The Alps 2017: Out the Window

Another of those places that has to be seen with your own eyes. Every nook and cranny is filled with detail that even a gallery of a thousand photographs could not hope to capture. So many moments where you turn a corner and say 'hang on that's a...'

Traveling through Stellenbosch when driving to Cape Town. We stopped for lunch at this vineyard and winery. Whilst my travel companions sampled the wares, I went for a little wander. I don't know if I was really allowed to poke my nose in the places I did, but it was fascinating to see all the machinery used to produce the wines.

My 2nd visit to Iceland. This time in Springtime. One glorious day followed by another in which the heavens opened and the wind raged.

The weather finally broke and I grabbed my bike and onto the ferry for a four day round-trip ride to Mont Saint-Michel, a true bucket list location that I've tried to get to for the last 6 years and been tripped on in one way or another from Covid to an operation on my arm. Unfortunately the day I got their it was enveloped in thick fog to the point where I could barely see it even thought I was there. The Abby was also closed due to an emergency so I didn't get to see as much as I'd hope. Which just means I have to go back. The weather played another trick by whipping up a storm the day I was supposed to go home. So a cancelled ferry meant an unexpected day in Saint-Malo. I'm glad it arrived that day as I'd have really struggled with the bike to get back there if was a riding day. But despite the hiccups, the riding was fun and I enjoyed myself. The intention is to spend more time with my bike in France and exploring what is on my doorstep.

A late afternoon walk around the Estonian city of Tartu.

By day the Jemaa el-Fnaa is a bustling market with traders, and entertainers seeing a coin or two from the visitors. By night it transforms into a huge open air food court. Brightly lit against the night, with a myriad of scents from the cooking meats and spices.

A Soviet era Nuclear Missile base with four silos buried deep in the woods in a quiet part of Lithuania. Now converted into a museum. Frankly this place left me with a haunted feeling, knowing within half an hour of a call destruction could be sent to one of many targets. Seeing these marked upon maps still on display somehow made it even more real.

Late afternoon we arrived in the city of Rabat and our destination The Mausoleum of Mohammed V, which shares the ground with Hassan Tower. The changing colours of the polished surfaces due to the reflected light from the overhead clouds and a sun that was now lowering in the sky brought to mind the Taj Mahal in Agra where I had watched the same phenomena

The Mutianyu section of the Great Wall is a world wonder that truly lives up to its reputation. A set of memories rather than a great set of photos. I'd not slept in around 72 hours, was struggling a bit physically and once I set foot on the wall was suddenly hit by the realisation that I no longer had a job, was actually at a place I'd dreamt of since I was a kid and at the start of a grand adventure. What a place to start it.

I went to Valencia in for the conclusion of the 2017 MotoGP World Champions, but got a little time the day after the race before my evening flight home. It's a city I'm going to have to return to in order to see more of the city itself. The Museu de les Ciències is where I spent most of my time. As well as being an outstanding museum, it is a photographers paradise. Full of leading lines and abstract angles.