The Lemonfool my pic of the day thread

[GoSeigen]

Is that you on the photo?

No not my pic, but that's about as far as I got. I blame turning back on the Korean chap who'd volunteered to go up with me and was more honest about how scared he felt!


GS

[vrdiver]

Nice photo, but the video is a letdown after that. Quite apart from shakiness, it would be much more impressive to see either free climbing or whoever put up that rope than someone just attached to it.

It's not half as shaky as it would have been if I'd been holding the camera!

[AleisterCrowley]

That didn't work out well.

Why not?

Surely 2020 has been the ideal year for solitary recreational activity!

Travel to mountainous areas was not really possible during lockdown and was discouraged at other times.
There are no steep hills in Berkshire. Walbury Hill, the highest point, (in fact the highest point in the South East) is a tame 974ft, and looks like a lumpy field. It beats Leith Hill by a couple of metres, but Leith Hill 'looks' higher due to surrounding landscape. It's not the Eiger though...

[AleisterCrowley]

Videos like that make my palms sweat

With a username like that it should be right up your street...

GS

Yes, AC the Original was a pretty good (if unconventional) mountaineer. He was part of an attempt on Kangchenjunga in the early 1900s: not something for the amateur

[UncleEbenezer]

Evenings drawing out again. First clear day we've had for a while, and I caught the last glimmer of sunset at 17:00 ("official" sunset 16:17).

[servodude]

Tried to watch the sunset on the ferry crossing the Bass Straight a couple of days ago
- but it got so choppy they closed off the deck



-sd

[servodude]

Early morning walk half way down driving to the in laws was worth it though



-sd

[UncleEbenezer]

Tried to watch the sunset on the ferry crossing the Bass Straight a couple of days ago
- but it got so choppy they closed off the deck
-sd

I had to look up Bass Straight. Now I'm jealous: you're in a part of the world still alive enough for a ferry journey to make some kind of sense!

Love the pic: guess that must be Tasmania? Never been there, but I understand it's more like unto NZ than to the Aussie mainland? Is the landscape of woods and hills truly prevalent there, or is it just like everywhere else a little oasis of nature in a lot of farmland?

[servodude]

Tried to watch the sunset on the ferry crossing the Bass Straight a couple of days ago
- but it got so choppy they closed off the deck
-sd

I had to look up Bass Straight. Now I'm jealous: you're in a part of the world still alive enough for a ferry journey to make some kind of sense!

Love the pic: guess that must be Tasmania? Never been there, but I understand it's more like unto NZ than to the Aussie mainland? Is the landscape of woods and hills truly prevalent there, or is it just like everywhere else a little oasis of nature in a lot of farmland?

Tassie is great.
Very diverse geography for the size of it and with a lot of it either completely untouched or not touched since they decided to concentrate on populating the bigger island to the north (you can tell the difference when you see the trees they brought over vs the natives)

Parts of the drive down yesterday (we went straight down the middle through the Highlands) looked like we were like going through Glencoe; they dig up peat from there for the local whiskey... and then an hour later it's rainforest.

Very much recommended for a trip

-sd

[vrdiver]

Hired a motorhome and drove around Tas in 2013. Beautiful place, and for a bonus, there are weedy sea dragons to see if you're a scuba diver, and fairy penguins on land!

As a penance I had to do the Neighbours tour whilst we had a couple of days in Melbourne - but it was worth it

VRD

[madhatter]

and fairy penguins on land!

I used to like penguins.

Never felt quite the same about them since seeing “The Wrong Trousers”, however.

Not helped by appearances in the British Gas advertisements either, though it has been a while since I saw a TV.

[tjh290633]

No pictures, but I saw the "Star in the east" 3 nights running up to last night. The alignment of Jupiter and Saturn was very obvious in relation to the moon. Somehow I don't think it would photograph well with a mobile phone.

TJH

[Itsallaguess]

Mount Fuji - as seen from the International Space Station -



Source - https://twistedsifter.com/2014/06/mount-fuji-from-space/

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[tjh290633]

I have been as far as the snow line, in a coach, when on a tour of that part of Japan. They had a gate to stop you going further, but nearby was a leisure area, with a church for marriages, where we had coffee as far as I can recall.

I was visiting a supplier and had the weekend free so they asked would I like to go on a tour of Tokyo. I said I would rather see some of the country, so I went on this one, up Mount Fuji, then on a steamer across a lake, then lunch, then a ride on a Bullet Train back into Tokyo. I must have pictures somewhere, but finding them is a different matter.

