I really wanted to get a good photo of the Milky Way and the location, weather and positioning was all spot on for Tuesday night. It's one of the longest days so sunset was late at 9.30ish and sunrise was only 7-8 hours later. That meant the darkest part of the night was 1-2am so not too long to wait after sunset.
I got there around 7pm and parked at Lulworth Cove. This was a mistake!! Although the walk along the cliffs looks nice it's incredibly steep to the top and down the other side and the path is very rocky and uneven. When I got to Durdle Door I was cream crackered! It was quite hot but windy and I was carrying 2 rucksacks of camera gear, warm clothing, food/water and a tripod!! If you're going there, go in the caravan park that's closer. Not so good for photos because the security guys can apparently get a bit iffy if you want to be there at night but if I go again I'll risk it there.
Anyway, I had an hour or so to check the location out and wait for sunset. This wasn't perfect because the sun was setting well north of due west so it was quite a long way round the cove and behind the cliffs but it was nice enough. Then I got down to the beach via the very steep steps and sat in some shelter waiting for 1am.
It's actually really interesting to see night time 'happen'. Normally you don't really notice. You might see it's getting towards dusk and then go off and do something and the next thing you know it's night. When you actually watch it happen you see the brightest stars popping out first and while it's still light in one direction it can be significantly darker in the other. Then gradually more stars show up. The plough looked really bright and then as it got fully dark you could make out the milky way as a white cloudy line. So I got cracking with my camera again
I finally called it a day (or night!) at 3am and took the 2hr trip back home again for some well earned sleep!
More pics here
Milky Way at Durdle Door by Kevin Clark, on Flickr
Milky Way at Durdle Door by Kevin Clark, on Flickr
Milky Way at Durdle Door by Kevin Clark, on Flickr
