Hell's Lane

[Fenris]

As mentioned in the An offer you can't refuse thread, here are some of the photos from the Hell's Lane shoot I did.

All across the UK there are roads known as “Hollow Ways”, sunken paths made by centuries of people (or carts) travelling along them. Mostly in areas where there is soft sandstone which has ground down through time.

A lot of them have been lost, unused, overgrown and forgotten about. Down here in Dorset there are quite a few that are still in use and one of them isn’t too far away from me so I met up with a friend and drove over to Symondsbury and walked up to Hell’s Lane (and Shutes Lane). It’s like stepping back in time to the Middle Ages, the side of the path rise up above you and the roots of the trees hang down the walls intertwining with other roots and plants. Over the years people have also carved images and names in the sandstone, some simple but others look like complex geometric designs.

Weatherwise it was a bit of a cloudy, grey day. Not a lot of sunshine, however the only camera I took was my infrared camera! Most of the time when I’ve got out with this camera it has been sunny and you get the full infrared effect with the photographs. After seeing pictures online of Hell’s Lane I hoped to get pictures would have an ethereal feel to them to add to the atmospheric ancient look of the location. This was going to be an experiment…

More on these on my website - www.fenris.co.uk/infrared-in-hells-lane/

[zx9]

Those are great Fen, I particularly like the second one with the fallen tree over the lane. I assume that the lane still sees some use as the surface looks free of vegetation and to be reasonably solid.

When it was still legal to drive we did the Pilgrim's way from Winchester almost all the way to Canterbury when it became too overgrown to take an old Land Rover.

[Fenris]

It is still used, but not by vehicles. Mainly used by walkers nowadays, as well as horses and cyclists. Luckily there is also a group that looks after the route - keeping it clear and usable. Although in the winter (or a very wet July!) some parts are nearly impassable due to thick clogging deep mud!

[El Sid]

That's quite some location.

Looking through my Flickr I don't seem to bother much with proper cloudy days - maybe I should have a rethink...

[don]

They all look good 👍