Sophie and I had our last outing for a while at the end of October, and we went to visit a park in Gateshead to see some Autumn colour, hopefully at least.
The Watergate Colliery pictured at the top there, started out in the 1800’s, and was finally shutdown in 1917. Unlike Washington, which as we saw last week got it’s own museum, Watergate was left alone until reclamation work began in the 1990’s, and the site was transformed into a recreational park having a series of trails and paths that take you through woodland, around the lake and through wildflower meadows.
It was a bit chilly, but still a nice day with some sunshine now and again, and we did get some autumn colours. I had my Fuji and my contax with me but have yet to finish the roll on that, so here are the few I took with the Fuji.
Details of a memorial to the miners.
a deer on the edge of the forest
Sunshine and doomcloud!
“Dancing of the autumn leaves on a surface of a lake is a dream we see when we are awake.” Mehmet Murat Ildan
fluffybum
“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been.” Percy Bysshe Shelly
“Autumn mornings: sunshine and crisp air, birds and calmness, year’s end and day’s beginnings.” Terri Guillemets
Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath. Michael Caine
“Look with open eyes, and you will see the beauty of the waterfall.” Anthony Hincks
“How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.” – John Burroughs
So there we are. Not sure if Autumn has gone and Winter arrived yet, I can’t tell because of all the bliddy rain we’re having, and the forecast is for 2 weeks of it!
I’ve been going through my archives again, and have pulled together all the waterfalls I’ve shot, I never had a ND filter so don’t always get the floaty milky effect that seems to be the in thing, but sometimes I’ve managed it with a long exposure in low light. I actually like water looking like water and seeing the force of it sometimes.
Highforce
High Force waterfall is on the River Tees in Teasdale, County Durham. The whole of the River Tees plunges over a precipice (cliff edge which is almost vertical) in two stages. In former times flooding created two separate falls, but after the completion of Cow Green Reservoir in the upper Teesdale this seldom happens now. 😦 It was thought to be the highest in England at 71ft (22m) but that’s not the case, there are higher ones in Cumbria & North Yorkshire. It is pretty impressive though. It’s easy to get to as there’s a path down to it from a carpark off the main road, though you have to pay a couple of quid to get there.
Low Force in Winter
Low Force
Low Force is about 1 mile down stream of High Force, and at only 18ft not too high, but it’s good enough for kayakers to train on..
Kayaks on Low Force
Waterfalls don’t always have to be big and impressive, I like the little ones too, this one on the River Aln in Northumberland was cute
Baby waterfall
Also in Northumberland, and not as easy to get to is Hareshaw Linn waterfall. It’s a 3 mile hike from the village of Bellingham, following the stream known as Hareshaw Burn, along the way you see mini waterfalls..
Hareshaw Burn
and then you get to the main event..
Hareshaw Linn
And then you have to trog all the way back!
Richmond in Yorkshire on the River Swale, has a not so high, but really wide waterfall, and in summer, silly boys jump into it.
Richmond & silly boys
Silly boy leaping
well at least there was eye candy 😉 and it did look refreshing!
When I went to America though, Kathy & Dave took us some places and we had a whole different league of waterfalls.
Rochester High Falls
This might not be the prettiest waterfall I ever saw but its a mighty beast. Part of the Genesee river where it flows through Rochester, it’s a working fall, and was used to feed various flour mills and industries, today the water is used to produce hydroelectric power.
We visited Watkins Glen State Park in New York State and it is full of eye popping scenery. Lots of waterfalls in deep gorges
Watkins Glen entrance
that was one of our favourite days out and places to visit, beautiful.
And then Kath & Dave took us over the border to Canada, to see the Daddy of them all…
Niagara Rainbow ~ Canadian Falls
Niagara Rainbow ~ American Falls
Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 165 feet (50 m). Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by vertical height and also by flow rate. The falls are located 17 miles (27 km) north-northwest of Buffalo, New York and 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York.
Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the last ice age, and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than six million cubic feet (168,000 m3) of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow and almost four million cubic feet (110,000 m3) on average.
The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Managing the balance between recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century. (wiki)
Golden Horseshoe ~ Canadian Falls
Niagara Party lights ~ American Falls
I am so glad I have seen Niagara Falls in my life, just an amazing experience to see and hear it. Will never forget standing right there and taking the shots.
fraggle ~ rocking a camera across the Universe 
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