Tag: Mountains

Highlights of Puerto Rico 🇵🇷

Apr 22nd, 2024

For a good part of my tween and teen years, I spent several weeks each year visiting my father in Puerto Rico. So much of the island is stunningly beautiful, with sunny beaches and tree-covered mountains of a rugged nature unlike those we have in New England and Scotland. The flowers are bright yellows, pinks, oranges and clear whites, the greens varying from almost yellow to dark rich near-black hues. The architecture is modern and also historic, with cities like San Juan and Ponce demonstrating their European connections.
But there is also striking damage from numerous hurricanes and generations of poverty. I recall vividly driving through the mountains past corrugated metal houses, and coming across a road that had been washed away by Hurricane Maria’s rainfall. I could spend a great deal more time discussing the economy of Puerto Rico, but this is a photo blog and not a political one; I will likely return to the topic when I post about Vieques.
The many sides of Puerto Rico mystified me when I was young, and it is only during my last few visits as an adult that I have truly come to appreciate the unique nature of the place, and realise how lucky I have been to see it change over the past 30 years.
I have been trying to work out the best way for me to share my favourite places for some time, so I’ve settled on my highlights of Puerto Rico, starting off with the city of Ponce, on the south coast.

Ponce

I really enjoyed our short trip down to Ponce a few years ago, and was struck by its clear European roots – the architecture is very Spanish Caribbean. Newer buildings offer views up towards the mountains that form the spine of the island. The second-largest city on the island, Ponce was founded by the Spanish in 1692. It boasts a beautiful fountain in the square and the extraordinary Rincón Argentino, serving mouth-watering steaks.

In the mountains above Ponce is Hacienda Buena Vista, an old coffee plantation run on water power. It is beautiful and fascinating, with several enormous water wheels and a series of tunnels and rivulets carrying water all over the plantation.

Hacienda Gripiñas

Further into the mountains near the town of Jayuya is Hacienda Gripiñas, another old plantation that has been transformed into an inn. Dad took me here many years ago and it stood out in my mind for its stunning beauty in the mountains, and the fried plantains we had with breakfast. The accommodation is basic, but the food was classic Puerto Rican and the surroundings quiet and peaceful.

Mountains of Puerto Rico

As is quite common in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico boasts a coastline of beautiful beaches and interior of lush, craggy mountains. Unlike northern mountains that were smoothed by glaciers, these have lots of sharp edges and cliffs. One of the only crops that grows at altitude and on such steep hillsides is coffee, and Puerto Rican coffee is some of the best I have ever tasted (costing about $1.50 from a roadside caravan).

El Morro, Old San Juan

Castillo San Felipe del Morro is arguably Puerto Rico’s most famous building; the iconic garitas (overhanging, wall-mounted turret or sentry box) are a symbol of the island throughout the USA. Construction started in the 16th century and continued for more than 100 years, until it reached its current state in the late 1700s. While we did not manage to get inside the fortress, we did explore the outer walls and I was able to capture some of the stunning views along the north coast of San Juan, as well as one photogenic local.

Luquillo Beach

Moving eastward along the north coast of the island, one reaches the famous beach of Luquillo. At certain times of year, it is crowded with tourists and locals, taking advantage of the numerous kioskos offering food and drink refreshments like seafood, burgers, chicken, beer and cocktails. It is also a stunning beach with plenty of palms and warm clear water. We visited on our last day and wished we had never gone anywhere else! Though we were also lucky enough to have it all to ourselves…

Seven Seas Beach, Fajardo

Our ‘local’ beach when visiting, Seven Seas is not as spacious as Luquillo but it is a great beach for a walk and a swim; the water is warm and relatively shallow, and its location makes it easy to reach. And, if you walk far enough, you can see through the trees into Laguna Grande, one of Puerto Rico’s eco-masterpieces, a bioluminescent bay. I was lucky enough to take a boat ride in a bio bay on Vieques years ago, and it is a truly unique experience.

Punta Puerca and the Vieques sound

Not a small part of Puerto Rican history is a complex and often troublesome relationship with the US government. This was embodied by the US Naval occupation of more than half of Vieques island, and the enormous Navy base at Roosevelt Roads, near Ceiba. The base has been inactive since 2004, replaced by a large area of abandoned military buildings and the Jose Aponte de la Torre Airport. The hills of Punta Puerca offer lovely views back towards Fajardo and across the sound to Vieques. I plan to write more about Vieques in the near future.

