A few ladders in the Steinwandklamm

A post relating to activities from quite a while back now... It's been spring since March, it's lovely! We've had a few April showers recently, distressing the locals but delivering really a very home-y feeling. There's nothing like the sun breaking through after the rainstorm! But unfortunately the last few weeks I didn't get out hiking because I needed the time for some well earned resting from all the working I had to do. I know, I didn't think that was part of the plan either! But sometimes one needs to have a day where one cleans the house, one's things, and oneself, not to mention actually going to a shop while it is open so you can eat the next day...

Hart's tongue ferns in the gorge

Luckily for you, internet, I did collect a backlog of images from March to show off. Todays photos come from a hike in the hills just a way north of the Schneeberg. Out of the Wienerwald, the highest peaks here are already nudging Ben Nevis heights, but are of course still completely forested and thus a little underwhelming. There is a well known crop of waterfalls and gorges in the area though, our goal for the hike.

In my magical book of hike near Vienna, hands down the best book I have purchased here for sheer value and enjoyment, this hike is the only one giving the prestigious black difficulty level. The reason for this is that in the gorge (Steinwandklamm) itself is a sort of mini-klettersteig (via ferrata) of a whole bunch of ladders and even a couple of mini caves to walk through, cautiously protecting your head. It's a whole lot of fun, and *probably* not as dangerous as the photos look... Nonetheless, I am pretty certain health and safety regulations in Britain wouldn't be very happy about it. Interesting really, as you're not banned from scrambling up Tryfan (scrambling is at your own risk) but somehow I feel we would draw the line as soon as something was actually man made and lawsuits could come into play...

Sheep friends, hi!

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the spring-y fare: ladders and sheep and flowers oh my!

Der Tom

Snapshots from an early Spring

Spring really has sprung early this year, just as wrongfooting in its way as the late winter of the previous year, but somehow, people aren't really complaining. Of course I have been among the masses flocking to the parks and green places in and around Vienna, mostly before they have even *become* green again.

I am managing so far to keep up one hike a week, which is a pretty reasonable pace, considering that on several weekends I have then also completed smaller aimless wanderings on other days as well. Someone pointed out the other day that the temperature (in March) here (22 degrees) was the same as the average high for London for July... No wonder I have already started to feel a bit hot :-/

The shots I have selected for this blog are an extremely mixed bunch, featuring buildings, parks, people, woods, a solitary kite, and a sunset. As such they feel like they give a slightly more realistic view of my outside life than some photo collections, representing as they do a cross section of photogenic things I have been doing, rather than just one (though I think it important to point out I'm certainly not doing photogenic things so often as it probably seems from this blog!).

The first photo in the group I am particularly happy with, not because of any brilliance in composition but because it comes closest to capturing the magic of my favourite building, that much beblogged flakturm in the Augarten. My previous images captured some of the forboding bleakness of the place, but it is very important to realise how much of the flakturm's coolness comes from the fact that right in front of it is a tattered, reclaimed grassy bit which clearly once had flowerbeds, before it surrendered to the relentless logic of football and frisbee. Nowadays at any sign of good weather, and frequently without even that, hordes of viennese citizens take to the field to play and lie around. It is much more vibrant and less stuck up than the central viennese parks, lying as it does in a more immigrant neighbourhood. The clash between this and the sombre ruin of the giant Nazi fortresses is what gives the place its special *something*

Here's wishing spring comes to you too, soon! And if it isn't springing right now, here's the photo gallery to make up for it.

Der Tom

Alps: snowy edition

A while back now, I headed off to the mountains of Tirol (more specifically, the Pitztal) to celebrate a friend's birthday in a mountain hut. Unfortunatley (and for no good reason considering I live here) I cannot ski, so the major attraction of the alps in winter is rather lost on me. As such, I have very rarely ventured into the alps at this time of year.

