The roof of Belgium
I left home with the campervan on Sunday after dinner. Weather forecast predicted 5 to cm of snow above 300m. This was an interesting opportunity to take some pictures in the 'Hautes Fagnes'. This place asks for snow, then it is at its most beautiful.
When I arrived at Mont Rigi the parking lot was full, so many people enjoying the weather and going for a walk; it was mild and no snow, but no problem snow would only arrive late at night. At 4 o'clock people started to leave and I managed to fit in the camper and then went for a walk behind the parking lot, because that's where the sunset was.
It was not easy to get a good composition, but the sunset itself was good with an incredible sky. I hurried around to get a nice view but this is all I could get before the show was over.
Sunset is around 16,30h this time of year so it was stil a long evening in the camper. Not long after supper I preferred the warmth of the sleeping bag instead of consuming all the gas for warming the camper. Reading and listening to music are the main pastime. And in the meantime, still no snow! It was a relieve when I was awake at 02,00h in the morning and saw the parking lot was covered in a thin layer of real snow; YES!
Sunrise would be at 08,30h, so I had the wake up call at 07,00h. But as I was awake at 06,30h I decided to go for it, as I was not sure how long the walk would take to get me to some interesting locations. I left at 07,15h trying to find my way in the darkness under total cloud cover but in the snow I could see footsteps of most probably another crazy photographer! Just follow that Julien I said to myself!
It was about 5 km to get to the most photogenic spot on the Hautes Fagnes. The walk was easy most of the time with only minor tricky passages, but I managed to keep my feet dry. This is a place where years ago there has been a fire and the trees are still standing but are dead; the location is fantastic and the trees come in great structures. There was not a lot of snow but no complaint.
When I left the location at around 11,30h the snow started to disappear slowly; So it was just right; no sunrise but nevertheless very satisfied with the result and with the opportunity; these conditions you do not have them every day!