High Summer: New Edition On The Way

I'm delighted to announce that my book High Summer, which tells the story of my long walk in the Candian Rockies, is being republished in a new edition through Andrew Terrill's imprint the Enchanted Rock Press. High Summer has been out of print for many years. It was first published in 1989.

Above is the new cover, designed by Andrew. He has written about the project on his blog. I am pleased to be working with him.

The new book will have more pictures than the first edition and a series of footnotes. I'm sorting through my many hundreds of film transparencies from the walk to decide which ones to scan and reading through the text to see where footnotes might be needed. These are enjoyable tasks - I haven't looked at the book or the photos for a very long time. Some of the material, words and pictures, feels quite unfamiliar. Reliving the walk is suprising me! 

High Summer will be relaunched in the summer.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2024

This year's Big Garden Birdwatch  took place with the thawing remnants of the last snowfall on the ground, a cold wind, cloudy sky with occasional hazy sunshine, and a temperature of 4.5C. 

There weren't as many birds as we've seen most days this winter. The total number was just one more than last year. There were with two more species this year but no greenfinches. Last year we didn't see house sparrows, blackbirds, or sparrowhawks. The first two of these we've seen almost every day this winter, often up to ten at a time. A sparrowhawk has often been around too. Other than the last all the species are ones we've seen every day this winter. Most days we also see greenfinches, goldfinches, siskins, and wood pigeons but none turned up during the hour of the birdwatch.

Here's the full list:

Coal Tit                                 9

Chaffinch                               5 

Blue Tit                                 4

Great Tit                               3

Great Spotted Woodpecker    3

Robin                                   2

Dunnock                               2

Blackbird                              1

House Sparrow                     1

Sparrowhawk                        1

Photo note: The picture was taken immediately before the birdwatch. It's not very good as the light was not ideal, being low on the feeders but bright in the background and quite flat overall. I should maybe have used a faster shutter speed than 1/250 sec and a higher ISO than 1250 (lens was the Sony E 70-350mm @ 120mm, f stop was 5.6.). Anyway, I wanted to show the birds and feeders at the time of the birdwatch rather than post a better photo taken at another time.

A Look At The March Issue Of The Great Outdoors

This is the first issue edited by Francesca Donovan and I think it's excellent. It's also the first with David Lintern as Deputy Editor.

Of course as a regular contributor (and the grand title of Gear Editor) I am biased! However I don't see the issue or any of the contents until it's published and I read it just like anyone else.

My main contribution to this issue is a trip report and gear review of an overnight snow camp high in the Cairngorms. I also review the 66 North Hengill Insulated Jacket. 

Also in the gear section Lucy Wallace and Alex Roddie review three down jackets apiece and David Lintern reviews the interesting Durston X-Mid 1 tent.

The main features cover City Breaks -outdoor areas easily and quickly accessible from major UH cities; David Lintern backpacking in the SE Cairngorms - illustrated with his usual superb photos; Tom McNally explaining how the Abraham brothers set the scene for modern outdoor photography, with some great photos of modern climbers in Victorian garb on Napes Needle and Needles Ridge by Nadir Khan; and Alice Morrison walking in the deserts and canyons of north-west Saudi Arabia.

The issue opens with a wonderful photo of trees covered in hoar frost in Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands with Ben Nevis in the background by Fiona Campbell. 

Inside there's a list of the contenders for the The Great Outdoors Awards 2024 which you can vote for online here.  

Also in this issue Creator of the Month is 'The Urban Wanderer' Sarah Irving. The Opinion piece is by Right to Roam Campaign organiser Jon Moses who says the idea of a new national park is a diversion from the need for better access to the countryside in England. Tim Gent looks at walks you can do on a weekend in Postbridge in the middle of Dartmoor. Francesca Donovan reviews Merryn Glover's The Hidden Fires - A Cairngorm Journey With Nan Shepherd, a book I've just started reading. Jim Perrin's Mountain Portrait is The Stiperstones in Shropshire. In her notes from her coastal walk around Britain Emma Schroeder says she's become a big fan of birds, especially pigeons! The Hills Skill section has Alex Roddie looking at how to avoid fatigue when hillwalking.

Wild Walks ranges from the Northwest Highlands to the Brecon Beacons. Alex Roddie goes up Quinag in Assynt and Glas Maol in the Mounth. Also in Scotland Ian Battersby climbs Beinn Sgulaird in the West Highlands. There are five walks in the Lake District with Vivienne Crow undertaking the Deepdale Horseshoe and the Gatesgarthdale Round, James Forrest walking the Fusedale Round and the Dodds Round, and Ian Battersby going up Whinash from Bretherdale. In the Peak District Francesca Donovan traverses the Edale Skyline while in the Brecon Beacons Fiona Barltrop strides out along the ridges of the Black Mountains. 

Photography Gear: My Lenses

Having been asked recently what lenses I used with my Sony cameras I compiled a list and thought about whether I needed all these lenses. Here’s what I came up with. Note that my cameras have APS-C sensors so the focal lengths need multiplying by 1.5 for the full frame/35mm equivalent

Sony 18-135mm f3.5-5.6        My most used lens, sometimes the only one I take on walks, due to the      

                                            wide focal range.

Sony 10-20mm f4                  The second lens I take on walks - for wide angle shots.

Sigma 18-50 f2.8                   My newest lens, an alternative to the 18-135mm - less reach  but                                             better in low light.