Balneario de Humacao

I cannot really recall how we ended up at this beach, other than my father must have recommended it. When we visited it was completely abandoned, and the recent hit by Hurricane Maria was evident in severely damaged palms and other foliage. The waves were a bit high for swimming and the beach quite narrow, but we were graced by a visit from the local gang of wild perros puertorriqueños. We didn’t have any food for them, so they watched us for a bit and trotted off down the beach.

El Nuevo Horizonte

One of the most stunning drives in Puerto Rico – and harrowing at times due to narrow, steep and winding path – is route 901 that runs through the community of El Negro and up along the coast before plunging down the hills into Emajagua and Maunabo.

At the apex of the road, as it tops the hills, is Restaurant El Nuevo Horizonte, where one can find amazing views and very tasty frozen piña coladas, both with and without rum.

Playa Larga

After visiting this beach for the first time, I routinely referred to it as ‘paradise beach’ (not partly because I didn’t know its real name). It is simply one of the most stunning beaches I have ever seen, lined with palm trees and with a small river that emerges from the palms to meander down towards the water. I have also taken some of my favourite pictures of all time at this beach. Yup, it’s one of the best.

Faro de Punta Tuna

First built in the 1890s, Punta Tuna lighthouse is a close sister in style to the lighthouse looking over Isabela Segunda harbor on Vieques. It sits high on a promontory with my paradise beach on one side and Puerto Maunabo on the other. When we visited in 2018 it was also one of the clearest spots to observe the hurricane damage wrought by Maria, only a few months previous (check out the scars on the palm trees in the view overlooking the beach).

Puerto Maunabo

Last but not least, La Cueva del Mar, a spot in Fajardo overlooking the marina, where you can get fantastic fish tacos and of course, piña colada 🍹.
Rothiemurchus Forest and Loch an Eilein walk

Mar 8th, 2024

Several years back, for reasons I cannot really recall, we decided to deviate from our traditional Lochaber-based holidays and try out the eastern side of the Highlands around Aviemore. Due to its popularity in winter sport season, there are plenty of places to stay and eat, and it is a slightly shorter drive.

On our first day we took an epic long walk around Loch Morlich in the rain, and so on the next day we opted for a slightly more gentle trek, starting at Loch an Eilein and heading almost due east towards the Cairngorm Club footbridge, about 4 miles round trip. There is quite generously-sized car park at Loch an Eilein which in and of itself has some lovely views, including a typical highland-style stone croft.

The paths in this area are very well-marked, and we started off along an access road, skirting the edge of the loch. At first, the route was surrounded by beautiful tall pines that allowed tempting glimpses of the water, as well as this stunning Bob Ross-style view of a small forest cottage.

Before long, the path we wished to follow turned east away from the loch. We passed several burns and even crossed one before moving out of the trees and into a flat, more open area with brush on all sides. Much of the open area was quite boggy but the path itself was dry and, for the most part, flat and easy to follow (excepting of course the shallow ford below, which required a bit of careful manoeuvring.)

I quickly fell in love with this particular trail, which offered views of the mountains in the distance, but also stunning single or small groups of trees that stood out against the open space. There were lochans dotted amongst stands of trees, shining in the sunlight, and it felt like something out of Lord of the Rings or some other fantasy.

The walk was dampened only by the fact that we were both a bit stiff and sore from our intense hike the previous day, and I found myself easily exhausted (not in part due to a bout of food poisoning the night before). I am nothing if not stubborn, however, and so we continued on towards Am Beanaidh, the river that was our goal. We did have a few moments of worry that we had taken the wrong path – we had a good map, but as is not uncommon in the highlands there were routes not on the map that led close to where we wanted to go – but in time we re-entered the forest and began to hear the sounds of the river.

Our goal and our lunch spot for the day was the iron footbridge which spans the river and was constructed by the Cairngorm Club in 1912. It boasts several sturdy plaques memorialising the building of the bridge, and a good viewpoint to look up or down the river. It was the perfect stop to fuel up and take a few selfies to prove we had managed a hike that day.

Considering the dreadful weather we had the day before, we were so lucky to have mostly blue skies and a comfortable temperature, perfect for walking. This trail is flat for the most part, as well, with a few rises and falls but no strenuous climbs. It was absolutely the right choice for a morning walk before driving home in the afternoon, and it could be both shortened or lengthened quite easily by adding in an extra loop or simply crossing the bridge and/or following the path along the river.

