Outing to Luttrell's Tower and Hiorne Tower (many photos) - 9/2/08

[Hogster]

Hi all!

Together with another member from RCGroups, we had a very long APing outing today!

We left mid-morning from our separate homes and set off for a meeting place about 50 minutes away that we could both easily reach. We then carried on together into the city of Southampton (guided perfectly by Terry's GPS ... although when in search of a petrol station, it did tell us there were two stations where there weren't any :D) as I wanted to collect a new tail servo for my helicopter (a faster one) from a guy that lives in Southampton. We then headed on through Southampton and down to our first AP'ing site, Luttrell's Tower, in the village of Calshot. Some history of this Tower can be found on the FollyTowers (http://www.follytowers.com/luttrell.html) website.

As we didn't want to enter the Tower's grounds (which are private), we found a car park that was relatively close to the Tower, which had easy access to the beach. We walked for about 5-10 minutes down the beach until we reached the bottom of the steps that once led up to the Tower - they've now been gated off (presumably to stop tourists walking right up to the Tower which is now used for holiday accomodation).

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/bottom_of_tower_steps.jpg

As you can see we pretty much had the beach to ourselves! You will also notice that the tide was right in, limiting the amount of space we had to fly from!

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/the_beach.jpg

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/a_view_down_the_beach.jpg


After some quick adjustments of his quad-rotor MikroKopter (MK) ...

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/terry_adjusting_mk.jpg

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/terrys_mk.jpg

Terry was the first to have a go at shooting the Tower:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/terry_ready_to_go.jpg


Conditions were not ideal, with sea and a stiff 10mph wind behind us, and with trees and private land in front of us - it wasn't an easy mission! Terry very skillfully navigated his MK through the trees and up to a suitable position for photographing the Tower:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/terrys_mk_in_the_trees.jpg


After landing and viewing his photos we decided that we were a bit too close to the Tower, so we tried moving further down the beach ... where we found a *much* better flying location!

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/second_flying_location.jpg

As you can see it was much more open, and gave us a direct 'oblique' view to the Tower. (Sorry Terry, should have waited until you were standing :D)

Click HERE (http://horizonimaging.net/panoramas/luttrells/luttrells.htm) to see an interactive panorama from that second flying location!

Terry then took his MK up again:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/liftoff.jpg

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/mk_against_tower.jpg
(notice how the aerial on the MK was being blown over by the wind!)

After Terry had landed, it was my turn, so I prepared my kit and took to the skies to take some photos of my own :)

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/david_taking_off.jpg

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/ap_pilot_concentration.jpg

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/getting_the_shots.jpg


The AP2000i I/R stabiliser worked wonders on the helicopter, and despite the stiff wind, the helicopter just sat there in the sky! I was most pleased :D

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/happy_pilot.jpg


From all the AP photographs I took of the Tower, this is my favourite, stitched from about 3 images. Click to enlarge:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/luttrells_pano_small.jpg (http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/luttrells_pano_large.jpg)


At this point we decided to pack up and get back to our cars for a spot of lunch. It look longer than expected as we kept stopping to explain what we were doing to interested residents and tourists along the way :D

[Hogster]

After having lunch, we started our trek across the south of the country to Arundel to take some photographs of Hiorne's Tower.

Some history of this small, interesting Tower can again be found on the FollyTowers (http://www.follytowers.com/hiorne.html) website. On that page it makes reference to the large Norman Castle which dominates the town of Arundel. This was photographed by fellow RCGroups member Grahame (Gray) back in 2005 HERE (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=406678) and then later by fellow RCGroups member Paul (English Electric) HERE (http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=667907). In some of the photographs in those threads, you will notice a small stone-coloured building well behind the Castle. This is Hiorne Tower.

It was a race to get to the Tower before the sun set, a race we *just* managed to win as the sun was virtually sitting on the horizon when we arrived! We quickly unpacked, walked up to the Tower and flew!

Out of all the photographs I took, this was my favourite:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/hiorne_tower_1.jpg

I wanted to get a shot of the Tower silouetted against the sunset but hadn't programmed the right settings into the camera to give that effect. Still, I thought this view was quite interesting:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/hiorne_tower_2.jpg


Here's a shot of the Tower from the ground:

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/hiorne_tower_from_the_ground.jpg


And here's a the eagerly-anticipated 'group' shot! .... hmmm can one have a group of two ...? :)

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/two_photographers.jpg


A short while later, Terry managed to find a perfect scale model of the castle that was about his height! Talk about coincidence!!

http://hogster.rchomepage.com/ap_meets/luttrells_and_hiorne_9-2-08/terry_and_model_hiorne.jpg

:D :D


SO! All in all it was a very successful, albeit exhausting day out! In total I covered 200 miles from start to finish, leaving home at 10:00am and getting back at around 8:00pm.

WELL worth it though, and we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! :)

Thanks for looking!


David :cool:

[bullaculla]

Ha ha! great stuff David, looks like you guys had a lot fun and got some nice pics for your portfolio/website. :)