Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014

From the magical aurora borealis to the violent surface of the sun, you can see the astounding winning images of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 competition at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich

Overall winner: Aurora over a Glacier Lagoon by James Woodend (UK)

The magic of space continues to beguile us every time we see new astounding images of the aurora borealis, a horse head nebula, a solar eclipse or the inexplicably hot and churning surface of the sun.

You can see the cream of these awe-inspiring images, the winner and runners up of the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Awards 2014, at the Royal Observatory from now until February 2015.

British photographer James Woodend beat over a 1,000 amateur and professional photographers from around the globe to win the title of Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014.  The judges were mesmerised by Woodend’s shot portraying a vivid green aurora dancing across the Icelandic night sky and reflected symmetrically in the glacial Jökulsarlon lagoon of Vatnajökull National Park. 

Below are winners of the other categories and special prizes, including a breath-taking view of Earth taken from the brink of space (87,000 feet above the ground), with the help of a high altitude balloon launched from Boulder, Colorado by Patrick Cullis (USA); the snaking swirls of superheated gas on the boiling surface of the Sun captured by Alexandra Hart (UK); a figure silhouetted against the backdrop of a Kenyan savannah skyline, a rarely seen hybrid solar eclipse, taken by Eugen Kamenew (Germany); and a stark yet opulent portrayal of the rock formations of the Wairarapa district in New Zealand, contrasting with the dusty clouds dancing across the Milky Way photographed by Chris Murphy (New Zealand) winner of the Sir Patrick Moore prize for Best Newcomer. 

Deep Space winner: The Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) by Bill Snyder (USA)

Our Solar System winner: Ripples in a Pond by Alexandra Hart (UK)

People and Space winner: Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2 by Eugen Kamenew (Germany)

Robotic Scope winner: NGC 3718 by Mark Hanson (USA)

The Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer winner: Coastal Stairways by Chris Murphy (New Zealand)

Young Astronomy Photographer of the Year winner: The Horsehead Nebula (IC 434) by Shishir & Shashank Dholakia (USA) aged 15

You can see these images alongside the runners up and commended entries at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 exhibition at the Royal Observatory until 22 February 2015. Entry is free.

City cycling essentials

Deadly nightshade lights, a rather distinguished copper bell and a basket woven from tropical elephant grass: what more could you ask for? 

Vickers Roadster Bicycle, £2,199, Made in these Isles

First things first, if you’re after a city cycling kit, your primary purchase if you haven’t yet got one, should be of course, a bike. According to Vickers, the Roadster bicycle is 'the essential city bicycle for the modern man'. It's a timeless classic and every bit of it, from the frame to the tyres is made right here in Britain.

Bookman Lights, £16.95 (choice of four colours), Godspeed

Functional and stylish, these Bookman lights are result of a clever collaboration with The Deadly Nightshades and they come in four awesome colours with awesome names; Pitch Black, Sea Foam, Velo Yellow and Spoked Salmon. They're easy to attach and have three different light modes.

Bee Bi Cycle to Commuter Jacket, Bee Clothing, £295, Made in these Isles

This genius jacket from Bee Clothing serves as both a commuter and cycle jacket in one. Wear it as a lightweight regular jacket when travelling on foot, then reverse to reveal a waterproof hi-vis shell for wearing while cycling, combining both style and functionality. Hold us back.

Sorengi Copper Bell, Godspeed, £35, Godspeed

Dinga-linga-ling. You just won’t be able to stop ringing this beauty from Sörengi in all its shiny brass goodness when politely asking those walking commuters to shift out of your way.

George the Crew Bag, £150, Millican

This limited edition crew bag is the ideal urban cycling companion. Its deceptively spacious inside, with a main compartment for holding a laptop, and two large front pockets for storing valuables. Made from weatherproof organic cotton canvas, it will withstand the great British weather too!

Handwoven Bicycle Baskets (selection), £45, Godspeed

Jazz up your bicycle with one of these of a kind baskets, woven from tropical elephant grass. Each one is completely unique and made by hand, and comes with the name of their personal weaver stitched inside it. Bring a touch of the exotic to your handlebars!

Urban Poncho, Otto London, £88 (in green, blue and grey), Godspeed

Don’t let those unexpected downpours spoil your commute to work, with this rather fetching urban poncho from Godspeed. Pack it in your kit and you'll never get a soaking again. Made from Oxford Nylon, it's lightweight and most importantly WATERPROOF, and even has handlebar straps to keep your lap dry when it's extra wet.

Iceburg Bike Hanger, £350, Godspeed

If you can't bare to leave your bike outside in the cold, bring it indoors and give it pride of place on your wall with this stunning bit of craftsmanship by Iceburg. This bike hanger is made from oak and birch and its striking angles make it a work of art in itself. Your spanking Roadster deserves nothing less, surely?

Words: Sam Young

We chose this fine array of cycling items from our directory members, a delectable troupe of independent brands, makers and artisans who can cater for every sartorial, grooming, leisure and office need. 

