Gudrun's photos

This less visited stretch of Guernsey's southwest coast has no sandy coves but lots of interesting cliffs. Long Cavaleur (see inset photo) with its rock arch is slowly being eroded away. Both Long Cavaleur and Les Tielles in the background consist of reddish Icart gneiss, one of the oldest rocks in Britain, and are crossed by grey dolerite dykes. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_Guernsey

Lihou Island (with L'Erée headland) is Guernsey's only Ramsar site. Because access to Lihou is only possible at very low tide gulls breed virtually everywhere and visitors must take care not to step on them. rsis.ramsar.org/ris/1608

Lihou Island lies off Guernsey's west coast. It is connected to L'Erée headland (seen here with Fort Saumarez) via a causeway accessible at (very) low tide. It is essential to observe the causeway opening times to avoid getting stranded on Lihou, because once the water gets ankle high it is too dangerous to cross. View from L'Èrée towards Lihou Life in the tide zone: orange- breadcrumb sponge (halichondria panicea) / dark red jelly blobs- beadlet anemone (actinia equina). The mauve stuff is an encrusting seaweed of the lithophyllum or lithothamnium species.

Catamaran to Herm at Inter Island Quay, St. Peter Port. The Herm boat leaves from there at low water, at high water it can go nearer town to Weighbridge steps. www.traveltrident.com

St. Peter Port is the capital of Guernsey, its largest harbour and the most beautiful town in the Channel Islands. There has been a settlement/ trading post since before Roman times. Stitched from 10 verticals EXIF: 1/250 • f/8.0 • 54.0 mm • ISO 100/ Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL/ 18.0-200.0 mm

The lighthouse at the end of Castle breakwater marks the entrance to St. Peter Port harbour/ Guernsey. Evening is a busy time- the fast catamaran is leaving for Britain, the Sark boat and in the distance the Herm boat are heading into harbour. HFF everyone! www.harbours.gg/Castle-breakwater-lighthouse

Trashigang Dzong sits on a mountain spur overlooking the confluence of Drangme Chhu and Gamri Chhu rivers. Built by Mingyur Tenpa in the mid 17th century Eastern Bhutan has been governed from this dzong from the late 17th to the early 20th century. It is unique in that it has only a single courtyard (dochey) which is shared by the administrative and monastic bodies (usually they have their own courtyards). In the September 2009 earthquake with the epicentre only 10 km away the dzong was badly damaged. It has subsequently been strengthened and repaired. www.wmf.org/project/trashigang-dzong

A row of 8 different chortens (Dewa Shedpai Chorten Gyed) can be seen at many temples- they symbolize the eight major events in the life of the Buddha. These chortens are at Gom Kora, the inset photo is from Ranjung, a newly built monastery in Trashigang district.

Gom Kora, a sacred meditation site of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava), is a monastery in the valley of Drangme Chhu river (called Manas river once it crosses into Assam). www.lonelyplanet.com/bhutan/gom-kora

Novice monks hurrying to the temple to celebrate a puja for the King's forthcoming marriage. As the ceremony is rather repetitive some of the young ones fell asleep which resulted in lots of giggles from the others. Gom Kora

Another take of Chorten Kora in Trashiyangtse. This district is in the northeast of Bhutan, bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the east and Tibet to the north. The road ends shortly after Trashiyangtse town, further north is the large Bumdeling Wildlife sanctuary which is on the UNESCO tentative list.

Chorten Kora was built in 1740 by Lama Ngawang Loday. It was modelled after Bodnath stupa in Kathmandu to save people in the far east of Bhutan the long pilgrimage to Nepal. Chorten Kora is an important place not only to eastern Bhutanese (Sharchop) but also to the Dakpa of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh.

Harstad harbour on a winter morning. Freight for MS Nordnorge is being loaded, the waiting cars went in last. HFF everybody!

Downtown Harstad at 8.30 in the morning. The snow plough has removed excess snow but that's it- no salt or grit on the roads...

A snowstorm closing in over Honningsvåg. Just a moment earlier the sun was shining-(see clickable note:

Winter landscape on Magerøya island, somewhere along the way to the North Cape.

On board MS Nordnorge in Harstad harbour- in the middle of a snow storm. The icicles consisted of frozen sea water.

Stuttgart theatre was bombed in WWII and the new building designed by Hans Volkart was opened in 1962 next to the opera house. It is the seat of Schauspiel Stuttgart and also used by Stuttgart Ballet. Also see clickable inset photo!