My previous and future travel experiences (by Ronny Errmann)
During the semester break I had the chance to go for a ride on my bike on a sunny morning. The sunshine was great, but the best moment was when I came out of the forest and could see the mist over the valley, something I had very rarely seen before. It wasn’t until a few years later that I was really above the clouds for the first time.
On my bike tour through Cornwall and Devon in the south-west of England, this stretch was something special: several kilometres of flat path. Before that it was a lot of ups and downs for two and a half days. And also after that flat stretch, I still had a lot of vertical metres. One way to noticed the amount of exercise came from my feeling of hunger. I had my second breakfast at a cafe in Padstow, first a Cornish breakfast and then someone at the next table had a large slice of lemon meringue pie, which I then also ordered for dessert. Well strengthened, I then left Padstow along the old railway line, followed by a few more metres up and down.
After a night of observation, I usually long for sleep. This desire is strongest between 3am and 5am. But it can also be a good thing if one doesn’t give in to this wish straight away, because a sunrise like that can also be great. In this case it was a birthday call that I still wanted to make before sleep and so I didn’t go straight to bed.
The sun is slightly deformed due to the earth’s atmosphere. The air acts like a lens and the path of light through the air is longest directly above the horizon. And actually the sun hasn’t even risen in the photo, the atmosphere allows that we can look around the corner. Without an atmosphere, the sun would only become visible in a few minutes.
Now it was really time for bed, so that I get 8 more hours of sleep together.
The two pictures were taken within two minutes. And they remind me of my feelings, which wasn’t great at the time. The first sight of reindeer was somewhat exciting. But on the other side it was the third day walking with a heavy backpack, the landscape was barren, it was uphill, the clouds hang low, and it was chilly. But there is also light: the sun shine at the base of the mountain. And indeed, we had a bit of sunshine during our lunch break just below the pass.
From Waimea I observed at the Keck telescope. Waimea is definitely not a tourist resort, the explorations during the day were not very interesting, I just walked on asphalt. But then I noticed something interesting: The vegetation zones changed very quickly. This can be seen clearly in the panorama picture of this blog entry. The foreground is totally dry, the slopes on the left are a bit greener and rainforest is growing on the slopes on the right. You can also tell from the clouds where it is probably a little wetter. These clouds were always in a similar place. Where the north-easterly wind makes landfall, the humid air has to rise and cools down. Drops and clouds form, which then rain down. However, as soon as the air is above the mountains, it can sink again and warms up in the process. As a result, the remaining clouds dissolve again, behind (or from my location: in front of) the mountains it rains very rarely. In a one hour walk one can get from very dry land to rainforest, this big change would be totally strange in Europe.
The journey here was also interesting. I only met an experienced fellow observer at the airport, he had rented the car to go to Waimea. Before that we only had email contact, I never saw him and I didn’t have a working cell phone either. And yet everything went perfectly. I can no longer imagine this kind of inexperienced travel today, I totally rely on the fact that I can inform people via smartphone if there is a problem. Of course, this change in feeling could also come from the fact that I’m 12 years older. How is your experience with this kind of change?
After arriving on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona, USA, with almost no problems, I explored the area. However, this was a little different from Germany, there were dangerous animals here. I didn’t see a rattlesnake, but I did see a bear. The first time I was on my way to the telescope, which was another 3km walk with 200m elevation gain. And then, 400 meters from the finish line, the bear crossed my path, not far from me. Luckily next to other buildings of the observatory, so that I could radio from there to ask if someone could pick me up from the telescope. Which they did, but they also felt that I was more scared than I needed to be. And of course the bear was no longer to be seen.
On the day of my departure I walked to the telescope again in the light, this time I heard the bear first. A few branches snapped under his weight. But it was also nice how he looked out of the tree, so I got a good photo.
We saw this menhir from a small road on our bike tour through Brittany. It was pure coincidence, but impressive. A little further away was a very crooked stone.
This is one of the many photos I’ve taken on walking, hiking, or bicycle trips over the years. Just a snapshot of the landscape because I liked it that much. When I look at it today, the colours of the sky are a bit weak, but you can’t have everything.
Spring 2012 was my (so far) last visit to the Calar Alto Observatory. This time, however, I first went to nearby Granada, where I gave a presentation on my project and was then able to have helpful discussions with my colleagues there. On the day of arrival, but also in the mornings and evenings on the working days, I took the opportunity to visit the area. The photo above was taken above the Alhambra. At the end of March there was still a lot of snow in the Sierra Nevada, while in Granada you could travel with short things. What impressed me about Granada was how many different architectural styles exist in the city and how quickly you can go from a crowded square to a deserted landscape.
The was the second day of our hike in Norway, and it just looked lovely. The rest the night before was good, especially after a refreshing (very short) bath in one of the small ponds next to the hut. The views were just wonderful.
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