The Good Life Experience: 5 things not to miss

A day of axe-throwing, coffee brewing, dough-kneading, craft beer quaffing, whittling and having your moustache preened by the renowned Mr Natty: now that's what Ernest Journal calls a festival. We'll be touting our wares at The Good Life Experience in Flintshire this Saturday, so as well as dropping by to say hello to team Ernest, make sure you don't miss out on these awesome events...

The Good Life Experience, 20 September

Swimming the Llyns of Snowdonia
Vivienne Rickman-Poole and the Outdoor Swimming Society, 5pm, Great Outdoor Tent

Last year Vivienne embarked on a documentary journey to swim and explore all the Llyns in Snowdonia (around 250) and it was this journey that sparked inspiration and led to her featuring in the recent music video for Elbow's latest single Real Life (Angel). At The Good Life Experience Vivienne will be talking about her experiences and showcasing some of her photography. She will also talk about The Outdoor Swimming Society, of which she is a member along with 12,000 others. The society has helped catalyse a nationwide interest in wild swimming (incidentally, Ernest editor Jo's favourite hobby and the thing that gives her skin that attractive blue tinge).

Baking with fire
Tom Herbert and the Fabulous Baker Brothers, 4pm, Campfires

Forget Paul Hollywood's steely blue gaze and silver fox charm, Tom Herbert's your man for mastering the beguiling wonder that is dough. Tom is a fifth generation baker and one half of the Channel 4's Fabulous Baker Brothers, and is harbouring to 'do for bread what Rick Stein has done for fish'. We salute your tall ambitions, Tom. You can catch him at The Good Life Experience working his magic with bread, pizza dough and fire. You will be enthralled.

A time to whittle
Hatchet + Bear, 3pm, Great Outdoors Tent

We love these guys not only because they whittle, but they also happen to have one of the most beautiful Instagram accounts we've ever seen. Look at their spoons. Anyway, woodworker, woodsman and year-round shed dweller EJ Osbourne of Hatchet + Bear will be on hand to show you a thing or two about getting whittling down to a fine art. You will emerge smelling of sawdust. 

Cowboy adventures
James Greenwood, 4pm Great Outdoors Tent

Ernest loves an adventurer with a curious tale to tell. Enter James Greenwood, horseback rider and adventurer extraordinaire. James has ridden horses around the world, starting in Buenos Aries and travelling the length of South America, before moving on to Asia then crossing Europe. Along the way he escaped jail and enjoyed endless terrifying and enlightening adventures. His book No Gun Big Smile tells of his ride through South America, and at The Good Life Experience he'll be telling us more.

See out the festival with a bang
Paprika, 8.55pm, Music Marquee

We're talking foot stomping, hair-raising, nipple tingling, beer splashing, hugging strangers kind of music here. Hailing from Romania, Serbia and Britain, Paprika unite traditional Eastern European, Balkan, Gypsy and Classical music. The band have toured extensively across Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, and have featured at WOMAD festivals in the UK, Spain, Canary Islands and Abu Dhabi. Recently, the band has developed both its line-up and repertoire, focusing on bringing rare and lost traditional Balkan music back to life. You will emerge sweaty and jubilant. 

You can find out more about these events and the rest of the programme at The Good Life Experience. Team Ernest will be there, too, so please do drop by our stall and say hello. We're mighty friendly. 

Introducing Pilgrim Cycling Co

As we’re a Kickstarter funded project ourselves, we’re rather partial to browsing through other inspiring new ventures and digging into our pockets when we find something that catches our eye. Pilgrim Cycle Co, with its focus on celebrating the soulful side of cycling, on embracing everyday adventures and seeking out simple pleasures in your city, certainly struck a chord. We caught up with founder Tom Probert to hear more about his first collection of hand screen-printed t-shirts and his plans for the future...

What inspired you to launch Pilgrim?

I’ve always loved exploring on my bike, and I’ve always wanted to start a clothing brand. Nothing out there reflected the things I love about cycling lifestyle, and last summer, while (fittingly) riding across the Pyrenees, the idea for the brand started to take shape in my head.

What’s your background?

I’ve been a graphic designer in London for about six years, and I’ve been going on long cycling trips since I was about 15. I’m trying to combine these two things I’m passionate about.

What do you love about cycling?

Freedom and simplicity. I love how you can carry everything on your bike that you need to live, and go anywhere you want. That idea of self-sufficiency makes me feel both secure and excited – a potent mix. 

Cycling is slow and quiet, which allows you to take things in properly, and just by being on your bike you invite adventure.

The physical effort in cycling elevates simple things to special experiences – after five hours riding through driving rain, a humble pasty becomes the best thing you’ve ever eaten! Cycling is also good for the mind and the soul – it’s the best way I’ve found to get the creative juices flowing, and it’s a perfect way to unwind after a stressful day…plus it’s just FUN!

Tell us more about these t-shirts you’re making..

I’m interested in the cool places cycling takes you and what you experience along the way. The t-shirts are the canvas for telling these stories. The plan is to collaborate with illustrators that fit Pilgrim's ethos and gradually explore the soulful side of cycling.

I see cycling as central to an adventurous, natural lifestyle, and Pilgrim is for people who share this philosophy. If you’re into surf culture there are amazing brands out there like Deus and Mollusk that fit this laid-back, free-spirited kind of ethos. But cycling brands are telling stories about glorious suffering and racing – there’s an idea that you have to push yourself to go faster and the focus is internal, on your own performance. I’d like to create an alternative.

And what is important to you when you’re designing and making your products? What’s the ethos behind your process?

What’s important to me is that everything is done to the highest possible standard, using the finest materials and working with the best craftspeople. I want to do things that create an emotional bond between product and owner and have a sense of timelessness.

What are your future plans?

Once the Kickstarter has finished I’ll be launching the Pilgrim website where the first collection will be available. I’m keen to get it into the real world, too, to start engaging with people on the Pilgrim wavelength so I’m planning to get a cargo trike that becomes a market stall!

Within a couple of years I want to have developed a Pilgrim cycling jersey, jacket and bag to complement the t-shirt collections. I’m lining up some potential collaborations already and it’s this kind of thing that really excites me – finding and working with talented people who express the same ethos using different skills.

How can we get involved? 

The Pilgrim Cycling Co Kickstarter is still running so you can still donate for whichever of the rewards you fancy, and share the project with your pals. The next target is £5k, which will allow me to start work on the next collection and get going on the cargo trike! Have a look, back the campaign and look out for Pilgrim at a market near you soon!

Alone in the jungle

Six gruelling weeks through paddies, mountains, jungle and sun-baked plains of Southeast Asia: Ants Bolingbroke-Kent shares her journey on the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail with a 25-year-old motorcycle

A few years ago I decided it was time for a proper adventure, the sort where I’d find myself deep in the Southeast Asian jungle; alone, slightly terrified and knee deep in mud. So in the spring of 2013, after months of wondering what the hell I’d let myself in for, I headed east for a solo motorcycle journey down the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail.

The means by which Uncle Ho’s communist North sent men and supplies to fight the American-backed South, the trail had been the fulcrum of the Vietnam War; a 12,000-mile labyrinth of roads, bicycle tracks, footpaths and waterways winding through the jungles of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. But five decades on it was fast being swallowed by time, nature and development. I wanted to explore what remained before it was too late.

While scores of travellers ride a tourist-friendly, tarmac version of the trail between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, only a handful follow its gnarly guts over the Truong Son Mountains into Laos. Even fewer trace it south into the wild eastern reaches of Cambodia. I wanted to do both. Unlike the hundreds of thousands of North Vietnamese who walked, drove and worked on the Trail in the 60s and 70s, I wouldn’t have to deal with a daily deluge of bombs. But UXO, unexploded ordnance, littered my route south, cerebral malaria was still rife and the trees slithered and crawled with unpleasant creatures. There’d be mud and mountains, lonely forested tracks and – in many areas – no humans for miles if anything went badly wrong. 

Despite these dangers I was intent on riding alone, on stripping away the protective blanket of companionship to see what I was really made of. How would I react when my bike ground to a halt in the middle of a river? Could I hack days and nights alone in the jungle? Only through the purity of solitude would I find the answers.

With three gears, an automatic clutch, slender city wheels and brakes that would barely stop a bolting snail, the humble Honda Cub wouldn’t be everyone’s first choice of transport for such a trip. But with my meagre budget and limited mechanical know-how the cheap, the simple Cub suited me perfectly. My particular model, a 25-year-old beauty dubbed the Pink Panther, was bought in Hanoi for a mere £200.

For six weeks I clunked and bumped south through the mist and paddies of northern Vietnam, the sweltering jungles of Laos and the scorching plains of Cambodia. It was tough, dusty, muddy, exhilarating, exhausting and at times terrifying. I passed through tribal regions where people ran away from me in fear; I rode eerie, dark tracks flanked by bomb craters; I buzzed through villages scarred by the wreckage of war and I heaved my bike through deep mud, up steep mountainsides and across myriad rivers. By the time I reached Ho Chi Minh, Pink Panther had received no less than four engine rebuilds. 

The experience didn’t fundamentally change me, but I did learn a few things that can only have come from travelling alone. In times of adversity, when the mire and the mountains conspired to beat me, I felt like I’d faced myself and passed the test. Whatever the future holds, I always have the knowledge that I cajoled an ailing Pink Panther over the Truong Son. If I can do that, I hope I can overcome a lot of life’s difficulties.

You can read the full feature in iPad issue 3 of Ernest Journal, available to download now.

Ants Bolingbroke Kent is a veteran of lengthy journeys in small, slow, unsuitable vehicles. She’s co-piloted a pink tuk tuk from Bangkok to Brighton, wobbled around the Black Sea on a zebra-print Honda Cub and survived an attempt to reach the Russian Arctic on an old Ural motorcycle.

theitinerant.co.uk