Durdle Door.....?

[Phill D]

OK here's the best shot I got.



No it's not missing I didn't get any.

Basically the weather was pretty rubbish but there was one evening that looked like it might clear, have a reasonable sunset and maybe I'd get a clear bit of sky. Anyway a couple of days before on a grey murky afternoon We decided to have a quick reccky and suss things out. It was around 6ish when we got there to be met with an extortionate set of carpark charges and no obvious places to park just for a scout around. Minimum charge was £10 for 4 hours or £20 for all day. Well I say all day it shut at 9:00 so stars and any astro was definitely out!. I circled round the carpark in disgust and left. It remains to be see if I get a ticket for the few minutes it took to work out the crap situation and go.

So my question is, how do folks get those stunning astro Durdle Door shots? Anyone have any local knowledge to help?

As it turned out the weather had the final say as always and there wouldn't have been a decent evening all week we were there.
So that sunrise shot is my saviour of the holiday. Along with some experiments i did using the live gnd filters that I really like.

[Ian]

Bad luck Phill!

Ian

[blackfox]

We went to Weymouth in may and tbh I was totally shocked at the car parking prices £6 seems to be the minimum in most places for a couple of hours ,the shots I did get I teamed up with local contacts who knew were to park for free

[BDennis]

Oh bad luck from me too Phil. The parking everywhere is a pain now, even the National Trust have been closing some of their coastal car parks before sunset like at Dunwich Heath.

I haven’t been to Durdle Door for decades. When I worked in Surrey I used to drive down there for the day and park at Lulworth Cove then walk, a long way in the dark though.

You’ve caught my interest about doing some astro stuff down there and I found this site

https://www.visit-dorset.com/explore/dorset-dark-skies/how-to-capture-dark-skies-on-camera/astrophotography-locations-kevin-ferroili/

Good luck. The Tank Museum might be an option if the weather does not delight, another thing on my list.

Bill

[Phill D]

Wow I wish I'd posted this before going! We stayed in an apartment that was between Peveril Point and Durlston Country Park. I could have walked to either of them in a few minutes! The sunrise shot was taken looking towards Peveril Point. Originally we'd planned to go in June which would have been the best time too. Looks like I'll need to think about a return trip. Thanks for the link Bill.

[Keith-369]

Same in the Lake District, even a clearing in the trees has a parking machine in it. Very annoying when you only want to stop and have a little walk and stretch for half an hour to take a few photos and then move on.

[Barr1e]

Hi Phill -

Sorry you missed out.

Last Saturday night we were woken with heavy rain followed by thunder and lightning and the thunder claps rattled the windows for a couple of hours. Sunday discovered the router had failed and Anne was on the phone for some considerable time - at seven thirty evening time the man at BT responded and said many folk had lost connections etc and after testing our loss of router connection decided to send another. Amazed it arrived today and have now have signal to the internet etc.
It seems we are at a loss when things happen unexpectedly.

B

[Phill D]

Yes modern tech is still very vulnerable to the weather at times. Glad you're back connected again barr1e.