Outdoors – David Kotz

Cambridge-Grantchester

Along the River Cam from Cambridge to Grantchester and back.

When I visited Cambridge, last month, I was in town for just the afternoon and had very little time to see the city or explore the university. I’m back, this time for five nights, to attend a computer-science conference (MobiSys). I chose to arrive early and go for a hike: from Cambridge to Grantchester, and return, along the River Cam. (Get it? Cam-bridge?) Along the way, I encountered four swans a-swimming and dozens of punters a-punting, dined al fresco in an orchard famed for its literary heritage; and explored a church nearly 900 years old.

Punting on the River Cam – Cambridge, England.

Hampstead Heath and Kenwood House

A midweek ramble through forest and art.

The weather is summery and I had some free time today, so I decided to take a walk in Hampstead Heath – a large, forested park in northwestern London – and stop for lunch in Kenwood House, a historic mansion that now serves as a public art museum. It was reputed to have a lovely café, so I stashed my laptop in my backpack and took the #24 bus to its endpoint near Hampstead Heath.

One of the broad avenues in Hampstead Heath, London.

Roman Silchester

A sunny hike through English countryside west of London, with a stop at 2000-year-old Roman ruins.

Another sunny day called for another excursion outside London, for a walk through the beautiful English countryside. I hopped off the train in tiny Mortimer, which is little more than a train depo, a church, a pub selling Indian cuisine, and a few houses. Soon I was traversing fields of wheat, crossing pastures with grazing cows, and following a lazy stream across the flat terrain. I tried to imagine what this landscape looked like two thousand years ago, when the Romans arrived and built an amphitheater. I was about to find out.

Surprising blue fields outside Mortimer, England.

Ysgyryd Fawr (Skirrid), Wales

A quick loop hike surrounded by splendid scenery

It’s not often I have an opportunity for a mid-week ‘bonus’ hike, but on a day spent driving across Wales, from Conwy on the north coast to Cardiff on the south coast, it’s hard not to stop somewhere in the midst of that magnificent countryside and go for a hike. I selected a small mountain called Ysgyryd Fawr, better known as Skirrid, because the AllTrails description touts its spectacular panoramic scenery. Of course, as I pulled into the trailhead car park, rain started to fall and I found myself sitting in the car, wondering whether it was worth heading out. It was!

Hikers ascend Skirrid, a small mountain in south Wales.

Lisboa – Monsanto

Hiking around a high point in Lisbon.

As part of three-day holiday-weekend visit to Lisbon, I took advantage of the beautiful late-spring weather to hike the trilho azul de Monsanto (blue trail) loop around Parque Florestal de Monsanto (Monsanto Forest Park), the largest green space in Lisbon, perched on a hilltop overlooking the city. In the cool morning air, I had the entire park virtually to myself – with blue skies, a gentle breeze, and wildflowers blooming.

Lisbon’s Monsanto Forest Park contains a diverse range of forest habitats.

Hackney to Walthamstow

33rd consecutive weekend hiking!

Another weekend in London – another opportunity for hiking! Today was a lovely day – warm and sunny, with flowers blooming in the parks and dooryards. I was a bit short for time so I selected a hike on the northeast edge of London, from Hackney to Walthamstow at the end of the Tube’s Victoria line. Although most of the walk was along streets or paved bike trails, the scenery varied from residential areas, to pedestrian streets on market day, to the vast Victoria Park, to the locks and canal boats along a series of three canals, to the meadows and forests of Hackney Marsh and Walthamstow Marsh.

Broadway market in Hackney, east London.

Shetland Otter

An incredible encounter!

While we were visiting the beautiful beach at Muckle Roe – an island on the west coast of the Shetland Islands – we spotted an otter running toward the surf. It quickly disappeared under the water, but I kept close watch and saw his head appear occasionally as he hunted in a shallow bed of kelp among the rocks a few meters offshore. Then – ahah! – he caught something. I watched him swim toward shore, a crab squirming in his jaws, just barely above the surface of the water. He reached the shore, but just behind a large boulder, where I could no longer see him. I grabbed my long lens and walked quietly down the beach, behind the boulder, and peered over. There he was, just a few meters away, gnawing on his crab!

An otter pauses while eating a crab, at Muckle Roe Beach in the Shetlands.

Shetland Islands

A magical place at 60º North.

After a week spent exploring Scotland’s mainland – if one can refer to the ‘mainland’ of what is, after all, part of an island – we boarded a large ferry in Aberdeen for an overnight cruise to the Shetland Islands. Located around 60º North latitude (more than 100 miles north of the mainland), this windswept archipelago in the North Sea is well-known for its stunning scenery and its hardy residents. We had three days to explore and found that was barely enough to experience the main island, and its hub settlement of Lerwick, without hopping any of the short ferries to outlying islands. Once again we were incredibly lucky with the weather! Let me share a few highlights and a gallery of photos.

The lighthouse at Esha Ness, on the western shore of the Shetlands.

Arthur’s seat

Early morning over Edinburgh.

For this weekend’s hike – my 32nd consecutive weekend hike – I decided to make a quick pre-breakfast climb of Arthur’s Seat, an ancient volcanic plug that dominates the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. (I was in Edinburgh to visit the university, and an old friend, in the middle of our Scotland holiday tour.) The gorse brush was blooming brilliant yellow, the skies were a perfect blue, and the sun was rising low in the east. A grand day for a hike!

Scotland

A week of fabulous spring weather in Scotland.

We’ve just completed a week-long exploration of Scotland, just as the flowers were blooming, the landscape was beginning to green, and the young lambs pranced in the pastures. Wow! Ever since my 2011 visit to Scotland I have wanted to return. On this visit, with my wife and two dear friends, we packed a lot into one week. I’ll touch here on the highlights and share a gallery with highly selective subset of photos snapped that week.