Aurlandsfjord, Norway

Favorite Images of 2014

I welcomed in 2015 camping in the freezing cold temperatures outside Ouray, Colorado.  Though I was in bed by 6:30pm, because it was simply too cold to do anything but sleep, it seemed a fitting end to the year and beginning of the next.

Here are some of my favorite images from 2014.  Though I have gone to some effort to exclude most of my Lofoten Images, which I’ll post as a set of their own in a few more days over at 68north.  Otherwise, it would be too easy for this list to be entirely made up of images from the Islands.  But I also ended up a couple other places as well, so I thought I would separate the two collections.

2014 was fairly similar to the previous year.  Once again, a majority of my focus was on the Lofoten Islands, staying for just over 2 months in total this year, split between winter and autumn.

In February, between visits to Lofoten, I attempted to make a ski tour on the Kungsleden trail in Sweden.  It didn’t go too well and I never made it very far from Kebnekaise Fjällstation.  But I still had some fun and look forward to making another attempt one of these years.

The spring saw me return to the Silesian countryside of south Poland and a brief visit to the Tatra mountains.  The rest of the time I was in Wales.

In late August, I made my first visit to Tromsø, where I boarded a sailboat for a 2 week trip to Lofoten.  It was absolutely fantastic, and I hope I find the time to make a proper writeup one of these days.  After the sailing trip I remained on Lofoten for most of September.  It was perhaps the best month of northern lights I’ve ever had on the islands, with night after night of aurora filled skies until the early morning hours.

One of the highlights of the year was a 10 day road trip though Norway in October, From Lofoten to Stavanger.  I’ve never properly explored central Norway, only ever hitch-hiking or busses previously.  So it was happy to finally begin to explore some places that I’ve wanted to visit for years.  And the autumn color was some of the best I’ve ever seen, making up for the rather dull color on Lofoten this year.

I’ve missed out on celebrating the New Year on Scotland’s Outer Hebrides for the last 2 years now, which I slightly miss.  So in an attempt to make up for it, I headed to Scotland in October, only to be blasted by wind and rain for nearly 2 weeks straight until I finally lost all motivation and headed south to Wales before returning to California.

2015 will be off to a quick start.  Next week, I’ll already be on my way back to Lofoten to co-guide a photo tour for Muench Workshops.  After that, I’ll stay on the Islands until the end of February to work on my own photography and hopefully climb a few mountains.

 

Winter night at Kebnekaise Fjällstation, Lapland, Sweden

Photo: Evening comes to Kebnekaise Fjällstation, Lapland, Sweden.  February 2014

Old barn in farm field, Prudnik County, Opole Voivodship, Silesia, Poland

Photo: Old barn in field, Silesia, Poland.  May 2014

Spring thunderstom over fields, Prudnik County, Opole Voivodship, Silesia, Poland

Photo: Approaching storm over field, Silesia, Poland.  May 2014

Town hall and Rynek market square, Opole, Silesia, Poland

Photo: Opole City Hall, Silesia, Poland.  May 2014

Female hill walker on Carmarthen Fans - Bannau Sir Gaer with Picws Du in distance, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Hiker on Bannau Sir Gaer, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Wild Welsh Mountain Pony at sunset on Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Welsh mountain pony at sunset, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Silhouette of person watching Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis  over coastline, Austvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern lights over coast, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 2014

Norddalsfjord autumn, Norway

Photo: Alpine farm above Norddalsfjord, Møre go Romsdal, Norway.  October 2014

Nigardsbreen glacier, Norway

Photo: Nigardsbreen glacier, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.  October 2014

Aurlandsfjord, Norway

Photo: Clearing storm over Aurlandsfjord, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.  October 2014

Female hiker takes in view of Llangorse lake from Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Brecon Beacons National Park – Mynydd Llangorse

Female hiker takes in view of Llangorse lake from Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Watching sunset over Llangorse lake from Mynydd Llangorse, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

With the long days of summer just around the corner it’s now possible to head out into the Black Mountains for quick evening hikes from here in Hay-on-Wye.  Normally, the default hike is Twmpa or Hay Bluff, the quickest mountains two reach, just down the road and the very eastern border of Brecon Beacons national park.  With rainy days often spent at the climbing gym at llangorse, I’ve often had my eye of the isolated peaks of Mynydd Troed and Mynydd Llangorse for some time.  And looking for something new to wander around to break out of the normal routine, I finally made the effort to get there.

