Hanging Stone
A landscape photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
This evening I found myself at Roach End, although photographing Roach End barn wasn’t the plan. I was out because I’d bagged a bargain.
I’d been looking for a new camera backpack for a while. It was a toss up between the Gitzo Adventury 45L, or the Shimoda Action X50. The only thing stopping me from making a purchase was that I didn’t want to pay the price of either of them.
What made me make a purchase . . . there’s too much “made” when it comes to buying photographic gear! . . . I should really say whilst scrolling through the Wex website looking at some used gear I came across a Gitzo Adventury 45L marked at £179. It was grade 9+, and described as “mint, and free of marks” etc . . . I popped it in the basket. At that price, and described condition it was an absolute bargain. Somehow I also managed to put a new 3 Legged Thing (Winston 2.0) carbon fibre tripod, and a set of “Stilettoz” foot spikes in my basket . . . these things happen!
A few days later the new gear arrived. I was very pleased to see that the Gitzo Adventury 45L was “mint”. If they’d have sold it as new I wouldn’t have known any different.
With the new bag packed with everything bar the kitchen sink I headed off out to test how I’d cope on a hike with a full load.
New Gitzo Adventury 45L backpack.
I opted to go to Roach End, and head over towards Hanging Stone for a couple of reasons. The first was I’d never been to that part of “The Roaches” before. The second was whilst I knew there was a little bit of up and down, it wasn’t as much of a slog up as The Roaches itself. The walk from Roach End to Hanging Stone and back was around 3 miles, so basically it was a decent test without overdoing it.
I enjoyed the walk over to Hanging Stone. Nothing caught my eye particularly as I wandered along, and I only stopped for a drink.
On arrival at Hanging Stone itself I had a mooch around. It was very windy up there this evening, so I knew I’d struggle to get anything decent. With the wind playing a big factor in proceedings I just took a couple of snapshots for the record. The other factor in play was it wasn’t the right time of the year. I think as a location this would be better as a late autumn, or winter sunset spot.
After a quick brew, and a bite I’d had enough of the wind, so set off back towards Roach End.
I grabbed a couple of shots looking back towards The Roaches, and Hen Cloud that I was happy with. I think with some nice autumn colours and light this composition has the potential to be quite special. They’re also of a view that I’ve not seen anyone posting before either. Whilst I’m sure they’re not unique they are a bit less run of the mill.
When I got back to Roach End I decided to drive home via the road that takes you past the western side of The Roaches. It’s a single track road, so I don’t tend to use it that often, as passing spots are at a premium. I got to the “lone tree” by the main parking areas of The Roaches, and it looked stunning. I actually drove past it, but thankfully my conscience got the better of me. I pulled over, and reversed back up the road so as to get the image. A nice end to a nice day.
Sheep grazing at The Roaches.
As for the Gitzo Adventury 45L . . . I was very pleased with it. Access to the gear was great. It was very comfortable, or at least as comfortable as I’d expect lugging too much kit around to be, so no complaints whatsoever.
You can view more images from The Roaches, and my gallery of other Peak District locations.
UPDATE: Fourteen months on, and whilst I haven’t been as active due to a few health issues, I’m very happy with the Gitzo Adventury 45L. I still find it comfortable to carry. It fits in all my gear, and supplies, and I can’t think of anything negative to say about it.
