A guide to the Mach Loop

Aim to go one day. Does seem busy at there at times. Thanks for the share.
 
Don't see what the big deal is about him telling people about Cad East and West. Loads of people go to Cad West just to watch. They're just a small part of the Loop.
 
I think it's something to do with the 'secret' access through the farmers gate that people are p***ed about.
 
MrDrizz said:
I think it's something to do with the 'secret' access through the farmers gate that people are p***ed about.
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Or that having "secret" access makes it easier and therefore likely more people go and images become less unique - like everything else
 
Lets see how long that farmer want the tribe of Israel crossing his land and gates being left open worth livestock running all over the place. " Can you help me farmer I have me car stuck in the mud at the top of the hill", "it's 9:30 at Night!", "I 'm sorry farmer but I have the wife and kids in the car we saw a video on youtube,they said you endorsed it" :LOL:

You ask me this guy is a fool 100%. We (those who used many days hours of searching with OS maps and high level of committment) had many fantasic railway locations closed off by farmers when google earth and websites giving out information (like this) appeared due to every one and his dog,wife and kids on a day out started turning up at locations because no research was required.

The more diamonds there are the less worth they become.:banghead:
 
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ecoleman said:
You didn't watch the video, did you?
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Ok, i'll rephrase what sort of distances out do you a) spot the aircraft to get an effective pure front shot b) when the aircraft is directly between you and the face of the other side of the valley how far is the aircraft away and how far is the other side of the valley.

The video talks about using panning to blur the background but what about having lenses to drop the background out of focus? between say f2.8 and f5.6 there is about double the distance of depth of field which can make a fair difference to the level of focus to OOF
 
shapeshifter said:
Lets see how long that farmer want the tribe of Israel crossing his land and gates being left open worth livestock running all over the place. " Can you help me farmer I have me car stuck in the mud at the top of the hill", "it's 9:30 at Night!", "I 'm sorry farmer but I have the wife and kids in the car we saw a video on youtube,they said you endorsed it" :LOL:

You ask me this guy is a fool 100%. We (those who used many days hours of searching with OS maps and high level of committment) had many fantasic railway locations closed off by farmers when google earth and websites giving out information (like this) appeared due to every one and his dog,wife and kids on a day out started turning up at locations because no research was required.

The more diamonds there are the less worth they become.:banghead:
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How is the farmer going to close off a public access? That lane up to Cad east is an ORPA. The farmer can do nothing about it. Even if he blocks the gate, come in from the Corris end which is a standard road and then report him to the police for blocking a highway.
 
TCR4x4 said:
How is the farmer going to close off a public access? That lane up to Cad east is an ORPA. The farmer can do nothing about it. Even if he blocks the gate, come in from the Corris end which is a standard road and then report him to the police for blocking a highway.
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No need for any agro if this guy did not advertise with his video. Point is the less people going up there the less chance of any farmers getting upset whether they have authority or not to put chains and locks around fences. How long before the police get p***ed off "he's put the chain around the gate again,we will be there in 3 hours mate we are a bit busy with a serious RTA".

And that's before someone falls and injures or kills themselvs. Then will the public be allowed on the mountain side. "Access to this area has now been designated a restricted area by the MOD due to safety issues" NO ACESS BY ORDER OF MOD.

Why increase the risk of problems when it's not necessary. Once Joe public get up there with there sandwiches and mobile phones :grumpy:

The more difficult it is for people to find these places the better.

The answer is not to cause the problem in the first place.
 
shapeshifter said:
No need for any agro if this guy did not advertise with his video. Point is the less people going up there the less chance of any farmers getting upset whether they have authority or not to put chains and locks around fences. How long before the police get p***ed off "he's put the chain around the gate again,we will be there in 3 hours mate we are a bit busy with a serious RTA".

And that's before someone falls and injures or kills themselvs. Then will the public be allowed on the mountain side. "Access to this area has now been designated a restricted area by the MOD due to safety issues" NO ACESS BY ORDER OF MOD.

Why increase the risk of problems when it's not necessary. Once Joe public get up there with there sandwiches and mobile phones :grumpy:

The more difficult it is for people to find these places the better.

