St Johns in the Vale Thirlmere
Located at the Northern end of Lake Thirlmere, this small hamlet tucked away in a narrow valley under the massive hillside of Skiddaw. If you have been to the locations of Great Howe and Smaithwaite banks you would not have failed to note the traffic that goes around the Eastern side of Great Howe. Some of this traffic then cuts back towards the northern end of Thirlmere and some of it does in fact go down through St Johns in the Vale.
Click link for large map of this location Click here
The main location for this valley is at Wren Crag. To reach this location you can Park at the triangle as used for Raven Crag or you can park in the small lay by at junction at the road leading to the Dam opposite the bus shelter.Jump over the styl and follow the path for about 50 yrds, then take the left hand path and head north , after a short while you will actually be heading down hill before you make the last section of the climb. From road to location is around 10 to 15 minutes and the going is actually fairly easy on a decent path/track, after a short while you will reach a point where you will actually go down hill, from that point you just have the last section to climb and you will be at the front ledge . From Wren crag you are able to observe aircraft coming through the main valley and over the dam, a 400mm lens will 3/4 frame a tornado as it will be mostly bottom side to you as it rounds Smaithwaite and over to Keswick. Aircraft will approach you should they come down the eastern side of the valley and give you a nice topside and 3/4 head on shot if they are coming down through your location, and if they turn down back into the main valley you will get a bottom shot.
Below the view of Wren crag from the road, click image for larger picture.
Below a Tornado gr4 banks into St Johns past Wren crag. Click image for large picture
Below, the location sheepfold on the path from wren crag to yew crag
Dominie heading straight on over the dam instead of turning, click picture for large image
Wren crag lower ledge below. Click image for large picture with location points
Below, Castle Crag, from the western side. Note the climbers on the path, click image.
Front ledge.
This location is located at the southern facing part of the hillside, offering views down the valley towards the Swirls. It is a clump of rocks formed with a nice ledge and a higher chunk giving a slight height advantage. From here you are afforded spectacular 3/4 head on shots if aircraft come down the eastern side of Thirlmere and continue down St Johns. The occasional aircraft may turn back into the Keswick part of the valley which will give you head on and then underside shots. You will also be able to see aircraft come past great Howe on the western side of the lake, although the trees do have gaps the shots will hardly be frame fillers.
To reach this location follow the path up the hill from the road as illustrated at the beggining of this guide. Then you will reach a down hill section, go down the slope and then head up until you reach the tree line and head east around the hill top for about 50 yrds and make out the rocks.
Click image for the larger picture.
Below the ledge
Sheepfold and the path towards Yew crag offer great potential of unusual shots and possibly head on shots if aircraft continue straight and level instead of turning towards Keswick. As mentioned earlier the path goes right across the hill top and is public access.
Easy access to sheepfold can be had by walking along the dual carriageway and enter the hill through the gate in the natural cut in the hillside and follow the path upwards towards the many rocky ledges.
Below the view from Sheepfold over Thirlmere.
A final note regarding this location.
St Johns is a great location for the photographer, offering the chance of great images. However this also as its drawbacks, this valley does not receive its fair share of movements, with around 90 percent of aircraft going over the dam, 5 percent of aircraft going down the east side then routing back towards Keswick, 1 percent of aircraft going straight on over sheepfold and the remaining 4 percent will go through St Johns. Although some days when you are at Smaithwaite everything seems to go down St Johns.
If you try this location, i would forget trying to gain a vantage point to capture aircraft going over the dam, concentrate on the valley at St Johns. This location is ideal for afternoons on sunny days in summer although afternoons might be a tad tricky in wnter until after 1pm as the sun is lower in the sky.
In short. If you want a big portfolio, go to Smaithwaite, if you want to risk the chance of some great images, use this location. As with all aspects of photography you have to work at it.
This section is still being updated.