After a spectacular sunset last Saturday that unfortunately, due to time of year, happen over London Bridge rather than behind The Shard, lead to an impressive blue hour scene.
The clouds slowly gathered around the top of the skyscraper and half moon rising in the sky.
Shot on a Tilt-Shift lens, to straighten the lines of the Shard and surrounding buildings.
Ness Cove is one of Devon’s most secluded and picturesque beaches, completely enclosed by the shelter of the cliffs above. The secluded beach is tucked away, underneath the Ness Headland.
Access to the beach is through the intriguingly-named Smuggler’s Tunnel, which leads the visitor through the rocks of the Jurassic Cliffs out onto the beach. It is not clear whether the tunnel itself was ever used by smugglers however.
Hello, my name is Tom Phillips. I will be updating Julien’s blog with news from the road as he travels from London to Nordkapp, the most northern point of mainland Europe. Julien is embarking upon this epic journey of around 2,500 miles, to raise money and support for the wonderful charity the Child’s i Foundation. So please do your bit by donating money on Julien’s Just Giving site and by visiting the Child’s i website. Thank you!
So on to the first day – unfortunately things haven’t gone exactly according to plan! This morning Julien discovered that his bike and gear was going to be a little too heavy for such a long trip. Once some excess baggage was removed Julien set out only to discover his speedometer had broken, this was then followed by a puncture on the rear tyre of his brand new bike!
To add to this Julein had to contend with some very inacurate ordinance survey maps which had him cycling down dead ends and alleyways. To catch up on his mile target Julien decided to veer off the planned route and head along the A226 for some quicker riding. So there weren’t too many exciting sights on the way today, but Julien did mention that he saw some great views whilst cycling through Erith in South London. As the weather turned nasty late this afternoon Julien decided to forgo camping and has instead settled down in a B&B just outside Faversham.
Overall he clocked up 70 miles today – not bad going considering the slow start. Let’s hope for a better day tomorrow as Julien catches the ferry to Dunkirk and begins his journey across Belgium.
Time is ticking away as the ensuing departure date is now less than a week away. Even though I have been preparing for this trip for ages, I am stick racked with anticipation. Concerns of the overall requirements of the ride interlaced with daily issues such as shopping, whilst not having my kit stolen or finding somewhere to camp. All in all, there are many issues to contend with.
In the grander scheme of things, I hope that this ride is a success. By this, not only do I mean achieving the loft target of cycling 2800 miles to a vary sparsely populated are of the world but I also mean raise finds for the charity I have dedicated this ride to, Child’s I Foundation. So far, I have raised just under £350 on my Just Giving page, which is a good start. I hope that as I continue, people read about the various adventures I am likely to have en route as my blog will be maintained by Tom from Child’s I, in my absence. I would love to hit my target amount of £2,500, so please keep reading this blog and make a donation if possible. All of the money is destined to help kids in Uganda. I am paying for all of my own expenses on this trip!
I have been testing all of my kit prior to my departure and so far, so good. I have to make sure I can maintain my MSR stove as I know occasionally they can gunk up. The biggest challenge will be to decide how much stuff to take along with me. In the first couple of weeks, the temperature will hopefully remain in the warm twenties. However, the further I travel up the spin of Sweden, the cool the weather will become. Indeed, the figures I have seen for night time temperatures for Nordkapp and the north coast of Norway, even in mid summer, are around 4 degrees Celsius. The weather is also likely to me inclement but that should only add to the drama of the journey.
It would be great to hear from any one if they have experience of travelling in this part of the world as so little has been written about it. That said, hopefully my blog will be a useful place for other people considering this journey as a portal of information in due course.
All Terrain Photography 