Tag: photography

Friday Flickr – Kungsleden (Ammarnäs to Hemavan)

Photographs from the final section of Sweden’s Kungsleden trail.

This week’s Friday Flickr album has the photos from the final stage of my Kungsleden hike. On this section I stayed in huts for the first time and experienced my best ever sauna. I was also hit with the worst weather I’d experienced on the trail since starting in Abisko two years ago, though from my photos you wouldn’t guess this as there are plenty of blue skies on show.

The total Kungsleden is around 440km (depending on which source you read). This section is 78km long.

Would I recommend it? Definitely. Would I go back and do it again? No. But only because there are so many other places I want to see.

Click on the image below to access the Flickr album.

Kungsleden 2016 - Ammarnas to Hemavan

 

Friday Flickr – Kungsleden (Jäkkvik to Ammarnäs)

Photographs from the fourth and penultimate section of Sweden’s Kungsleden trail.

This week’s Friday Flickr is an album of photographs I took whilst walking the fourth section of the Kungsleden this summer. I’d walked the first two parts of the trail two years ago and had returned to finish it.

Last week’s Friday Flickr shows the first part of this year’s walk (the third section of the trial) and this week’s is the continuation from Jäkkvik (pop = 90), where I stayed in the village for a couple of nights, to Ammarnäs (pop = either 95 or 250 depending which source you believe).

This section is one of the quieter sections as, apart from the small village of Adolfström with its one shop, there isn’t anywhere to buy food along the way. There are a few STF huts, but as these are not manned, staying in them means arranging to borrow a key before setting off.

I spent about 10 days walking this section camping along the way.

To access the Flickr album click on the image below.

Kungsleden - Jakkvik to Ammarnas


Friday Flickr – Kungsleden (Kvikkjokk to Jakkvik)

Photographs from the Kvikkjokk to Jäkkvik section of Sweden’s Kungsleden trail.

Before I left for Sweden I wanted to set up enough Friday Flickr posts to cover my time away, so I’d at least have something appearing on my blog whilst I was sans-Wifi. Of course that didn’t happen due to some weird Flickr downtime in the UK. Thankfully everything seems to be up and working again now and so here is the first of my latest batch of Friday Flickrs.

Of course, this week’s Friday Flickr has to feature the Kungsleden.

Two years ago I walked the first two sections of this epic trail in the far north of Sweden. I was determined then to get back to  finish it and this summer I got the opportunity.

This week’s Friday Flickr features photographs from the third section (the first section I walked this year) which runs from Kvikkjokk to Jäkkvik. This is one of the least walked parts as it’s on this section hikers need to be completely self-sufficient as there is nowhere to buy food along the way. Also as there are no STF huts on this section it means as well as carrying plenty of food, you also have to carry camping and cooking gear.

Most people walk it in 7 or 8 days. I walk slowly. I had a VERY heavy backpack. I knew that I’ll probably never be back here and I wanted to have time to give it the appreciation it deserves.

I spent 13 days walking just this section.

I forgot about everything that was happening in the world outside and focused on my bit of wilderness. I breathed, I relaxed, I slept, I reflected, I daydreamed, I wrote, I read, I walked. And walked. And walked some more.

I was glad when it was finished and happy to arrive in Jäkkvik, but at the same time I had a feeling of sadness that it was over and didn’t want it to end. As I got close to Jäkkvik, I sat on a rock enjoying the sunshine and gazed at the lake. I felt I’d really achieved something – I’d walked across the line of the Arctic Circle and I’d rowed across a lake for the first time. But most of all I’d proved to myself I could survive in the wilderness supported by only that which I could carry on my back.

I mentally high-fived myself, stood up and walked the last half kilometre into Jakkvik.

To access the Flickr album click on the image below.

Kungsleden 2016 - Kvikkjokk to Jakkvik

 

 

Friday Flickr – Muscat

A desert city by the sun. Friendly people, good food and a fascinating culture and history. What more could I want?

Following on from my Friday Flickr album on the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque a couple of weeks ago, I thought I’d put together an album from the rest of my stay in Muscat. Continue reading “Friday Flickr – Muscat”

Friday Flickr – White Sand and Blue Sea

Is there anything more enticing than a long white sandy beach and a dazzling blue sea?

I’m not a lying on the beach person, but I love to discover a gorgeous beach when I’m out walking and I’ll happily sit and read or just gaze out at the sea for a while before moving on. Continue reading “Friday Flickr – White Sand and Blue Sea”

Friday Flickr – Gammelstad

A World Heritage Site comprised of a little red houses.

I’d detoured to Luleå on the advice of a Swedish lady in the hostel in Jokkmokk. I was looking forward to seeing a city not many foreign tourists (or Swedish ones for that matter) get to and also visiting the World Heritage church village, Gammelstad.

I ended up having a very frustrating weekend and leaving without a particularly good impression. However, the village was interesting and all those little red houses did look very pretty, so I’m still glad I made the effort and went to see it.

I wrote about my time in Luleå here and about my visit to Gammelstad here. I’ve now put together a Flickr album with the pictures I took in Gammelstad.

