On the road

Shot for the Day (30 July 2015)

| Zapfly

Shot_of_the_day_30JUL15C

Whilst in Europe earlier this month, I visited Città di San Marino, a medieval settlement situated on the slopes Monte Titano, over 700m above sea level.  San Marino was added to the Unesco World Heritage list in 2008 and walking around the hilltop enclave, it was very easy to see why.

San Marino, situated close to the Adriatic coast, is the third smallest state in Europe after the Vatican and Monaco and claims to be the world’s oldest republic, being established in 301 AD by a Christian stonemason named Marinus, who, once climbing climbed Mt. Titano, found a small community of Christians, persecuted for their faith by the Emperor Diocletian.

Shot_of_the_day_30JUL15B

The Republic of San Marino is made up of a few towns dotted around Mount Titano and the capital. The city walled city has three distinct towers that overlook the rest of the country and are visible for miles around.

This is a reverse view of the central fort from the top of the previous hilltop fort, looking down over most of the Republic of San Marino.

Shot_of_the_day_30JUL15A

Shot for the Day (14 June 2015)

| Zapfly

High in the Dolomites

A few years ago, I went to the Dolomites, the Italian part of the Alps, to do some via ferrata and trekking.  We had just descended form a glacier and were traversing along the mountain line, before dropping down into the valley below.  Even though it was mid summer, there was still snow on the ground in places.

If I recall correctly, I think we were around 3000m altitude.  We stayed in a large refugio a did day long treks.  One key memory I have of this trip was that I did not know any of the group and spent much of the days lost in deep thought.  Where better to have an euphony?

Shot for the Day (13 June 2015)

| Zapfly

The open road ahead

In the mountains of Peru, on the road to nowhere, I stood with a friend, surveying the eerie landscape in solitude.  We ended up trekking up to 5000m and walking on the glacier you can see in the distance a couple of hours later, when the clouds cleared and the sun bathed the landscape.

High on a mountain

I have fond memories of walking up to the glacier above, undaunted by altitude sickness or concerned with the cold.  My companion had to remind me that a T shirt at that altitude and level of cold was not in keeping with an efficient circulation.

I will always have fond recollections of the mountains o South America, with Peru, Bolivia and Chile in particular.  All were familiar but unique in their own special way.

Bizarrely, both images above is about the size of my negative (6cm x 12cm).

Shot for the Day (8 June 2015)

| Zapfly

Shot_of_the_day_08JUL15

 

Back in 2003, after completing a 4 month stint as expedition photographer for Raleigh International in Coyhaique, capital of Region XI in Chile, a few colleagues decided that the best way to end the experience was be to trek Torres del Paine, situated at the southern tip of Chile.

Amongst this ensemble, only three of us were foolhardy enough to attempt the full loop and circumnavigate the entire range.  It was April, the very end of the season and all the refugios were being closed down for Winter.  Consequently, we had to carry all of our food with us for the multi-day trek ahead.

Temperatures varied from a comfortable 20 degrees Celsius during the day to a chilly minus 20 degrees Celsius at night.  We restricted our gear as best we could but our packs stilled weight in at just under 35kg each.

The effort, however, was more than worth it, as we were constantly treated to such beautiful vistas as the one above, with not a soul for miles to break the tranquility.  In the end, it took Tom, Bill and I just under 8 days to complete the trek.  I eagerly hope to return and do it once again in the future.

Shots from the archive: Namibia

| Zapfly

Several years ago, I spent a couple of weeks on the road in Namibia.  This was before digital photography had taken off (still prohibitively expensive), so I was armed with my trust Canon T90 and long lens as I intended to shoot wildlife photography.  However, on day 2 of my 15 day trip, whilst I sat in Etosha Park waiting for the animals and lighting conditions to align at the watering hole, my camera electrics suffered a catastrophic meltdown (literally) at the hands of the African midday sun.

All I had left was a £20 Lubitel 6×6 camera, 10 roles of Fuji Provia and my father’s 40 year old light meter  As it turned out, that was all I needed.  Over a decade later and I still love the analogue nature of these shots, all captured on a camera with a super cheap lens.