Sony 11mm f1.8                    The third lens I often take on overnight trips, for night shots and       

                                            astrophotography.

Sony 70-350mm f4.5 - f6.3      For wildlife, 525mm 35mm equivalent at long end! Quite heavy so                                             local use and occasional day walks. 

Sony 30mm f3.5 Macro          Mostly used for photographing slides on a lightbox.

Sony 50mm f1.8                    Portraits & sometimes low light shots of gear and other items. My               

                                            only full frame lens – it works fine.

Sony 35mm f1.8                    Low light lens - often used for gear photos and on evening walks.

Sony 55-210mm f4.5-f6.3        My oldest lens (2010), much lighter but less reach and poorer      

                                            quality images than 70-350mm.

 

Sony 16-50mm f3.5-5.6          Tiny & ultralight kit lens that came with the a6000 camera in 2014.

                                            My main lens for a few years but poor quality compared to 18-135 and   

                                            18-50 lenses.

The last two are the only lenses I could easily dispense with.

I’m not thinking of any new lenses this year as I bought three last year – the 11mm, 10-20mm, and 18-50mm, the first two to replace a 12mm and a 10-18mm, which I sold. The only lens I’d really like doesn’t exist and probably never will – an 18-135 f2.8 that doesn’t weigh much more than the f3.5-5.6 one. Oh, and it would be nice if it was 16-135! 

That said, a macro lens with a longer focal length would be nice. 30mm can be hard to work with. Maybe ........

Images And Some Words From A Week Of Snow

The snow started to fall a week ago. Today a slow thaw started. For the previous six days the temperature has never risen above freezing and the snow lay thick. Not as deep as sometimes but enough to make walking a little difficult and enough for a ski tour, the first of the winter.

The snow soon made the estate track to the house impassable at the steepest spot. I’ve failed to get up that section and had to slide back down, sometimes ending up in a ditch and having to be pulled out, too many times in the past. It’s easier just to leave the car at the bottom by the road.

That single track road has been icy and slippery too. I only ventured out in the car twice, to drive the five miles into Grantown-on-Spey to collect the post from the sorting office – no deliveries in this weather – and buy groceries, which I then hauled up the track on a very old plastic sledge.

With snow falling most days, sometime heavily, and road conditions variable I didn’t want to drive beyond town in case I ended up stuck somewhere. Driving on snowy and icy roads isn’t pleasant anyway.

It’s been a week of local walks (and one ski tour) then. This is always fine, especially when there’s snow as it changes the landscape so much. The woods feel more mysterious, more other worldly. The snow clouds wreath thick patterns over the white hills. The light glows ethereally.

There hasn’t been much sunshine, just the occasional burst, sometimes blinding the eyes, sometimes making a distant peak shine. Underfoot the snow crunches.

In the fields rabbits have been digging through the snow for patches of frozen reeds or grass. Those in the garden eat peanuts and sunflower seeds. Red squirrels come to the rapidly emptying feeders, scaring away the birds, of which there are many. Coal tits and chaffinches are the greatest in number, as usual. There’ve been more blackbirds than ever before, with as many as ten at a time. Great spotted woodpeckers, siskins, greenfinches, house sparrows, robins, dunnocks, sparrowhawks. The garden is alive with life.

Now the snow is wet, heavy, and thawing. By tomorrow most will probably have gone. Then comes high winds and heavy rain with Storm Isha.

Once the weather settles I’ll be heading for the hills. I hope. Unless the snow returns.

-
 

Mountaineering Scotland Writing Competition 2024

The Cairngorms: always inspirational

Mountaineering Scotland's Mountain Writing Competition returns with new prizes and a youth category. This year I am one of the judges and I'm greatly looking forward to reading the entries. The standard has always been high and I've been impressed by the winning entries I've read (they're published in Scottish Mountaineer Magazine and online). So please get writing so I can enjoy your work!

In a press release Mountaineering Scotland says "the Mountaineering Scotland Mountain Writing Competition is open to anyone living in the UK, and entries can be fact or fiction, just so long as the subject matter has a connection with the mountains/ any aspect of mountaineering, rock climbing, walking, trail running or skiing/ski-touring. The competition is open to both Mountaineering Scotland members and non-members".

Entries for the 2024 Mountaineering Scotland Mountain Writing competition are open from 9am on 18^th January and close at 5pm on 1^st March 2024. Winners will be notified in April 2024.

Entries can be made through the online application portal, with an entry fee of £7.50 per entry (adults), per category, and £5 for the young poet category. 

 

 

 

A New Book Project & Covers To Consider

On a long walk, long ago

I've been having discussions with Andrew Terrill about relaunching some of my long out-of-print books and we've decided to go ahead with two of them (and one may become two with a new second volume). They'll be published by Andrew's imprint, Enchanted Rock Press. 

Andrew is the author of the wonderful books The Earth Beneath My Feet and On Sacred Ground about his amazing 7,000 mile walk from the toe of Italy to the North Cape, and I'm delighted to be working with him.

Andrew Terrill in the Colorado Rockies

After considering several new covers for the first book, designed by Andrew from my photographs, we've decided to ask other people for their opinions. Andrew has posted about this on his Facebook page and has set up a private Facebook group called Enchanted Rock Press Book Covers. If you're interested in commenting on the potential covers please ask to join the group. There is one condition. We're asking people not to say which book it is for the moment. But only for a short while!

Thanks to everyone who shares their opinion on the covers. We really appreciate it.