Saturday 16 July 2016

The Salt Cellar - Photography Week 21 (2016)

For the first time in a number of years I made a trip up to Derwent Edge with the aim of getting as far as a rock known as the Salt Cellar.

Derwent Edge runs across Derwent Moor on a footpath maintained by the National Trust. It can be accessed at one end from Ladybower Reservoir or from the car park at Fairholmes (near the Derwent Dam). To provide context, the following set of images shows the path along the edge looking down to Ladybower, Ashopton viaduct, and the Derwent aqueduct:





The last time I was on the Derwent Edge I got as far as Whinstone Lee Tor and I repeated one of the compositions looking towards Fairholmes:



In the other direction there is a panoramic view across Moscar Moor to the distant Stanage Edge. In the mid-distance is the summit of Bamford Moor and Bamford Edge:



The next stop was the Wheel Stones, also known as the Coach and Horses. Apparently the stones resemble a coach and horses when viewed in profile (see the second image below):




The name wheel stones presumably relates to the round layered nature of the rocks. This type of gritstone formation is common in this part of the Peak District. The abbreviated explanation for these layers starts 300 million years ago when the area was under the sea. Successive tides or floods deposited sand which was buried and turned into rock through pressure and chemical change. The forces of erosion have then left some wonderfully shaped exposures of gritstone including the one known as the Salt Cellar:




Getting lucky with the conditions is all part of landscape photography and sun combined with a heavy sky produced the best shot of the day:



Odd moments of sunlight gave opportunities to pick out some details in the valley below the Salt Cellar:





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