The weather on the day we set out to explore was fantastic, barely a cloud in the sky and bright sunshine. Extremely strong winds closed the highest cafe in Austria (perched precariously 3440m up at the top of two or three separate cable cars...) but this was in a way a benefit, as it encouraged us to go out for a walk. options are limited in the high mountains where snow depths are 2m plus, but we found a flat area next to an invisible lake where a cross country ski piste provided tamped down snow that we could walk on without snow shoes. Deviating from the path meant instantly and hilariously being swallowed up by deep snow...

I had a lot of fun with the camera, trying to capture all the bright whites, sharp rocks and smooth snowy curves. An absolutely stunning landscape, and though I shall be a bit more proactive about looking for snowshoes if I go to the alps in winter again, I have to say there were many points on our small walk where I could have just sat for hours staring at the same view (watching blasts of windblown snow come off the tops of the peaks in great clouds).

At night the full moon lit up the snow covered valley to the point where absolutely no torches were necessary. We all had moon shadows (feels very mystical, having a moon shadow, and doesn't really happen in the city!), and thanks to some very thin misty clouds, I even saw a moonbow! First time for me, I think.

I hope you will enjoy this gallery of majestic pointed rocky things!!

Der Tom

Bubbles and sunsets

Every so often on a weekend stroll around town, I bring my camera, and every so often, weather and cicumstances conspire to offer me something to photograph. This winter has been a funny one, in stark contrast to last year and the turmoil in great Britain, winter so far in  my part of Austria has been decidedly mild. There's always time for a last minute sting in the tail of course, let's not forget that there was snow on the ground here in April last year. Nonetheless, a prolonged snap of subzero temperatures doesn't seem on the cards right now. Even when it did get below zero, my memories of the heat wave of last summer were enough for me to praise the fact that at least I am comfortable in my own home in subzero temperatures!

Today we have a short selection of nine photos, including from the insanely photogenic giant bubble blowing that happens at Heldenplatz in good weather (seriously, those giant things fly for hundreds of metres, the woman who does it must have mixed the absolute perfect bubble solution!). Also present is the Stephansdom, frankly not a sight I see that often these days but it still impresses, especially when bathed in orange in the sunset. The last couple of photos are from my favourite lookout spot in the whole of Vienna, the Leopoldsberg, which has already featured many times on this blog. The best views combined with the best atmosphere, I hadn't been up there for a while either and that was a mistake!

Now the christmas period is past and the snow appears to have been beaten off early this year, I really need to get back into the hiking habit, especially in order to feed the blog hordes with photos. Last weekend I walked many kilometres soaking up the sun, but only inside the city limits. Let's see if I can change that soon. Of course I still have the photos from utterly snowy Tirol to show you, look out for them soon!

Der Tom

The Banks of Loch Lomond

I have made it a New Year's tradition to travel to Glasgow, Scotland for hogmanay. Not necessarily because just being in Scotland lends the concept of the new year an extra glamour (though to be sure it does), but mostly because I have good friends there. One of the nicest things about traditions for me as a non-resident of the British Isles is it makes my movements predictable, so other friends also know where to find me! This year's hogmanay was no exception, celebrated with the requisite amount of beer and friends in a house in the scottish countryside, topped off with a delicious (and eminently traditional) dinner of mexican food.

Unfortunately for my host though, it is the lot of hardworking internet journalists that they must work sometimes, even in the days leading up to new year. Luckily, her dad and I are very similarly minded when it comes to outings (to whit, they should be outside, with countryside, and preferably wildlife) so we headed off to enjoy some of the great scottish countryside. After a last minute plan change due to a cancelled train, we ended up going to Loch Lomond, the large and famous Loch not far from Glasgow.

Scotland is a beautiful country, and of course never more so than when the sun is shining, especially considering the comparative rarity of this occurrence. So we were extremely lucky to have picked a sunny day! The pictures show the scenery better than I can describe, really. When walking in Scotland in winter you really get a sense of how far north it really is. The sun stays low towards the horizon, and everything is lush and wet and green. All the trees were covered in moss, lichen and fungus, a testament to cleaner air as well as a wet climate. The hills in the distance are green-brown with heather, and the highest even dotted with snow. A great walk to round off 2013 with!

