos mentioned the sun setting quite late and I was there in mid-September. Standing by one interesting formation, I realised I would have to wait several hours for the sun to cast a warm glow over the rocks, if indeed it ever got that far round.

I climbed all the way to the top, but found no inspiration, so I headed back to my little car. Roach End barn had already been a back-up location if required. By this time I was way over in Staffordshire and the barn was just a ten-minute drive away. I sat in the car for an hour or so before driving round one of the most stunning valleys I have ever seen. It captivated me seven years earlier, as I left the Roaches by an alternative route. The sun had already set by then, but the light lingered over an almost deserted landscape. The memory has lived with me ever since.

Parking up at Roach End farm, it was still an hour until sunset. I thought about my aching legs and that it might make sense to sit for a little longer. Thankfully I made the decision to set out early and just watch as the sun dropped lower in the sky. What should have been an easy five-minute walk turned into possibly the worst shoot I have ever experienced. On the first trip I had not been able to locate the barn easily, but the exit turned out to be simple – by following a dry stone wall all the way back to the car. It hadn’t been difficult back then, but in the intervening years, the bracken had grown unchecked and had turned into an impenetrable wall well over six feet high.

I stopped to take the image below before the going got too tough. From the time stamp on my files, it took exactly half an hour of fighting the undergrowth to get the view featured at the top. Thirty minutes of pushing and shoving, falling down invisible rabbit holes, with my heart pounding in my chest. There were times when I literally thought I wasn’t going to make it out alive. I was torn by the instinct of self-preservation and the desire to be with “my barn” just one more time. I made it only just as the sun was about to disappear behind a thin layer of cloud. It remains my favourite view from anywhere I have been in the world and now hangs as a framed print with me in the study.