Author: Robb Towns

End of September update on my Virtual Challenge Lands End to John o’Groats walk. I am 96% done. This month finds me just north of Berrydale. Berrydale has the scariest hairpin turn onto a bridge. We have done it several times IRL on the way down to Inverness from Orkney. I have walked 1668.1 kms / 1036.5 miles and I have 76.1 kms / 47.3 miles to go. I am 360 kms / 223.7 miles ahead of my pace marker. This month I walked a total of 202 kms / 125.5 miles. I should finish in a couple of weeks at my current pace. I have signed up already for another challenge. The Ring of Kerry Virtual walk – 200 kms / 124 miles in length. My daughter and I are going to try and walk it together. Her in Orkney and I in Canada.

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A local photography group called the Ottawa Shutterbugs were doing a downtown night photography session (with social distancing). My daughter and I met up with the group at the Supreme Court House on Wellington street and we then proceed to walk over to the Museum of Canadian History. At the end of the evening we walked back to the Court House via the Alexandria Bridge. It was a fun night out with some very talented people.

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We took a quick trip out to the Mer Bleu Bog Boardwalk. We love this short 1km walk as every time we go there is something interesting to take photos of. I used my 50mm Lens for all these photos.

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We were supposed to travel to Scotland this week to see our daughter and family in Orkney, Scotland. Covid travel restrictions prevented us from going, so instead we drove down to London, Ontario to visit a family friend and ex neighbour who recently moved there. It was a 500+ kilometer drive down on Saturday morning. We visited the Pond Mills Conservation Area that is right next to her new house. On Sunday we drove down to Port Stanley Beach on Lake Erie and then had a short stop in St. Thomas. On Monday we drove from London to Kirkwall (something I would like to do in the UK some time) Kirkwall is the airport in Orkney that we should have flown into. Kirkwall Ontario is not a very big place but it was a cool surprise for my wife. We continued on to Newmarket where we had a quick visit with my Aunt that lives there and then we headed back to Ottawa. 800+kms to drive home.

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End of August update on my virtual Lands End to John o’Groats walk. I am 84% done. This month finds me just past Laggan, Scotland on my way to Fort Augustus/Loch Ness.

I have completed 1,459 kms / 907 miles and I have 285.3 kms / 177 miles to go. I am 294.6 kms / 183 miles ahead of pace. This month I walked 223 kms or 138 miles.

When I hit the 80% mark this month the company hosting this challenge planted a tree. Already this month they have planted 100k trees and they are hoping to plant 200k before Sept 15th.

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We had a little rainstorm go through the area and then the sun came out. I noticed lots of little droplets on the petals of the flowers. I immediately grabbed the camera and my macro tubes.

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Sunflowers started popping up on my local photography Facebook groups. Someone mentioned the location of the field and it was just a short drive from our house. So this afternoon with an hour to burn (this is very unusual on a Saturday) we headed out for a look. We were respectful about not going into the field. This is someones business (Birdseed Company).

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Here is my end of month of July update on my virtual Lands End to John o’Groats walk. Tonight I find myself (virtually) in Scotland. I am just south of Edinburgh in a little town called Cardrona. I have completed 71% of my walk with 1236.8 kms/768.5 miles down and I have 507.4 km/315.3 miles to go. I am currently 220.9 kms/137.3 miles ahead of pace. The pin with my photo is my current location, the red pin is my pace marker. This month I walked 204 kms.

We took a weeks vacation and mostly vacationed in the exclusive resort of Las Basement, but we did manage one day excursion to a couple of my favourite little towns just west of Ottawa. Almonte has the best little waterfalls to photograph. There is also an amazing little Ice Cream shop on the main street. Doing long exposure photography of these falls has been a goal of mine since last August, so it was great to get out and capture a few. ISO 100, F22, 1-2 secs – ND16 Filter (except for the b&w photo)

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We then traveled to the little town of Pakenham where there is a 5 span stone bridge. This is another place I have always wanted to photograph. Since it wasn’t too far from Almonte it was a must do.

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Had a nice evening south of Blackburn Hamlet where we randomly met up with another couple who were also trying to photograph the comet. It was fun to help them with their settings and I think we captured a few nice shots of the comet together. Most of these photos where 3200 ISO, F3 and 1-2 seconds long.

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