The answer is not to cause the problem in the first place.
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I agree, lets shut down the lake district, peak district, brecon beacons, pembrokeshire national park and the yorkshire dales whilst we're at it.

Far less hassle! :rolleyes:

Honestly I think this is a non issue. People that aren't interested in photographing the planes are just not going to bother going up there to stand around all day in the hope that something may come by.
Heck, I live 50 miles away from the loop and I've never been. One because the planes only fly week days (I'm working) and two because there is no guarantee of a fly by. Whilst I'd love to photograph the planes, I have no intension of standing on a mountain side all day in the Welsh weather with a hope and a prayer of a plane coming past.
 
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shapeshifter said:
No need for any agro if this guy did not advertise with his video. Point is the less people going up there the less chance of any farmers getting upset whether they have authority or not to put chains and locks around fences. How long before the police get p***ed off "he's put the chain around the gate again,we will be there in 3 hours mate we are a bit busy with a serious RTA".

And that's before someone falls and injures or kills themselvs. Then will the public be allowed on the mountain side. "Access to this area has now been designated a restricted area by the MOD due to safety issues" NO ACESS BY ORDER OF MOD.

Why increase the risk of problems when it's not necessary. Once Joe public get up there with there sandwiches and mobile phones :grumpy:

The more difficult it is for people to find these places the better.

The answer is not to cause the problem in the first place.
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Give it rest, Jesus.. people go all over those mountains for many reasons, not just to shoot some photos of aircraft. You make it sound like you've found the bloody pyramids and want to keep it secret.

I spend many, many hours in that area and see all different people, from photographers , motorbike riders, horse riders, ramblers, even doggers. And I'll tell you what, I've never once been there to photograph airplanes, so why don't you lot of photographers bugger off and leave me alone to my hobbies, instead of coming up here, sitting all day, making noise with your shutters.....

Let's close off the whole country side, before someone gets hurt.
 
As a slight aside I started watching his vlogs a few weeks ago and there is some good stuff on there and he seems like a really nice guy too.
 
Storm in a tea cup. There might be a short lived flurry of more people but it'll soon stop as only die hard folk will put the time in on the wind swept hill side.
 
It would seem to me that some inhabitants of the photographic community just view the natural landscape as a sort of grandstand from which they can view and record the passage of piloted products of the political-miltary industry.

I'd say let the land come first. What with global warming, hasn't it got enough challenge already?

At least the proponent of the video seems to accord respect to those whose income is from the land in question.
 
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droj said:
It would seem to me that some inhabitants of the photographic community just view the natural landscape as a sort of grandstand from which they can view and record the passage of piloted products of the political-military industry.

I'd say let the land come first. What with global warming, hasn't it got enough challenge already?

At least the proponent of the video seems to accord respect to those whose income is from the land in question.
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I'm not sure that the photographic community would have that much of an impact in terms of trampling pathways and grassways compared to the footarea / mileage that the local inhabitants (sheep) have. And during summer, if my garden is any thing to go by, the resilience and growth of vegetation will prevail over about 1000 photographers between April and October.
 
Very informative video and good on the bloke for taking the time to make it, Just dont forget the insect repellent.
 
It's not like it's the miners track on Snowdon. The most I've seen on Cad West is around 40 people,and not all of those were photographers, with about 20 on Cad East. With the other spots around the loop perhaps 100 people over the whole Loop depending on weather and what's around. Might get more is there's something unusual coming to the loop but more often than not numbers are a lot lower especially in the winter.

The guys not giving anything away, the road is common knowledge to anyone who goes, and even if it's your first time you can find info about it without trying too hard.

The big car park by the side of the road is even labelled Cad West/East car park on i maps.
 
I really want to be able to do the Loop at some point but reading some of this and other post on hte web it would seem like some people don't like newbies being there :(
 
Downton Mini said:
I really want to be able to do the Loop at some point but reading some of this and other post on hte web it would seem like some people don't like newbies being there :(
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That's not true at all. When myself and two friends went for the first time everyone was friendly and helpful and that continued on every occasion I visited.
 
