Outdoors – David Kotz

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.

A beautiful (double!) rainbow over a Loch in the Western Highlands of Scotland.

Ballater, Scotland

Four short hikes.

We’re in the midst of a two-week driving tour of Scotland, about which I’ll post later. Meanwhile, a quick report about our hikes this weekend – my 31st consecutive weekend hike – in and around the small town of Ballater in the center of Cairngorm National Park. In addition to the natural beauty of the pastoral landscape surrounding this village on the shores of the River Dee, Ballater is known for the nearby Balmoral Castle (“the Highland home of the Royal Family”), built by Queen Victoria and a favorite retreat for Queen Elizabeth II. This area offers many interesting walks, from 4km to 70km. Given our schedule, I ended up doing four short walks, outlined after the photo.

Dartmouth and its castle

The picturesque village of Dartmouth, at the mouth of the River Dart.

Dartmouth College has been a major part of my life – as a student, professor, parent, and spouse – for over four decades. I am proud to be part of the extended community of this Ivy-League university that dates back to 1769, founded even before the United States. And yet, although I’ve long been aware it was named after the Earl of Dartmouth, in England, I’d never had a chance to look deeper into the origin of its name. Until today! I spent a beautiful spring afternoon exploring the picturesque village of Dartmouth, nestled along the banks of the River Dart within sight of the river’s mouth, which is defended by a Castle dating back to 1388. In addition to exploring this Dartmouth’s many historical milestones, my hike (30th consecutive weekend!) led me to one of the most spectacular wildflower meadows I’ve ever seen, in peak bloom!

David – on the River Dart, in Dartmouth England.

Amsterdam and tulips

A perfect weekend to visit!

The tulips are in full bloom in Holland! For my “hike” this weekend, Pam and I joined our friend Jen for a weekend in Amsterdam. (It’s only four hours from London via train!) Jen kindly arranged a bike rental in Lisse, a small village south of Amsterdam surrounded by vast fields of tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths – all in full bloom – where the air was sweet with the scent from hundreds of thousands of flowers. We spent a lovely few hours riding the bike paths – the Netherlands are heaven for bikers, because nearly every street and road has an adjacent bike path, with dedicated signage.

Vast fields of tulips, hyacinth, daffodils, and other flowers – outside Amsterdam.

Hiking the valley of Eden

28th consecutive weekend hike!

I’m back in England and today gave me another opportunity to hike through the rural forests, pastures, and villages in the greater London area. For this week’s hike – my 28th consecutive weekend hiking – I chose a counter-clockwise loop hike in the valley of the River Eden, through the historic villages of Chiddingstone and Penshurst. Spring has arrived! and the landscape is about as different as different can be, compared to last weekend’s hike!

Following the public footpath through the pastureland near the Eden River.

Svalbard cruise

A first installment about my trip to Svalbard.

I’ve just completed an amazing ten-day visit to Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago far to the north of Norway. In a prior post from Longyearbyen (the only substantial town in Svalbard), I described the fascinating multi-national character of these islands located at 76-81ºN latitude, only 600 miles from the North Pole. I flew here for a week-long photography workshop with Muench Workshops, aboard the MS Virgo. In this post I’ll share an overview of the ship, our itinerary, and our activities. I’ve posted a photo gallery; the videos may give you a good sense of the incredible landscape, but I am saving the best shots for future posts focused on wildlife and landscape – I’m still sifting through over 12,000 raw images snapped over ten days! [Postscript: One of my trip-mates put together a really nice five-minute video about our trip.]