Seasons and chronology fit the story fine. This is how my 2017 looked like:

Winter

No need for fancy landscapes in the winter: white cover, selected mists and low angle lights make for the most interesting shows. All these winter pics below were taken in the Guadarrama mountains of central Spain, a place you would never visit unless you live nearby.

This was a busy day on the hilltops. Very typical after the first serious snow:

Guadarrama

Two fellow skiers, three stunted tress, snow & cloud, that’s all there is:

Guadarrama

Telecom buildings, usually an eyesore, this time in mesmerizing winter coat:

Guadarrama

The B&W barely broken by hints of blue in the 3 dark lords’ attire:

Guadarrama

500 vertical meters from peak to camp, 2 downhill tracks (both mine):

Guadarrama

The odd fence in the whiteout:

Guadarrama

Spring

Spring most epic times of 2017 were on two wheels, it’s such a fantastic way to see the world without much need for planning! Just follow the roads and see what comes around.

Despite the signs here, we felt no danger, just awe:

Cantabrica

I didn’t rearrange the bikes for the pic:

Cantabrica

Rural Spain is an endless source of stony open air museums. The best thing about it is that it’s for real:

Valderrobres

This pic could have been taken 100 years back and it’d have looked the same:

Valderrobres

Summer

A major trip with makeshift gear in the most magnificent of places, the hills of Western Newfoundland, was at the core of my 2017 summer season. Here’s a few highlights.

Igneous rock, no bush, the way into the Lewis Hills of Western Newfoundland:

Newfoundland

Did they call them the Blow-me-Down Mountains because of the wind? It was certainly blowing hard along the canyon. I got the only sheltered spot but no competition, I was on my own for several days:

Newfoundland

The way up is less steep over the ridge at the confluence of two canyons. Blow-me-Down Mountains:

Newfoundland

Caribou roam free in the mountains of Western Newfoundland. This is as far south as they can be found:

Caribou

Glaciers carved deep fjords in the Long Range Mountains of Newfoundland. This is the most classic, iconic view of the longest, deepest of them all, Western Brook Pond:

Western Brook Pond

If the airline wouldn’t have lost my luggage, this pic would have shown a simple cylindrical pot. Here’s the beautiful, welcoming shape of a teapot instead:

Kettle & sunrise

Late summer and I was back in my home playground for some meadow and rock overnighting. It’s good to be back, it helps put things into perspective:

Guadarrama sunrise

Autumn

We gather friends around the two-wheeled beasts so we can tell stories of summer adventures while we ride for new ones. Here’s in the big-sky-country side of the North Iberia mountains:

Big Sky & Mountains

Back home, there’s good news in the long awaited rain. Let the autumn be autumn:

Guadarrama

We’ve got a tradition going for some years now come December to ride our bikes in the coldest areas of Iberia. in 2017, we reached a low of -9ºC and a high on our spirits. Here, camera ready for that brief spell of light on a dark day, let it happen while riding down a mountain pass and top it off with a rainbow:

Cameros

Late fall brings snow again, giving way to a new winter. We ride in sub-zero but there’s a warm, cozy pub somewhere down there:

Ortigosa de Cameros

See you in 2018.