Arriving at the small parking area between both peaks, I decided to head up the lower Mynydd Llangorse, at 515 meters, as the views towards Llangorse lakes seemed to be more promising.  A short ascent leads to the mountain’s ridge and fantastic views of the gently rolling hills and Hedged-in fields of the Welsh countrside.  In the distant west, the flat, table-like summit of Pen Y Fan rose into the mist.

A strange, soft light covered the last, fading off into the hazy distant mountain peaks.  At times, the sun would break through the clouds, casting beams of light over the land in typical Welsh fashion.  Sunset looked like it would be promising, so I stayed up on the mountain, often surrounded by the wild Welsh mountain ponies, grazing away on the spring grass, until strangely pink sun sunk below the horizon.  Now I’m just waiting for a day with some nice puffy clouds to head back again.

For more images from Mynydd Llangorse, and the rest of the Brecon Beacons national park, you can visit my Welsh image archive: HERE

View towards Llangorse lake from Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Views over the scenic Welsh countryside, Mynydd Llangorse, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

View towards Llangorse lake from Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Rays of light break through the clouds, Mynydd Llangorse, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Old drystone wall on Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Old stone wall on Mynydd Llangorse, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Wild Welsh Mountain Pony grazing on hillside of Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Welsh mountain pony at sunset, Mynydd Llangorse, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Wild Welsh Mountain Pony at sunset on Mynydd Llangorse, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Welsh mountain pony at sunset, Mynydd Llangorse, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Female hill walker hiking on Carmarthen Fans - Bannau Sir Gaer with Picws Du in distance, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Brecon Beacons National Park – Black Mountain

Female hill walker on Carmarthen Fans - Bannau Sir Gaer with Picws Du in distance, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: View along the Carmarthen Fans, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

The Black Mountain – Y Mynydd Du, the strangely singularl named mountain range, not to be confused with the Black Mountains or Black Mountain itself, on the Western edge of south Wales’ Brecon Beacons national park is home to the some of the most stunning and wild mountains of the national park.  While the central peaks of the Brecons Beacons can have a near endless train of people heading up on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the Black Mountain receives only a fraction of the foot traffic which is one of the reasons that they are my favourite mountains in the region to hike.

When a fair weathered day presented itself a few weekends back, I headed west to hike one my favourite route: Bannau Sir Gaer – Camarthen Fans.  Often I hike in from the east, as it’s quick to get there, and often just ascend Fan Brycheiniog before returning, but this time I wanted to wait around until sunset, and so decided to hike in from the west via Llyn Y Fan Fach.  From Llyn Y Fan Fach, the trail ascends to Waun Lefrith, with scenic view of the entire Camarthen Fans, before continuing on to the first high point at Picws Du.  From here the trail descends before climbing again to Fan Foel and eventually on to the high point of the range, the 802 meter high Fan Brycheiniog.

Instead of descending the mountains and heading back to the car park, I decided to head back up Picws Du and back along the Camarthen Fan ridge to Waun Lefrith where I was hoping to wait for sunset.  Buts as the afternoon hours passed, heavy clouds began rolling in from the west, and it was evident that any sunset would be unlikely.  So after 7:00pm, as the spring sky was beginning to darken I began to head back down the mountain, slightly hurried by the calling of dinner.

For more images from Black Mountain, and the rest of the Brecon Beacons national park, you can visit my Welsh image archive: HERE

Female hill walker hiking towards Waun Lefrith above Llyn Y Fan Fach, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Hiking above Llyn Y Fan Fach, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Llyn Y Fan Fach and Carmarthen Fans, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Llyn Y Fan Fach and Carmarthen Fans, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Female hill walker hiking on Carmarthen Fans - Bannau Sir Gaer with Picws Du in distance, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: View along Carmarthen Fans, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

Rock outcropping on ridge of Carmarthen Fans - Bannau Sir Gaer, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Rock outcropping, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  April 2014

View along Carmarthen Fans - Bannau Sir Gaer towards Picws Du, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Last light touchest the summit of Fan Foel, Black Mountain, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Winter dawn on Pen Y Fan from Corn Du, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Best Photos of 2013

The following are my favorite images of the year.  Overall, 2013 was a year of ups and downs for me and I was often struggling to come up with inspiration.  I seemed to run into more than my usual amount of bad weather, especially starting off the year on Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.  But in turn, I had some of the best right-place-right-time moments of the last few years, where amazing light and scenery appeared before my eyes.  Looking through the images I noticed that I didn’t make any Calfiornia, or US, road trips this year.  I guess I was quite focused on the Lofoten islands, making 4 trips in total this year, one for every season.  That being said, I tried to balance out the collection a bit so that it wasn’t only Lofoten images, as it easily could have been.

