Wanderings: 2024

Monthly Report, November 2024

A Shetland month.

Reporting Days: 30

Location: Shetland

Distance Walked: 203 km

Distance Driven: 1297 km

Photographs Taken: Thousands, mostly weather or wave related

At this time of year outdoor activities on Shetland are dominated by two things: the (variability of the) weather and the (lack of) daylight.

It is however still possible to find some weather windows most days and when the sun comes out it is so low in the sky that it is always the 'golden hour'. And I guess it's inevitable that the photographed story of a winter month on Shetland is going paint a positive picture of a month which did have it's fair share of storm days too.

These ten pictures were all taken on different November days, and all (with the exception of the Lerwick picture) were taken around the south end of the Shetland mainland.

West Voe Beach in the morning sunshine

Waves at Brei Geo, Scat Ness

Snow showers over Fitful Head

Winter calm at the South Mouth, Lerwick

Snow on Quendale Beach

Blue skies at Sumburgh Head

Calm on Scat Ness

Looking south into the morning sun on Scat Ness

Returning Guillemots at Sumburgh Head

Near sunset at St Ninian's Isle

Next month: Back south, but there again, most places are south of Shetland

Monthly Report, October 2024

An Oxford month. Haven't been able to say that recently.

Reporting Days: 31

Location: Mostly Oxford

Distance Walked: 252 km

Distance Driven: 16 km (yes, really)

Photographs Taken: Hundreds. Mostly parks and pathways around Oxford.

Austria & Switzerland

The first few days of the month found us still travelling, finding our way slowly back to the UK from northern Italy. That meant time in both Austria (in the Stubai Valley and in Innsbruck) and in Switzerland (in Zurich), and very briefly in Paris.

The good weather of last month didn't last and we had a few very wet low-level walks before we left Austria.

Innsbruck - under low clouds

Stubai Valley - under low clouds

Zurich - under blue skies

Oxford

One of the downsides of spending several months away from Oxford is the backlog of appointments that drop into the diary - in my case mostly NHS appointments. And life being what it is, one appointment seems to lead to more appointments, and suddenly every day gets booked up.

I did, however, still manage to get a walk every day (sometimes just loops of Bury Knowle Park), and it was (according to the photographs) sunny for part of at least a few of the days, although that's not how I recall it.

Headington Hill Park, Oxford

The Weir at Parson's Pleasure, Oxford

River Cherwell at the Oxford Botanics

River Cherwell where it joins the River Thames

London

Having spent a few weeks in Oxford, it was good to find the excuse for a wee city break - to attend an evening lecture at the RGS (something I said I would do more often post retirement) then to find my way to UCL for the first of several (voluntary!) MRI scans.

UCL, Queen Square, London

Next month: North.

Monthly Report, September 2024

Another traveling month - almost all of the travelling by train and mostly spent in Northern Italy.

Reporting Days: 30

Location; Mostly Italy

Distance Walked: 282 km

Distance Driven: c. 150 km

Photographs Taken: Many hundreds. Mostly Italian rivers and mountains.

Trains (and buses)

This was my fourth visit to Italy over the last 18 months - and they've all been by train, although no two trips have been the same.

This month the trip started with the long day from London via Paris to Turin - the downside was the continuing need for a rail replacement bus to get around the still-blocked Frejus rail tunnel. The upside was waking up in a Turin hotel room on a sunny Saturday morning with a chilled day ahead. We probably wouldn't have been quite so relaxed if we'd known that the Sunday was the latest strike day on the Italian Railways!

Friday evening in Turin

Strike Day Sunday in Turin

Boario Terme, Val Camonica, Lombardy

Despite the fact that these regular Italian jaunts sound like an ideal holiday, there is a serious purpose behind the trips. Some of you will know that I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease a couple of years ago, and that Boario Terme is the home of the European Parkinson's Therapy Centre. The Centre doesn't promise a cure but it does help one live better with Parkinson's. Aside from exercise regimen, it's a splendid excuse to top up on good Italian food, decent Italian wine - and some warm Italian sunshine. I expect to be back at the Centre again next May, and next Autumn. And the following Spring and Autumn..

Parc Terme in Boario

Day out to Edolo in the Val Camonica, as were the Vespa Club of Pisogne

Bridge over the River Oglio in Boario

Val Gardena, Sud-Tirol

Having survived (thrived!) a two week stay in Boario Terme, it seemed right to add in some real holiday time. The first stop was in Ortisei in Val Gardena - a delightful wee town in the heart of the Dolomites, with lots of cable car options to take the grind out of the high level walks.

