Cycling in Outer Hebrides 2016

Sketches from my not that recent cycling tour in the Outer Hebrides.
It has become a bit of a tradition that every summer I pack my tent, camping gear and a few other useful things into my panniers and I spend a week cycling in the Western Isles, by far my favourite place in the world.

There is not many things that make me happier than cycling through the spectacular Hebridean landscapes, getting soaked by the rain, almost knocked over by the wind and defeated by particularly steep climbs.

This year I cycled 200 miles through Skye, North Uist, Bernaray, Harris and Lewis. The weather was spectacularly bad even for the Hebrides and I would get completely soaked by the rain twice or three times a day. I've developed an affinity for automatic hand driers in public bathrooms and I could write an essay on different types of  hand driers and which are best for drying what type of clothes.

But I don't really mind a bit of rain if I can spend a week cycling through the most beautiful landscapes, watch the seals swimming in the Sound of Harris without even having to leave my tent, meet lots of interesting and friendly people and drink whisky in a pub in Stornoway.

Here is a few drawings I made. For some reason they are particularly dark this year - I will have to bring more colours next year!

Comic for Wysokie Obcasy Extra

An editorial / comic piece I did for Wysokie Obcasy Extra magazine back in July.
And a work-in-progress photo from my mobile studio. I very often work while travelling but this was probably the first time the whole thing was created when travelling on intercity trains in Poland.

 

Cycling in the Outer Hebrides

So this year I headed to the Western Isles for my solo cycling and camping trip. I think this have become a little bit of a tradition by now. At some point in the summer I pack the paniers, take my camping gear and I go cycling somewhere up north. I get to spend a week surrounded by the nature, cycle through stunning scenery and defy a few gender stereotypes. I don't know what it says about me but these are definitely the best and most relaxing holidays I can think of (although I am not sure if 'relaxing' is the right word).

This time I took the ferry to the Isle of Uist and the plan was to cycle round both Uists and South Harris. The weather was really bad (winds at 30mph and rain, I guess nothing unusual in this part of the world but not the best weather for cycling, especially the wind) so unfortunately I have never made it to Harris. The good thing was that I could explore the Uists more instead of rushing through it so I don't miss the ferry.

I didn't make many sketches as most of the time I was too tired, my hands were not cooperating after a long cycle or it was simply imposible to take out the sketchbook because of the strong wind or the rain approaching (and I was more concerned about getting the next camping site dry and in one piece rather then creating artwork). The sketches don't really capture the spectactular sceneries of the Outer Hebrides but I think they are more true to the nature of the trip (note that most sketches is from the train or the ferry).

sketches from Warsaw

I went to Warsaw a couple of weeks ago and efor some reasons I didn't feel like sketching at all so I only made a few rather lazy sketches. Mostly of people in the airport staring at their smartphones and tablets and toddlers who have better things to do that staring at the smarphones.
Also, it turns out that when I don't spend my holidays sketching obsessively I read more. And this is probably a good thing.

iran part ii

The remaining sketches from our Iranian adventure...
Below is the coolest looking local bus I've ever travelled on (it looked particularly fun from the outside but it was too hot to make a sketch). It was a six hour journey through the desert with no air-con. It was hot! (wearing the hijab didn't help much either).

 However, it was all worth it as we arrived to the lovely Ateshooni guesthouse in an oasis village Garmeh. For some reasons I find the idea of an oasis in the middle of the desert very exciting. I think it has something to do with the adventure stories I read as a child.
Maziar, who owns the guesthouse is also a musician so we spend the evenings listening to his music.

 As the temperatures were really high we would spend most of the day in the guesthouse chilling, drinking tea, eating dates, reading books and chatting with other travellers. Above is Bernardo who is on a trip around a world.

iran part i

Some sketches from my trip to Iran (by far favourite country I've visited to date). I cannot quite explain why it was such a lovely place to visit and my sketches don't really capture that either, but I guess it must have something to do with the most welcoming people I've ever met.

A few quick sketches made while waiting in the airport. Lots of bored people staring at their smartphones...

 ...or into the distance.

 And there is always a group of children running around and being difficult to draw. I love sketching in airports!

Off to Iran

I am super excited about the trip to Iran. Hopefully the sketchbooks will fill up with travel sketches and notes, which I will post here as soon as I return.
And because a brand new glossy blank sketchbook can be intimidating, the dragon is helping to solve this problem. He is excited about the trip too!

Ghana

There has been quite a lot exciting things happening recently. I will blog about them soon but first, a very much delayed post about Ghana.

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Ok...
For some reasons I seem to be unable to write about the project at the moment. I guess the experience was so amazing that it is really diffucult to sum it up in a few paragraphs. I will try to come back to it later and write a few things about the awesome kids we were working with, the volunteers, the films children made and about the experience of living in Ghana for a month.

For the moment here are some pictures:


And also Kate have been blogging a lot while out there on our fundraising blog.

georgia

A few sketches from our recent trip to Georgia. It was my second trip to Georgia and I must say that Georgia is still my absolutely favourite country.

Konrad reading Milan Kundera, waiting for a flight in Istanbul.


Some sketches from Tbilisi.


Random stuff really.

Travelling on a marshrutka (minibus). It takes a while to get used to crazy suicidal driving but it is an experience not to be missed while in Georgia. This one was from Tbilisi to Signagi.

Signagi is a pretty town set on a hill with some spectacular views to the Caucasus mountains.


At Bodbe convent near Signagi.

St Nino's Holy Spring.
 
More Signagi.


Ok this is rather random. I have no idea where this bird comes from.

On the marshrutka to Tsnori. Have I mentioned that each marshrutka we took had a suggestive crack in the windscreen?

Waiting for a marshrutka to Telavi.

Chilling out on a hammock in Telavi.

On the market in Telavi.

 Tusheti is a remote region in the Caucasus (close to the border with Dagestan and Chechenya). Getting there was quite an experience (a 4 hours drive through a mountaing pass, mostly looking down the cliff and thinking about the trajectory of a falling 4WD while the drivier is happily listening to The Best of Boney M...). 

Zemo Omalo with amazing medival architecture. I was also trying to learn the Georgian alphabet.

We went horseriding!

More sketches from Keselo Hotel in Omalo, a lovely guesthouse we were staying in.




Back to Telavi.

On a marshrutka to Borjomi. This one was actually really fun. There was a priest with us, he started a prayer at the beginning of the journey and the whole marshrutka was praying. It actually made me feel better about the whole journey as the driver was particularly crazy. There should be a priest on every minibus in Georgia. Just in case.

We spent last few days of our Georgian holidays in resort town Borjomi. Again, I am not sure what's with this bird.

 Drinking salty mineral waters, swimming, chilling out, doing normal holiday stuff.