Summer Solstice
Can you believe it that we have already had the longest day? Where does the time fly to? When my yoga instructor (@jodihollie + Tillie @the.wellproject) told me that she wasn’t heading for Stonehenge but was instead going to Hadleigh Castle for the sunrise, I couldn’t resist joining her.
I again got up at 4am (why is it easier to get up at 4am then when the alarm usually goes off at 6am?) and drove to Hadleigh. If you’ve never been up at that time in the morning, then maybe you’re not aware but it is still quite light just before the dawn. The light sneaks over the horizon just before the sun does. In the road where I was going to park there were already lots of cars and I had to reverse up the hill a little to find a space. I took my yoga mat, but I took three cameras too, a spare lens some spare batteries and a waterbottle in a small rucksack and headed off to the ruins.
My instructor and her colleague were already there as were quite a few yogis. I spread my mat out at the back of the class and then wandered off to photograph the sunrise. It was truly spectacular; birds were singing their little hearts out and it wasn’t too cold. There were a surprising number of people there all waiting for the sun to climb into the sky. When it does finally appear, it is amazing how quickly it climbs. I was determined to wait for it to peek through the window of the ruins and I didn’t have to wait quite as long as I feared.
As it was already light when I arrived, the sky wasn’t as pink as I’d hoped. I will have to go back a little later in the year maybe, when I don’t have to get up at 4am (Yeah, I don’t care how easy it is to get up). I really want to photograph the tower when the light just starts up and see if the dawn makes the walls pink. They had a beautiful golden glow, but I think I was a little mesmerized by the sunrise over the ruins to pay proper attention to the tower.
From up here you can see for quite some distance. Over to Canvey Island and along the coast to Leigh, Chalkwell, Westcliff and into Southend. The pier is just on the horizon and despite the early hour there are already trains running to and from Southend from Fenchurch Street. There is a path that runs from here to Leigh and beyond, and I spotted some runners wearing red t-shirts (a photographer’s favourite colour) and I’ve tried to catch them just in the shadow of the tower. The more I think about that tower and its position, the more I think I will try and come back at different times to get the tower in different lights.
Time flies when you’re having fun, and I had been here for nearly an hour. I had not done any yoga and most of the other spectators have gone. But it is still beautiful up there and the birds are still singing, the sound of a gong joins the chorus and whilst I am not lying on my mat, I can still enjoy the sound bath before heading home for a quick forty-winks.