Ortisei in Val Gardena

The high tops of the Dolomites have a fairy tale quality particularly with a dusting of fresh snow

Stubai Tal, Tirol, Austria

The next (and final) stop was in the Stubai Valley in western Austria (just a few miles south of Innsbruck). This was one of several mountain trips that we had booked for Summer 2020, that got disrupted by the pandemic.

At the top of the Stubai Valley

Next month, more time in the Stubai Valley, and there might even be some pictures from Oxford.

Monthly Report, August 2024

Another (almost entirely) Shetland month, mostly spent loitering with the puffins and the pufflings at Sumburgh Head. The puffins arrived a bit late this Spring, but they did stay around until much later in August than is usual - and I certainly don't remember seeing quite so many pufflings.

Reporting Days: 31

Location: Shetland

Distance Walked: 322 km

Distance Driven: 1442 km (mostly in the last couple of days as I headed south to Oxford)

Photographs Taken: Thousands and thousands. Mostly puffins and pufflings.

Puffins & Pufflings

This year all my puffin pictures have been taken around the cliffs at Sumburgh Head, in past years I've also seen puffins at other smaller colonies at the south end of Shetland, but not this year.

Bring in the Sandeels

Gardening

In the Mayweed

Puffling (still in the burrow)

Puffling (venturing outside the burrow)

In the Evening Sunshine

Sumburgh Head Lighthouse & Foghorn

And its not just puffins - some days you get to look up from the puffins and realise that there's pod of orca just behind you

Orca (with a youngster) heading past Sumburgh Head

Other attractions

Just occasionally I did feel the need to drag myself away from the Sumburgh cliffs, usually to Scat Ness or to Quendale Beach.

Scat Ness cliffs

Scat Ness Waves

Quendale Beach

By-the-Wind-Sailor on Quendale Beach

Next Month: Italy

Monthly Report, July 2024

A Shetland Month. Lots of time spent around the south end of the Shetland mainland - particularly on Quendale Beach, Scat Ness and at Sumburgh Head.

Reporting Days: 31

Location: Shetland

Distance Walked: 323 km

Distance Driven: 884 km

Photographs Taken: Thousands. Mostly Puffins.

Days which included a visit to Sumburgh Head: 18

Days which included a walk on Quendale Beach: 26

Quendale Beach

This is my default walk from the house - most mornings (whatever the weather) and some evenings (if the weather is nice).

Clear water in Quendale Bay

Early morning low tide at Quendale Bay

Evening high tide at Quendale Bay

Sumburgh Head

There may be bigger puffin colonies - but I'm pretty sure there aren't many more accessible puffin colonies.

Sumburgh Head is a splendid place to watch both puffins and (in July and early August) pufflings. I haven't seen any 'official' numbers for this year, but I definitely think I've seen more pufflings this year than I've seen in recent years (and I don't think it's just because I've spent more hours at Sumburgh Head!).

Puffins at Sumburgh Head

More puffins at Sumburgh Head

Even more puffins at Sumburgh Head

Puffling and parent

Almost ready to fledge

Scat Ness

A splendid place in (almost) any weather - particularly good for wave watching when the wind and waves are right.

Wave watching at Scat Ness

More white water at Scat Ness

Next Month: More Shetland. More Pufflings.

August puffling at Sumburgh Head

Monthly Report, June 2024

After a very restless month in May, June was always going to involve a bit less travelling. Only one journey of note - the 'usual' periodic relocation from Oxford to Shetland.

Reporting Days: 30

Location: Oxford and Shetland

Distance Walked: 320 km

Distance Driven: 1620 km

Photographs Taken: Thousands - mostly orchids and auks

Oxford

The time in Oxford was the opportunity to tame the garden (which thrived on the neglect allowed by No Mow May) - and to catch up with other neglected tasks and to spend a bit of time doing touristy things in Oxford and London, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity check out some of my local orchid spots.

Lye Valley, Oxford

Milham Ford Nature Park, Oxford

Relocation North

The drive from Oxford to Aberdeen (for the ferry North) is more than I like to do in one day, so I stopped for an overnight stay in Ecclefechan (and for a spot of gentle orchid spotting).

Roadside orchids, Ecclefechan

Shetland

And having 'enjoyed' a relatively smooth Northlink crossing up to Lerwick, it was lovely to able to spend time watching the puffins at Sumburgh Head, and walking the beaches and headlands at the south end of Shetland.