Blog Posts in Category: Landscape

Ehrwald Bergfeuer

Alastair BegleyAustria, Landscape Short Link

We decided to stay in Ehrwald due to our plans for the morning, but little did we know that we had decided to camp on one of the busiest nights of the year, to to the annual Bergfeuer event. Thankfully we managed to find a nice campsite who allowed us to squeeze in for the night, before heading out to join the festivities. It was all a bit crazy with the roads being full with lots of „interesting“ parking, parking in random farmers fields and just generally stopping wherever it was just about possible to stop. Thankfully we found somewhere to park which wasn‘t so silly, and joined the crowds admiring the mountain fires. We were really surprised by how detailed some of the designs were, given that they were being created by fire on the side of the mountain. It was really interesting to watch them grow from the initial flames into the full designs.

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…

Reiderstein Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

After some very unsettled weather, summer seems to have finally returned to Bavaria. Given the warm evenings and stable forecast the International Mountaineering Group (IMG), a group within the Munich Section of the Deutscher Alpenverein. It was never planned as a long walk, but a nice social evening with a nice view over Tegernsee and the mountains for sunset. After an easy drive we arrived at the destination and set up on the short, but relatively abrupt ascent up to the chapel at Reiderstein. We arrived in plenty of time for sunset, so enjoyed the view, drank a beer and ate our dinner waiting for the sunset. The sunset was beautiful with clouds to catch the pink light, and clear skies right down to the horizon.

Jochberg Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

James and I decided to make the most of the longer evenings by heading over to the Jochberg for a sunset hike. Being only a short walk and only 90 mins from home it was an obvious choice, with the sun setting so far north at the moment, I was hoping for some lovely evening light/alpenglow over the Karwendel, however sadly this was not to be! The walk up was very straightforwards, and we certainly made good time up it as we were at the summit less than an hour after leaving the car. Here it looked like it was shaping up to be a great sunset, and we enjoyed dinner and a beer while we waited. Unfortunately cloud build up on the horizon towards the sunset, which meant that we didn’t actually get a sunset, nonetheless the soft evening light was pleasant up to the point the sun went behind the clouds, and it was lovely to be out in the sun for an evening. Once the sun went behind the cloud we decided to leave, as we had an early start the next morning to beat the thunderstorms. Read the full article…

Ammersee Sunset

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

After a morning of heavy rain it was forecast to clear up in the evening, I spent most of the day debating if I should stay locally to Munich, or head down the the mountains for sunset. In the end I decided to stay locally to Munich due to the early alarm call for walking the next day, and it certainly wasn’t a terrible decision! I headed to Eching am Ammersee on the north shore of Ammersee, which is renowned for the boat houses in front of the alpine views. It was certainly a fairly nice way to spend an evening, sitting watching the sunset with dinner and a beer, while taking a few photos at the same time. I will certainly be back in the future given that it is 45mins from my front door, and next time I won’t leave just before the sky ignites!

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…

Bavaria Landscape Photography – Geroldsee

Alastair BegleyBavaria, Landscape Short Link

This is the third blog in a three part series from a long weekend of Landscape photography in southern Bavaria. I recently moved to Munich and my first visitor was David, who visited for a weekend of landscape photography. This provided an excellent opportunity to explore as the entire area was still very new to me. Bavaria Landscape Photography – Exploring Bavaria Landscape Photography – Berchtesgaden Bavaria Landscape Photography – Geroldsee On the last morning of our trip we were starting to feel fairly fatigued by the constant 4am starts, but with a perfect forecast we couldn’t help but go out for another classic location. It doesn’t take much searching on the internet to find some superb photos from this classic location, and given that we were at the end of summer that is clearly shown by the track which has been worn on the way up to the “photographers ledge”. It was a short walk in from the car park, and I am glad that we had explored the location on a dreary evening a few days previously. In the dark, having not been there before, it would have been. Read the full article…