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.