Life completely changed since I last published on my site. It's hard to imagine just a month ago we were not aware of what we were about to face: Lockdowns in many countries, strict rules about staying at home, who to see, where to go and how to behave. All due to our new modern enemy; COVID-19, the Corona virus, as we all know it.
February was unfortunately a very wet month. Not much photography going on. Of course there was my monthly assignment and I followed my online course, without practice. This needs to change, theory is nice, practice is better! Very last minute I planned a trip to Stockholm which gave some nice opportunities and during my photography club at work we visited Zutphen to practice a bit.
It has been a bit quite on my website. To be honest, the last months I did do some photography, but not that much. Weather was not on my side and I did not visit many places.
Philadelphia is a city with many highlights. We spent 2 full days in the city, just enough to capture some of them. We missed out on Fairmount park and some of the fine art museums!
Gettysburg
Bruges is a medieval town in the western part of Belgium. It’s an UNESCO world heritage site and the most visited site in Belgium! The city is famous for the beautiful medieval buildings and streets, but also offers great opportunities for food lovers and lots of chocolate!
21 years ago I was in London, at that time my favorite city in the whole world! Compared to Amsterdam and Paris that was, the only three ‘big’ cities I had seen so far. Ever since I have seen many more cities but I always kept this dream of London. Last month I visited London again, and I was not disappointed at all. Why did it took me soo long to go back? I’m a bit more reserved calling a city my favorite city because every city has its charm, but London is still great!
Our second day on the Orkney Islands was a beautiful sunny day! We tried to get the most out of it by getting up and out at 8:00 AM, and returned at 23:30 PM. If you are interested in history this island can keep you busy for a while! We started our day visiting the Standing Stones of Stenness and were the first people on site. The stones are a Neolithic monument and it might be the oldest henge site in the British Isles.
The Orkney Islands are un-Scottish. Closer to Norway than to London, proven very very early inhabitants, once occupied by Vikings, strategically important in both World Wars, this Island group is full of history. Not yet spoiled by mass tourism (although getting there), we experienced a tranquil heaven.
The North coast 500 is a scenic route along the coast through the highlands of Scotland. It’s divided into 6 main regions, 516 miles long and the official starting point lies in Inverness. Depending on what you prefer, you can either drive the route in 2 days or take 2 weeks to explore the regions and everything it has to offer.
One of Scotlands highlights is the Isle of Skye. Skye is situated just off the West Coast of Scotland and part of the inner Hebrides. I read somewhere Skye is a miniature version of Scotland. If you’ve seen Skye, you get a good impression of Scotland as a whole. To be honest I think it is a bit exaggerated, but the island is beautiful and definitely worth a visit. Since 1995 it’s possible to travel to Skye via a bridge. It’s an easy and convenient way to enter Skye. We choose an other way though; the small ferry from Mallaig to Armadale. At least, that was the idea. The weather interfered and the ferry was cancelled due to rough seas. So in the end we did drive via the bridge.
Our travels aren’t complete without a decent hike. This time we choose The Great Glen Way, a 118,5 km long hike, starting in Fort William, ending in Inverness. We did not hike all of it, but allmost half of it; 51 km (32 miles) from Laggan to Drumnadrochit. The Great Glen Way is stated to be a decent introduction into long distance walking, following a low level walk path for most of the time. In 2014 a high level route was introduced, so you have the option to either stay in the forest or walk above the tree line. Routes are well marked.
I fell in love with Scotland, but Lewis & Harris stole my heart. The Island is unspoiled, remote and not yet flooded with too many tourists. There is wonderful history to be found, amongst them the interesting tale about Harris Tweed.
"The next assignment is to tell a tale in 10 pictures", my colleague stated with a smile on his face. I reacted rather surprised: "but that's quite a challenge for us beginners". Well, That's a good way to learn", he responded.
Welcome to Luke's Tales & Travels!