My journey started in the forest, after a lot of rain had fallen the day before. Everything was green and wet wet wet. Finally, I reached my first stop, at a cabin which was far from everything.

The next leg of the journey was in the sunlight, and passed many large lakes. Because it was dry, I set up the tent beside a lake and had a wonderful night outside. The wind picked up, and the temperature dropped to 5C, though. It bit cold for my thin summer sleeping bag.

I stayed in a cabin the next night at the foot of a cliff. There were sheep everywhere, and it was very messy. I left the next morning and hiked in the clouds all day. It never really rained, but everything was soaked. I took a break to take a swim in the lake at the top of the pass, and lost my watch. Lucky for me, someone found it a brought it to the cabin where I stayed the next night.

the next leg took me up to 1000 meters to stay the night. There were so many nice places to set up the tent, but I wanted to get closer to the pass, to shorten the next day’s hike. And I’m so glad I did. As things go, the place where I finally set up the tent wasn’t so bad.

My final day of hiking was possibly the hardest day I have ever had that was supposedly on a trail. Steep descents, rock falls, and so much mud. I was so happy when I finally reached the road.

Along the way, there were these little guys whistling at me. I don’t know what he is called, though.

And, course, some beautiful flowers.

Lysefjord!

Epilogue. A few pictures taken with my phone.

…or doing as I am told.

For work I attended the E-MRS Fall 2019 Conference in Warsaw. Warsaw is a wonderful city, and I had some time to walk around. I also met some wonderful people, and one of them cracked the whip and requested I post some pictures from the trip.

I visited beautiful museums with captivating sculptures and furniture and rooms.

I also made a weekend trip to Krakow. It was crowded with tourists, but I had a few wonderful experiences I will remember, including a beautiful busker playing violin (no pictures, just memories). I rented a bike a biked up the Vistula, which was a great way to spend my time, with a picnic by the river and a visit to a monastery. There is also a great castle in the city center.

Finally, I took a series of mushroom photos for my sister. Check them out here.

I went on a wonderful trip to the Lake District a few years back with a wonderful friend and her cousin.

The next year I was in the Peak District with a couple colleagues. I have since been back, but I don’t think there are any pictures from that trip.

My first trip to the UK was near Durham, at a workshop in a castle.

A weekend trip to the village of Amble.

And finally, two years living in Birmingham, I took a few photos there too.

In September, I went on a second road trip through Scotland. I finally found some time to look through the photos I took on the trip.

A few years ago, I went on my first road trip through Scotland with Anna and Fabi. It was a wonderful experience.

My first digital camera was a point-and-shoot Kodak. I learned so much about photography with that little thing. I may add to this page as I find more photos. Or maybe I will need to start a new one…

A lot of my first photographs were birds and landscapes. Landscapes, because they were easy. Birds, well, I never go too many good shots of birds. so mostly landscapes, with blurry feathered things in them.

I also spent a lot of time at the beach. Water is still my favorite thing to shoot.

Photos like these are why I knew I needed to upgrade my camera. I had to trick Kodak into giving me these shots.

These panoramics were easy to take.

A good friend told me I should try black and white, because my photographs tend to be textured in nature. I tried my hand.

It is hard not to take stock of your life on your birthday. In many ways, the past year has been a complete waste, and I find this extra frustrating because it has been my one blanket goal not to do that anymore.

Ages ago I played with my film camera. This was the very end of a time of great time-wasting. This photos, then represent the last of wasted time.

Mostly these photos will be in and around Bellingham. Some of them are quite nice. In retrospect, these times rate better than this past year…

Rain has a terminal velocity of maybe 20 MPH falling straight down. But, it turns out, raindrops in 40 MPH wind are moving 40 MPH horizonally, in addition. I know, because I did the measurement this last weekend. And so did my tent. The 40 MPH winds blew my tent around until it started to collapse and tear. I discovered a lot of things, not just raindrops, have impressive force when moving at 40 MPH. Like hawthorn blossoms.

But my tent protected me through the night, and part of the next day. Only when the rain started pooling in the place beside the lake where I had set up camp did I have to break camp and head out of the mountains. Which afforded me the opportunity to have a short beach holiday in Wales, in Barmouth.

Two great nights in Wales, again. The first night I was almost alone with Llyn y Gader, on the north side of the peak, and the view of the sea to the west.

The next day I learned that the peak was a popular day hike for many, many people. It snowed on me at the top, so I didn’t stick around for very long.

I didn’t stay long at Llyn Cau on the third day, because I wasn’t sure when to catch the bus on a bank holiday.