River Mole, Dorking

I saw a few photos of the Stepping Stones across the River Mole, Dorking, Surrey when looking for local places of interest on the Internet and thought I would visit.

Off I ventured, on a fairly sunny day. Sadly, the sun was mainly hidden behind clouds by the time I arrived at my destination.I parked in National Trust car park just off the A24, free for NT members, and got my gear ready for the short walk.

Following the obvious footpath, having looked at the site map, I soon arrived at the Stepping Stones. Disappointment hit me straight away, as there was so much water in the river that the stones were actually submerged.

It didn't take long to realise that the gnarly old tree alongside the edge of the stones was quite photogenic - so I set about capturing the detail in that and blurring the flowing water by using slow shutter speeds, which with ISO100 was quite necessary due to the relative lack of light.

The sun tried to break through a couple of times, giving small glimpses of blue sky and creating better colour for me temporarily.

Several angles later, I set off to cross the river by the footbridge that exists just round the corner.

Having crossed the river, I soon found a couple of interesting trees - with moss covered and very tangled roots, some of which were made even more visible by the eroded river bank. The detail on view tempted me to take photos there as well.

It was the most productive afternoon of shooting, but more a challenge like my previous outing - challenging myself to find suitable subject matter.

Definitely a place to revisit in more favourable conditions - maybe next time I can actually get to to see the Stepping Stones above water level and visible for the purpose they were intended.

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