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Tag Archives: Northamptonshire

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Cracks Hill

by Damien Walmsley Posted on
Cracks Hill, Sunrise

This hill is the remnant of a glacier and has a prominent view of the nearby village of Crick and the surrounding Northamptonshire country side.  I have visited the hill before as Sunset and captured a beautiful scene.  On a recent visit to my daughter, I took the opportunity to capture the sunrise.  Whilst there were no clouds in the sky the rising sun was still beautiful and I was able to frame the sun in the beacon.  Whilst I was on the beacon there were several walkers who passed through for a chat.  The subsequent light was beautiful and made a perfect start up for the rest of the day.

Cracks Hill, Sunrise
The view of Crick Village from Cracks Hill
Cracks Hill, Sunrise
The Grand Union Canal next to Cracks Hill
Cracks Hill, Sunrise
The canal bridge that leads onto Cracks Hill

If you want to learn more about Cracks Hill then read the West Northamptonshire Council Web pages
and I have been there before at sunset visiting both the Hill and Crick’s Wood.

Cracks Hill, Sunrise
Another view from Cracks Hill.
Categories blog

Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill

by Damien Walmsley Posted on
Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire

On one side of the M1 is Warwickshire, on the other is Northamptonshire. Most of the time, I am in Warwickshire visiting my daughter and so Rugby is my final destination. Google maps is a wonderful tool for browsing and looking for new places to visit. Often, I use canals as my compass and it was following the Grand Union canal along Google maps that I was intrigued not only by Cracks Hill but also the surrounding area. I discovered the Friends of Cricks Wood web site and learnt about the good work being done by the community there. Close by is Cracks Hill which was formed by a retreating glacier during the last ice age. Running through this area of natural beauty is the Grand Union Canal. This looked like a good place to photograph especially if the conditions were just right. The one ingredient that is needed is good light and on an evening in December, it looked as if there would be a good sunset. I packed my camera gear and set off to the woods. On arrival, I spent some time in the Jubilee woodland as the sun was setting. The colour on the leaves in the light at the end of day was something to behold.

  • Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
    Evening light on the leaves.
  • Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
    The trees looked wonderful
  • Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
    Even the bare trees have beauty about them.
  • Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
    Drops of moisture on pine needles reflect the sunlight.

The next place to visit was the summit of Cracks Hill. It was not disappointing and I was pleased that I had brought along my Canon D5 Mk4 with tripod. The windmills were fascinating to watch at such a distance and at a height. I was also taken by a lone tree on the side of the hill. Needless to say the tree featured in a few photographs. So it was a successful day and I made my way back to the car.

Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
The soft light on the surrounding countryside
Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
The colours of the sunset from Cracks Hill.
Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
Loving the Windmill silhouette.
Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
A lone tree on Cracks Hill

As I reached the bridge over the Grand Union, I met a dog walker and I let him pass. He moved onto the bridge and started walking into the embers of the sunset. I fumbled but I got my Fujifilm x100v just in time to capture a picture of the walker on the bridge. The resulting picture was dark but I used my editing suite to bring out the colours of the sunset. So part capturing the scene and then relying on a preset edit to produce the scene that I observed over that bridge and far away.

Sunset, Cricks Wood and Cracks Hill, Northamptonshire
Over the Bridge and far away. On the Canal bridge over the Grand Union walking towards Cricks Wood

The final part to this series of photographs is the selection of the walker over the bridge by England’s Big Picture. It was my second feature of the year on the BBC site. I was very pleased with the outcome.