In late afternoon the weather turned friendly not only with a good view, but with little wind, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to attempt a panorama from the top of the island's tallest building, which is an old tower about six stories high, located on the highest point of the island.

I got permission to go up, but didn't realize that a) it would be hard to get my equipment up there (so I didn't know to ask someone to come up and help); and b) that the entrance to the roof was kind of close to the edge of the tower.

So... after climbing up to the top floor of the tower, then most of the way up the final ladder to the roof, it took a while to go all the way out, just because of my own hesitation.

I stood on the ladder for quite a while with my head out of the hatch, contemplating whether it would be possible to make a panorama without actually clambering up out of the hatch and onto the roof, which could be described as awkward. Plus, I had to figure out how to get the camera and rig and tripod up in any case.

I thought about using the remote control for the camera shutter, and the self-timer, but both of those require moving the camera around its positions manually anyway, so I decided it wasn't going to happen that way, and there was really nothing to be done except get out there and do it, if it was to be done at all.

After standing on the ladder for a while, I figured out that I could tie a rope to the camera/rig/tripod to haul it up from below (and lower it safely), and that that could be done without being on the roof, since there was enough room in the hatchway to haul it up and set it up before getting out there with it, to minimize my time there.

So, I haul everything up, then clamber out. I don't like heights much, but they don't terrify me especially either. Once I was actually on the roof, it was fine. It was mostly the rather awkward bit of getting from the ladder on to the roof through the hatch, or perhaps more accurately, reversing that process after shooting, that had been my greatest concern.

You can see the hatch in the panorama: it's the white wooden box to the left and down of the initial view; it opens *toward the edge* which seems backward to me. The "guardrail" of plastic wire is meaningless. The camera-like thing is a webcam (but I cannot find a link to it on the web!).

Panorama of the Isles of Shoals from the tower on Appledore Island