summer

Shot for the Day (3 September 2015)

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Shot_of_the_day_03SEP15

Following on from my last entry, this was taken a few minutes prior to the last shot (below) in Alcudia, Mallorca. Unfortunately, I was not well positioned for the sunrise, which was behind the head of the peninsula, to my left.  The reason for this was main due to the fact that the westerly facing headland was several kilometres on the other side of a private golf course and I had no idea how long it would have taken me to walk there.  Has anybody ever made this journey?

One thing that resonated with me the most about this particular dawn was the strength of the yellow in the sky.  Singapore tends to be far more orange due to pollutants in the atmosphere.

Shot for the Day (14 June 2015)

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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 (24 April 2014)

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Bantham Bay sunset

Dreaming of the summer nights at Bantham Bay in Devon, looking into the sun with no one around.   Actually, the reason there was no one around was because it was Easter 2013 and it was bloody freezing.  Still, one way to get such a beautiful beach all to oneself.

Dangerous animals en route

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Courtesy of BabyDinosaur on Flickr

I think I have decided upon where I am going to journey this summer.  Although I love Iceland and would love to circumnavigate the island, my original desire to cycle to Nordkapp is captivating me more.  I love the idea of travelling through Europe’s last true wilderness.

Due to the nature of where I intend to go, it will be necessary for me to wild camp on a regular basis.  To this end, I have been looking further into what treats may lay ahead for me if I pursue this course.  As I delve deeper into researching my route through Scandinavia, I have started to uncover something that I had not contemplated before, dangerous animals.  It was actually in conversation with a Swedish friend last night that alerted me to the perils that I might encounter on the road.  The list runs from nuisances, such as mosquitoes hordes, which are particularly prevalent in the north during the summer.  Although they are most active around dawn and sunset, I will be north of the Arctic Circle for a couple of weeks, truly in the land of the Midnight Sun.  So, this means that if I camp along the way, I am likely to be under attack most of the night.

Other insects that may provide me with issues are Gadflies, with painful but mercifully non-poisonous bites.  In addition, Sweden is home to large plagues of wasps, so I will need to be careful with any foodstuffs that may attract them.  A more serious issue will be ticks, widespread in southern Sweden and northern coastal regions.  Ticks can transmit Lyme’s disease and more serious TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) through a bite.  I have the choice of either staying inland with the mosquitoes or on the east coast with the ticks.  Tough choice…

Sweden does have a venomous snake, the European adder.  Fortunately, the snake is not very common, although ubiquitous throughout Sweden except for the north.

Then there are the top two mammals on the bloc; the brown bear and the wolf.  This worried me considerably as I will be headed through the areas where both species are most commonly located.  I did take solace in the fact that bears in Sweden have killed no more than a handful of people since 1900 and that wolves have not killed a human being since 1821.  This information was marred by the accompanying caveat of how to deal with a bear encounter in the woods.  Evidently, the done thing is to walk slowly away from it whilst talking loudly.  This I could probably muster.  The tough bit is what to do in the event of a bear attack; the answer, to play dead, protect your head and make yourself as small as possible.  However, once could adopted the opposite approach and start screaming as loud as possible at the creature, jumping and making oneself as large as possible.  Always a worry to be presented with such conflicting options.

I just read an article that brown bears mate between May and June. During this period bears are active both at night and during daylight hours. Young males are searching for females at this time and cover long distances in their search, while last year’s cubs are making their first independent forays into the world.  I am likely to be on the road towards the end of this period, so I will be vigilant.

To round up then, I will have to be acutely aware of various animals including the brown bear, wolf, moose, wolverine, lynx, the very rare Arctic fox, reindeer and perhaps even the golden eagle.  Don’t misunderstand me, I’d love to see all of these animals, just from a safe distance and not whilst trying to sleep in my tent, completely along in the absolute middle of nowhere.  Then, I may take issue with such beasties dropping by for a snack, which could ultimately turn out to be me!