On our return, we took the time to follow one of the several side-trails down to the loch side, and I was lucky enough to take the below shot of sunlight glistening off the water. It remains one of my favourite shots, not in part because it reminds me so much of where we used to spend summers when I was young. The Aviemore area was not as evocative for me as the mountains further west, but there is no question that there are some beautiful trails and lochs.
Kenmore Hill circuit

Dec 18th, 2023
I have had every intention of publishing this post almost every day for the past two weeks, but a combination of leaving work and a bout of Covid continued to set me back.

The Scottish Highlands are legendary for their stunning hills, lochs, and the hikes and paths that allow you to view them in a way you can only do by foot. Not long before the start of lockdown, we spent a weekend at a self-catered cottage in Aberfeldy, allowing us plenty of time to explore the surrounding hills. This walk, on Kenmore Hill above Loch Tay, was both stunning and a touch disastrous.
Why was the walk a touch disastrous? It started with the car park which, at the time we visited, was inaccessible without a 4×4 (I do have hopes that it has been re-done since then!). We ended up having to stow our car just off the road and the end of the drive up to the car park, but fortunately our car at the time was tiny and we managed relatively well.
Kenmore, Perth, Scotland
From the edge of the road we walked up through the car park and almost immediately enjoyed splendid views back over the valley, particularly down towards Taymouth Castle and estate.

The sign in the car park offered three routes, and the one most clearly described by Walkhighlands was the red route; all three started in roughly the same place so we headed upwards, beginning a steady climb up the hill on a path that reminded me of a ski path without snow – rocky and lined with trees.

Eventually signs for the red path turned us right and we emerged from the trees, finding ourselves on a grassy area with a treeline on the ridge above and promises of views over the valley.

We were hampered a bit at this point by the fact that we had, the day before, done the Birks of Aberfeldy walk, which had been steeper and with more stairs than expected. The other half was suffering a bit with his knee from an old injury, and as we climbed up the hill towards the ridge – a relatively steep walk – he found it becoming more and more difficult.

We reached the top of the ridge in time and the views were indeed spectacular – the snow-topped peaks in the distance stood out beautifully against the blue sky, and we planned to continue the red loop towards the final cairn, where I know you can see down towards the other end of Loch Tay.

The discovery that we had forgotten a knee brace meant that we really could not continue to potentially cause even more damage, and so we agreed to return to the blue loop, and follow it back to the car.

Here, of course, is where slight disaster struck. We did as planned, found the blue path and intended to allow a quick run up to the marked viewpoint. Instead, as we followed the blue markers and the gap in the trees, we gradually realised that we had not seen a marker in a while, and that any sign of a trail had vanished. Both of us are relatively experienced hill walkers who had been paying attention, and yet could not determine a place where we could have deviated from the trail; we had two versions of a map and the picture of the trail, but found ourselves completely lost. We back-tracked a bit, and still could not confidently identify a marker. Standing at one of the last clear points, we established where the path should be, and where the road was, and decided that as long as we headed down and towards the road, we would reach it eventually, as it loops around the hill.

What followed was a rather steep and haphazard descent through brush, heather, and the occasional small trickle of water. I would not normally condone leaving a trail like this as it can cause damage to the wildlife, but we really did not have much of an option. We decided the trail lost us as much as the other way around. It was similar to a hike I had once done with my father, when we realised a touch too late that the trail we were following was in fact a dry creek bed – on that day, like on Kenmore Hill, eventually common sense and perseverance (perhaps even stubbornness) won out and we found our way to a clearly marked path.

On Kenmore Hill, this ended up being the last loop of the red trail, though we still cannot work out we managed to get there. Relieved, we found our way back to the car park and our car, the beacon we had just made out from higher up. While it was certainly not the most comfortable climb, I have every intention of making my way back and completing the red loop at some point, as I have seen from other hikers that the views from the other side of the hill are spectacular. It also seems to be the perfect length of hike – about two hours, with enough climb to get some proper views and the heartrate up a touch. I also have hope that in the years since the pandemic, the path has been kept up and perhaps improved, though a peek at Google Maps indicates that the road to the car park may still be in questionable shape.

After our slightly chaotic hike, we decided to take a drive down the loch as it was a beautiful day, and below are a few of the pictures I took along the way; Loch Tay really is a beautiful spot and while the mountains are less dramatic than further north, they are no less impressive. We in fact drove all the way to Killin and stopped at an Inn by the Falls of Dochart – a post for another time.

I look forward to an opportunity to try to this hike again!