There is nothing quite like photographing on a cold and frosty morning, literally nothing like it, as its bloody freezing!

One morning last week I sat in work looking out of the window and everything was slowly being whitewashed, there was a freezing fog, low cloud cover and a light dusting of snow. As I was working late there was no possibility of photography however I vowed on my day of I was heading out.

I chose a little known place nearby, situated at the back of Hamilton and Blantyre, I say little known as unless you live locally or work in the area most people aren’t aware of these paths. Most of this area was once farms and vast fields now we have a Technology Park, a university and many, many houses. Of course there are still fields and farms but far fewer than ever before.

Not far from the hamlet of Auchentibber sat the farm known as Blantyre Park, now mostly gone and covered over by the new houses at West Craigs. However, you may be surprised to know that there are still plenty of the old farm tracks remaining, certainly enough for a great walk. You can enter either from West Craigs or from the Technology Park, there are a few paths and the walks can be done in a circular. You can choose to follow the few miles of paths or like me, head into the trees and follow the route of the Red Burn up to Park Road. The Red Burn runs through a deep cleft in the landscape and makes for some lovely scenery. Unfortunately there is the usual dumping of rubbish and random barrels along the way however it’s still beautiful, especially as the sun rises through it.

You can see from my pictures that I had all sorts of light to play with, from bright sunlight, to dull and dingy to almost ethereal, there are so many different looks to my photographs that you would think I visited over multiple days.

You will find a few other walks in this area, so if you fancy making it a longer walk you do have a few choices. You can stop at the recently refurbished Auchentibber War Memorial or you could head along the behind the building known as Browns Land and walk up to Dykehead Woods where you will not only get great views over Hamilton but you can see the old Lime Kiln.

Thanks for reading, below are some more images taken on the day.

Paul

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