Downton Mini said:
I really want to be able to do the Loop at some point but reading some of this and other post on hte web it would seem like some people don't like newbies being there :(
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Why let that worry you. They don't own the land.
 
A long time ago in the days where information was distributed by word of mouth and books there were a group of people who often met upon hillsides around the country to photograph fast jets, FAC exercises etc. The merry band hardly saw anyone else at these spots but were happy to tell others about them. A book 'Unseen Airshows' was written by one of the group. Andy emigrated but the book didn't die...it grew and became 'Lowdown'. It was privately published but fairly widely available. It was also available as a pdf for people who wanted to take the maps and very accurate frequency lists with them.

The last year it was produced was 2001 - the internet was taking over and someone uploaded the whole thing to a website - rather annoying as privately publishing cost money!

Good on Gary for his modern take on two of the locations. I've not been to the loop to take photos for ten years but over the previous 30 it was very rare to find anyone there who wasn't friendly and willing to share ideas, photo tips, radio frequencies, heads-up on movements even the use of lenses.
 
I was on cad west about two months back and saw the guy up there.

I'm not sure about the lens recommendation, I was using a 100-400 and found it too long.
I looked back over the 2500 pictures I took and found that I was using 180mm on average so I'll be taking the 70-200 next time (tomorrow).
That said, I guess it depends on what type of shot you are after. There were people on the hill who were only interested in the pilots (go figure).

I'll second morfis' comments, all of the regulars were friendly and willing to share advice, with the exception of where to go for a dump if you need one.
 
Oh dear,

It's an 'ok' piece but is inaccurate regarding a few things.

62 cars is the max I've seen parked ok on cad east car park, 88 cars and plod came to book them for sticking out into the main drag.

Cad east can fit 4 cars at the top, about 4 through the gate about 200 metres away, and about 40 in the area in the woods, plus the road there in the woods is wide enough for parking on 1 side.

Shutter speed is a selective thing, as is ISO, and is dependant on lens as well as camera capability. I've found that using my 300 2.8 with my canon 5D mk3 works really well for me at a shutter speed 1500-2000, but that's not going too work for everyone, especially as I admit to being rubbish at panning.

Not a lot about blank days ( they do happen) , nothing about the spurious timetables people see on the internet, or scanners.......I mean 10 seconds warning? Really? That's quite rare from my experience as most call their intentions, and the ones I don't hear on the scanner can usually hear coming anyway.
Nowadays you can spend the whole day there and get a Hawk at last knockings, or see 19 airframes as I was lucky enough to do last year.

I'm not sure Cad east is good for young children if it's a quiet day, that's for sure.

He could and should have covered watching for the turn, at the lake after they go by, and then looking over your shoulder to see if they drop into Blwych, which gives you an indication that they might, just might come round again for a second pass.

Covering camping might have been a good idea. I've done it and find it quite uncomfortable unless you can get a level piece of ground.....good luck with that.
Toilets.....well there's the forest!

Provisions, clothing, batteries could and should have been covered.

Maybe he will do a 'part 2', covering bluebell, or Lumberjack, or Blwych? It could e interesting.

Don't get me wrong I found it 'unofficial' but interesting to see/hear someone else's views on the place, but I'd give it a 'could do better' to be honest.
 
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Downton Mini said:
I really want to be able to do the Loop at some point but reading some of this and other post on hte web it would seem like some people don't like newbies being there :(
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If you fancy a trip I live near by we can car share.
 
It's in one of the Fotovue books by Simon Kitchin, so it's not a huge secret. But I guess it will be difficult to create genuine unique images if there are 20-30 likeminded people in the same place.

One day I might do it but it's not at the top of my priority list.
 
The problem is this: for years, Mach Loop used to be a mecca for aviation photographers and spotters. You could go there anytime and enjoy a peaceful day in the mountains with some airplane action if you were lucky. Now, that everyone has access to the DSLR and social media, it became so popular that ordinary knobheads go there once in a blue moon disrespecting others, blocking farmer gates, leaving rubbish on the hills and disregarding the highway code. It will not only cause council to put tougher restrictions in the area (parking etc.) but it also leaves a bad name for the aviation community.
 
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