Ade McCabe
West Kirby.
I'd been watching the tide heights for a few days and hoping for the sky to be overcast. The tide had been higher for the two days before but I was in the Peak District for one of them and the sky was all wrong for the other.
After it taking over an hour to get through Heswall due to an untimely bus break down I arrived five minutes before the actual high tide.
You have a lot more time albeit only about 30 minutes as the tide comes in before you have to retreat to the car park and I was cursing that broken down bus.
Conditions were as perfect as you could hope for. Absolutely no wind giving only the gentlest of waves overflowing into the marine lake and an overcast sky.
At 9.3m, ( I take the height from Hilbre Island. It takes another 15 minutes or so before the high tide hits West Kirby, ) the path around the lake is about 0.4m under water and even in these really calm conditions you can feel the ebb and flow pulling at your ankles. It's slightly unnerving to see the jettys disappear under water and it looks for all the world like you are stood in the middle of the estuary with no escape.
As the tide turned I waded out along with another tog I'd met at Meols a few evenings before. We only had about 10 minutes before the intrepid dog walkers returned and it had started to rain. Fortunately I remembered to bring a plastic A4 sheet to cover the lens and filters and had everything dialed in correctly. Managed to get 6 long exposures before holding the sheet over her lens so she could get her shot too. The conditions soon passed but we both got the shots we came for.
A hectic 15 minutes but pleasing nonetheless.
West Kirby.
I'd been watching the tide heights for a few days and hoping for the sky to be overcast. The tide had been higher for the two days before but I was in the Peak District for one of them and the sky was all wrong for the other.
After it taking over an hour to get through Heswall due to an untimely bus break down I arrived five minutes before the actual high tide.
You have a lot more time albeit only about 30 minutes as the tide comes in before you have to retreat to the car park and I was cursing that broken down bus.
Conditions were as perfect as you could hope for. Absolutely no wind giving only the gentlest of waves overflowing into the marine lake and an overcast sky.
At 9.3m, ( I take the height from Hilbre Island. It takes another 15 minutes or so before the high tide hits West Kirby, ) the path around the lake is about 0.4m under water and even in these really calm conditions you can feel the ebb and flow pulling at your ankles. It's slightly unnerving to see the jettys disappear under water and it looks for all the world like you are stood in the middle of the estuary with no escape.
As the tide turned I waded out along with another tog I'd met at Meols a few evenings before. We only had about 10 minutes before the intrepid dog walkers returned and it had started to rain. Fortunately I remembered to bring a plastic A4 sheet to cover the lens and filters and had everything dialed in correctly. Managed to get 6 long exposures before holding the sheet over her lens so she could get her shot too. The conditions soon passed but we both got the shots we came for.
A hectic 15 minutes but pleasing nonetheless.