Sossusvlei – Namibia
Skeleton Coast 2 – Namibia
Skeleton Coast 1 – Namibia
Open Road 1 – Namibia
Skeleton Coast 3 – Namibia

VW One Film shoot

| Zapfly

Last summer, I executive produced a global campaign for VW around the launch of the new Golf 7.  Part of the work created included a personalised film we shot out in the US.  This film was known as the One Film and was based around choices that users entered on the www.onething.com website.  Their input was then rendered in a personalised movie and served back to them as a dreamlike view of a journey through their one things.

We worked with JK and Todd Kellstein at Paydirt in LA, to capture a lovely 2 minute short film – our take if you will of the classic American road movie. The team also created two TVC commercials for global release.  Below is one of those TV ads that aired in Hong Kong.

Below are some behind the scenes images from the 5 days we were shooting in California:

Big Sur
Day 1
Day 1
Day 1
Day 1
Crew on Day 1
Crew on Day 1
Crew on Day 1
Day 2
Day 2
Day 2
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Crew on Day 4
Day 3
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 5
Day 2

Canada photoshoot 2011

| Zapfly

Just prior to the Frankfurt motorshow in September, I went out to Canada for a two week photoshoot.  Starting off in Calgary, I headed west to Banff National Park.  From here, I drove through all the surrounding national parks including Kootenay, Yoho and Jasper.  Over the first ten days, I covered almost 2000 miles.

After returning to Calgary, I then flew further west to Victoria, capital of Vancouver Island.  My good friend Justene Miller, a Canadian from Vancouver, gave me some excellent advice, to visit Tofino and Ucluelet, on the Pacific coast of the island.  I was treated to a cloud rainbow, something I have never seen before.

I loved Canada, with its spectacular landscape and friendly locals. My only reservation is that the food is much like the US is pretty awful most of the time.

Day 15: Hvolsvollur to Reykjavik

| Zapfly

The last day of the trip and the weather was against me straight from the off.  As I sat in the café, preparing myself for the day ahead, I could see the clouds circling above me.  As I cycled out of Hvolsvollur, a wicked cross wind caught me, tossing me into the middle of the road.  Fortunately for me, there was not much traffic on the road so I was not in any jeopardy.

The rest of the morning’s cycle to Selfoss was miserable.  On one occasion, after being pushed into the centre of the road, in the path of on coming traffic, I was forced to dismount and push my cycle up the hill as the cross winds were so fierce and dangerous.  This very much set the tone or the remainder of the day.

The intermittent spots of rain did little to raise my spirits.  However, after turning due west, the wind fell behind me for the final 20km stretch for the morning and ensured that I was able to match the pace of the previous day’s ride.  Before I knew it, I rode into Selfoss.

Reluctant to frequent the same greasy establishments that are peppered all around the ring road of Iceland, I chanced upon a lovely small café.  The place was empty and the young owner welcomed me in with a warm smile.  Lunch was very pleasant but I was warned that there was a mountain range that I had to cycle over before I made it to Reykjavik.

It took me an hour in more vicious side winds to make it 20km to Hveragerði.  There in front of me stood the mother of all inclines.  The route up was perilous for several reasons.  Firstly, the cross winds were extremely hazardous, pushing me out into the road many times.  There was no hard shoulder on my side of the road; instead, the upward route was divided into a dual carriageway.  Large vehicles hurtled past me as they climbed the hill at alarming velocities.  The final problem was the intense, unrelenting incline.  The hill stretched out for an eternity ahead of me.

After crossing the road, I pushed my heavily laden bike up the unyielding ascent.  Cars came far too close for comfort on more than one occasion.  I did however, manage to conquer the hill eventually, crossing back over and pedalling once the camber eased a little.  The battle of gradient and cross wind raged on against my onward progress.  I swore at the wind as the hard shoulder disappeared completely.  I had to choose between the road and the terrifying traffic that adorned it or the sandy, rocked waste that lay just beyond it.

Progress was extremely slow and arduous.  I began to loose my cycling mojo and decided to stop at the next petrol station.  As I sat nursing a bottle of coke, I made a deal with myself that I would load my bike and good self on to a bus should one happen to pass by.  It didn’t and in hindsight, I am eternally grateful.  To have given up so close to the end of my journey would have endured and bugged me forever.

