New books

Just received advance copies of my two most recent books:

St Oswald’s Way and St Cuthbert’s Way, published by Cicerone Press
Istria. The Bradt Travel Guide, published by Bradt (co-author with Thammy Evans)

Both published February 2013

Seymour Tower

A walk out to Seymour Tower, around 2 miles (3km) offshore from Jersey’s southeast coast, at low tide. Jersey has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world (the island almost doubles in size at low tide), with the water racing out – and back in, a few hours later – at an alarming rate. The tide rises at speeds of up to 3 inches (~7.5cm) per minute; and large rocks attached to clumps of seaweed are dragged along the seabed by the rushing water, their tracks through the sand clearly visible at low tide.

Walking out to Seymour Tower from La Rocque harbour.

Oyster beds near La Rocque Point. Oysters have been an important part of the island’s economy for centuries, and there are over 25 hectares of oyster beds in this area.


Collecting shells

Exploring the seabed and massive inter-tidal reef near Seymour Tower at low tide. The ‘P’ was carved into the rock in the 18th century and refers to the Payne family, denoting their right to collect seaweed in this area.

Trail on the seabed where a rock, attached to a clump of seaweed, has been dragged along by the tide.

Trudie Trox of Jersey Walk Adventures explains culinary uses for different types of seaweed.

Seymour Tower, built in the late 18th century as part of the island’s defences against attacks by the French, rises from a rocky outcrop on the seabed and is completely surrounded by water (reaching depths of up to 40 feet or 12m) twice a day. It’s now possible to stay overnight in the tower, which has beds for up to eight people, including a mandatory guide.
More images of Jersey and the Seymour Tower walk here.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Ala Daglar (2)

More images from the Ala Daglar mountains in eastern Turkey
Travelling with pack horses in the Kara Yalak Vadesi

Camp below Direktas

Evening light in the Yedi Goller (‘Seven Lakes’) basin

These images were taken just after I started working on a new trekking guidebook to eastern Turkey – a project which was subsequently put on hold while I finished work on a book on Torres del Paine in Patagonia, and became a dad (it’s not an area I would be able to work on in short trips). Hopefully I’ll pick up work on this again next year….
This particular visit to the Ala Daglar was the only time I’ve trekked with pack animals and guides, not because of any inherent difficulties in the area (it wasn’t my first visit) but because I needed to be familiar with some of the local guides and trekking agencies in order to be able to recommend them – or not – in the guidebook. In any case, I can highly recommend Demavend Travel for anyone who wants a guided trek through these mountains.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Ala Daglar

Trekker approaching Direktas, Ala Daglar mountains, eastern Turkey

The Ala Daglar is a sprawling limestone mountain range southeast of Nigde, part of the Taurus mountain chain and one of the finest trekking (and climbing) areas in Turkey. Direktas, the prominent rock tower just to the right of centre, lies on one side of the Yedi Goller (‘Seven Lakes’) basin – an elevated (~3000m) area of rolling rock and scree, dotted (as its name implies) with lakes (though some of them often dry out in the summer), and surrounded by towering peaks reaching up to around 3700m.
This image was taken back in 2008 – one of more than a dozen trips that I’ve made to eastern Turkey over several years – on a D200 (this fact alone makes it seem a long, long time ago!) with a 12-24mm f/4 lens, using a Singh Ray graduated neutral density filter to hold back the brooding sky. I hope to be back in eastern Turkey later this year.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Northumberland Coast (2)

I’m expecting to receive the proofs from my Northumberland book (St Oswald’s Way & St Cuthbert’s Way) from Cicerone within the next few days, so here are a couple of shots taken on or near Holy Island (Lindisfarne) that I haven’t posted before.
Northumberland Coast Path, just north of the causeway to Holy Island

Walking the ‘Pilgrim’s Route’ across the sands to Holy Island (Lindisfarne), only possible at low tide

Refuge box for those caught by the tide…

The ruins of Lindisfarne Priory, Holy Island

Sculpture of Saint Cuthbert, 7th century saint and hermit (and Bishop of Melrose and later of Lindisfarne), by Fenwick Lawson, in the ruins of Lindsfarne Priory

A well preserved group of lime kilns behind Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island. There was an important lime industry in Northumberland during the 19th century, and kilns survive at various spots along the coast and inland

Cairns left by pilgrims just beyond Lindisfarne Castle, Holy Island, with the big, bad and bleakly beautiful North Sea beyond

These images were all taken over several trips to Northumberland and the Borders in the second half of 2011 and early 2012.
Photos © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

