I had to go out today, I just had to go out. Cabin fever was setting in and this was the first relatively low wind day for yonks.

All the large format gear had been well tested and serviced over the weekend but despite the relative calm, it was just too bright and contrasty, and I was too late having had a late running dental appointment earlier.

I had no destination in mind but I headed out and up the Shotley peninsula and the scenes really were chocolate box types. Yachts were tacking back and forth up the Orwell in the light ESE breeze, no, that was for another day, my mind was elsewhere. I even checked out the scary wood and that looked far too cheerful and before I knew it I had gravitated to Cattawade, the source of my Edgelands series.

I was not prepared for what greeted me despite seeing active demolition work from the railway line on several recent commutes. The end of Factory Road is a maze of bunds. The massive car park that used to be full of litter and boy-racer skid marks is now inaccessible but boy what a new set of opportunities.

I won’t be able to recreate my vantage point for an early 180 degree diptych although I might try anyway but here it is, two reference images shot in 5:4 mode on a DSLR.

I know not what purpose the elaborate maze of bunds is there to serve. It intrigues me. Surely not a surge tide or the escape of toxic waste from this poisonous site.

Looks like I’ll just have to keep going back to find out.