Category: Website News
Renovations
9th February 2026 About this time of year, I often introduce some changes to the appearances or the fundamentals of this website. While this does not happen every year, it has taken place in the last few weeks, informed but not performed by AI in some instances. The last time that this happened was in the age before AI came into our lives, when more dramatic visual changes were made on moving to a more recent version of Bootstrap.
On the back end, the Travel and Surroundings sections have been moved from Textpattern to Grav in the interests of modernisation, going from infrequently updated software to something that has a more active open-source community behind it. This also offered some scope for visual changes too, especially for the landing page of the Travel section. It also allowed for some restructuring of the content.
The same thinking was applied to the site home page to give visitors less cognitive load as they figured out what to explore on this portal. Other places on here got some of the same visual freshening as well. Things are settling into place now, yet there will be more scope for tinkering as time brings sensible and compatible ideas and opportunities for doing so.
Naturally, my mind turns to content, too. Given how sluggish I am with writing trip reports, there are plenty of those to come from previous times. It does not matter so much yet that 2025 was a slack year for hill wandering, and 2026 has fallen into a wet and windy rut so far, limiting possibilities as much as a busy work life.
Nevertheless, some plots are afoot. For instance, Irish hiking ideas were collected during the festive period, with some pondering of transport practicalities that made it in the previous post on here. Scotland's Lochaber and Norway's Oslo offer prospects, while Canada could be a stretch target if I fancy crossing the Atlantic this year. It is too early to say exactly how things will go, leaving scope for some surprises as the year goes on its way. Nice surprises are always welcome gifts.
A major addition and a significant overhaul
6th February 2026 After what probably has been far too long, I have added a Cairngorm Mountains album to the photo gallery. The accumulation of photos from 2009, 2010, 2023 and 2024 was sufficiently large for this to be a gargantuan exercise. Picking out photos became challenging, particularly when emotions entered the fray and self-doubt further complicated decision-making. Once that was out of the way, the task became more manageable.
Then it was down to the addition of titles and descriptive text, a task that took more time because of work commitments. For a time, there were photos online with titles and no other text until I could get around to adding that. Thankfully, that is all complete now, so others can enjoy what is on there, which is the more important part.
All of this was in marked contrast to the pruning of the Lochaber gallery and the hiking ideas that threw up for me. Aside from any wish to improve on photographic quality, the Cairngorms do not have quite the same pull on me after all the traipsing in recent years. Nevertheless, there were a few ideas that popped into my head as I surveyed the map while identifying the locations of photos.
One thing that had not occurred to me was how far south Loch Eanaich was; there is not much difference between its latitude and that of Kingussie. That lead me to plot out a lengthy course from the latter back to Aviemore via Glen Feshie, Sgòr Gaoith, Sgòran Dubh Mor and Sgòran Dubh Beag. A decent level of fitness would be needed for such an escapade, as would a day with plenty of daylight. The west wall of Gleann Eanaich would take its toll, with the Munros and the northern descent after them posing significant challenges.
Another prospect that caught me eyes was that of reaching Loch A'an, which might be combined with an ascent of Cairn Gorm too. It is not just the height that matter in the Cairngorms but also the distance, hence the preference for longer hours of daylight, hopefully without the attendant heat that can accompany them during the high season of the Scottish year.
My not being to Braemar for more than fifteen years is itself a prompt for a return, as much as the images I made on a showery autumnal around nearby Morven. Longer ventures would take me into Glen Callater, though that is verging on embarking on a multi-day backpacking escapade, much like going from Blair Atholl to Braemar via Glen Tilt or going through the Lairig Ghru between the latter and Aviemore. Using the Lairig an Laoigh route between Glenmore and Braemar also brings its own temporal challenges that may or may not be as arduous as the others.
Keeping things more modest would keep one around Braemar in preference to those longer hikes. Here, Creag Choinnich and Carn nan Sgliat could offer rewards. If terrain, time, fitness, energy and strength were accommodating, then continuing to Creag nan Leachda and Millstone Carn could be ideas. There may be little need to venture any further.
Thus, without needing to peer at more than a map, hill wandering ideas can surface. Given the geographical scale of the area, it is best to keep one's ambitions in hand so as not to overdo things. After all, it is little wonder that some combine a mountain bike ride and a hill climb to fit things within the temporal confines of a day in these parts.
Expansion
21st December 2024 One activity that I have ongoing at the moment is an expansion of what has been the Cork city album in my online photo gallery. The cause of this is the increase in time around the place since 2022. Then, I spent part of an Irish break based in the city, though, in reality, I was travelling around back then. That took me to nearby Kinsale and Cobh as part of a single day's explorations.
2024 has seen a major upsurge in the amount of time that I spent in the place. Thus, it is now time to include nearby spots like Blarney, Fota, Cobh and Crosshaven. Ballincollig Regional Park could cause that area to get represented, too. Thus far, the scenes do not look so dramatic, but there are more to come, so things could build out from where they are at the time of writing.
