Photo of the day

[Digimonkey]

P.S. would love to go hiking with you Iain

H. - it's fairly easy to replicate the experience from the comfort of your own home mate. Dress appropriately and go and stand under the shower - eating crap re-hydrated food three times a day. Stay there for as long as you like. ha ha - yours - I.

 

[PickledNorthern]

View attachment 27611

Castle Ardvreck - Loch Assynt, Sutherland. North West Highlands. Originally late 16th C. - built by the Clan MacLeod, traditional lords of this area. Only the tower remains - it would have been much bigger, with a walled enclosure - gardens and courtyard. You get days like this in the Highlands - the weather locks in. The cloud is just above sea level. This is about as much as you can do with this sort of light. Leica and film. Cheers - I.

Amazing. Love it.

 

[Digimonkey]

Amazing. Love it.

Thank you - I.

 

[PickledNorthern]

@Digimonkey - I am a homebody. Or at least not a traveler. I am a guy that could spend my entire life exploring the woods of the same county and never get bored. Don't get me wrong, I am neither close or small minded; I love to learn and observe, I am just easily satisfied, I guess.

I love to look at places and pictures of things, and for the most part, seeing a picture and reading a story is enough for me. But your pictures..... Your pictures make me think that maybe I have missed out. They capture something that most don't: adventure, curiosity, fear, doldrums, everything. We are lucky to have you here. Thanks for sharing.

Jared

 

[Digimonkey]

@Digimonkey - I am a homebody. Or at least not a traveler. I am a guy that could spend my entire life exploring the woods of the same county and never get bored. Don't get me wrong, I am neither close or small minded; I love to learn and observe, I am just easily satisfied, I guess.

I love to look at places and pictures of things, and for the most part, seeing a picture and reading a story is enough for me. But your pictures..... Your pictures make me think that maybe I have missed out. They capture something that most don't: adventure, curiosity, fear, doldrums, everything. We are lucky to have you here. Thanks for sharing.

Jared

Jared - I'm humbled - thank you again - yours - I.

 

[Digimonkey]

A short walk in the Himalayas - part 1

A long time ago a very close friend and I decided to go for a walk in the the Parvati Valley in the Himalayas. Neither of us can remember why we decided this - I think we may have been drunk - to be honest. If you don't know where this is - as we didn't really when we came up with the plan - it is North East off the Kullu Valley - in the state of Himachal Padesh in India. So - get yourself to Delhi and then organise a bus to get you to Buntar - the ultimate destination of the route is the much more famous Manali. We get our tickets - they cost buttons. When is the bus leaving? Oh - this afternoon. Bollocks. I love pretty much everything about Indian culture but there is a bad habit of you being told what they think you want to hear and not the actuality of the situation. So the next day - or perhaps the next - we actually leave Delhi. It was scheduled at something around 8 to 10 hours. It took nearly 40. Both myself and my companion were no strangers to hard traveling. I wasn't long back from traveling overland from Pakistan to Kabul - during a civil war - before that around Albania just after the Communist regime fell - my mate had done India up and down including Kashmir. So we thought we were not pussies. This journey nearly broke us both. Apart from all the usual amusements of travel on Indian buses - flat tires, fatal incidents with pedestrians - oxen - we realised that the reason the driver was stopping every 20 km or so was that there was a leak in the brake line - which they were stopping by molding lumps of soap around the pipe to stem the flow of brake fluid. Let's put it this way - we flew back to Delhi - if anybody is interested we can arrive in Manikaran in tomorrow's post. Yours - I.





@Barry Giddens

 

[Barry Giddens]

A short walk in the Himalayas - part 1

A long time ago a very close friend and I decided to go for a walk in the the Parvati Valley in the Himalayas. Neither of us can remember why we decided this - I think we may have been drunk - to be honest. If you don't know where this is - as we didn't really when we came up with the plan - it is North East off the Kullu Valley - in the state of Himachal Padesh in India. So - get yourself to Delhi and then organise a bus to get you to Buntar - the ultimate destination of the route is the much more famous Manali. We get our tickets - they cost buttons. When is the bus leaving? Oh - this afternoon. Bollocks. I love pretty much everything about Indian culture but there is a bad habit of you being told what they think you want to hear and not the actuality of the situation. So the next day - or perhaps the next - we actually leave Delhi. It was scheduled at something around 8 to 10 hours. It took nearly 40. Both myself and my companion were no strangers to hard traveling. I wasn't long back from traveling overland from Pakistan to Kabul - during a civil war - before that around Albania just after the Communist regime fell - my mate had done India up and down including Kashmir. So we thought we were not pussies. This journey nearly broke us both. Apart from all the usual amusements of travel on Indian buses - flat tires, fatal incidents with pedestrians - oxen - we realised that the reason the driver was stopping every 20 km or so was that there was a leak in the brake line - which they were stopping by molding lumps of soap around the pipe to stem the flow of brake fluid. Let's put it this way - we flew back to Delhi - if anybody is interested we can arrive in Manikaran in tomorrow's post. Yours - I.

