Imponent golden Bowes Museum

The Museum is in the market town of Barnard Castle, County Durham situated in the heart of the Pennines in North East England. The town is just off the A66, 20 minutes by car from Scotch Corner (A1), 40 minutes from Penrith (M6) and 40 minutes from Durham Tees Valley Airport. Interesting place for a wandering around and be inspired.

Grey stone bridge

This is the Ashness Bridge, which is a traditional stone-built bridge on the single-track road from the Borrowdale road (B5289) to Watendlah in the Lake District. This point is famous for being a good viewpoint across Borrowdale  towards Skiddaw. Nice green pools for a refreshing paddle.

Blue ocean in Gruinard Bay

"Gruinard Bay has three stunning, pink sand beaches from the Torridon rocks. From Gruinard Bay there are wonderful views across island studded waters to the Coigach Hills.  The area is very interesting from a geological viewpoint and many unusual stones can be found near the rocks and shoreline. The beach offers spectacular views of An Teallach and the northern Highlands." (Source: https://www.visitscotland.com/info/towns-villages/gruinard-bay-p314331)


Great climbing spot. In a hot day the sea and the spring are just there for an after climbing dive.

Green Holy Isle

To arrive to the Holy Isle we have to catch a small boat at Lamlash Bay, in Arran. The boat takes only a maximum of 10 people but we were only 4 to take the last opportunity of the day to go there. At arrival we were welcomed by a nice German/Dutch resident (or volunteer) of the Budhist Community, which runs the Centre for World Peace and Health, who told us what were the attractions of the island. And the only thing to do was just going up and down the hill and around the island, while seeing the different painted figures of Budha. There was also the caves where the hermit St Molaise lived in the 6th century. The visit has to finish at 4pm, which is when the small ferry boat comes back to pick the single day visitors. While waiting, we fed a cereal bar to a couple of chaffinches and a blackbird and I visited the organic allotment maintained by the community. Ah, and I went for a swim. The water was quite warm to my surprise! 

Yellow and warm sunset in Cir Mhor

Nice walk through Glen Rosa until reaching the bottom of Cir Mhor. Good rock for climbing. Pleasant and smooth climbing with a great view over Arran at the top.


"Cir Mhor (Big Comb) is the last of the Corbett peaks of Arran and sits at 798m high. The name comes from the peaks resemblance to a cockscomb. Although not the highest peak in the range, Cir Mhor is justly described as the finest peak in the range. It forms, roughly, a triangular pyramid shape that faces one side towards Glen Iorsa, another to Glen Rosa and the third to Glen Sannox. Cir Mhor provides some of the best rock climbing on the Island." (In: https://www.summitpost.org/the-isle-of-arran/458606)

Blue sky and sea at Sheigra

This summer is being fantastic. And when the summer is like this in the west coast of Scotland, there is hardly any other beautiful place in the world. Fortunately for me, who likes travelling the world, the weather is hardly fantastic in Scotland and this summer has been only an exception. After a busy winter, spending few days in Sheigra was recharging. There is a nice beach, good climbing in the sea cliffs and a free site to camp!

Blue and red jackets

I sometimes think that if I reach my 70s, and with relative good health, I will be ready to travel around the world in cruises, as many old people do because it is an easy way of seeing the world with everything arranged for you. I just cannot stand the idea of travelling in a cruise but deeply believed, until very recently, that in my 70s I would have a different opinion about it. Some weeks ago, however, I was climbing Sgurr Alasdair in Skye and came across a group of over 70s climbing the Cioch. I have changed my mind. I will definitely pass the cruises in my 70s if I can!

Also grey sky in the South of Africa

I want to go back to South Africa. This first trip to the country was only a recognition trip. I did not travel  much around. I paddled in the Indian ocean and found out the water was as cold as the Atlantic ocean that bathes Cambelas, and that, similarly, the beach also get lots of plastic litter. I spent my weekend looking at the ocean from my room in a B&B located in the first line sea view. One night, after coming late from having dinner down town I met the only other host of the B&B I was staying, a guy from Swaziland. We went for dinner the following night and I learned so much about this small monarchy stuck between South Africa and Mozambique and about his refined taste for classical music. Unlikely but pleasant meetings usually happen when one travel alone.

The grey skies of Galicia

When I was 15 years old a read the book Diario de um Mago (The Pilgrimage) from Paulo Coelho, which was an inspiration at that age. The author walked the French way to Santiago de Compostela during six weeks and relates his experiences of self-discovery during the more than 1000km. Since then, I always wanted to walk the way as well. And in fact, throughout the years I have done bits of the Northern way and the French way, and I have visited Santiago and its imposing cathedral. Last April, by chance, all the stars aligned for me to do one of the Portuguese ways to Santiago with three colleagues. But I haven't walk though, I cycled, and I did not go for self-discovery but to appreciate the scenery and enjoy the experience. It took us 3.5 days to cycle from Porto to Santiago (~230km). We slept in Ponte de Lima, Redondela and Padron and we soaked to the bones in the second day as it rained and haled as if we were in Scotland (but we were in Galicia!). Cycling the Portuguese way was not peanuts, especially going up Serra da Labruja, in which we almost had to carry the bikes on our backs. But the landscape was always surprisingly refreshing and picturesque and it was interesting to see and talk to so many people walking the way. Arriving at the main square at Santiago, in front of the cathedral brought me an enormous sense of achievement, and the mysticism that I lacked during the way appeared in full power. 

