Category: Video

Toft Gate Lime Kiln

So it was a trip to the top of Greenhow hill today. Lord was it cold and windy. But the little Spark did a sterling effort of dealing with the wind.

Up at the top of Greenhow hill is the old Lime kiln at Toft Gate.

The kiln was loaded with limestone through the top and with coal through the rectangular openings in the end and side walls. A stone lined flue runs from the kiln up a gentle slope to the chimney base in the distance. Life must have been hard up here. I’m suffering just with the cold wind, I hate to think what it was like being up here, mining the ore and loading it, moving the spoil, let alone the children that would have had to clean out the long flue leading to the chimney.

Theres plenty of grassy hillocks and curious dimples in the landscape between Toft Gate and Grassington – many of these are remnants of the limestone industry. People would mine the area, and transport it out to the lime-kiln where it would be burnt and heated to release the quicklime, which was then used in the local farms for fertiliser.

I decided to try the editor built into the DJI Go app, and it’s not bad really. Its most useful if your away from the main editing system you use, and just need a quick and dirty instagram upload or something, it wont really replace a dedicated editing software, but its intended use its not too bad. Once you play around with it and learn what it can, and can’t do as the information on using it is a little thin, it can yeild some good results. The auto create function can be a little odd, but that’s what you get for a random selection..

Little Drones

I recently purchased a DJI Spark drone. I’m having loads of fun working out how to fly it, and get those fantastic cinematic shots.

So far, I haven’t really got the hang of shooting with it, but damn it’s fun. However, finding somewhere to fly it, legally is troublesome. Your not supposed to fly within 50 meters of any person or property. My first flight didn’t obey that. We have an area in Harrogate called the Stray. A huge grass area, I played about scuttling the drone around, up high and just working out how it all works. My second flight was amongst the walkers, cyclists and dog walkers on Bilton fields. I found a nice quiet area and sent the drone off on its merry dance. All fine until a dog took an unhealthy interest. Watched the owners chase it about for ages until they caught it.

As I’m not using Windows anymore, finding a Linux based video editor that ticks all my boxes is a little complicated. I’ve settled for kdenlive at the moment. But time will tell if I settle with it. The cache editor built into the DJI app is quite good for quick edits.

Ice Ice baby!

It was cold this morning, there were warnings for ice. Did I pay any attention? Nope. Non at all. And I learnt the hard way to watch the road.

I tried to control the skid, over corrected and bamn, a slide right down the road. Watching the video back, I can clearly see the ice, but it could of just been a damp patch on the road. Ah well, I know better for next time 🙂

See the ride here..

A quick ride to Ripley

So I decided on a quick trip to Ripley, for two reasons, that were to test the new Mudguards, and the new camera system.

What I failed to realise, is that Ripley Christmas Market was on, and it was hell busy in Ripley. I spent most of the time in Ripley, shouting for peds to move over, non of them heard me first or second times, and it took some real effort to make them move!

However watching the video back, I was surprised at the great driving displayed by the Drivers on Skipton Road. Gave me plenty of space, and waited for overtaking until safe. I’ve had my share of bad drivers on the road, but this was a nice ride.