CCC Forum

The current position. There are nine of us going in three cars as follows:

Keith (driver) will take Michael P and Jeff, having an early morning departure. (Jeff, I presume that you have made arrangements with Keith separately.)

Mike F (driver) will take Iggy and Steve B. At present, the plan is to depart from Shirley Methodist Church at 9:00 am, although I will discuss options with my passengers.

Ron (driver) will take Tom and David B, once again departing at 9:00 am.

We will meet up during the day with the early arrivals, at a time and place to be determined on the day.

I am keeping an eye on the weather, which will have a bearing on our plans given present patterns. If there is a possibility of rain, we will be best staying in Chichester where there is the option of shooting under cover in the cathedral. There are other places to photograph and also take shelter as required. The long stay car park at Avenue de Chartres (6 Ave De Chartres, Chichester PO19 1EA) is close to the city centre and payment is on departure, so no trying to guess how long we will need. If conditions permit, there is the option of East Head for sunset. At the time of writing, the forecast is for rain in the morning and sun in the afternoon. No one really knows for certain what will actually happen, least of all the forecasters themselves, other than what is predicted now is inevitably not will occur.

Watch this space.

Thank you Mike. Sounds good to me.
Iggy

That would work for me too, thanks. The weather will surely clear up at some point!

Steve

Mike Farley wrote:At the time of writing, the forecast is for rain in the morning and sun in the afternoon. No one really knows for certain what will actually happen, least of all the forecasters themselves, other than what is predicted now is inevitably not will occur.

Watching the ever changing forecast is fascinating. Yesterday, the weather people were predicting showers with sunny intervals throughout the day. This morning they are saying that from 08:00 onwards it will be dry throughout the day with sunny intervals and a moderate breeze. It will probably be different again by lunchtime.

I will take another look tomorrow afternoon so that we can firm up our plans. Whatever does happen, it is best to come equipped for both dry and wet conditions. I suspect that the extremes of either heatwave or snow are unlikely, so we should be safe leaving the thermal underwear and shorts at home.

Which forecast(s) are you checking? Different sources are giving varying results for today's weather - depending where you look it's either going to be light showers or heavy downpours this afternoon...

Peter Boughton wrote:Which forecast(s) are you checking? Different sources are giving varying results for today's weather - depending where you look it's either going to be light showers or heavy downpours this afternoon...

The good old Beeb. Whichever forecaster(s) predicted heavy rain yesterday were clearly the ones to follow.

Remarkably, the BBC forecast for tomorrow has not changed in the last 24 hours.

Chichester weather looks pretty good for the rest of the week from tomorrow onward - partly cloudy
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcp3nqsgd#2019-10-19
https://www.google.com/search?q=chichester+weather&oq=chichester+we&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.9056j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Iggy wrote:Chichester weather looks pretty good for the rest of the week from tomorrow onward - partly cloudy
https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/forecast/gcp3nqsgd#2019-10-19
https://www.google.com/search?q=chichester+weather&oq=chichester+we&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.9056j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I have just checked the forecast and agree that things are looking good. Better than what was promised for us earlier this week, that is for certain. Some forecasts suggest the possibility of precipitation mid-afternoon, but that is about it other than some rain early morning. it looks to be a drier day than we have had for a while.

Here's the plan:

Those travelling in my car and Ron's will meet at West Dean Gardens at around 10:30. I will pick up Steve and Iggy at Shirley Methodist Church at 9:00 am, as previously agreed. The "sunrise boys" going in Keith's car to witness the Sussex dawn will meet up with us later. (Rather them than me, I can see the photographs at leisure when the hour is more convenient!) Keith and I have each other's mobile phone numbers and we will keep in touch during the morning.

Once at the gardens, depending on the weather we can make a final decision. Either go into the gardens or proceed into Chichester. There is a lot to see and do at the gardens and there are woods there as well, so there is the possibility of some autumn foliage shots. A stream, called the Winterbourne, runs through the area. The clue is in the name. It is fed by springs in the South Downs and normally it is only active between November and April. However, the recent heavy rainfall might have caused it to make an early appearance. There is a decent cafe on site, where we will probably have lunch.

Afterwards, if conditions look OK, I would suggest the beach at West Wittering and the adjacent National Trust property at East Head. High tide is around 3:10 and sunset is at 18:04, so we can have a couple of hours or so in what what is an attractive landscape. The car park at West Wittering is privately owned, but if we arrive after 15:00 charges are reduced slightly. The car park streches parallel to the beach and I would recommend driving right down to the end, which is the closest point to East Head.

Some links and addresses:

West Dean Gardens

https://www.westdean.org.uk/gardens

West Dean, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0RX

West Wittering Car Park

http://westwitteringestate.co.uk/parking

Post code for satnav: PO20 8AJ

Chichester Long Stay Car Park

Avenue de Chartres - 6 Ave De Chartres, Chichester, PO19 1EA

A good day out Saturday, thanks to Mike for organising.
Ron

Ronald Barker wrote:A good day out Saturday, thanks to Mike for organising.

Thanks, Ron, and thanks to everyone who came. I hope you all had an enjoyable time. In the event, the weather was much better than expected. And just to prove how contrary photographers can be when it comes to light, if anything I thought it was a bit too bright and harsh during the middle part of the day.

A minor disappointment came with the sunset. As often happens, there was not much cloud around, just some on the horizon which the sun dipped behind just before it set. There was not a lot of colour in the afterglow., either. Just the luck of the draw, I'm afraid.

At West Dean Gardens, I decided to venture up the hill and enjoyed the views towards the South Downs. The area around Chichetser is definitely a part of the world which has a varied landscape and a lot of potential.