File:Saami Family 1900.jpg

Putting all of this jeopardy to one side, one of the truly exciting parts of the expedition will be once I reach Lapland, or Sápmi, on the northern side of the Arctic Circle.  Here lies the ancestral home of the Sámi, or Lapps, indigenous people of the region.  The Sámi people are among the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Europe.  They are renowned for tended their herds of hardy reindeer for millennia.  I aim to visit an old Sámi settlement to find out more about their culture and way of life.  I may even succumb to the touristy urge to stay in a traditional Sámi tepee. It should all make for some stunning photography.

Sports Programme Manager

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Along with my various photographic endeavours, I like to combine my work with expedition style material. This can range from mountaineering to trekking, or in more recent times, long distance cycle rides. To that end, I like to complete at least one sponsored ride per year.

This year, I may well end up completing at least two. The reason for this increase in altruism is mainly due to joining forces with a new charity called the Childs i Foundation (CiF). They are raising funds to build an orphanage in Uganda for all the parentless children who are abandoned after the recent turmoil the country has suffered. I have been given the lofty title of Sports Programme Manager, which is nice.

So, one of my new jobs is to create some exciting sports programmes to raise money for the charity. First on the cards for me is getting my plans together for this summer’s ride, which I shall be doing for CiF. There are a couple of plans afoot at present, both of which involve Scandinavia. Pete and Mary should be joining me, so that will be really exciting. At present, we are deciding whether to head to Iceland or cycle from London via a ferry journey from Harwich to Esbjerg in Denmark, via Sweden and Finland up to Nordkapp, at the northern tip of Norway. Either option should be exciting but time will be the critical determinant in the end.

The other ride I will be looking at completing will be a quick four day stint from London to Paris. This will be the first ride that I organise on behalf of Childs i Foundation, so hopefully it will prove to be a popular ride. If everyone is altruistic in their approach, giving their time to help put the even together rather than just raise funds in isolation, this should be both a very accessible and comparatively inexpensive endeavour for volunteers.

More on this once I have looked into it further with my lovely CiF colleagues.

Lost weekend in Guernsey

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I was fortunate enough to be in Guernsey last weekend. The main purpose of the visit was to see my good friends Mary and Pete. We had a lot of things to organise. Firstly, about 60GB of HD video footage we shot on our Le Jog ride last year. Thanks to opaque technology and the need to have multiple external hard drives capturing the output of huge files via various video programmes, we spent most of the weekend indoors, struggling with the computer.

Fortunately, the results from the first MTS file transfers look good. Once we have managed to drop out the videos as manageable QT files, I hope to upload a selection of 1 minute files for each of the daily rides for the Le Jog ride to YouTube and link into this blog. More on this when I get round to it.

The other big focus of the weekend was to decide upon the timing and location of this year’s big ride. I have elected to raise money for a charity called Child’s i Foundation, set up by some of my Endemol colleagues. There is plenty of great information available about various charitable endeavours on their website, which is another WordPress blog like this one.

So far, we have chosen two rides that we would like to select one to undertake from:
1) London to Nordkapp (Norway) via Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. This would be an epic 2500 mile ride, taking us well past the Arctic Circle.
2) Circumnavigate Iceland, which would be considerably shorter at a mere 1,200 – 1,500 miles.

I would love to do both rides but due to various fiscal and time limitations for all parties concerned, this is highly unlikely. What it will ultimately boil down to is timing. When there are several people involved with varying calendar restrictions, finding the sweet spot is complicated.

Does anyone have experience of either of these cycle rides?

Day 7: Middleton to Kelsall

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Total mileage: 56
Terrain: Hills – Comfortable with a few hills

After the previous day’s ride, all three of us were pretty tired.  We had decided to make it a short cycle day an to have the afternoon to relax, wherever we ended up.

The weather was fantastic as we retraced a few miles back on the previous day’s journey along the busy A road.  Once back on the small country roads, the traffic disappeared and the cycling was good.

