Glasgow trip part 1: city

Some of my best friends live in Glasgow, and because they wanted to make my life as easy as possible (I'm sure), decided to share a flat which includes cool pet rats and enough room for tonnes of guests. Glasgow is pretty much always on my list of stops whenever I vist the UK and as such I've been there quite a lot now. This trip was particularly exciting as it was my first visit to the flat when I hadn't either been stressing out about my doctoral thesis or in one case actually writing bits of it while I was there.

Nowadays (there were times when this was different!) my friends are very good at showing me new bits of Glasgow I haven't been to before, and I really think it is a pretty fantastic place. Lots of green, lots of restaurants, plenty of space, impressive architecture and you can get around it quite easily by subway, train, and walking. Not to mention its proximity to the great scenery of the Scottish countryside. Of course, there is one thing that famously isn't always fantastic about Glasgow, and that's the weather. But you won't hear anything about that in this blogpost, because Glasgow at the beginning of September was gloriously sunny for much of the time I was there!

Most of the photos in my gallery of sunny Glasgow pictures were taken in Kelvingrove park, a beautiful park comprising a green and leafy small valley either side of the river Kelvin, towered over by the frankly Harry-potteresque tall tower of Glasgow university and the equally imposing red sandstone bulk and towers of the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum (also worth a visit!). The hilly nature of the park allows great views over towards the hills surrounding Glasgow, contrasting the cranes and tower blocks with the countryside beyond.

Check out the full gallery of pictures at this here linky thing, and maybe consider a trip to Glasgow if you're ever in the area! I cannot promise it will be sunny though.

Next time, photos from a trip I was taken on while in Glasgow, to the shores of the island of Arran!

Bis bald,

Der Tom

Hackney Marshes

I lived a few kilometres away from Hackney Marshes for two years during my stay in London, so of course I never went. The marshes remained an evocatively named and distant patch of green on the google maps representation of the area around my house... until now! On my recent post doctoral-defence trip to Britain I met up with my good friend and former housemate Ed, now a committed Hackney resident and co-owner of two rather active dogs (a whippet and a not-quite-a-whippet), which need their batteries running down if they aren't going to bark at everyone.

Ed suggested we take the dogs (and me) out for a walk in Hackney Marshes, a plan I was very much in favour of! I was slightly sad to discover that the marshes are not some kind of mist and will-o'-the-wisp haunted mystical swampland, but they do preserve some of their more marshy heritage and most importantly represent a massive expanse of green land. We started out in the huge playing field area, the towers of new developments and that weird rollercoaster in the olympic park (people may claim it isn't but I know better) forming the backdrop to people playing cricket. It was a lovely british day, bright sun combining with layers of wind-blown clouds to create a real show in the sky.

We walked on over a bridge, spotting a kingfisher flashing along the fast flowing river below. Moving between hedges of thick brambles we came out into the wilder, grassier area of the marshes. Ripe blackberries were everywhere, though the best efforts of earlier passers by meant that often all the really juicy ones were juuust out of reach! The view that opened up from the path was one that I would not have associated with London at all. In the distance, below the dramatic clouds, trains ran back and forth in front of the spire of a church. In the fields to one side were cows and to the other horses, looking small under the towering power lines.

Hackney marshes are an interesting mixed landscape of playing field, park, river, farmland, and good old London scruffiness. I echo Ed's sentiments that I wish I had discovered them sooner! My favourite photos from the walk are over here at this link, take a look!

As always, bis bald.

Der Tom

Winzendorf - Bad Fischau

This hike took place at the end of a several week stretch of hot, hot days in Vienna, with temperatures above 35 degrees in the day and only getting down to 25 degrees even in the middle of the night. The day of the hike was supposed to be the day the heatwave finally broke, indeed in the higher mountains the forecast was for thick cloud and rain. It was decided to do a lower route, with the hope of striking the perfect balance between warm and cold. As it happened all we got was humid, but it was a lovely hike, with great views and some nice surprises.

The route (this time not chosen by me!) started out in the village of Winzendorf on the rail line to Puchberg am Schneeberg, primarily famous for its yearly 'Karl May Festspiele', where the famous (in german-speaking countries anyway) wild west adventure stories of the eponymous author Karl May are acted out. We headed rapidly up onto the low hills, affording us a great view over the Vienna basin and also our future route. In the distance was an exciting-looking castle ruin. After an hour or so's walk we descended into a valley between two hills and climbed steeply up the other side to reach this very ruin, on the Emmerberg.

The vast overgrown complex proved too enticing so we headed in and explored. This castle ruin is at least twice as large as several similar ruins I have encountered hiking elsewhere near Vienna, with substantial walls still standing and fantastic vine-choked masonry. Right at the back of the castle the hill drops away and you get an unobstructed view of the dramatic limestone cliff of the Hohe Wand (literally 'high wall'), which is a sharp fault forming the northern boundary of the Vienna basin. A real shame this magical castle isn't officially open to the public, though with the size of the ruin the costs to make it tourist-friendly would undoubtedly be too large.

After the surprise castle we wandered on over the tops of the hills, accompanied mostly by rank upon rank of the particular species of fir tree that grows everywhere around Vienna in this sort of environment. These firs have beautiful bark on their bare trunks, a silvery sheen and with hints of purple mixed in with the brown. A whole forest of them quickly becomes a strange wall of tree trunks striping away seemingly to infinity. After finding one more viewpoint over the Hohe Wand we turned down towards our destination, Bad Fischau, me half wishing for a cooling thunderstorm that never came. There are a number of caves around the town, although we missed one (hidden somewhere in the undergrowth) and the other is apparently very impressive if you go on a caving tour, but has a tiny unimpressive entrance. No matter, a nice relaxing hike with great views, a perfect choice for repeating in winter too!

As usual, if you click on the link you will get to see the full photo gallery...

And also as usual: bis bald!

Der Tom