St Cuthbert’s Way

Images from St Cuthbert’s Way, a long distance footpath stretching from Melrose in the Scottish Borders to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) off the Northumberland coast. D700 + 14-24/2.8.
Melrose Abbey, a 12th century Cistercian foundation, Melrose, Scottish Borders

The Cheviots. Crossing Wideopen Hill on the route from Morebattle to Kirk Yetholm, Scottish Borders

Border fence. The boundary between Scotland and England, on the hills between Kirk Yetholm and Wooler

All images © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Northumberland coast

Just back from a few cold, wet and windy days hiking in Northumberland, working on a new Cicerone guidebook to St Oswald’s Way, St Cuthbert’s Way and the Northumberland Coast Path. On this visit I started from Alnmouth and followed the coast up to Craster, then from Seahouses to Bamburgh, and around Budle Bay (a very long day with an enormous detour inland) to Beal. Crossed the sands to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) at low tide and spent the day there before returning on the next low tide, and on the final day followed the coast up to Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Seaweed on Harkess Rocks, with Bamburgh Castle and the Farne Islands in the distance, Bamburgh, St Oswald’s Way / Northumberland Coast Path, Northumberland, UK

Rocks arranged in the shape of a horse, behind Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island, Northumberland, UK

View of Goswick Sands from Cheswick Sands, site of some of the tallest dunes on the Northumberland coast, Northumberland Coast Path (part of the North Sea Trail), Northumberland, UK

First and last images shot on a D700 with 24mm PC-E, plus Singh-Ray ND graduated filter (2 stops, hard edge); second image D700 with 14-24mm f/2.8.

All images © Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized use.

Bay of Kotor, Montenegro (and the case of a wandering image)

This is still one of my favourite photos from several trips to Montenegro – taken on what I remember as an easy, rather carefree day amid what otherwise was often a somewhat grueling schedule among the mountains. It has proved a good image for me, being published several times over the years since I took it in 2006.

The Bay of Kotor (Bokor Kotorska) and the islands of Sveti Djordje and Gospa od Skrplja, from the village of Perast, Montenegro

This one photo has also been copied and reused on websites and blogs without my permission – let alone payment or a credit line – more than any other I have taken. A reverse image search on Tineye shows it appearing on sites in Russia and the Czech Republic, while last night I emailed the owners of 24 websites/blogs across Europe where it has been used, in most cases for over two years (one, as of writing, has already apologized and removed the image, though with no offer of payment for use thus far). The sites range from commercial travel sites to apartment rentals and taxi companies, which in almost all cases featured advertising (and gained revenue from this, in addition to that from the services they advertise), and in some cases claim copyright themselves.

Just for the record, I’m happy to supply an image to a charity or worthy cause without payment sometimes – though not to commercial sites without permission or credit. Doing so is simply not a viable commercial model, for obvious reasons.

Still, it’s a lovely spot, just a short minibus ride alongside the Bay of Kotor from the UNESCO-listed town of the same name, and overlooking the two tiny islands of Sveti Djordje (St George) and Gospa od Skrplja (Our Lady of the Rocks). The latter is actually an artificial island; and if it looks vaguely familiar (not that you can probably tell in this shot – and quite aside from the large number of times it features in images used to promote this wonderful little country on the Adriatic), that’s perhaps because it’s said to have provided inspiration for the 19th century Swiss painter Böcklin’s well-known work, The Isle of the Dead.

Copyright Action (http://copyrightaction.com) is a very useful website for anyone who finds their photographs have been used without permission/payment/credit.

And for those interested, this image was taken on a Nikon FM2n with an old manual focus Nikkor 20mm f/2.8 lens, on Fuji Velvia film (my ultimate travelling ‘kit’ until switching to digital in 2005-6). And it involved scrambling up a rather steep bank amongst several large prickly pear bushes…. ;~)

Ryanair to begin flights to Podgorica, Montenegro

The word is that budget airline Ryainair is due to begin flights to Podgorica – which would make a very convenient (and cheap) route to the mountains of inland Montenegro such as Durmitor, Komovi and Prokletije. Watch this space http://montenegromountains.wordpress.com for further info.

Komovi, near the border with Albania, Montenegro

Faroe Islands

More shots from the Faroe Islands:

Old stone house at Kirkjubour, with the islands of Hestur and Koltur in the background, Faroe Islands

Joannes Patursson with hand-carved staff, copied from the carvings from St Magnus’ Cathedral, Kirkjubour, Faroe Islands

Koltur, from the hills between Kirkjubour and Torshavn, Faroe Islands

Hiking from Torshavn to Kirkjubour, Faroe Islands

All images copyright Rudolf Abraham. No unauthorized reuse.