With a friend I cycled from Göteborg to Stockholm, where we visited another friend. On the way home I cycled alone to Trelleborg, and camped wild. The nice thing about Sweden is, that it’s legal, hence no need to worry about being seen. And it’s nice to have water always close, a swim to wash away the salt of the day is very welcome. Only in this case it didn’t work out too well, this side of the lake was very flat and covered in rocks. Getting into deep enough water was hard work, but worth the effort. And the sunset at the end of the day was lovely.
September morning in Richmond Park (London, United Kingdom)
When I lived in London my commute consisted of a cycle ride and a train trip (sometimes I would cycle all the way, but that was well over one hour cycling). And the cycle ride would often lead me through Richmond Park. The park is quite big, at least much bigger than I had expected with about 3 by 3 km long sides. And sometimes the view was just nice there, definitely a calm place in busy London. In the picture above the thin layer of fog was really nice. It happened a few times that my feet would dip into the fog while I could look over it.
Icy conditions at the observatory on the Roque de Las Muchachos, La Palma, Spain
In March I was scheduled to work a few days on the highest mountain of La Palma. While I left home at sea level at 20°C, I found an amazing landscape on the mountain. The water of the clouds the days before froze to everything, slowly forming large sideways icicles, showing the wind direction.
Riding through the snow, somewhere through the Ore Mountains, Germany
I hope winter for this year is over, as I’m looking very much forward to cycling in the warmth. This year I didn’t see just some snowflakes falling, and not even anything on the ground. Hopefully there will be more snow in the next winters (but there is not much hope: https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch/).
The photo was taken during a ski tour in the Ore Mountains several years ago and it was just a lucky incidence that our tour crossed with the riders and in the right angle to the sun. It was the time before smartphones had good cameras and I was glad, that I was carrying my camera in the backpack.
The dome of the 6m MMT (part of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory) on Mt Hopkins in Arizona, USA. Next to it the moon is rising.
This was my first trip to another continent. Having flown to Spain to observe three times before, I felt well prepared. And I had prepared myself well, the trip went smoothly and immigration to the USA went well, apart from slight pronunciation problems, it was relaxed.
But I had forgotten something: the weekend. And so it only struck me over the Atlantic that although I could get as far as the base camp of the observatory with my travel plans, there was probably no one available to take me from there to the accommodation 1000m higher and 16km away. But fortunately, my contact at the observatory noticed that almost at the same time, so that during the stopover in the USA and after entering the country, I found an email in my inbox that contained a solution, namely that my contact and his wife take the chance for an weekend trip, part of it was to drive me to the accommodation of the observatory. I was very thankful for that, otherwise I would have had to spend another night in Tuscon and reorganize the taxi to the base camp. Back then without a smartphone, and not even a cell phone, since my cell phone from 2002 was not designed for the cell phone frequencies in the USA. How much will change in 10 (or 20) years.
Looking through the photos, I rediscovered more things to tell, but more on that another time.
Reindeer in Norway, somewhere between Vuomahytta and Gaskashytta.
During our hikingtrip in Norway, we saw larger animals only twice. And both times it were only reindeer. When we rented the key for the huts, we were told to be aware of the bears, and it was really nice not to see them. The reindeer were quite shy, staying away of us. People passing by is probably very rare for them, we usually only met only a handful a day.
View from the Hohe Wurzel (Taunus) down to the Rhine between Wiesbaden and Mainz taken in March 2008.
During the semester break I took the time to visit family. One day we hiked to the highest mountain in the area, the Hohe Wurzel (618m) in the Taunus mountains. Unfortunately, around noon it clouded over, so once the view was amazing the view didn’t look as great. Still, the bridges over the Rhine are clearly visible. The lack of sunshine also meant that the lunch break was quite short, it was just too cold.
I was watched.Vegetation in the valley.
The elevation difference between valley and mountain of over 450m was really visible in the vegetation. While in the valley the blossoms (and flowers) started to show up in the middle of March, a little bit of snow fell over night and was still there at noon.
Part of the old path way directly in front of me, new roads below and lots of nature ahead. This is the landscape behind (or above) Santa Cruz de La Palma, close to Velhoco.
This was a lovely hike, passing from the dry landscape close to Santa Cruz de La Palma to the area where enough water is available to sustain a pine forest. Thereby, the trees collect their own water from the little droplets of the clouds, that are often hanging around the hills,. The steep landscape provides great views.
Small bridge from 1841 over the Schwarze Pockau, close to the border between Czech and Germany. Taken on 2004-09-01.
At the time I worked shifts, including weekends. And I cycled every day 15 km to work and 15 km back, which meant I was really fit. One sunny Wednesday I headed out cycling and, after half a day, passed by this bridge. Getting off the bicycle to take pictures and look around was a good decision, it was so quiet, and just enjoyable.
Landscape around the Schwarze Pockau, close to the border between Czech and Germany.
At the time I thought, that I want to go back to this place regularly. But I still haven’t been back there. Which is sad, the path along the Schwarze Pockau is just wonderful. Hopefully, by writing about it, I get the necessary motivation to do it.
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