View attachment 28398

View attachment 28399

@Barry Giddens

Brilliant! I can't wait to arrive in Manikaran.

 

[Wayne Pritchard]

A short walk in the Himalayas - part 1

A long time ago a very close friend and I decided to go for a walk in the the Parvati Valley in the Himalayas. Neither of us can remember why we decided this - I think we may have been drunk - to be honest. If you don't know where this is - as we didn't really when we came up with the plan - it is North East off the Kullu Valley - in the state of Himachal Padesh in India. So - get yourself to Delhi and then organise a bus to get you to Buntar - the ultimate destination of the route is the much more famous Manali. We get our tickets - they cost buttons. When is the bus leaving? Oh - this afternoon. Bollocks. I love pretty much everything about Indian culture but there is a bad habit of you being told what they think you want to hear and not the actuality of the situation. So the next day - or perhaps the next - we actually leave Delhi. It was scheduled at something around 8 to 10 hours. It took nearly 40. Both myself and my companion were no strangers to hard traveling. I wasn't long back from traveling overland from Pakistan to Kabul - during a civil war - before that around Albania just after the Communist regime fell - my mate had done India up and down including Kashmir. So we thought we were not pussies. This journey nearly broke us both. Apart from all the usual amusements of travel on Indian buses - flat tires, fatal incidents with pedestrians - oxen - we realised that the reason the driver was stopping every 20 km or so was that there was a leak in the brake line - which they were stopping by molding lumps of soap around the pipe to stem the flow of brake fluid. Let's put it this way - we flew back to Delhi - if anybody is interested we can arrive in Manikaran in tomorrow's post. Yours - I.

View attachment 28398

View attachment 28399

@Barry Giddens

Great pics and a thoroughly enjoyable read Iain.
Can't wait to land in Manikaran tomorrow.

 

[PickledNorthern]

Snowshoeing along the Turtle River in northern MN in January.

 

[Digimonkey]

Snowshoeing along the Turtle River in northern MN in January.

Beautiful @PickledNorthern - I've no idea why but I want to go and put on a down jacket. It looks well cold. I'll bet yours were the only prints in the snow? So - Mn - Minnesota? is that right? Right up against the border? - nice picture - thanks for sharing - yours - I.

 

[PickledNorthern]

Beautiful @PickledNorthern - I've no idea why but I want to go and put on a down jacket. It looks well cold. I'll bet yours were the only prints in the snow? So - Mn - Minnesota? is that right? Right up against the border? - nice picture - thanks for sharing - yours - I.

Minnesota, about ninety miles south of the border. It is very beautiful country. Most of the time I feel blessed to live here.


That particular day it was about -10 F when we were out. But we were moving pretty fast; was wearing just wool pants and a sweatshirt, but was frosted up like crazy. I guess one becomes acclimated.

Thanks for the interest.

Jared

 

[William Dobson]

Minnesota, about ninety miles south of the border. It is very beautiful country. Most of the time I feel blessed to live here.


That particular day it was about -10 F when we were out. But we were moving pretty fast; was wearing just wool pants and a sweatshirt, but was frosted up like crazy. I guess one becomes acclimated.

Thanks for the interest.

Jared

William Least Heat-Moon, in his wonderful book Blue Highways, stated that Minnesota would be the best state in the USA if it wasn't for the mosquitos. You are a lucky man to live there.

 

[Digimonkey]

A short walk in the Himalayas - day 2 - approaching town



The lower Parvati Valley approaching Manikaran. When we got off the bus in Buntar - where the Parvati river joins the Beas - shattered and broken men - we organised transport up the valley. No buses this time, we splashed out and got a jeep with our own driver. Under the circumstances we felt it justifiable. The horrors of the trip soon fell away as we soaked up our surroundings. The name of the valley derives from Parvati - she was the consort of Lord Shiva, and the pair spent some time here - we're talking a thousand years - because it was so beautiful. It's a pilgrimage site for both Hindus and Sikhs.



