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[Ranger]

I had the privilege of enjoying an exceptionally clear day on Ben Macdui recently, and the view - particularly along the southern horizon - stretched towards distant horizons.

For once I had my mini-tripod thing so was able to set up on the trig point and take some decent, steady zoomed shots of what I could see - albeit with my fairly bog-standard digital camera!

A friend recommended I cross-check them with a superb website detailing hill-top views by Jonathan de ferranti - http://www.viewfinderpanoramas.org/ - Some great work has gone into that.

He was of a mind that it was the longest view he had seen photographed - in the British Isles! I find this hard to believe so though I'd open it out to other folk who likely have photos of distant views.

I've read other bits here and there that suggest ireland and even wales are potentially visible from some scottish hills? Incredible. Would love to see photos of these views if any onw has been lucky enough to capture any?

Below are the two photos I took - mocked up with screenshots from JDF's excellent website. Been meaning to do a walk report but took about 300 pics and struggling to spare the time recently to trawl through them all

[prog99]

My favourite subject

Pentlands from macdui on a clear day is pretty easy although I've yet to see the reverse view. Closest I have is to glas maol.
I've a very grainy shot showing the cheviot from lochnagar.

No one has ever captured the theoretical holy grail of British views, that of snowdon from the merrick.(not to my knowledge anyway)

Have you tried upping the contrast in your shots. Can make things easier to see.

[jmarkb]

Good effort!

He was of a mind that it was the longest view he had seen photographed - in the British Isles! I find this hard to believe so though I'd open it out to other folk who likely have photos of distant views.

There are very few possible views longer than this where the target is sufficiently separate from other hills to make it easy to identify and I would guess that views that pass low over the sea tend to be more affected by haze. The longest possible view (Snowdon from Merrick, 144 miles, so not that much longer) does seem never to have been claimed/photographed. There's a lot of options (Lakes - Snowdonia, Lakes - Mournes) that come in the 110-120 miles range. Cadair Idris - Slieve Donard is a possibility at 132 miles.

[Dave Hewitt]

Good pictures. Were they taken on Saturday 26 November? That was a day of excellent visibility from the Lakes southwards. I was with a pal on High Raise (the Langdales one) and various hills in North Wales could easily be picked out with the naked eye at 100 miles or so distance, not just the main Carneddau/Snowdon mass but other things off to the side too. There was a cloud sea over Morecambe Bay etc, which helped with clarity. My pal had binoculars and through those we could see distinct areas of patchy snow on the northern flanks of the Carneddau. I don't own a camera so I'm not sure whether the naked eye can resolve these kind of views better than an artificial lens, but it was the kind of day when the longest views might have been feasible.

We pointed out the Welsh view to a few people, but they either seemed not particularly interested (more keen to take selfies and snapshots of each other) or were convinced it was actually the Isle of Man, so we gave up after while.

[Sgurr]

This has been discussed (though not totally in the photographic sense) earlier on this site...some interesting additional points
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54794

[teaandpies]

This has been discussed (though not totally in the photographic sense) earlier on this site...some interesting additional points
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=54794

I was just about to try and find this

[simon-b]

Exceptional photos, Ranger. You say these views were recent, so late autumn / early winter conditions. Obviously very clear weather, although I can't tell from the pictures whether you had wall to wall blue skies or high, thin cloud. I suspect the brightest, sunniest days don't always give the clearest views, especially to the south. Whenever I've seen Snowdonia (and Blackpool Tower) from the Lake District, the weather has been bright and clear but grey, with a thin layer of high cloud cutting out the glare of the sun. So I imagine the time of day would also have made a difference, and you seem to have been on Ben Mac just at the right time. (Macdui was my first Munro, by the way, but no view on that day!)

[Ranger]

Good pictures. Were they taken on Saturday 26 November? That was a day of excellent visibility from the Lakes southwards... I was with a pal on High Raise (the Langdales one) and various hills in North Wales could easily be picked out with the naked eye at 100 miles or so distance, not just the main Carneddau/Snowdon mass but other things off to the side too.

The day before, Friday 25th, was the day these were taken. I carry a thermometer on my rucksack and it read -10 in Glen Derry, but has risen to 3 degrees on the summit of Macdui - t-shirt weather in the sunshine! So there was clearly an inversion of sorts, but whether that contributes to the clear visibility I'm no expert.

Exceptional photos, Ranger. You say these views were recent, so late autumn / early winter conditions. Obviously very clear weather, although I can't tell from the pictures whether you had wall to wall blue skies or high, thin cloud. I suspect the brightest, sunniest days don't always give the clearest views, especially to the south. Whenever I've seen Snowdonia (and Blackpool Tower) from the Lake District, the weather has been bright and clear but grey, with a thin layer of high cloud cutting out the glare of the sun. So I imagine the time of day would also have made a difference, and you seem to have been on Ben Mac just at the right time. (Macdui was my first Munro, by the way, but no view on that day!)

The weather was generally blue skies. The photos were taken at 10-11am - i'd initially hoped to catch sun-rise from the top but sheet ice in the glen slowed me down a bit! Given the time of day it meant the southern/south-east horizon was somewhat back-lit, which probably suits picking out a horizon line.

Will have to check out if any images exist from folk walking in the southern uplands on that day, a covering of snow would also likely aid these hills visibility.

[Dave Hewitt]

The day before, Friday 25th, was the day these were taken. I carry a thermometer on my rucksack and it read -10 in Glen Derry, but has risen to 3 degrees on the summit of Macdui - t-shirt weather in the sunshine! So there was clearly an inversion of sorts, but whether that contributes to the clear visibility I'm no expert.

Think everything sort of slid southwards over the course of those two days - on the Sat, looking north from the Lakes, there was just a layer of cloud and murk beyond the Solway - probably fine for getting above it in normal terms but no mega views, whereas to the south was fantastic. It was certainly pretty chilly at lower levels during that spell - we drove to Coniston from Stirling on the Friday afternoon and the car needed repeated proper scrapes before we could get going. A bit different now!

[prog99]

Revisiting some photos I took on the same day but further west.
A very marked inversion that I was down to a base layer up high.

[prog99]

I'd not thought to check my photos but I've got a confirmed distance of 141km to Dun Rigg from Beinn Dothaidh west top which I'm quite pleased with.

[johnkaysleftleg]

Amazing conditions and really well captured. Unless somebody manages to photograph Snowdon from Merrick I think you must have the record. I did manage very clear views of Snowdonia from Esk Pike at about 100 miles once so your well ahead of me.

[madprof]

Fantastic photo - you might also be interested in this:

https://beyondhorizons.eu/2016/08/03/pic-de-finestrelles-pic-gaspard-ecrins-443-km/

443km away!

[Ranger]

Fantastic photo - you might also be interested in this:

https://beyondhorizons.eu/2016/08/03/pic-de-finestrelles-pic-gaspard-ecrins-443-km/

443km away!

Some amazing pictures there, dwarfing anything dear old blighty could offer! The method of photographing the horizon against the setting/rising sun is utilised a lot there.

Could it potentially be utilised for claiming one of the 125+ mile views to Ireland from the highlands, or vice-versa? Might only be possible on a handful of days a year. If anyone fancies it - and has the time - they're welcome!

[prog99]

Its a great shot and even more surprisingly done on a camera that gets slated for its image quality!