It was cold. The thermometer was reading -4.5°C and my fingers were freezing as I bashed the hard snow away from the windscreen wipers on the van. The snow was frozen solid around the wiper arms, this was taking too long! When I eventually set off, it was 7:20 am, twenty minutes later than I had planned. As I cautiously drove out of the close on the frozen, slippery road, I had accepted the fact that I wouldn’t be there before sunrise.
My destination was the edge of Salisbury Plain. Only a few miles away, it was usually a quick journey, but I had to allow extra time because of the snow. Turns out that the roads (at least the main roads) weren’t that bad. But I knew that the trickiest part of the journey would be the last half of a mile – the ascent up to the plains. As I turned off of the main road to start the ascent and saw how much snow and ice was on the lane, I realised straight away that I probably wouldn’t make it to the top. I drove past some parking spaces on the left side of the narrow lane and the sensible voice in my head told me to park the van there. The more adventurous (more stupid really) voice in my head told me to keep driving. So naturally I kept driving! In first gear and barley touching the throttle, the van was making slow, but steady progress. I reached a clear patch in the lane and taking advantage of the extra grip it would offer, I accelerated harder, knowing the extra speed would be crucial as the gradient increased. The extra speed did not last long. Back down into first gear and the inevitable happened – wheelspin. I was going no further. The gradient was now too steep to risk trying to turn around, so I had no choice, I had to reverse back down. Reaching the parking spaces where I should have left the van, I completed a ten-point turn, so that the van would be facing the right way to start the journey home. Little did I know that this would come sooner than expected.
Despite the cold, I soon worked up a sweat walking up the lane in my warm layers and with the drone on my back. Shortly after rounding the corner that was only a short distance from where the van had refused to climb any further, I was met by a tree that had fallen down and was blocking the lane. I definitely should have listened to my sensible voice! Ducking under the branches I continued the climb.
Upon reaching the top of the lane I was greeted by a gentle, but chilling breeze and a beautiful expanse of snow that was being bathed in the first warm light of the morning. My flight plan was simple: I would take off form this location, fly straight up to get some still images from a few angles and then walk for a mile or so and do the same again. However, the drone had other ideas!
Going through the pre-flight check list that is now burned into my brain, I set up the drone. Checking that the area was clear, I took off and let it hover a few feet off the ground to warm the battery. Once I was happy with the battery temperature, I climbed to around 100ft and set an exposure. I pressed the shutter button on the controller – and nothing happened! I pressed again. Nothing. This was not looking good! I landed the drone and did a re-boot. I tested the camera whilst the drone was on the ground, still nothing. Thinking that maybe the camera was taking pictures without an audible indication, I pressed the play button. Nothing happened. No images. I re-booted again. Now, to add further misery, not only was the camera still not taking pictures, the signal between the controller and drone was being lost so I couldn’t even see what the drone was seeing! Two more re-boots and I’d had enough. I packed everything away and started the slippery descent back to the van.
Back at home and with a nice hot cup of coffee, I powered up the drone to check the camera. The damn thing worked perfectly! Technology is a wonderful thing, but sometimes I really do hate it! Part of Monday will now involve some test flights to see how the drone behaves and I think the next thing that I write will be an email to DJI!
Pulling a positive from what was pretty much a wasted morning, it was simply stunning to be up on the plains during a beautiful sunrise with snow on the ground. I was frustrated, but the scenery helped to clam me. Nature is great for doing that.
