With the weather still not being great on the high moor I have been looking for more photo opportunities and a friend had told me about Venford Falls over on the East Moor.
In my past I did a lot of fly fishing and was familiar with Venford Reservoir as it was a great source of natural brown trout which were always really good fun to fish for. I was, however unaware that a few hundred meters down the valley from the dam was Venford Falls. I parked in the car park close to the dam and crossed it, picking up the path on the left that skirted around the waterworks below the dam itself. As the fence disappeared I followed another path down to the bottom of the valley and picked up Venford Brook. I figured that if I just followed this it would lead me to the falls.
Well, they weren’t so hard to find on account of discovering a ‘click of photographers’ (I’m not sure of the real noun to describe a group of photographers…. but I liked ‘click’!) lurking down in the damp and mist below the falls. It’s only since visiting them that I have realised just how popular they are as a photographic target!
The light was pretty poor down there but I was carrying my little Jobi Gorillapod & remote Shutter Release which I always keep in my pack precisely for situations like this. I tried a few positions above the brook and got some nice slow shutter shots which always gives moving water that beautiful misty ghostly effect and after some of the ‘click’ left I was able to move down the base of the falls to capture some better shots. I spent an hour or so down there before deciding it was time to tackle the (very) steep climb back out of the valley and back to the car. I headed up west side of the valley back toward the dam and then followed the fence line up and it eventually led back to the car park. It’s an easy place to get to but I would recommend some good trek shoes or preferably walking boots. It’s quite slippery when you get down to the brook itself.
I decided to stop at Combestone Tor which lies beside the road back to Hexworthy. It’s a rather impressive low-level Tor which offers the most amazing views across toward the southern Moor, Badgers Holt and up along the Dart Valley. As I drove back to Hexworthy I decided to stop at Hexworthy Bridge which unusually, was deserted. It’s not often you find it without people congregated on the banks of the Dart. Although the light was fading fast by now it was still a photo opportunity to be had!
Incidentally Combestone Tor & Hexworthy Bridge were also used as filming locations for War Horse.
Links
Solo Sophie’s account of her visit to the falls
Jobi Gorillapod (3k)
Canon Programmable Shutter Release
Photos