TJH

[DiamondEcho]

I have been as far as the snow line, in a coach, when on a tour of that part of Japan. They had a gate to stop you going further, but nearby was a leisure area, with a church for marriages, where we had coffee as far as I can recall.
I was visiting a supplier and had the weekend free so they asked would I like to go on a tour of Tokyo. I said I would rather see some of the country, so I went on this one, up Mount Fuji, then on a steamer across a lake, then lunch, then a ride on a Bullet Train back into Tokyo. I must have pictures somewhere, but finding them is a different matter. TJH

Rest-stops up Fuji are referred to as 'stations' of which there are 10. Trains/buses are a useful short-cut past the lower slopes, terminating around the 5th station. From there most (?) people aim to drop-off in the early evening and do the ascent overnight, so to see sunrise from as near the peak as they can get. It is a long monotonous yet fascinating slog. From the 5th station expect perhaps 8-10hrs hiking up slopes of loose volcanic gravel. Ie loose enough that each step includes an element of slide-back.

The cultural aspects, of course this is Japan!, are fascinating. All the lanterns; such that from up high you can look down the slope below in the dark with hundreds or thousands of lanterns swinging to and fro through the hairpin pathway below. There are the ever present vending machines standing on the gravel slopes all the way to the top hehe... It is a gruelling climb, people do stop and check/help each, even foreigners, quite touching.

Getting down is sooo much easier. Though by the bottom my legs were trembling so much I just longed to get back into town. The angle + gravel mean you kind of jog/surf down, still completely knackering though, the next day we can barely stand up. The scenic lake below, popular with locals to 'view' the mountain is Kawaguchi. I'd suggest if you do the lake do it before the ascent, as after you'll probably be too stuffed to appreciate it.
Good overview.... https://www.japanistry.com/climbing-mount-fuji/

[madhatter]

On a walk about a mile and a half from home today, I saw this Kingfisher! :



The first Kingfisher I ever saw was on holiday in Cornwall in the 80s, when it was pointed out to me. Didn't see another until a few sightings in 2019, all fleeting or at a distance, but nothing I could have photographed without lugging some impressive optics about. This was my first in 2020, and it obligingly waited while I thought "Strewth, a bleeding Kingfisher!" and fumbled the compact camera out of my pocket, and out of the case, and indeed found, focussed, zoomed in, refocussed (birds generally get well cheesed off long before this point, and scarper) and took the photograph.

Just well I did as a golfer came trudging along the bridge just 10-12 feet away from it, and it vanished.Fair enough I suppose as it was over a small tarn in a golf course, but I would have liked to be able to watch it for longer.

Looking it up, the red on the underside of the beak indicates it being a female.

[servodude]

The first Kingfisher I ever saw was on holiday in Cornwall in the 80s

Ah! Halcyon days indeed
Great photo
-sd

[sg31]

As a fisherman I see them regularly. Last week I had one sitting in a tree 10 yards from me occasionally taking small fish from the water. I can remember several occasions where they have landed on my rod and used it as a hunting perch.

They are a fantastic bird and even after many years of seeing them it's always a thrill.

My greatest thrill was a wren landing on my knee, sitting there for a while then hopping on to some rosebay willowherb and then coming back to sit on my knee. That blew my mind. I fish small river quite often and it is essential that in such situations the fish don't see you and you make as little noise and vibration as possible. I wear a camouflage suit and once in position I can freeze. I don't think the wren even knew I was there.

[UncleEbenezer]

As a fisherman I see them regularly. Last week I had one sitting in a tree 10 yards from me occasionally taking small fish from the water. I can remember several occasions where they have landed on my rod and used it as a hunting perch.

They are a fantastic bird and even after many years of seeing them it's always a thrill.

My greatest thrill was a wren landing on my knee, sitting there for a while then hopping on to some rosebay willowherb and then coming back to sit on my knee. That blew my mind. I fish small river quite often and it is essential that in such situations the fish don't see you and you make as little noise and vibration as possible. I wear a camouflage suit and once in position I can freeze. I don't think the wren even knew I was there.

In one of our local rivers where I go occasionally to swim, I can also enjoy some gorgeous wildlife. But the very best of it is not what I see, but what comes to me if I stand still long enough. Specifically, tiny fish that'll come and tickle my feet and legs as they seemingly nibble my leg hairs!

[nimnarb]

Do you Love me Baby? Beam me up Scotty.......we are getting there. The future of robotics or/and the end is nigh?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn3KWM1 ... e=youtu.be