The Month In Pics

It's summer holiday time so we're off on a virtual tour of the Mediterranean - blue skies, poppy fields, and all - beginning in the exotic location of, erm, Scotland:-)

Glen Shiel

To get us into real bikini mode, Paul Sammonds takes us to the start line up in the heat of the Highlands. His Glen Shiel album is packed with stunning ridges, cloud inversions, and a good bit of snow too - hasn't summer arrived, or is that just us?!

Ciste Dhubh from Aonach Meadhoin, by Paul Sammonds

Corsica

We weren't joking about the Mediterranean odyssey though. John Burley's been staring out across enticing blue seas recently - see the results in his Corsica album once you've got jealousy-control mode switched on. We'd like to say our view of the Thames looks equally alluring, but that would be straining the truth slightly.

Cap Corse, by John Burley

Loch Torridon

Back up north again, but not at the expence of the blue waters - turquoise still counts, right? The Steve Walton Images album barely needs an introduction these days, but if you haven't glanced at it for a while there are a couple of impressive new images joining this pic of Loch Torridon, including Calanais, Isle of Lewis and Slioch.

Upper Loch Torridon, by Lord of the Crinkles

Crete

The Med isn't all about blue skies and warm waters, if Jonathan Clarke's Crete - White Mountains album is anything to go by. It all looks very bleak and arid in there - but still beautiful - with a few brighter, and more populated, photos of Hania thrown into the mix.

Pachnes Summit Panoview, by Jonathan Clarke

Sky Fire

We may have to break away from the Mediterranean Scotland theme here for a moment, as this photo stems from somewhere between the two - the Yorkshire Moors. It's somewhat lacking in sunny blue seas and snowy Scottish ridges, but we reckon it makes up for it in the colour department. See more in the Photers album, which contains an influx of new photos including some arty shots of trees, snowy scenes from Mont Blanc, and a very brooding sky.

Sky Fire, by Chris Charlesworth

Skye

Matt C's camera has been busy recently too - as has his rope and his head for heights. Vertigo sufferers may not be too keen on the Bennachie Goes To Skye, May 07 album but scramblers will love it.

Looking down the Gillean climb/abseil bit, by Matt C

Provence

Back to the southern sun again for a third and final holiday stop, this time in Provence where we spent the week sport climbing. It may look like all we did was take photos of poppies, but we did occasionally summon up the energy to head to the crags too. There's a spot of very grippy rock in the Provence May 07 album, including some routes we climbed and some we definitely didn't. 7a? You must be joking!

Provence, by Susan

Fell Running

And finally, OM has its own fell running album, kindly started by Colorado-dwelling fell runner Andrew Terrill, where all OMers are welcome to upload their own running photos. This recent one was 'hard work' according to Marcus Crompton, although the runners probably felt it more than the photographer. A spot of side-line photography, anyone?:-)

Hard Work, by Marcus Crompton

That's all for now. Upload your photos here - we love looking through them - and if you want some inspiration for places to take your camera, try the routes section of the site. Also, the new, the wonderful, and the downright weird, from the world of outdoor gear, is always up for comment in our gear reviews. Or you could just while away the afternoon chatting in the forum ...