Now to the images, in no particular order…

Winter dawn on Pen Y Fan from Corn Du, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Winter dawn over Pen Y Fan, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  February 2013

Pre-dawn winter hikes up Pen Y Fan have become something of a common occurrence of mine over the last couple years.  Despite their low elevation, I reallylove the mountains of the Brecon Beacons in south Wales.

 

Traditional Rorbu cabin reflects in fjord in evening light, Valen, Reine, Moskenesøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway
Photo: Rorbu reflection, near Reine, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 2013

Normally I don’t include much architecture or man made structures in my images but as I was killing a bit of time at the end of the day before meeting up with a friend, I parked the car on the edge of the fjord, near these rob – fishermen’s huts.  I was walking in the other direction towards another photo when out of the corner of my eye, I caught the lights of the buildings come on, the occupants returning home for the evening.  This brought out just enough contrast against the heavily clouded sky.  I scaled down the rocky slope to the water’s edge and managed a few images before the rain began to fall.

 

Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights fill sky over Olstind mountain peak and reflect in fjord, Toppøya, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Northern Lights over Olstind, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 2013

Olstind and Northern Lights has been an image I’ve had in my mind for a number of years.  And this evening was my lucky night.

 

Stormy winter landscape at Haukland beach, Vestvågøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Haukland beach in winter, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  February 2013

I’m not quite sure why I like this image as much as I do.  It was a shitty, stormy day, with temperatures warming and a cold rain beginning to fall and melt away the snow.  I was largely stuck held captive by the weather most of the day, remaining in my car most of the time, but as I was driving towards Utakleiv to camp for the night I noticed rain had stopped as I was passing Haukland beach.  I got my feet wet for this one.

 

Wild Welsh Mountain Pony near Hay Bluff, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Welsh mountain ponies, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  June 2013

Perhaps a little brighter than my usual style of recent years, I still like the feeling of this image, taken on one of my after dinner hikes up Twampa for a bit of exercise.  While the ponies in Iceland seem to get all the photographic love these days, there are also some cool ones cruising around the mountains of south Wales.

 

Female hiker watches sunset over mountains from summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Sunset on Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

This was my first hiking trip to Snowdonia since 2006.  Somehow the chosen weekend seemed to coincide with unusually brilliant weather.  After Hiking up Tryfan, we set up camp on the summit of Glyder Fach.  This is what sunset brought to the hight mountains that night.

 

Rainbow at Sunrise over mountains from Bunes Beach, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Bunes beach rainbow at dawn, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2013

This was a photo I nearly missed; due both to tiredness, and some nice light elsewhere.  But intuition took me out to the cliffs with this view and I nearly dropped my camera when this rainbow came into view.  A near perfect aligning of elements.

 

Open air mountain bivy on rocky summit of Hermannsdalstinden, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Bivy on the summit of Hermannsdalstinden, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2013

This is probably my favorite image of the year, though more for the moment than the photo itself.  Alone on the highest mountain in western Lofoten on a late summer’s evening, I took a few images as I was getting ready for bed.  To me, this photo is what the Lofoten islands are all about.

 

Evening twilight over Reine from summit of Reinebringen, Moskenesoy, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Evening arrives over Reine from the summit of Reinebringen, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  September 2013

I had journeyed up Reinebringen on this day with hopes of Northern Lights appearing in the night.  They never really did, but I walked away with this image.  It was worth the effort and the cold.

 

Stormy seas crash against dramatic coastal cliffs at Yesnaby, Orkney, Scotland

Photo: Yesnaby, Orkney, Scotland.  October 2013

I had a few false starts (read: bad weather) during my week on Orkney, but on this evening everything seemed to come together.  The cliffs are wild and rugged, the sea stormy.  Just how I like it!

