As daily life blends into our adventure, or vice versa, it has been a little hard to find time to put together a collection of photos, but this is not because I haven’t had time to take the pictures. In fact I have had so any shots to pour through that when faced with the task of gathering them up into a collection I didn’t really know where to begin! Below is two months worth of “Daily” adventures.
Edinburgh Street Photography
Edinburgh Old Town – Cowgate – Grassmarket – Greyfriars Kirkyard – National Museum of Scotland – Victoria Street – Waverley Station
I rarely head into town without my camera, even just to grab a Sunday coffee or to grab some groceries, because the city is such a perfect place for street photography, and the changeable but often damp weather seems to suit this perfectly!
New Bike Day
Our Polwarth Appartment & Aberdeenshire Enduro Series, Round 2, Hill of Fare, Echt
This might be a small chapter of this post, but it may well become a whole other post by itself, the start of many many plans finally arrived nearly 4 months into our trip- my brand new Canyon Strive enduro race bike and companion-to-be for many adventures to come. I just had to build it!
Not even 24hrs out of the box and I was clinging onto it for dear life at my first race on a whole new terrain. At first the trails seemed nearly un-rideable! The mud and roots got me first, removing any possibility of grip and then came the steepness. Time to learn my my sport all over again!
Walks in the Highlands
Conic Hill, Loch Lomond – The Falls of Bruar – Linn of Tummel – Dunkeld
We have made a good habit of getting away from Edinburgh on a regular basis, sometimes just for a short (by local standards) walk on Sunday morning. Photos will never do justice to the beauty or scale of this landscape but I will keep trying!
Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Edinburgh Castle
We had planned this evening excursion as a ‘must-do’ event even if it meant mixing with all of the tourists again. Whilst we were possibly the most “local” spectators in the crowd, there is a good reason why this event is sold out months in advance- what a spectacle! And we timed our booking perfectly to coincide with the start of the Edinburgh Festival period and a stunning summer evening. The city was glowing in the evening light and buzzing with excitement!
Two Weekends in Aberdeenshire
St Cyrus Beach – Stonehaven – Footdee, Aberdeen Harbour – Montrose – Dunnottar Castle
We found ourselves in Aberdeenshire on two occasions (three at time of writing) during this period for work and play. On our first visit we stayed near the city (for my race in Echt above), briefly explored the coast, I saw my first proper castle ruins and we tasted some beautiful seafood at a classic coastal inn. We loved the place so much that we decided to make a weekend of it the next time we were in the area and we stayed in the beautiful seaside town of St Cyrus, where we saw a beautiful sunrise and I got my chance to see the inside of the ruined castle. Amazing!
Edinburgh Festival Closing Night
Cowgate & Grassmarket- Edinburgh Old Town
After several weeks in complete party mode, it was time for the festival to wind down. We managed to see a few shows including some comedians, art, photography, and even some acrobatics. But the festival always ends with a bang- a 45min long firework display centred around the castle. I didn’t feel like sitting on a picnic rug in the gardens to listen to the concert but I did take my camera for an evening walk to see the spectacle.
Darks Skies and Still Mornings
Galloway Forest
I will finish this post with a handful of shots, taken of nearly the same vista. One at 10pm at night and the other at 8am the next morning. I was staying in the nearby St John’s town of Dalry, for another enduro race, at the Kirroughtree Forest. I had read that the park is a dark sky reserve and couldn’t resist the chance to attempt some astrophotography while I was in the area. My last attempt at this in such a prime location was 5 years ago at Lake Tekapo in New Zealand. Unfortunately as you will see from my image, I forgot how late you need to stay up to really capture the milky way. Although the sun had been down for over an hour in my shot, there is still a bright orange glow visible on horizon, although I did love the serenity of sitting by a dark lake for 45mins I needed to sleep before my race the next morning. All was not lost though, as I was driving by this location the following morning to go to the race, the sun suddenly broke through the clouds and I dived out of the car with my camera to capture the perfectly still lake and its reflections at it was touched briefly by the morning light, normal Scottish conditions resumed a minute and a half later, but I felt like this redeemed my bad luck the night before!
