Blog Posts in Category: Aviation

A Week in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyAviation, Landscape, North Wales, Rock Climbing, Scrambling Short Link

I have just got back from a fantastic week spent camping in Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Heading up for a weeks camping in North Wales in October I was expecting the week to be full of wet weather and hill fog, I was very wrong with only one day being a wash out and only one day was spent with an annoying amount of time in hill fog. For the first two days I met up with the expedition society from Exeter Uni which I was a member of last year and who were in Snowdonia with 15 people for some scrambling. Despite arriving in the rain we awoke on the first morning to a fantastic sunrise over Tryfan and its North Ridge, one of the most famous scrambling routes in the UK for obvious reasons. Despite having done the scramble up Tryfan’s North Ridge about 7 times in the past 3 years every time I climb it I manage to take a slightly different route which keeps it interesting, and when the weather is good the views are spectacular and I don’t think I will ever get. Read the full article…

RAF flying low level in Snowdonia

Alastair BegleyAviation, North Wales Short Link

This week I headed up to the “Mach Loop” in Snowdonia to take pictures of the RAF practising their low level flying, it had been 15 months since I was last there due to work levels over the past year and 12 months since I last went to a lowfly area. The trip was cut short by a day at the start of the week and a day at the end of the week due to the awful welsh weather, the weather however while we were in the hills was ok good with not much rain though mainly overcast skies and lots of wind! There was so much wind at times standing up was difficult. The traffic was a little slow on all of the days and was mainly hawks this was due to RAF valley being on nights this week and 3 squadrons of Tornado GR4s overseas on training or operational duties. On the first day we were still being battered by really strong winds which made it difficult to stand up at times and was very cold, though at times the sun was out. I was expecting to blank due to the. Read the full article…

Vulcan and BBMF Low Level!

Alastair BegleyAviation, Lake District Short Link

This weekend was Windermere air show which is unique in the fact that it is in a mountainous area which means that it is possible to stand on a hill and take pictures of the aircraft displaying below you. Two years ago the Vulcan displayed there and I have been waiting for her to display there again ever since as the photos from it were just surreal. I did go last year but the Vulcan was not displaying and the weather was awful to say the least! On the Tuesday before the show the Vulcan confirmed to display so a last minute change of plans lead me to get up at 2:30am on Saturday morning to drive up to the Lake District from Bristol to ensure I got a parking place and a place on the small crag that is the best place to take photos from. Thankfully the weather was stunning and in addition to the Vulcan the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight were also displaying which meant that we got to see a Lancaster and Spitfire low level too and also them in formation at low level! When the Vulcan was due. Read the full article…

Royal International Air Tatoo

Alastair BegleyAviation Short Link

This weekend was the annual Royal International Air Tatoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire and I went for the first time, I hadn’t pointed my camera at a military aircraft since September last year when I went to the Selkirk-Moffat pass until I attended RIAT so it was nice to see/hear/take pictures of them again. It is also the first time I have taken pictures at a normal airshow as the only other airshow I have taken pictures at was Windermere airshow which was more like low level photography than an airshow as i was shooting down onto the planes. I found it very difficult panning the aircraft as they were flying above us as I have never really panned anything at that angle. Rather than head on base where it would be very crowed and wet with the rain that was forecast we headed to a field which was pretty much under the display line which meant we were far closer to the aircraft and had different photo opportunities, the place that we went to was called Rhymes Farm. When we arrived in the morning it was raining and everything seemed dire but the. Read the full article…