Friday, January 26, 2007
Walk 17 Old Airport Circuit
Annie's choice - but first we had to do the arithmetic. How many circuits of their block did we have to complete to do a mile? Well, if one circuit takes 6 mins 38 seconds ... and it takes about 20 mins to do mile ... Annie reckoned to play safe we had to do 3 full circuits and one side (and back). So here you are Annie - your very own entry on the Fab50 Blog! Thanks for a great time.
Walk 16 Simien Viewpoint nr. Gonder
Gonder lad Muiugeta and I are at a fabulous viewpoint of the Simien Mountains about 30kms north of Gonder. Apparently Queen Liz stopped her too a good few years ago. His first ever, the photo was taken by Derso Worku who lived in the nearby village of Anbezo Giworgis and had accompanied us from the road along the track to the viewpoint. While enjoying the welcome peace and calm we saw a chelada baboon sitting below us and a majestic "Antenze" bird of prey. Muiu was great company speaking very good English and keen to help me enjoy Gonder - he has since kept in email contact, telling me about his studies. Unfortunately if would appear that no-one in Ethiopia can access this blog (or any at all) due to "restrictions" by the government!
Walk 15 Menegasha National Forest
First Fab50 in a new continent - Africa! The chance to visit Ethiopia came about thanks for my friends Adrian and Cathy who currently live in Addis Ababa. Only a couple of days after arriving in this amazing country they introduced me to this magnificent natural forest containing ancient juniper trees. It is the most substantial native forest in this part of Ethiopia. On this occasion, after a short "gorge-walk" for the kids, we drove up to the highest point and then walked along a path towards the high point Damocha Peak at 3,385m. After what we considered 1/2 mile we turned back so ensure we had walked the obligatory 1 mile. By now we had been joined by some local boys out to see if they could get anything from the "faranji" (foreigners). So for the purposes of this Fab50 the photo includes:
Unknown local man, local boys - Berseesa, Debela, Lamma and Negesa and also Kyle, Ben, Cathy and Annie. Adrian did walk with us but did the honours with the camera - so he still needs to do a Fab50! I returned to the forest a few days later and walked up to the same point with Haile, the Forest Manager. The highlight of the walk was being allowed to see inside the Exhibition Centre which we had only glimpsed at through drawn curtains on the first visit. If you ask nicely I'll show you pictures of the purple-fringed black puma and the other "trophies" inhabiting the building!
Walk 14 Cul Beag
Wendy and I "nipped" up this Cul Beag south of Contin on the 3rd (or was it 2nd) of January. This was another chance for me to explore a previously unknown corner of Ross-shire only a few miles away from home. The view from the top extend to Strathconon, Orrin reservoir and way out west. And Wendy, thanks for introducing me to the secrets of you lunch box! Much appreciated!
Monday, January 01, 2007
Walk 13 A lucky start to 2007
A grand start to the second and final year of Fab50s! Happy New Year to all you Fab50'ers. This was a spur of the moment walk through fabulous lichen-covered birch and pine woodland on the conglomerate rock of the Great Glen fault above Kilmuir - only a couple of miles from the house. This is what these walks are all about - friends sharing places they know - and being given the opportunity to discover new places. Thanks to Ali for taking us here.
"Us" being Lorna, Andy and me.
This photo was made possible by hanging the camera from a wee pine branch using the natty articulated three-legged-caterpillar tripod Andrew cleverly gave me for Christmas.
This photo was made possible by hanging the camera from a wee pine branch using the natty articulated three-legged-caterpillar tripod Andrew cleverly gave me for Christmas.