Blog Posts in Category: General

Hamburg

Alastair BegleyGeneral, Landscape Short Link

Having visited Hamburg last year we were keen to return to eat more fish and see a concert in the Elbphilharmonie. I also had unfinished business with a certain classic photo of Hamburg which I hadn’t been able to get last time due to the energy saving measures imposed at the time, meaning that the even lights in Hamburg were not on at the time. The trip was wonderful with plenty of good food and we still had lots to see. The concert in the Elbphilharmonie was great, however unfortunately I was still unable to get “the photo” that I was after due to building works. Oh well, we will just have to visit again. Nightscapes Normally getting nightscapes requires some form of effort, however in this case neither of my viewpoints did. The first was from our hotel room, so we simply walked back down to our room on the 11th floor from the cocktail bar on the 20th floor, where I hid behind a curtain and captured this wonderful scene looking over the Landungsbrücken, the Elbe and the Elbphilharmonie. The second viewpoint was from the Elbphilharmonie looking back. Read the full article…

2023 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Germany, Italy, Landscape, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Slovenia, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Walking Short Link

All to quickly it was once again the end of another year and time to reflect on the year. This year we really started to settle into our routine of living an hour from the Alps, with travel being much easier and having settled into Munich life, both professionally and socially. Unfortunately at the start of the year Becky had an accident and badly broke her wrist which was also misdiagnosed which delayed her recovery. This significantly impacted our year as we were unable to climb, klettersteig or ride our bikes for most of the year. The highlights of the year for me have to be Becky’s continued progression at skiing with her initial foray into ski touring, my ski mountaineering adventure on the Ruderhofspitze, my continued paragliding progression with my first flight over 100km, our wonderful holiday together to Slovenia and a beautiful walk near munich with a combination of snow&autumn colours. Winter Winter continued with lots of weekends away skiing with family, friends from the UK and friends from Munich, it seemed like we had a constant stream of visitors which as wonderful. Becky’s progression continued and she. Read the full article…

2022 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Alpinism, Arco, Austria, Bavaria, Dolomites, General, Landscape, Paragliding, Road Cycling, Rock Climbing, Scrambling, Ski Touring, Skiing, Via Ferrata, Walking, Winter Climbing, Winter Walking Short Link

Thankfully 2022 was a more normal year than the previous two years, and our first full year with our new lifestyle living an hour from the Alps. A high point of the year was the number of visitors we were able to host, for skiing, walking, paragliding and climbing. We certainly made the most of living near the alps, with most weekends spend in the mountains one way or another. Winter Our winter was fairly dominated with piste skiing, where Becky progressed from tentatively skiing easy blue runs to confidently skiing red runs with the odd short black run as well! This was great to see and I am looking forward to her continued progression this year. Despite the focus on piste skiing we also squeezed some paragliding in and I managed to get 4 days of ski touring as well. General Through the winter we managed to squeeze in some paragliding, and on one of our final days of skiing of the year, I am managed to combine a morning skiing with my first proper cross country flight on my paraglider which was a very memorable experience, as I. Read the full article…

2021 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering, Paragliding, Wildlife Short Link

Another year has passed and what a year it was with some outstanding high points due to living so close to the alps, but also with plenty of covid induced low points in the first half of the year. The year started with the first variant and a full on lockdown in the UK, which resulted in Becky being unable to travel backwards and forwards as required for her job and me staying in the UK until mid February. It was my first full year living in Munich and I certainly made the most of living an hour from the alps and regularly had my mind blown about what I could achieve without even taking any annual leave! I am not sure I have ever had a year in which I have spent so much time in the mountains, and I am really looking forward to Becky also discovering this properly this year! Winter After heading back to Germany in mid February winter was looking pretty bleak, with most of the snow in Bavaria having melted and no travel possibilities to the higher mountains in Austria. However, the lack of. Read the full article…

2020 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering Short Link

Well I think it is fairly safe to say that this year did not go as planned! We were meant to be getting married in August, however the global pandemic put that on hold until 2021. The year continued to be full of surprises, on my last day in work before I had to isolate due to the COVID rules I had an interview for a secondment to Germany. While clearly the middle of a global pandemic is not the best time to try and move country, we decided to take a risk and I accepted the role in Munich. This means that I now live an hour from the Alps, and hopefully Becky will as well when travel becomes easier again in the near future. Winter / Pre Lockdown The first two months of the year started well with plenty of mountain biking, some landscape photography and an enjoyable Scotland trip, it was just a shame that yet again I managed to injure myself on the Scotland trip so was confined to the hut for half of the week. While this meant I wasn’t able to get out and. Read the full article…

2019 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, Landscape, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering Short Link

Last year was a year which was dominated photographically by snow, this year is unfortunately the polar opposite as winter never really turned up in the UK and weather didn’t allow us to spend that much time high up in the Alps in the summer. Despite the lack of snow it was another excellent year, with plenty of good walking, good photography, ski touring in the alps and excellent scrambling, via ferratas and climbing in the Italian Dolomites. Winter South of the border there was even less snow than in Scotland, however we were fortunate enough to make good use of the one snowy weekend with a walk in the Brecon Beacons. Other than the lack of snow we were lucky to have some excellent walking conditions while we were in the mountains, the highlight had to be walking up to High Raise from Grasmere in the Lake District. Walking in the Brecon Beacons Carnedd Llewelyn from Llyn Eigiau Skirrid Sunrise from the Cat’s Back Waun Rydd from Talybont Reservoir A Windy Wetherlam High Raise from Grasmere Sunset from Mynydd Troed Scottish Winter We had a week booked in Scotland. Read the full article…

2018 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Landscape, Mountaineering Short Link

Looking back over 2018 it is safe to say that photographically it was a year dominated by snow for me. In the UK we had an exceptional winter which just went on and on, combined with my summer of road cycling which resulted in very few photographs and then an alpine summer which resulted in more snowy photographs. UK Winter Our winter in the UK started with a weekend trip up to Scotland to see some of our friends before they departed to New Zealand for 2 years. We had an enjoyable day walking before a day hiding from the weather. Gael Charn We then were able to make the most of the excellent winter by getting some winter walking done in the Lake District on the Avon Mountaineering Club’s annual winter Lakes trip. Unfortunately due to the quantity of snow it was not possible to climb, but it was certainly a beautiful day. Lake District It was then time for the annual AMC trip to Scotland. This year was the first time the AMC went to Torridon for a week. The week of the trip happened to coincide with. Read the full article…

2017 in 100 Photos

Alastair Begley100 Photos, General, Mountaineering Short Link

2017 was a very busy year with plenty of trips away, however due to a lack of motivation it was another year with limited climbing. This year we discovered road cycling which took up a large part of summer and we bought a house which resulted in numerous weekends at home packing, unpacking and doing DIY. We did manage to find plenty of time for walking in the mountains, and enjoyed an excellent summer holiday in Italy. Winter The winter got off to a strange start on the Avon Mountaineering Club’s (AMC) winter Lake District trip. The weather had been very mild leading up to the trip, and the forecast for the weekend looked brilliant. Due to this George managed to persuade Becky and me to go rock climbing on Gimmer. This was a brilliant day, if a little cold at the start before we were in the sun! It was soon time to head up to Scotland for the AMC winter trip, while there was plenty of snow on the trip there was a distinct lack of ice. I managed one day of climbing with George on Ben Nevis,. Read the full article…