Cycling to Linhope
I got my first cine camera when I was 15, in 1981. In those days, I think making your own films had a little more magic than it does now. This was before home video, and I was the only person I knew with a cine camera, so the rarity value had something to do with it – but it was also the fact that it was silent.. and a bit grainy… it felt like holding a filter up to the world; more so than with a modern video camera. Plus it wasn’t cheap – a four-minute reel of film cost £12 – and that was in 1981 money – so you used it sparingly; never shooting anything without thinking about it first. It was a good film-making discipline.
This film is a record of one of many days out cycling with two of my school friends. The area around my home town, Alnwick, is perfect for cycling – quiet roads, and a variety of scenery from castles and beaches to hills and moors.