Blue Spring gentians

The presence of unusual artic-alpine plant species in the Upper Teesdale nudges me to walk about two miles along the river Tee in the beginning of Spring to witness the flowering of the Spring gentians. What makes this place favourable to the gentians is the rocky outcrops of unaltered limestone, an upland setting which retains harsh climate, and unfavourable mineral content of soils to the growing of grasses that could compete with these rare flowers. Much of Teesdale has been designated as a protected conservation area.

Green and grey High Cup Nick

"This dramatic place is traditionally referred to as High Cup Nick, although rather intriguingly some old maps label it is as Eagle's Chair suggesting and eyrie probably existed here in times past. (...) The long symmetrical escarpments of dark dolerite at the rim of the valley are a result of the Whin Sill outcropping on either side of the valley. The whinstone rocks have then been eroded and weathered into columnar pillars, often producing a pleated effect in the play of light and shade." In The North Pennines - Landscape and Legend by Iain Brown. 

White milk and dark coffee

This is the best of field work: To seat down with people, to chat even if this means only to exchange names and laugh with each other, and taste what people want to offer you. With them I drank delicious raw milk from the local cows as well as coffee with salt, ate enset which is the fermented and roasted stem of false banana, and snacked roasted barley.

Playing with colours

These days I call myself not an interdisciplinary researcher, not a transdisciplinary researcher but an undisciplinary researcher. This means to be problem-based, interactive and involving strong forms of collaboration and partnership. While my colleagues where undertaking interviews with farmers in their local language I was finding out more about the children of the village. We exchanged our names, I taught them colours in English and they taught me several words in their own language. All is possible when we are undisciplinary.

Green Dufton Pike

Dufton is a small village with beautiful stone houses which is a staging post on the route of the Pennine Way. Behind the village the Dufton Pike rises steeply to the sky like an old volcano ready to become active again. Dufton Pike, together with Murton Pike and Knock Pike have been called the sentinels overlooking the eastern fringes of the Eden valley. Having a drink at the Stag Inn after the walk always guarantee an amusing conversation with the locals.

White stone in Montejunto

In 2017 and beginning of 2018 I started to investigate outdoor climbing sites in Portugal.  There is some potential it seems. Most of the sites are prepared for sports climbing but with some imagination trad climbing is also possible. In Montejunto the rock is white (limestone), the vegetation is Mediterranean and the view is stunning. In Casal Pianos, the rock is dark (basalt), the sea is the canvas, the cracks are vertical and using legs and knees to climb is a must. Cascais - Guia, is where everybody goes. The climbing is located in the sea cliffs (limestone), with the sun available until sunset. In Sintra, some routes take us all the way up to Castelo dos Mouros with a beautiful view over the Natural Park and the sea. The rock adherence (granite) is beautiful. Peniche is, unfortunately, full of litter left by Sunday visitors, but maybe if this problem is sorted out there will be some fun in climbing here in the future. The rock is granite and right next to the sea. 

Colourfoul miner's paintings

Picture (Tom Lamb- Testing for Gas) from the book Shifts of Light - Mining Art in the Great Northern Coalfield (Robert McManners & Gillian Wales

"From the early nineteenth century coal mining was to dominate the North East of England for one hundred and fifty years. It provided employment, determined townscapes and population distribution, created hardships, dominated skylines but above all spawned communities. These tightly-knit mining fraternities provided the miner with all his basic needs. Historically the miner has always felt the need to express himself both politically and creatively. (...) This took many forms - a pride in the size of a leek, the speed of a whippet, the flight of a pigeon, the beauty of a chrysanthemum, the sound of a brass band, the recitation of a verse, the writing of a play or latterly the painting of a picture. The resulting body of art produced in the Great Northern Coalfield is as fascinating as it is diverse."

The Art Mining Gallery in Bishop Auckland explores working life in the coalmines through original artefacts and artwork from prominent mining artists. It is very well worth a visit.

 

Purple "Our moon" in the lumiere

In November 2017 the light festival (Lumiere Durham) came to Durham again. Artists from around the world illuminated the city with a series of light installations. It was interesting to see all the different installations but slightly disappointing that the crowds had to follow the designated paths and had to behave like  sheep in a herd. Therefore, the most pleasant time was spent in the church of Our Lady of Mercy and St Godric's, which offered tea and cake for free, talking with two old ladies from Durham.

"Our moon" (Hannah Fox) - Using motion capture techniques similar to a Hollywood Blockbuster, 80 Durham residents’ unique facial expressions were digitally captured and transferred over to drive the drawn animation of Our Moon. Four Moons were created from the residents of Durham; childhood, youth, maturity, wisdom. Each evening of Lumiere Durham 2017 a different moon watched over the city and its people.

Transparent ice cores at the British Antarctica Survey

"Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled out of an ice sheet or glacier. Most ice core records come from Antarctica and Greenland, and the longest ice cores extend to 3km in depth. The oldest continuous ice core records to date extend 123,000 years in Greenland and 800,000 years in Antarctica. Ice cores contain information about past temperature, and about many other aspects of the environment. Crucially, the ice encloses small bubbles of air that contain a sample of the atmosphere – from these it is possible to measure directly the past concentration of gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) in the atmosphere. Direct and continuous measurements of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere extend back only to the 1950s. Ice core measurements allow us to extend this way back into the past. In an Antarctic core (Law Dome) with a very high snowfall rate, it has been possible to measure concentrations in air from as recently as the 1980s that is already enclosed in bubbles within the ice. Antarctic ice cores show us that the concentration of CO₂ was stable over the last millennium until the early 19th century. It then started to rise, and its concentration is now nearly 40% higher than it was before the industrial revolution." (British Antarctica Survey, 2014).