And Mist Came
I've got this week off work and I plan to take at least one trip up to The Lakes during this time, weather permitting of course.
I've been watching the weather around Great Mell Fell, which looked like it was going to be foggy again today, but, assuming the fog turned out to be more than just imaginary (as it did last weekend), it appeared it would be accompanied with moderately high winds, which are not what you really want when taking photographs in a dimly lit woods.
So, as I lazed around in bed this morning, trying to convince myself that getting up was a good idea even though I technically didn't need to, I happened to look at the local forecasts and discovered that Brinscall was going to be foggy until around 10:00ish, which would be amazing as I can count the number of times I've seen fog in Brinscall woods on one finger.
This was certainly going to be an easier forecast to test than the Great Mell Fell one as Brinscall is about 4 miles away, compared to the 80 miles of dreary motorway driving required to reach Great Mell Fell from here, so I threw some clothes on and jumped into the car (well obviously I didn't actually jump into the car, I'm old now, my days of jumping into cars are long behind me, but it sounds better than painfully creaked into the car. Anyway, I digress...) and headed out to Brinscall, arriving at the woods by 8:40.
As you head down the main road into Brinscall, you can see the steeply rising ground which leads up to the moors on the far side of the valley and is home to Brinscall Woods. This was indeed disappearing into some pretty thick looking fog, so things were definitely looking up.
My plan (such as it was) was to spend a bit of time around the lower part of Hatch Brook where I'd been a couple of weeks ago at sunset, but when I entered that part of the woods the visibility was perfect and thoroughly lacking in any hint of mist whatsoever. Onto plan B then and tripod in hand, I began to make my way up the steep, slippery, fallen tree laden path that leads up the hill from this part of Hatch Brook and deeper into the woods.
As I gained altitude, I encountered brief pockets of thin mist, almost hints really, but certainly nothing that stuck around long enough to enhance my pictures. Eventually I arrived at the main track that bisects the woods into lower and higher parts. From here I still wasn't wrapped in any significant quantities of mist, but I was beginning to tantalising evidence of it lurking higher up on the far side of the track.
1. A Hint of Mist
The track runs horizontally behind the tree, just below the halfway mark of this picture. I was thoroughly impressed by the roots on this tree, so it was getting photographed anyway, but you can see the clarity falling off into the distance. I'd reached the edge of the mist.
2. A Fallen Tree
As I wandered deeper into the woods, I encountered these fallen trees.
3. A Different Perspective
Moving past the tree in the foreground gave this view.
4. More Fallen Trees
You've got to be reasonably agile to get through this woods it seems.
5. The Fog's Getting Thicker
As I continued to follow the path, the fog was definitely getting more dense.
6. Can't See The Woods For The Trees
Well, it's more to do with the fog really.
7. Silhouettes
At this point I was pretty close to the upper edge of the woods. Beyond here just lies miles of rolling (and apparently very foggy) moorland.
8. Legs
In this image, my anthropomorphising(?) mind can't help but see legs for tall, Ent like tree creatures striding across the frame from right to left, with their upper bodies out of shot above the top of the frame.
9. Medusa
I get a definite Medusa vibe from this old Beech tree that stands at the upper edges of the Leigh Place ruin. Here it looks to be trapped in a spiky prison by the trees in the foreground.
10. Up Close and Mildly Terrifying
Getting in a bit closer, that's something straight out of an H.P. Lovecraft story that is. Well, if the branches were writhing tentacles it would be.
11. Top Of The Place
Looking on old OS maps, this leaf covered stretch is shown as a short rectangular area leading off the main track at Leigh Place. Presumably it functioned as some sort of drive way.
12. Purest Green
There's some vivid looking stuff growing on these trees. It's not like regular moss, more like mold.
13. Edgy Pines
This path runs up the last stretch of the Southern edge of the woods, leading to the highest point. There would be rolling moorland off the right hand side of the frame, or at least, there would be if it wasn't foggy.
14. Marsden's Farm
This is the ruin of Marsden's Farm. This stands alone on the Southern edge of the woods. For some peculiar reason, when it was demolished the South facing gable end was left standing and remains standing to this day (they knew how to build a solid farmhouse in Brinscall back in the day). The building would have been a long, thin rectangular affair, running from the standing ruin up towards where I was stood with the camera. In its day, the farm would have been stood on open moorland, the woods came along later and consumed it what remained of it.
Epilogue
The fog was forecast to last until 10:00, but nearly four hours after I set foot in the woods it was still reliably scattering light all over the place and had been joined by its old mate, drizzle. I ended up throwing in the towel at this point, because I was exhausted and getting rather hungry. Surprisingly it turns out, carrying a tripod up and down hills is really hard work. The medium format camera and lenses probably aren't helping much either.
All images were taken on a tripod with the Fujifilm GFX100S + GF32-64 lens. I didn't use a CPL, because, like an idiot, I forgot to pack it (in fact, at this point in time I don't actually know where it is. It was last seen in my trouser pocket after yesterday's walk, so I hope it's not in the washing machine, erm...). In spite of that, they remained reasonably well saturated and not particularly marred by reflection on the damp surfaces of leaves, bark and rocks. They were processed from individual raw files in Capture One Pro 23.