Hermannsdalstinden Lofoten Islands Norway

Travel Updates

Hermannsdalstinden Lofoten Islands Norway

 

Photo: Moonlight bivy on the summit of Hermannsdalstinden, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2013

 

Well, it’s been a while since my last post.  Mostly this is due to my working in the chronological order of my travels during the last few months, and as my trip began with two+ weeks on Lofoten, I’ve mainly been adding content over at 68North.com as I get through the images and write a few mountain hiking guides.

There were also some major setbacks to my travel plans in which I’ve been waiting to write about.  The most affected was my planned hike along the Kungsleden trail and into Sarek national park, Sweden.  I only managed one day – 20 km of hiking before disaster stuck, and I was forced/reluctantly chose, to cancel that part of the trip and return to Lofoten.  And it was such fantastic weather! There was more sun in those two days than my previous two trips combined.  I’ll write more on this later.

Anyhow, here is a short overview of the last few months.  More extensive write-ups will come soon as I get ready to head home to California next week where I’ll hopefully be a bit more productive.

Lofoten – Part 1:  I sometimes wonder why I don’t run into many fellow Americans on Lofoten.  That is until I walkout the door in California and don’t see a stop in motion for the next 40, where I can finally setup my tent and close my eyes in someplace more comfortable than an airport, airplane, ferry station, or bus stop.

With an overall trend of rain lasting from Monday to Friday, I did manage to photograph what will probably be my best single set of images from Lofoten to date.  And then, after two weeks on the islands, with one more still to go, I decided to sprain my ankle while coming down from Ryten in the evening while camping at Kvalvika, which effectively took me out of business for the next days.

Germany – Festival Mediaval in Selb: Like last year, I headed down to Germany for a weekend of music and food.  And fortunately, I managed to keep onto my wallet, unlike last year.  And even more fortunately, I got to see one of my favourite bands, Garmarna, play live, which they haven’t done in around a decade or so.  A night in Berlin and then I was on my back back north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden.

Sweden – Kungsleden:  After sitting around all afternoon in Stockholm’s Arlanda airport, I caught the night train north to Gällivare where I then caught a bus to the beginning of my hike at the Saltoluokta hut.  Arriving in the late morning as the rain cleared to a brilliant blue sky I bought a few supplies and then was on my way for the 20km hike south to the next hut on the shores of Lake Sitojaure.

I was a bit worried about my ankle, but was happy see that it managed the trail with only a little pain towards the end, though still quite sensitive of any ‘wrong’ steps.  I inquired about taking the water taxi across the lake in the morning, but learned the boat driver would be away reindeer hunting for the day so I would have to row across the lake myself.  No problem I though as I headed to bed, at least two boats are on my side, so I won’t have to row the lake three times!

Getting into the boat the following morning, my camera decided to go for a swim.  It died.

I sat around for another hour of so, doing my best to dry it out and see if I could salvage anything, but it was gone for good.  And so, I emptied out a bit of the heavier food and the hut and made my way the 20km back north from where I had come the day before.

Lofoten – Part 2:  It took me two days of travel before I was back in Stamsund, where I quickly put a new camera on order and began the wait.  Days of brilliant weather and nights of Northern Lights passed, yet I remained camera-less.  Finally, after 12 days, I got the news that it had been delivered around the corner and was waiting for me at the post office inside the Joker market.

with six full days now left on the islands combined with the thankful cooperation of the weather I hit the hills with a furious pace.  Day after day I found myself high in the mountains under a bright shining sun until finally the rain returned on the 5th day.

Dublin – TBEX conference: Leaving Norway on the 1st of October I next traveled to Dublin (my first visit to Ireland!) where I would attend the TBEX – Travel Blogger Exchange conference over the following days.  I had a really good time, learned so useful info and met some nice people.  I will definitely do my best to attend the next one as well.  Although I did feel out of place at times and sometimes received something of a blank look when I said I was a photographer and that my website is codyduncan.com and not some fancy-sounding-world-traveler-wandering-adventure-blog.com.  Something to work on for next time I guess.  And it was nice to learn that I looked as if I had ‘just come from the mountains,’ being slightly under dressed to the more upscale looking and successful attendees of the conference.  Though in my defence, I had just come from the mountains…

Scotland – Orkney:  I made the somewhat unwise decision of leaving Dublin at 6:00am on a Saturday.  But I had places to go, namely, Scotland!  Even as we were heading north from Manchester airport, the exact destination for the next week was still unknown.  Scotland, yes, but where in Scotland had yet to be decided.  The weather forecast was somewhat bleak, so instead of heading somewhere to the mountains, it was decided Orkney would be the destination; it was the top of the list anyhow, so not a hard choice.

