Woodland Adventure Posse - Assemble!

It was autumn, it was warm, it was dry... I had a real need to go walk in some crunchy leaves.Since I'm trying to invite more friends to more things, I put out a message to see who might want to come with me, and thus the Woodland Adventure Posse was assembled!

Six people (including me).  Three dogs.  One wood full of crunchy leaves.  Let's go!

A Land of Ice and Fire - Day 5

It's our last day!  We had to be out of the apartment in the morning, so we packed up the car and then went down to the Harpa, Reykjavik's concert hall.  In a country of dramatic yet minimal landscapes, it makes sense to me that their sense of design would have that same simplicity and stark grandeur.

Photo from www.blog.icelanddesign.is/

A Land of Ice and Fire - Day 4

Today we did a day's tour of the south coast by coach.  Normally we'd have taken ourselves, but actually the coach trip turned out to be really informative, and of course everyone got to look out the window rather than having to drive.  So much to see!



After heading out through the familiar mountains around Reykjavik, you drop down onto the coastal lowlands (passing Selfoss, the ice cream making capital of Iceland).  There are lots of small firms dotted about here - we pass a microbrewery on the site of what used to be a women's prison.  It just looks like a little house in the middle of nowhere!

There is a mountain range though, to our left (north).  Up there are the glaciers, and the active volcano Eyjafjallajokul, which erupted in 2010 producing enough smoke to stop air travel across most of Europe for an entire week.  It seems calm today!

We're also going to see a lot of waterfalls.  Here's the first; Seljalandsfoss.

A Land of Ice and Fire - Day 3

After yesterday's excursion, we had a very lazy start today.  Dad was a bit ill, so it was a slow breakfast and sauntered out of the house at 11am, heading down to Reykjavik harbour.

A Land of Ice and Fire - Day 2

It is Wodin's Day - Wednesday!  Drove out of Reykjavík to persistent light drizzle and persistent heavy wind!  There are no trees here to stop it, and large areas of flatness that the wind charges over.  It's still the tail end of winter here, but we came prepared.  Layered up and waterproofs on, we went out into the authentic Icelandic weather experience!

Our first leg was to drive past Lake Þingvallavatn to Þingvellir, the site of the alÞing. (You pronounce the 'Þ' like a 'th', by the way).  This is the original Icelandic Parliament, which recently celebrated its 1100 year anniversary.  Each year all the clans in Iceland would march across to this wide river valley to exchange news, reaffirm the law and deal with any national issues.  It's right on the edge of the National Park, so when we weren't busy trying not to be blown away by the frankly ridiculous amount of wind, the views are lovely.  You could spend a really long time just wandering the many easy paths around the valley if you wanted to.

A Land of Ice and Fire - Day 1

Stepping out of Keflavík airport in Iceland, the first thing I'm aware of is a very faint scent of something like egg.
Sulphur.

Iceland is a young island, relatively speaking.  Younger than Scotland, and igneous almost down to the roots.  It is the result of lava pouring up out of a crack between the American and European continental plates, eruption after eruption forcing land up out of the sea.  It feels like it too, as we drive the hour to Reykjavík - me, my parents, and my youngest sister Emma.
It looks a long way on the map, but takes us only an hour, which gives you some idea of the size of the island.  It's big, a similar mass to England, but still not as big as I assumed, and startlingly spare in terms of foliage.  The wind whips across moorlike spaces that would seem bleak if not for the sun rolling out every so often to spotlight particular parts of it.

Across the bay towards Mount Esja

The Solfariđ (Suncraft) sculpture.  I love the shapes in this thing, and immediately had to go climb on it. 
It's public art, you're clearly meant to do that.

Stories from Summer

It's been a long summer this year, or at least it's felt long to me.  Lots has happened, good, bad, and somewhere in between, in a lot of different areas of life.  A strange season, and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but that's life for you.  Things can't be peaceful all the time or we'd be bored and never grow at all.
In some ways it's been a struggle, but as always there's been time to regroup too.  To take time out, to spend time with the people I care about, and to be contemplative, which is something I'm finding more and more essential...

... and to watch seals.

Seals!!!

Holiday diary: Day 2 in Aviemore

My full day in Aviemore today, and I've made the most of it.  The hostel is barely 10mins walk from the tran station and bus stops, so I caught the 31 up to the Cairn Gorm base station.  I met a guy from Switzerland who'd been heading to Inverness and got off the train here on a whim.  He had no map, no plan, and a will to birdwatch!  He decided to come too, and I left him at the base station.  I was taking the funicular railway to Ptarmigan station, just 120m below the summit of Cairn Gorm.  It's the sixth highest mountain in the UK, with neighbour Ben MacDui coming in second.  We could have seen Ben Nevis on a clear day, but there was some mild cloud haze that stopped us seeing the furthest visible peaks, 97 miles away!  It was a breezy 5 degrees Celsius when our guide John led us out onto the mountain.  

Looking down on Ptarmigan station, and Loch Morlich behind

Holiday diary: Day 1 in Aviemore

The trip to Aviemore took about two hours by train, crossing the Forth Bridge and then making our way north past Perth, out of the Lowlands and into the Highlands.  Suddenly the landscape got a lot more dramatic!  Blue and ruddy brown mountains loomed up, some of them with their heads in clouds, some of them with the clouds descending to smother both them and us!  However by the time we reached Aviemore the sun had come out and... it is beautiful here.

Holiday diary: Day 2 in Edinburgh

A full day today.  I spent the morning climbing and descending Arthur's Seat.  It's about an hour each way, especially if you stop to dawdle and photograph things as often as I do.

Salisbury Craig

Holiday diary: Day 1 in Edinburgh

So I'm off on my solo holiday to Scotland.  Two days in Edinburgh and one-and-a-bit days in Aviemore.  I've decided to do the whole trip by footpower and public transport. Between Newcastle and Edinburgh, travelling up the east coast by train, there are some fantastic sea views, and shortly after we cross into Scotland, Arthurs Seat hauls into view.  And with that in mind... it looks ridiculously big.  This isn't  the first time I've seen it, but last time I wasn't planning to walk up it.  It just pops up out of nowhere!  (I forget, it's a volcano)  Thing is, it's not the biggest rock out there.  I'm heading to the highlands in a few days...

Bath, Bands and Baking

The run-up to Christmas is a busy time, even if you're like me and try to avoid as much of the hype as humanly possible.  And then of course there's the recovery period, which takes at least as long!  So here's a quick update of what's been happening since I saw you last: