All at sea ...

On Sunday, I finally got to walk on water. Well, strictly speaking it was the solid form, the frozen Baltic, rendered fairly solid by a few weeks of subzero temperatures.

Now, I was brought up never to try walking on frozen lakes, rivers etc. because any fool knows that is certain death. And in any other winter than this in the UK, it probably is. Perhaps at home this year, others will be trying this on bodies of freshwater. But sea water? I remember from school chemistry lessons that salt water freezes at even lower temperatures. So, how could something so wrong feel so right?

The image (you can click on it for a larger version) is actually a 360° degree series of 10 shots, joined using Canon's Photostitch software, which came with my camera. It's the first time I have used the software and it seems pretty straightforward. What I really wanted was to capture the feeling of space I experienced standing away from the island of Seurasaari, which we have visited in warmer weather to feed the squirrels. Just one photo would not have done that.

My native guide also explained some of the etiquette - don't walk on the ski tracks being the most important, though we did also keep plenty of distance between us and the hole in the ice used for the winter bathers.

The most eerie experience was standing on the frozen sea, on a cold but still afternoon and hearing the ships' horns hooting from a few kilometres away in the harbour - they sounded as if they were just around the corner.