Showing posts with label Lake Constance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lake Constance. Show all posts

Friday, 22 June 2018

Blue Light, Blue Water, White Clouds: A Long Day from Friedrichshafen

The Bodensee, Friedrichshafen


The journey home from Friedrichshafen was long and mostly uninspiring (half was spent in Heathrow Airport waiting for a delayed plane) but there were moments of beauty and splendour, all painted in blue and white.

The day began well with an early morning stroll along the lake front in Frierichshafen looking out over the brilliant blue water to distant snow-flecked mountains. The rich colours were calming and peaceful. A lovely start to the day.

A zeppelin hangs above the Bodensee

The ferry across the Bodensee (Lake Constance) to Romanshorn was relaxing too, with the mountains drawing slowly nearer though still hazy in the early light. A zeppelin drifted high above. I watched it fade into the distance over Friedrichshafen, the place where these airships were born.

Swiss Alps

A pleasant train journey to Zurich - I love the double-decker Swiss trains with their wonderful wide views - and then the first flight. The Swiss Alps lined the horizon, magnificent and tempting.

Zooming in on the Swiss Alps

Then came Heathrow and the long wait. Cafes, people watching, Kindle reading (Richard Fortey's excellent The Wood For The Trees which is set not far from the airport physically but takes place in a different world of nature and slow history), writing, wandering, shop browsing (do I need a new lens, tablet, smartphone? No).

Above rippling clouds

Finally take off and up through the clouds to the late evening blue sky. Whiteness rippling below, the sky matching that above the Bodensee.

Then the plunge into the clouds, a warning of turbulence that didn't happen, and out into heavy rain and wet Inverness Airport. A drive through the storm on a dark Midsummer's Eve and home. A long day. It's the blueness I'll remember.

Friday, 16 June 2017

Coincidental Entanglement: the John Muir Trust and the OutDoor Show

Loch Linnhe, Fort William

Just over two weeks ago I was in Fort William for the John Muir Trust AGM and Members' Gathering. On returning home I had one day free before I headed off to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance to be one of the judges for this year's OutDoor Industry Awards.

A side note from these two trips: in Fort William I had time for a stroll beside Loch Linnhe, and noted how this arm of the sea looks like an inland lake. In Friedrichshafen I visted Lake Constance and noted how this inland lake looks like the sea.

Lake Constance and Friedrichshafen




Now having those two meetings follow each other somewhat inconveniently closely is something I'd probably have quickly forgotten. But it's about to happen again. On June 16 I go down to Pitlochry for a John Muir Trust Trustees meeting. Then the very next day I go back to Friedrichshafen for the OutDoor Show itself. From conservation to gear again. Both about the outdoors, though in very different ways. And both involving spending a lot of time indoors.