Up to the tree line - about 3000m - the valley is heavily wooded. Mostly deodar, pine and spruce - which will probably be the undoing of the place. It's heavily illegally logged - pretty much uncontrolled, more of this later. This is asking for trouble in an area that is prone to earthquakes. The trees keep the soil on the hill sides - take them away and the risk of catastrophic landslides is very real.



Our first view of Manikaran. We paid off the driver and sat for an hour enjoying the view. It had all been worth it. The river runs straight down from glaciers at the head of the valley - it's full of silt. Hence the colour - it's is also unbelievably cold. The force of the water is dramatic - at night when it was quiet - after a day of rain, you could hear huge boulders being shifted around in the current. The view is dominated on the left by the Manikaran gurdwara - Sikh temple - complex. As I mentioned before - the town is of particular holiness to Sikhs - the founder of the religion Guru Nanak spent time here with a disciple and there are various 'miracle' stories attached to the place. A gurdwara functions in a much greater way than say - a christian church. It is a place for worship but also a community centre, it has educational functions and also operates as a communal kitchen. It's a religious duty for Sikhs to feed anyone that asks for food. They make a mean vegetarian curry for lunch. In the background is the 'old town'.



The only way in and out of town - from this point motorised transport is banned. Probably mainly because the streets couldn't cope but also I suspect that the laden mules you see in the picture are about the upper-end of the safe weight loading limit for the structure.

If you have got this far - thank you for looking and reading. Tomorrow we'll go for a walk about town.

All pictures in this series were taken with Nikon manual focus cameras - either an FM2 or F2. Shot on Fuji Super G film

Cheers - I.

 

[Barry Giddens]

Snowshoeing along the Turtle River in northern MN in January.

That's a lovely photo.

 

[Barry Giddens]

A short walk in the Himalayas - day 2 - approaching town

View attachment 28422

The lower Parvati Valley approaching Manikaran. When we got off the bus in Buntar - where the Parvati river joins the Beas - shattered and broken men - we organised transport up the valley. No buses this time, we splashed out and got a jeep with our own driver. Under the circumstances we felt it justifiable. The horrors of the trip soon fell away as we soaked up our surroundings. The name of the valley derives from Parvati - she was the consort of Lord Shiva, and the pair spent some time here - we're talking a thousand years - because it was so beautiful. It's a pilgrimage site for both Hindus and Sikhs.

View attachment 28423

Up to the tree line - about 3000m - the valley is heavily wooded. Mostly deodar, pine and spruce - which will probably be the undoing of the place. It's heavily illegally logged - pretty much uncontrolled, more of this later. This is asking for trouble in an area that is prone to earthquakes. The trees keep the soil on the hill sides - take them away and the risk of catastrophic landslides is very real.

View attachment 28424

Our first view of Manikaran. We paid off the driver and sat for an hour enjoying the view. It had all been worth it. The river runs straight down from glaciers at the head of the valley - it's full of silt. Hence the colour - it's is also unbelievably cold. The force of the water is dramatic - at night when it was quiet - after a day of rain, you could hear huge boulders being shifted around in the current. The view is dominated on the left by the the Manikaran gurdwara - Sikh temple - complex. As I mentioned before - the town is of particular holiness to Sikhs - the founder of the religion Guru Nanak spent time here with a disciple and there are various 'miracle' stories attached to the place. A gurdwara functions in a much greater way than say - a christian church. It is a place for worship but also a community centre, it has educational functions and also operates as a communal kitchen. It's a religious duty for Sikhs to feed anyone that asks for food. They make a mean vegetarian curry for lunch. In the background is the 'old town'.

View attachment 28425

The only way in and out of town - from this point motorised transport is banned. Probably mainly because the streets couldn't cope but also I suspect that the laden mules you see in the picture are about the upper-end of the safe weight loading limit for the structure.

If you have got this far - thank you for looking and reading. Tomorrow we'll go for a walk about town.

All pictures in this series were taken with Nikon manual focus cameras - either an FM2 or F2. Shot on Fuji Super G film

Cheers - I.

Another hugely enjoyable read Iain. The photos add to the sense of 'being there'. Thank you.

 

[Number Six]

I couldn't resist this intriguing little girl at the big market here in Chang Mai Thailand:

(Shot with a Leica Q)


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