The West Cork album is another that could grow after the visits there during the last few years. Each of the main Atlantic peninsulas have seen my footfall this year, and there are reasons to return, like following the Beara Way from Castletownbere as far as Adrigole. The scenery has the drama to draw me back after a muddy, soggy hike from Adrigole to Glengarriff. Staying overnight in the latter when there is a glorious summer evening could be a special experience that cannot be overlooked. Other places like Kinsale or Drimoleague could lure me their way just yet. There are new photos to be added, and more may come for future escapades in the area.
While the Kerry album is large as things stand, there are more vistas to add to it. Repeat visits to Killarney increase the supply, as does explorations of the Dingle Peninsula in May and June 2022. Such is the quality of the county's scenery, that it is virtually impossible not to get something from a visit to the place, especially when the weather is on your side.
The counties of Clare, Tipperary and Waterford could feature in a new and single album. The photos are there, and they show often overlooked gems in the Irish landscape, like what lies around Lough Derg and the Knockmealdown Mountains. All this is a far cry from things were when I began this online enterprise. For a long time, the Irish albums were the poor relation of their Scottish, English and even Welsh counterparts. That appears to be changing, so long as time is found to make the required additions.
A case for division
30th November 2024 In August 2022, I embarked on a longer break in Ireland without attending to any business matters over there. This became my annual summer getaway in the spirt of others that took me to Scotland, around Continental Europe and to North America. It also followed a longer stay centred in Galway during August 2018 that was accompanied by mixed weather as I explored parts of the counties of Clare and Galway.
Unlike the 2018 escapade, the 2022 counterpart was split between two bases because of cost consciousness. The first was Killarney, a place where I had long fancied spending more time. The day trips in April and June of the same year only whetted my appetite for such a venture. The resulting three-night stay and accompanying long days of traipsing gave much in the way of satisfaction, yet there are reasons for returning even at the time of writing these words.
The second was Cork city. Bantry, Whiddy Island, Kinsale and Cobh all featured, as did Clogheen and the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Tipperary. Temperatures were increasing all the while as I explored, reaching a crescendo at the end of the week before cooling down again. This was a contrast to the cooler weather around Killarney, with occasional wettings to remand me where I was.
These portions are so distinct that I am going to split the account of the trip in two. Since the accounts likely will be lengthy anyway, going about writing them in this way likely will make them more readable afterwards. Thus, I will bring to a close the relating of a trio of Irish excursions that set the scene for my traipsing this year.
Looking through the transport arrangements brought something home to me that I had not noticed before. My time in Killarney needed very little moving around: everything was near enough on my doorstep there. Thus, long days on foot either started from and/or ended at my accommodation; there was little need to go anywhere else. In Cork, I often left the city to visit other places. Shorelines were closer there than hills or mountains.
That contrast reminds me that my new base in Ireland needs supplementing with hotel stays in other places to make the most of what lies near them. While writing the account of a stay in Tralee, this really struck me; Dingle is not an easy day trip from Cork city when using public transport. Even West Cork is easier to savour with an accommodation base over there, and the same could be said for Galway, Mayo, Donegal and Wicklow. Much is nearby, and more is further away.
Filling in gaps and reorganising what became unwieldy
7th November 2024 The travelogue has seen quite an amount of attention in the last few weeks. Firstly, a lot of content has been added or refreshed. Destination directories have become more informative articles, giving rise to new sections for Canada and the U.S.A. The former Alpine and Pyrenean article for Europe has been split up into its own section. Other sections have been renamed and many articles retitled.
The enabler for all this flurry of changes has been the advent of GenAI; it is now possible to automate a lot of the effort. It still needs human oversight and can be heavy work from time to time. As with human help, not every tool is as effective as one might like it to be. Getting to know such foibles is becoming essential for the world of work.
The gap filling also happened around here as well. Wherever there was a collation of websites, descriptions were added. In one case, a more narrative form was made from what was there; it is the outdoor pursuits inspiration piece that was progressed like that. In time, that may be the way that things go in other places, too. If you want to check what has happened, all the activity was in the resources section. The collations of long-distance trails and online retailers are among the beneficiaries.
While changes may have been dramatic thanks to new text processing technology, much remains unaltered. While the appearance may get attention sometime, that is not a priority for now. Trips remain human written anyway; the technology does not do all for us anyhow. You may have notes, but a machine can only do so much with them; it cannot carry over your personal touch that well or easily.
It all takes my back to university days, when a lecturer found regurgitated errors in someone else's work. Then, the advice was to use the efforts of others for inspiration, not transcription. That remains ever more relevant in the times in which we now live. We need to learn how to use the new machines to help us, and that will be a longer process with its share of slips and trips before everything gets consolidated again.