The petrol station owner told me the road got better and he was right.  Soon after leaving, the road began to descent, the cross winds soon subsided to infrequent gusts rather than perpetual gale and the hard shoulder reappeared.  I spotted Reykjavik in the distance.  I know at that point I was going to be fine.  Iceland had not defeated me after all.

A few hours later after becoming lost in the suburbs of capital city, terrified on the tri-carriage ways, bemused by the maze of roads in the docks and perplexed by the general lack of signage, I arrived in the middle of town.  I sensed a slow bubbling of euphoria n my heat as I booked into a pleasant local hotel.  Luck was on my side that evening.  The sunset was stupendous, the hotel extremely comfortable, dinner scrumptious and sleep deep and restful.  I had done it.  I had cycle around Iceland.

Please support Kids First Trust by sponsoring Julien on his Just Giving Page

Events Team
Kids First Trust

Day 14: Kirkjubaejarklaustur to Hvolsvollur

| gloriakidsfirst

Today is the first day that I feel tired after a ride. Had a prevailing wind so made the most of it!

Starting off from Kirkjubaejarklaustur. The pizza was rough and was only edible because I was  hungry. Unfortunately I didn’t really get any sleep last night. A couple of hardcore Russian bike nuts rocked up at midnight and decided to shout at each other all night. I always camp near a bench so that I can tie my bike up and camp close by but unfortunately the bikers decided to sit on said bench and chat loudly all night before crashing out and snoring their heads off. Not fun, they revved off at about 5am and I dozed until 7. Went to local supermarket, had a decent breakfast with lovely patisserie. Cloud was grey so thought I had better get going before the rain comes. Today I had planned to go through Vik and stop there for lunch and then stay in Skogar. So I started off cycling through a lava field, the road appears to  cut through where the lava had stopped but so it ends up looking like the moon but with moss on it.

The day was pretty flat with a very decent wind, I was cruising at 14/15 mph. Only 70 km to lunch so was rocketing along. But then it started raining, heavy, light, heavy. I was soaked to the skin knowing that I would be soaked for the rest of the day. I am literally getting webbed feet as my  feet are wet all day and every day.

Started on my way, passed on old guy on a Recumbent cycle which is a kind of  half seated, half laying down bike. Rode along with its rider, a Danish guy and chatted about his time in the armed forces. Then I got going faster again and was passing other cyclists going straight into the wind knowing exactly what they were going through. Rocked up at Vik at about 1PM so it had taken 3 hours to do 70km/45miles. I would normally expect 12mph so very fast and felt like I was really whipping along. Unfortunately the wet had made me feel  cold, very cold so I needed hot food. Ordered big hot meal and cups of tea. I decided to have a nice leisurely lunch and take my time but it began to rain really hard. Just as I started leaving the guy on the Recumbent  turned up and said that it was a bad day to have a leather saddle. I had learned that it was a bad choice for Iceland as the wet makes it all misshapen and it never dries out fully.

On my way out of Vik I needed to go out on a hill into small mountain range. It was  a 10% ascent, cars struggling, so I cranked it down to 1st gear but on the way down it was a different story and I hit my PB 42 mph (!) One and a half hours later, I rocked up at Skogar, the lady there said that there was a severe weather warning for tonight so all of the rooms were full. She told me where there were other places 3 – 6kms down the road. So I cycled 3kms more but it was full, 6kms full, 20kms full. In the end I thought “stuff it, I am going to head down to the next town” which is Hvolsvollur.

My average speed today was 14mph so I was very tired and decided to treat myself to a hotel.  A local recommended a hotel but it was £110 room so that was too much of a treat for a lone cyclist! I have now found a small place with a tiny room in a lovely B and B . They too were full but kindly cleaned out a storage room for me! It is full of Israelis on a birthday trip and I can hear them singing and celebrating downstairs which is nice. I have just had my shower and am now  going to walk about half a km back to the centre to get some food. I therefore need to put my  dry feet back  into wet shoes. The good news is that there are now only 100km to Reykjavik so it looks like I am going to finish a day early and spend time with Dave doing touristy stuff on Thursday!

Please support Kids First Trust by sponsoring Julien on his Just Giving Page

Events Team
Kids First Trust

020 7841 8955
events@kidsfirsttrust.org