'British Summer Time: Season 6'

On Thursday 17th March Nina and I participated remotely in season 6 of British Summer Time walks organised by Dr. Blake Morris.

Season 6 of British Summer Time - Sunrise Walks will be experienced between 12th and 27th March, 2022. The season 6 project page can be found here.

The last time we had participated in this particular series of walks was in 2019, Season 1 of British Summer Time, on Wednesday 6th November and the write-up for that event can be found here.

The listed time for dawn in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, UK was 06:10am and the three photos below were taken at the appointed times of 05:55am (15 minutes before sunrise), 06:10am (Sunrise) and 06:25am (15 minutes after sunrise).

As can be seen in the photos below, the sun wasn't visible until around 10-15 minutes after the official sunrise time due to a bank of low cloud over the North Sea. The morning was quite cool but as soon as the sun appeared it quickly made a difference to the temperature. We saw at least three rabbits out on the clifftops who, like us, appeared to be enjoying the morning sun.

'British Summer Time: Sunrise Walk 7'

On Saturday 26th October, I had the good fortune to take part in another distance walk organised by Dr. Blake Morris who is currently based in the UK.

Blake initiated the series of walks (entitled British Summer Time) in response to the approaching change of clocks in the UK and how activity experienced each day at the same time undergoes an immediate and dramatic change as the clocks suddenly change back to Greenwich Mean Time (UTC).

The walk for us in Vietnam allowed us to experience the sunrise in Saigon, which was scheduled for 05:43am. I took photographs 15 minutes before sunrise (05:28 am), at the time of the sunrise (05:43 am) and then 15 minutes after sunrise (05:58 am). Of course, there is no daylight saving arrangement in place and the sunrise / sunset does not fluctuate very much throughout the year here.

Blake walked in the UK, in the vicinity of Northampton while other participants walked in a variety of locations.
On 26th October walkers strode out in the early morning in Northampton, Cork, St. Ives and Bournville. Due to the time difference, in Saigon, we walked out 6 hours ahead of everyone else and experienced a wonderful walk. The usual bustling city, verging on the chaotic, was slowly awakening. The environment was therefore much quieter than usual, with far fewer people out on the street. The air was also less humid.
A few meters from where we walked, bats and swallows competed for insects above the local river and as we continued along the road, watching the sunrise, the latter gradually replaced the former.

This was another great opportunity to see our surroundings from a new perspective, a very enjoyable walk.