As I won’t be around for the New Year this year, I was provided with my mandatory dose of gale force winds to hold me over for the next few months.  Nearly lost a second camera over the cliffs at the Old Man of Hoy as a sudden, severe gust of wind nearly took my whole backpack over the edge!  But over all, I was glad to be back in Orkney again after 4 years and the week passed all too quickly.

Wales: I’m now counting down my last days here in Wales.  The weather has been somewhat dismal and I haven’t even made it out to the hills at all, but that’s how it goes.

Inspired by TBEX in Dublin, I’m heading to London on Wednesday for the World Travel Market.  Followed by a concert up north on Saturday for my final weekend here before flying home next week.

Until next time…

 

Ryten Hiking Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Enjoying the view of Kvalvika beach from Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2013

 

Northern Lights Kvalvika beach Lofoten Islands

Photo: Northern Lights over camp at Kvalvika beach, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2013

Person stands under rainbow near summit of Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Europe Travel Plans

Person stands under rainbow near summit of Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Rainbow watching on Ryten, Lofoten Islands, Norway.  August 2012

Only 1 week left for me in California.  Still a few tickets to buy and details to workout, but here’s the rough schedule of my travels for the next few months.  As much as was interested in going to some new/warmer places, it looks like I’ll be sticking with my favorite areas.  I can’t avoid being pulled north.

Norway – Lofoten Islands

Next week I’m making the long journey back to Lofoten.  I leave California on Tuesday morning and reach the islands Thursday morning.  Hopefully I find some time for a bit of sleep, but like normal, that will probably have to wait for the 3 hour ferry crossing at 01:00 am Thursday.

Like normal, if the weather is good I’ll most likely head out to Bunes beach.  If the weather is crap, I’ll probably head to Stamsund and wait things out for a few days.  I have somewhat ambitious plans for this trip, so wish me luck that the weather cooperates!

Originally I planned to be on the islands about two weeks, and then head down to Jotunheimen national park for a few days before continuing on to Germany.  But this proved to eat up too much time just getting between locations, so I’ve decided to stay the whole time on Lofeten.  So I’ll be on the islands until September 4th.

If any of you are around the islands, look for someone in an bright blue jacket and probably a tripod.  Come say hello!

Germany – Festival Mediaval

Like last year, I’m heading down to Selb, Germany for the Festival Mediaval.  Hopefully I don’t get my wallet stolen this time!  I’m bringing a small padlock for my tent.  One of my favorite bands of the last 10+ years, the Swedish group Garmarna, is playing their first show in years, so I’m super excited to see them finally.  And then of course there’s the food and beer to enjoy after a puritan three weeks in Norway.

Sweden – Sarek National Park

I really had it in mind to maybe head down to the Alps for a week or so and then maybe to Croatia, where I’ve been wanting to go.  But logistically, Packing for both Norway and Croatia would have been a bit difficult.  So I’ve decided to stick with the cold conditions and head back north to Sweden, the area around Sarek national park to be exact.

I don’t have exact plans at the moment, but it will be a long journey from Berlin any way I go about it and most likely involve a night train and a bus or two.  It looks like it will be best to enter from the north at Saltoluokta and hike south over the next week, ending in Kvikkjokk.  I’ll probably spend a few days in the area of the beautiful Rapadalen, and with luck, have some decent light and good timing with the Autumn color.  And I wouldn’t complain about a light dusting of snow on the surrounding mountain peaks.  But it is the Arctic in September, so anything can happen, err, anything having to do with cold and bad weather can happen.

Norway – Lofoten Islands Part 2

Following Sarek, I’ll be heading back to Lofoten for another week to 10 days.  If the weather stays like last year, this should mean I’ll be finding myself up a few more mountains.  But I’m sure I’ll spend most my time sitting around the warm fire in Stamsund watching the rain fall against the windows.

