Northumberland Day 4 - A couple of coastal castles

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Following on from my day spent at Howick Hall, I decided to take a ride to Dunstanburgh Castle in the wildly optimistic hope that I might get something for sunset. Stopping at Embleton, I strode across the golf course that runs along the shore, girding myself against the blustery wind, and headed more or less directly to the shoreline that runs beneath the castle walls.

Getting some moody black and white shots were about my only option.

I took a few shots, getting as close to the surf as possible, but keeping a wary eye on swishing, fizzing waves as they slapped against the rocks underfoot, creeping ever closer in the early evening gloom. 

I noticed a smudge of colour in the sky behind me as the sun finally went to ground, and I hoped it might translate into something of interest above the castle, but it never did. After a while as the light faded beyond use, I picked my way over the boulderous shore to the path and returned to the car.

Looking towards the magnificent castle under an empty sky.

The next day I was up early for sunrise with a bounce to my step, as the forecast the evening before had provided me with a bit of hope that rising at such an hour might finally be worthwhile. As I pulled up to the shore at Bamburgh my heart sank slightly, it turns out the weather had gone from from wall to wall cloud to practically no cloud at all, apart from a smear across the horizon. It seemed Mother Nature, that crazy old strumpet, was doing what is known as taking the piss.

Some clouds did sheepishly make an appearance after a while.

As it turned out, I needn't have been too despondent, for as I stumbled and slid my way over the seaweed covered rocks, a smattering of clouds did start to appear, affording the sky a touch of interest as the sun began it's ascent. 

Looking out to sea, the appearance of the sun was a welcome sight after so much gloom.

A long exposure of the Bamburgh coastline and castle.

It soon became clear that these wisps scuttling in from the ocean were just the vangaurd to a great swell of cloud that was on it's way inland, and soon it was back to business as usual. It was at this point that I decided to head home, I couldn't face another day of looking for photographs under an uninspiring haze. Still, at least I had seen a bit of sun after four days.

Here come the clouds...