Category Archives: Hiking

Rambling through the grey and rising above it …… occasionally

Posted on February 8, 2021 by BarryH

I’ve written before on the psychology of time, about which I read initially in Thomas Mann’s book ‘The Magic Mountain’ when I was in the 6th form and more recently in Claudia Hammond’s ‘Time Warped’, published 2012, exactly 100 years … Continue reading →

Posted in Grey Britain, Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Pontypool, Reflections, Wales, Weather, Wildlife, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Greece, Symi: Remains of the past and a hidden valley

Posted on December 29, 2020 by BarryH

There are parts of Symi which are rarely seen but which at one time were hubs of activity.  I have long taken an interest on going ‘off-piste’, wandering around away from marked footpaths. In recent years I have taken an … Continue reading →

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Rising above the grey

Posted on December 5, 2020 by BarryH

Rather than ushering in the Mediterranean to the UK, climate change is bringing increasing greyness interspersed with ‘extreme weather events’.  Gradual descent into winter in November used to be marked by a week of hard frosts, sometimes with temperatures lower … Continue reading →

Posted in Grey Britain, Health and humour, Hiking, Landscape, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Pontypool, Reflections, Wales, Weather, Winter | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Locked-down in Wales

Posted on November 4, 2020 by BarryH

Since I arrived home from Greece in early September there have been various shades of lockdown.  It would be more pleasant and safer to have stayed on Symi but unfortunately not to be.  I would have been tempted to stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Autumn, Grey Britain, Grumpy Old Men, Health and humour, Hiking, Landscape, Monmouthshire, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Pontypool, Reflections, Wales, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Greece, Symi: there ……. and back!’

Posted on September 14, 2020 by BarryH

Despite a few nervous twitches as the UK government had Greece on the ‘watch list’ for potentially banning all except ‘essential travel’ I made it safely back to Symi, via Athens and Rhodes. Great to be there again.  Some things … Continue reading →

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Virtual Symi: Summer solstice and Covid optimism

Posted on June 22, 2020 by BarryH

Summer solstice, 21 June, and for the last 10 years I have been in Greece to celebrate it.  With the sun at its highest, at the zenith (13.00 with adjustment for summer time) I’ve made a point of taking a … Continue reading →

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Spring in the Brecon Beacons: The long and the short view of The Covid Lockdown

Posted on June 6, 2020 by BarryH

September 1961.  I started in the Sixth Form and my GCE ‘A’ level course.  Perhaps more importantly, I now had access to the Sixth Form Library which hitherto I didn’t even know existed.  It was like Aladdin’s Cave.  The only … Continue reading →

Posted in Hiking, Landscape, Mountains, Nature, Photography, Pontypool, Reflections, Spring, Wales, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Under the Covid Cosh: musings

Posted on April 29, 2020 by BarryH

Five weeks in, under the cosh since 23 March, and the major change is in the weather. For all that time it has been warm and sunny, the sunniest April on record in the UK.  A single overnight shower two … Continue reading →

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Greece, Symi: The satisfaction of discovering. And undiscovering

Posted on October 22, 2019 by BarryH

After a brief sojourn on Nisyros, back to Symi, revisiting familiar and looking for new places.  There is great satisfaction in discovering new places.  But that’s ‘discovering’ in the sense that Columbus discovered America.  It was already there, complete with … Continue reading →

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Greece, Nisyros: up close and personal.

Posted on September 13, 2019 by BarryH

There are great walks on many of the Greek islands I know. Symi, Tilos, Kalymnos, Amorgos, Hydra ………   However, I have often said, become a bit boring about it maybe, that the most spectacular walking/trekking I know is on Nisyros.  … Continue reading →

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