To access the Flickr album click on the image below.

Gammelstad

Why a church village?

Sunday services used to be the only time people from farms spread far and wide could get together to catch up on news and socialise. Because the farms were spread so far and wide over often inhospitable terrain, it wasn’t that easy to get to church and back in the one day. The solution in the north of Sweden was to build a small house near the church that could be used for an overnight stay. As everyone had the same idea, whole villages of little red houses sprang up around remote churches. Gammelstad near Luleå is the largest and best preserved example and thus is now a World Heritage Site.

Friday Flickr – Flowers

Why I like flowers

There’s something about flowers that draws me in. I love bright colours – no-one could ever accuse me of having a dull house, my decorator even joked he needed to wear sunglasses when he painted it – and what’s more brightly coloured than an array of vividly blooming flowers?

When I live or travel in hot countries, I love the way colourful flowers just seem to be everywhere. And they grow so abundantly – pick one and three more seem to grow in its place. The only things that seems to do that in my garden in the north of England are the weeds.

So flowers represent more than just colour to me. They represent warmth, sun, an outdoor life, good times.

As it’s half term this week, I’ve been spending a lot of time in my garden and yard trying to get things looking nice after a winter of neglect. Fortunately the weather’s been quite good and already I’m seeing the benefit of my effort as flowers are beginning to blossom. If only I could believe it will last …

But in case the good weather doesn’t last and my flowers go back into hibernation (I do live in Manchester after all), I’ve put together an album of flower pictures I can browse when I’m sitting inside looking out at the rain.

Click on the image below to access the Flickr album.

Flowers

 

Friday Flickr – How Cows Chill Out

What to do on a hot day? Go to the beach or have a paddle in the river of course. Even if you’re a cow.

I like cows.

I’ve met a few grumpy ones and a few over-boisterous ones, but usually they’re docile and occasionally they’re curious. I like their their big soulful eyes and the fact that they make chocolate. And ice-cream. And cheese.

I take far too many pictures of cows, but by far my favourite ones are when they are doing what they do best; relaxing and watching the world go by.

I especially like photographing cows when they are in the water or sunbathing on a beach. They just look so chilled out. We could learn a lot from them.

The photos in this week’s Friday Flickr album were taken in the Outer Hebrides, along the Thames Path and in the Peak District.

Click on the image below to access the album.

How cows chill out

 

Friday Flickr -The Great Glen Way

This week’s Flickr album sees me reminiscing about my first long distance walk.

It’s quite a while since I had my introduction to long-distance walking and ticked a challenge of my 60 before 60 list by walking the Great Glen Way.

The Great Glen Way meanders it’s way through the (yep, you guessed it) the Great Glen, which stretches from coast to coast across the Scottish Highlands.

A series of lochs, formed along a geological fault line, almost splits the country in half. Just to finish the job, the Caledonian Canal came along in the 1800s and linked the lochs. It is now impossible to travel to the far north of Scotland without crossing water somewhere. (Does that mean the north of Scotland is actually an island?)

The Great Glen Way begins in Fort William and leads onwards and upwards to Inverness on the west coast. Although the official path actually starts and finishes in the middle of these two towns, I walked out to the sea lochs at either end, adding a few more miles and making it a true coast to coast walk.

As an introduction to long distance walking, this is a good one. Plenty of wilderness, but not too difficult to get lost. Few enough people to make it feel like an adventure, but enough people around if you ran into difficulties. Lots of trees and ‘nature’, but also plenty of man-made historical stuff to keep it interesting on a different level.

I wrote about it in a lot more detail at the time, but for an overview of what it looks like, I’ve put a Flickr album together.

Click on the photo below to access the Flickr album.

Great Glen Way

And in case this has whetted your appetite, here are the links to the rest of my posts on the Great Glen Way.

Great Glen Way Day 1

Great Glen Way Day 2

Great Glen Way Day 3

Great Glen Way Day 4

Great Glen Way Day 5

Great Glen Way Day 6

Great Glen Way Day 7

Friday Flickr – Prague

A few days in Prague whetted my appetite for Eastern Europe.

It’s a few years since I visited Prague. I had a few days there over the Easter holidays and managed to pack an awful lot in. Although I know Western  Europe fairly well, I’ve spent very little time in Eastern Europe. Probably because when I first travelled in Europe all those years ago, I avoided Eastern European countries because they all required visas. Since then, they were never really on my radar.

Prague was a great introduction. As well as being a beautiful city, I found it easy to navigate and reasonably priced. I discovered some great museums, gorgeous architecture and a fascinating (and ultimately horrific) Jewish history.

Memories of communism are never too far away, but it struck me how quickly people had moved on. The huge McDonald’s outside the Communism Museum being one example of ‘then and now’.

My short sojourn is Prague whetted my appetite for Eastern Europe, but it’s now several years later and I still haven’t done anything about it. Looking back through my photos and reliving my memories makes me realise how remiss of me this is.

Click on the image below to access the Flickr album.

Prague