Ireland – Dublin

In a change from my normal hermitude (I don’t thinks that’s a word, but it is now), I’m going to try and change things up a bit and attend the TBEX travel blogger conference on October 3-4.  I’ve never really thought of myself as a travel blogger, but seeing as I’ve now had this blog going since 2005, maybe it’s time for a little change in mindset and perhaps I can open a few new doors.  I have to admit that I’m a little jealous of all these 22 year old blond chicks that seem to get all these free ‘press’ trips all over the place 6 months after getting the first stamp in their passport.  Maybe there’s one more spot for an unshaven, probably slightly smelly, with sink washed clothes, dude with too much camera gear.

Ring of Brodgar standing stones, Orkney, Scotland

Photo: Ring of Brodgar Standing Stones, Orkney, Scotland.  December 2009

Scotland – Orkney

I have this weird relationship with Scotland in that I think every visit will be my last.  Yet alas, another year comes around and I seem to find myself doing my best to avoid hitting sheep standing in the middle of some small winding road in the middle of nowhere.  And after my last two New Years on the Outer Hebrides, which were pretty grim weather wise, to put it nicely, I think I’m finally due for something a little better.

It’s too far off to make plans at this point, but as I pretty much have near every road in the Highlands memorized, there doesn’t need to be one.  My inclination is to go to Orkney, but that will be a little expensive with the car, and that is if I even have any money left after more than a month in Norway and Sweden, so it might be to the familiar glens and Bens of the Isle of Skye for a week cruising around the Cuillins.

Wales

For the remainder of my time in the UK, it’s back in Wales until I fly home to California in mid November, for my first holiday season in the US since 2007.  I’ll admit that I purposely try and be away during the holidays for the sole reason of avoiding Christmas shopping.

—–

I have yet to start packing, but within the next week I’ll be posting up my gear list for both my hiking and camera equipment.  But for the most part, as these travels are pretty similar to last year, my gear list should be looking pretty similar to 2012.

Wild Welsh Mountain Pony near Hay Bluff, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Brecon Beacons Summer Evenings

Wild Welsh Mountain Pony near Hay Bluff, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Welsh Mountain Pony, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  June 2013

Taking advantage of the long summer days, along with the occasional days when it wasn’t raining, we would often head up to the Black Mountains for a bit of post-dinner exercise.  Most people outside of the UK have probably never heard of Brecon Beacons national park, but it is home to the highest mountains in the south of the UK.  While tame and gentle compared to their Snowdonian cousins in the north, the Brecon Beacons are formed by a series of soft, grassy mountains carved out during the last ice age.  A nice place to have in the backyard for summer evenings…

Female hiker on trail to Twmpa, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Hiking towards Twmpa with Hay Bluff in the background, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  June 2013

Female hiker on trail to Twmpa, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Hiking towards Twmpa, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  June 2013

Female hiker on summit of Twmpa, Black Mountains, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

Photo: Summit of Twmpa, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  June 2013

sunset over mountains from summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

A Night Camping In Snowdonia

sunset over mountains from summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Sunset from the summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

A couple weeks back the alignment of two rare conditions occurred here in Wales: the weekend and good weather.  Really, it is a rare treat in this part of the world.  Or to quote a climber we passed on the way down from the mountains on Sunday morning, ‘Come back here 10 times and you’ll never have weather as good as this!’

We took to the road early on a Saturday morning for the 3+ hour drive north to Snowdonia national park.  Although only a couple weeks before midsummer and with plans to bivy somewhere in the mountains, we weren’t all that worried about time. After a slightly long lunch in Betws-Y-Coed, we were at the trailhead for the north ridge of Tryfan a little after noon.

The north ridge of Tryfan is supposed to be one of the classic ridge scrambles in Wales, and thus in the fantastic weather I was expecting to be hiking among huge crowds.  But luckily with our afternoon start, most of the people must’ve gone ahead of us and we enjoyed the ridge mostly to ourselves much of the way.

The sun was beating down and I was a bit worried about or water consumption on the way up, trying to conserve as much as possible of the 3 litters I was carrying which would need to last me the next 24 hours.  Luckily I had a sun hat with me here for some reason otherwise I would have ended up more sunburnt than I did.  Not that I’m complaining!

