Grindelwald First, Switzerland
The mountain restaurant and top cable car station at First, above Grindelwald, affords amazing views down to the valley and to the huge wall of rock opposite: including the famous Eiger North Wall.
Airolo, Switzerland
Deep amongst the mountains which form a natural boundary between the northern and southern sides of the Alps, Airolo sits below the old, snaking Gotthard Pass road. The intrepid northern motorway motorist heading south for the sun arrives in Airolo gratefully, often having queued for several hours on busy summer weekends to pass through the Gotthard Road Tunnel, which emerges here…
Spiezberg, Switzerland
Locals to Spiez, on the shores of Lake Thun, are familiar with the vineyards on Spiezberg hill. There is a well-used and well-loved path along the upper edge of the vineyards, which leads along the edge of the forest from the huge Katzenstein rock to the council office and library, and on towards Spiezmoos. It’s a great place to visit in…
Great Gable from Honister Pass
A terrific hike and a personal achievement in the central-western Lake District on our anniversary.
Loughrigg Fell
A shorter hike up one of the Lakeland fells, at Ambleside.
Interlaken Golf Course
I took a walk up through the woods from Heimwehfluh, near Interlaken. The top of the walk, after half an hour or so of wheezing and muscle aching, was high above the end of Lake Thun. Aside from enjoying the walk, having some exercise, and enjoying the view, I also discovered that the golf course in Interlaken has…
Gorges de l’Areuse
One of my favourite walks this year was in the Gorges de l’Areuse in the Jura mountains, above Neuchâtel. We decided that we wanted to do a proper, long hike in an autumn forest and we chose well. The forests in this part of the country are stupidly picturesque in Autumn and the route, beginning in Noiraigue and ending in…
Ballenberg in autumn
Jo and I took a stroll around the Ballenberg open air museum on her birthday weekend a couple of weeks ago. The museum and its buildings are officially open to the public between April and October, but the site, its paths and woodlands are left accessible after the business closes up for the winter. It’s a lovely, quiet and ridiculously picturesque…
And so it begins
Just as summer arrived in the Bernese Oberland late this year, so the first snow fall has arrived early. But that’s OK: the sun is shining and it looks beautiful.
Through the mists of time
The older I get, the more I come to recognize the way in which my photographs aid my memory. This is borne out by the way in which I can scroll back through my Lightroom catalogue of digital photos – currently topping 61,000 entries on two external hard drives, with more to be added from DVD backups – and be…
Such a backlog
A shot from a late autumn drive through the Jura mountains on the way home from Basel; one of many, many photos in a backlogged queue of shots I'd like to share.
The Courtyard
On a visit to Ebern in Germany, we came across a picturesque autumnal courtyard. On the wall outside, a plaque told of many years ago.
A place by the tracks
The end of the main train line to Interlaken from Zurich, Basel and beyond, via Bern, takes travellers through the centre of the small city, where the train line passes within feet of buildings in the main shopping centre and past the otherwise quiet lanes and back roads along the river.
The Jungfrau Region in Autumn
A panoramic view of the snow-laden alps above the autumnally beautiful forests near Interlaken in Switzerland.