Male Goosander

There were also a bunch of interesting birds to look at, including abundant goosander and siskins.


As usual, extra photos can be found by clicking here!

Der Tom

The Chilterns part 2: Boxing Day +1

My many friends made through scouting have had a tradition of sorts for several years now. As is the way of groups, as we have got older we have moved away and spread out across the country, and in some cases, the world. Nonetheless, christmas time is a rare time where many of us are back right where we first met, and can meet up again. Usually, we waste no time in heading for the nearest pub, but on the day after boxing day, named in the traditional calendar 'Boxing Day +1', we gather for a hike. Granted, the hike is to a pub, but... Anyway, it's always a lot of fun, and this year we collected 12 people, what may be a record!

The photos from this trip showcase the other face of the chilterns. When surrounded on all sides by resistant chalk, the landscape becomes paradoxically softer. Gone are the sharp scarps at the north edge of the chilterns. Instead, there are broad valleys separating rounded low wooded ridges. These areas are primarily used for farming, and the ploughed fields are littered with the grey and white shards of flint weathered out of the chalk. Although Buckinghamshire is very crowded and quite built up in comparison to the truly rural landscapes of other parts of Britain, if you step outside the village on foot, rather than by car, you can surprisingly rapidly lose the housing estates behind hedges and fall into a parallel, much more scenic world...

It is interesting just how different the landscape looks to that of the Wienerwald, depite the fact that both areas are essentially former countryside areas full of satellite villages and towns for a large city. Of course, the major difference is explained somewhere at the confluence of geography, history and geology... Enjoy the photos of the first part of the world I ever went hiking around!

Der Tom

The Chilterns part 1: Coombe Hill

Phew, lost the ability to transfer photos from my camera for a bit there, but now we're back on track!

The next few posts will be featuring a glamourous guest star, the country of the United Kingdom! They stem from my month long christmas trip to the country of my birth. I figured I spend so long giving Austria free advertising and picking only the nicest pictures of it for publication, I owe the british countryside the same favour!

This gallery of images is taken from the top of Coombe Hill. A 260m hill (that's big for southern england!) it occupies an imposing position overlooking the low lying Vale of Aylesbury, and as such boasts views far in excess of its small stature. The views are aided by the fact that Coombe hill is mostly chalk downland, close cropped grass maintained by grazing animals. This is an excellent example of one of the 'unnatural' natural environments 1000s of years of farming have created in Britain and indeed many parts of the world.

The Chilterns are a long range of resistant chalk hills situated NW-ish of London. Steep, grassy hillsides criss-crossed with sheep tracks and dotted with gorse and newly invading patches of trees are characteristic of the part of the world I grew up in. The soil on chalk is always thin, and there is always the odd creamy white patch of exposed chalk at a severley eroded area or under a newly fallen tree. Once on top of the chalk the scenery is less dramatic and more rolling, and a glimpse of the farmland away from the sharp scarp at the edge of the chalk will be seen in the next blog post, about a hike near my village.

Coombe Hill possesses a large monument to Buckinghamshire soldiers who died in the Boer war at the turn of the 20th century (not the empire's finest hour, to put it mildly), and according to wikipedia represents one of the earlier war memorials in the UK to actually be about the individual fallen soldiers rather than celebrating some great battle or general.

In fact, Coombe Hill is actually a rather odd name, Coombe supposedly meaning 'hollow' or 'valley' in the language of celtic Britain.

It is nice to showcase some photos of Coombe Hill, the destination for many many childhood walks, hikes, night hikes, kite flying expeditions, scout wide games and barbecues. I hope the British and non-British readers of the blog alike enjoy an insight into the scenery of the Chiltern hills!

Here's the full gallery

Der Tom