Photos from the Tabernas desert badlands hike I did a few days ago. The whole area is a a chaotic mass of broken rock and battered, crumbling cliffs
Notes – 2024 (285)
A strange thing to come across yesterday whilst hiking in the Taberna's desert badlands of Almeria! Any idea what this was and why it was here? 🤣
@alan @TimKStanton
This is the Restaurante Alfaro seen today. It's situated next to the Repsol petrol station at the A92 / Tabernas exit. It was used as the bar/disco in Kaos run by Eddie Izzard. Also used a few times in the Black Mirror series (see Black Museum)
@lpryszcz Sure. A little hard to figure out the approach when close but its only 25m from the dirt road. https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/37.010296/-2.453068
Today I hiked in a place close to my heart and stood in the exact same footsteps as Clint Eastwood and Eli Wallach in "The Good, the Bad & the Ugly". This view never fails to stir the senses, I love it here. Tabernas Desert, Almeria, .
Been experimenting with Sideband app on a couple of phones. Utilises Reticulum Network Stack to create cryptographically secure mesh networks, useful in disaster areas. Can also see many outdoor world applications for this. When I understand the protocol further I might add a Rnode modem which creates a LoRa signal to extend the mesh. LoRa encodes information on radio waves. Early days yet for me but fascinating and interesting technology.
A very welcome cool 15c on today dog walk. Very autumnal but stunning in the morning light.
Many people over the years have taken the mickey out of me for being totally useless at DIY. And, quite rightly. Anyway the tables turned today as I took out a ceiling beam and cemented all the holes. If it can be hit with a hammer or have cement thrown at it, I'm your man. Just waiting for the roof to collapse tonight 🤣
Another use for the Nitecore NU21 headtorch too!
Last night I started reading "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff which looks to be a fascinating, topical and insightful read. Anybody read it?
Patagonia 2010. Trapped on the Icecap I had the most unsettling mountain experience of my life. On this particular day Sat Nav had failed so it was like the old days pre-weather forecasting. We all knew we were on the edge and managed to bail out next day with some micro navigation through a serac barrier and down a glacier to safety. Wouldn't like to go through it again but it is without doubt the time we talk about the most 🤔
1 minute video with @khusky
I'm a bit knackered after sleeping on the sofa all night. Reason? Infestation of woodlice! Been going on for some time. We've tried pulse waves, de-humidifiers and tried to block holes in our bedroom natural rock wall. Nothing has worked. Ok, they aren't dangerous but who wants them dropping on you at night? We are talking 50+ a night. Last night we tried commercial poison both outside, where we think the main nest is, and inside the bedroom. Life in rural Spain eh?
Seems a little crazy to be putting a post about snow/blizzards am & pm telling you about how my Sun Umbrella from Six Moon Designs functioned! 🙂
Coming down to low levels in 30C heat yesterday afternoon. Hot & humid. There was fortunately a gusty breeze which helped. The Sun Umbrella worked great providing much needed cooling shade on an otherwise treeless & arid slope. I like how it collapses under strong wind gusts. Recommended for hot hikes.
https://www.sixmoondesigns.com/products/silver-shadow-carbon-umbrella
Patagonia Image 4
This image brings back quite emotive memories for me & conveys the full emptiness that is the Southern Patagonian Icecap.
Life here is very simple, arrive at camp, build snow walls, eat, drink & sleep. Sometimes we have sheltered for days in blizzard conditions. You can't afford a mistake, being 3+ days from human settlements.
Snow walls ... & who'd have thought there's so many technicalities in their construction?
@hikingdude nice shots. In the spring I spent 3 full days in the wild looking for this elusive creature and this is the best (only!) photo I could obtain 🤣
Good morning all. Some strong winds overnight meant a stunning sunrise here in Lanjaron this morning.
Patagonia Image 3
One year we arrived at the Cirque de las Altares during a blizzard. We hastily made camp and tried to warm up in our tents and sleeping bags. We hadn't really appreciated the wonderful situation we were in until next morning when we woke up to reasonably clear skies and the magnificent Cerro Torre coated in a thick layer of rime ice.
Patagonia Image 2
The Southern Patagonia Ice Field is the largest expanse of ice outside the poles. It extends S for approx 350km (220 miles). In places it is up to 80km (50 miles) wide. This ice mass feeds dozens of glaciers feeding into both Chile & Argentina.
Image was taken on a cloudy day. We could hardly tell the difference between land & sky. Suddenly the mists lifted & out of the gloom a horizontal window appeared revealing some magnificent peaks.
After being inspired yesterday by Colin Haley's exploits in Patagonia I went back through some of the photos from our own efforts of the Southern Patagonian Icecap over the years. Admittedly, they are nowhere near as vertical as his 🤣
Hope you don't mind me sharing some of them over the forthcoming week.
Image shows how flat the actual Icecap is. The surrounding mountains are hidden in cloud. A surreal world, far from human habitation.
Colin Haley climbing the Supercaneleta on Mount Fitzroy (Chalten). This guy is amazing and this self shot record of his ascent shows the commitment, skill and dedication required for winter mountaineering in Patagonia, nevermind a extremely tough route such as this in the middle of winter.
View from the morning dog walk. Beautiful colors as the early morning sun hits the landscape. Looking down through the olive groves to the Rules dam. Beyond the Mediterranean.
First landscape image taken from my new Jelly Star phone