Sometime later we reached the summit of Tryfan, sat around for a bit, then headed down the south side to Bwlch Tryfan.  From here we headed along the trail leading east of the summit of Glyder Fach.  There were some nice tarns in the grassy flats here and I thought it could be a nice place to make camp, but maybe in poorer weather.  In these conditions, it would be a shame not to camp on the summit of one of the peaks, and so we headed up the easy trail to Glyder Fach.

Once on the summit, I found a decent place to set up the tent; we had been prepared to bivy in the open, but a steady wind was blowing so being inside a tent would be a more comfortable night.  With 5+ hours until sunset I started to think that maybe I should have brought a book to kill a little time.  Though finally the summer sun sank low on the horizon, but not before a dark band of haze had formed out over the sea, dashing any hopes of a spectacular sunset.  I think I more enjoyed the mild conditions in the mountains that I don’t think I’ll come across again for some time.  And despite the weather, we were the only ones staying on the mountain this night.

For some reason I though sunrise was at 3:50, not 4:50, so I woke up a bit early on Sunday.  The light was fairly dull anyhow, so after an hour or so of wandering around in the somewhat fresh breeze I found myself back in my sleeping back for a couple more hours when the sun finally lit up the tent too much.

After an easy walk to the slightly higher summit of Glyder Fawr we headed down out of the mountains along Llyn Idwal and finally back to the carpark by late morning.

Female hiker on Cantilever stone, Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Blue skies over Snowdonia, Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Female hiker on Cantilever stone, Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Cantilever Stone on Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Silhouette of lone hiker on rocky summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Rocky summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Rocky summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Sunset over Tryfan from summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Tryfan from the summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Silhouette as female hiker balances on rock viewing mountain sunset from summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Sunset from Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Castell y Gwynt - Castle of the wind with Snowdon in the background from summit of Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales

Photo: Castell y Gwynt – Castle of the wind with Snowdon in the background,Glyder Fach, Snowdonia national park, Wales.  June 2013

Brecon Beacons – Pen Y Fan Winter Sunrise

Brecon Beacons Pen Y Fan winter hiking

Photo: Winter sunrise from summit of Pen Y Fan, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2013

With clear skies forecasted for Saturday morning, and in need of a bit more exercise before heading off to the Lofoten Islands next week, I decided that catching one last sunrise on Pen Y Fan would be a good idea.  So I set the alarm for 5:00 am and promised myself not to be lazy.

We left the car park just after 6:00 am for the short hike up the trail, and found ourselves to be the 2nd people on the mountain on Saturday morning.  It had been fairly warm all week with lots of rain so I was surprised to find the summits still covered in snow.  Wasn’t the most brilliant sunrise, but was still good to get in a short hike before breakfast…

Pen Y Fan Brecon Beacons winter sunrise

Photo: Winter sunrise from summit of Pen Y Fan, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2013

Brecon Beacons Corn Du winter hiking

Photo: Cold morning on the summit of Corn Du, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2013

Pen Y Fan Brecon Beacons winter sunrise

Photo: Dawn approaches on Pen Y Fan, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2013

Winter Walking Brecon Beacons

Photo: Hiking across Corn Du in the morning light, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2013

Last Journeys Among the Brecon Beacons

Hiking Brecon Beacons national park Wales

Photo: hiking towads Fan Y Big, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2012

As luck would have it, my final days here in Wales took a turn from the usual gray, rainy days, for a weekend of brilliant sunshine.  Saturday saw us heading up Fan Y Big and Cribyn.  I was hoping to wait around until sunset, but clouds descended late in the afternoon.  I still walked away with over 1100 photos for the day, which for me is quite rare.  The forecast for Sunday was for cloud, but as I was stirring in the morning hours I could see sunshine coming through the blinds.  So instead of going climbing as the original plan had been, we once again took advantage of the weather and headed up to Hay Bluff and wandered a bit down Offa’s Dyke path for a couple hours.

Tonight is my last night in Wales, so I’m glad I got a few final days out in the hills.  Same thing happened last year as well, maybe it’s the California sun trying to welcome me home…

Hiking Brecon Beacons national park Wales

Photo: Big views from Fan Y Big, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2012

 

Hiking Brecon Beacons national park Wales

Photo: Heading towards Cribyn, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Feb 2012