Others

Drone Flying in Fuerteventura – My first flight

Drone Flying in Fuerteventura

Drone flying in Fuerteventura for the first time

Drone Flying in Fuerteventura
Holy Stone HS200

Sue, my wife, bought me a Holy Stone HS200 drone for Christmas so I decided to try it out after walking the dogs in the river beds. Well, I guess you could say it was a first drone flight fail!

I crashed the drone many times, particularly at the beginning as it had the tendency to fly sideways on its own immediately after take off. I managed to get around that by a combination of adding some compensation to the controls and some skilful flying.

Drone Flying in Fuerteventura
Crashing into my camcorder

It also seemed to suddenly have a will of its own and just head off in one direction until I hit the “land” button to stop it. This may be due to my piloting skills so I will have to do some more testing.

Drone Flying in Fuerteventura
The difficult flying under the car stunt

I got so “good” I even managed the super difficult “flying a drone under a car” manoeuvre! More testing with the Holy Stone quadcopter to come I think. Anyone else do any drone flying in Fuerteventura?

It is not easy to fly and seems to be very susceptible to the wind (which is a bit of a problem here!). It is very robust though as I have crashed it numerous times now and nothing has broken.

Watch the video in Youtube – Drone flying

Dance of the Pool Toys – a bit of fun!

Pool Toys

Dance of the Pool Toys

I was working on a video which was taking longer than I expected to edit. I looked out of the window towards the pool and saw the inflatable pool toys moving around in the breeze. That provided the spark of an idea so I set the camera up and started a timelapse. That worked quite well so the other video went on hold while I set up other shots from around the pool. I also mounted the camera on the crocodile for some different angles and some underwater footage.

I then edited it to some music (Grieg’s Hall of the Mountain King) and I was quite pleased with the result. What do you think? Please leave comments below.

Watch Dance of the Pool Toys in Youtube

Battle of the Somme – Fuerteventura Trenches

Battle of the Somme

Battle of the Somme

On 1st July 2016 it was the 100th anniversary of the first day of the Battle of the Somme, a major battle of the First World War. 20,000 British soldiers died on that day alone.

I found some natural features in the landscape here in the dry river beds near Lajares in Fuerteventura. The first thing that struck me was how much they look like the trenches of the First World War.

My Family in WW1

A number of members of my family were in the army during World War One:

My Grandfather’s parents were both French but died within a few days of each other in an epidemic (Cholera we think) in the 1890s. My grandfather (Henry Danton), and his sister, ended up in a Dr Bernardo’s children’s home. He later lied about his age and joined the regular army as a drummer boy. He went to India with his regiment, becoming the all-army billiards champion twice along the way. In 1915 he ended up in the trenches. We believe he took part in the Battle of the Somme. He died when I was only two.

My Great-Grandfather (who I knew until I was 17) was in service as a chauffeur so became a driver in the army when he joined up as part of Kitchener’s Army. We don’t know where he was during the battle of the Somme, although as a driver, he is unlikely to have been in the front line.

My great Uncle died at the Somme we believe. The only picture I have is with him and my grandmother, together with their other 10 brothers and sisters. It was taken during the war and he has been superimposed in his uniform as he had just been killed when the photo was taken.

 

Watch the video in Youtube