We stopped for a bite to eat at a small grocery in a tiny village, which I have forgotten the name of.  From here, we headed past a field with a satellite dish plonked in the middle of it, very surreal.

Overall, the cycling was enjoyable but nothing spectacular.  The camping site was fully and we ended up having to pitch at the bottom of a slope.  However, the locals were extremely friendly and offered us from bangers and a drink!

The only ol in the ointment was that I felt terrible (probably too much sun) and Pete had a nightmare trying to organise our return journeys from John O’Groats

Day 5: Yatton to Ewyas Harold

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Total mileage: 72
Terrain: Hills – challenging with some really tough moments

After the pleasure and comfort afforded us by Andrew, we headed off, through the increasingly complex urban streets and cul-de-sacs of Yatton on a glorious sunny morn.  Although we got underway in the rush hour, we soon left the slow moving traffic behind by taking smaller, less obvious routes.

Within half an hour, we crossed the M5 and then headed up towards Avonmouth, via Clevedon and Portishead.  Much of the route was along intense A roads but fortunately the West Country drivers were courteous enough to pass us at a sensible distance.

Avonmouth is an absolute hole of a place where we unfortunately were stuck for an hour or so as the signs were nonsensical.  After talking to a teacher manning the gates of a local school, we found our way onto the cycle path and over to Seven Beach, where we jumped onto the Severn Bridge and crossed our first border.

Wales much not surprisingly much the same as England, save for the broken glass on the cycle track.  We headed towards Chepstow for lunch and found a small grassy knoll.

After filling our bellies up, we took the A466 on one of the best rides of the trip, through the Welsh valleys up to Monmouth.  The mountainous landscape covered in green trees was much like Scandinavia.  We all pelted around the roads at great speed, enjoying the relatively traffic-free roads.

After getting lost in Monmouth, we escaped, taking another very pleasant road, the B4347, north west towards Pontrilas.  We were all pretty knackered as the terrain was very hilly.  All of us were on heavy steal bikes, weighed down by our luggage.  Although we had anticipated that the toughest parts were in Devon and Cornwall, Wales offered equally challenging roads.

We passed through Ewyas Harold ending up in Abbey Dore.  Unfortunately, due to a completely random choir singing contest, we were unable to find anywhere to stay.  We were lucky enough to befriend a local publican who called a few B&Bs in the area, and ended up finding us a lovely room back in Ewyas Harold.

We were greeted by the landlord, Mark, who turned out to be a lovely guy.  He and his daughter invited us in with a very cheery demeanour and cooked us a sumptuous meal, much needed after the long day’s ride.

Day 2: Perran Porth to Launceston

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Total mileage: 57
Terrain: Hills – challenging

Another fantastic day of sunshine for us, which considering the crappy weather we had had the previous week, was a blessing. We made our way from Perran Porth, up and out of the coastal town and along the north coastline.

We stopped for lunch at Padstow, a really pretty seaside port, festooned with about a zillion holidaying tourists. We were warned in the fish and chip shop where we purchased our food to watch out for the seagulls, which tended to dive bomb people’s lunches, aiming to grab some tasty swag. As it turned out, this was handy advice as we saw other folk being hassled by the crafty birds.

After lunch, we wheeled our bikes down to the beach, via a series of step stairs. Unfortunately, this reset Mary’s bike computer to zero and did some damage to Pete’s as well. From the beach, we waiting patiently in line for the ferry to collect us and take us to the other side of the channel, to a small enclave called Rock.

The ride from the coast to Bodmin Moor was unremarkable. However, Bodmin Moor itself was incredible; definitely one of the highlights of the trip. There, we started a long decline that saw us almost all the way to the outskirts of Launceston. We bumped into a local cyclist who kindly escorted us to the town centre and helped us find digs for the night.

Launceston itself is not so bad but the hostel we stayed in was pretty rough, especially after the two lovely campsites we had stayed at the previous nights. That said, we had an enormous supper and the guys began their campaign to try and get me drunk each night.