Waylandscape. Fine Art Landscape Photography by Gary Waidson. St. Abbs 2009

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The view from my tent. Highly Commended in the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2009 awards


	This image was Highly Commended in the Landscape Photographer of the Year 2009 awards.

St. Abbs. Borders Region.

19/20th March 2009

Normally I plan my time on landscape outings very carefully, I don’t get much spare time for these trips so I make sure I know exactly where I’m going and why.

This location was a little different.

On the afternoon that I’d been mooching around the harbour at Lindisfarne, I’d been chatting with another photographer that recommended St. Abbs to me.

As the rest of the shoot had gone so well I had a spare day and it became a toss up between going back to Bamburgh and working down the coast or this new option.

A quick look at the map showed a lighthouse, some rocky looking coastal scenery and a small harbour in St. Abbs.

What eventually made up my mind for me was that it was just over the border in Scotland.

It meant that instead of sneaking around to find a quiet place to camp, under the Scottish outdoor access code I would be able to camp freely, providing it was done responsibly of course.

It’s so sad that England and Wales do not have legislation like this as it means that I have to travel to Scotland or Scandinavia to wild camp and really enjoy the outdoors as it should be experienced.

The last time I pitched on a commercial campsite in the Lake District I had my tent robbed and my gear trashed, I won’t be doing that again in a hurry.

The key to wilderness camping of course is always to leave no trace of your camp behind and in many places I actually end up cleaning up rubbish left by other people before I leave.

Well I spent an afternoon exploring St. Abbs, Pettico Wick and the head and decided to try a dawn shot of the lighthouse before returning to the harbour for the early morning light.

For sunset I would pitch on the headland and get the shot above for my Bushcraft site.

Sunrise was soft and mellow, not quite what I was hoping for but nice.

Moving on down to the Harbour at St. Abbs what kept catching my eye was this wonderful building on the cliff top.


	Architecture isn’t my field but I would guess it was Victorian, built with the kind of ornamentation that people in that era seemed to do so well.