Here are the first pictures from my hiking trip to Madeira, a Portuguese island surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean. (Photos taken Feb.27)

Dog daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) beside a hiking trail in a mountain area near Valle Gran Rey on La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain, March 17.
(Nokia Lumia 1200)

View from a hiking trail high above the western coast of La Gomera, Canary Islands, near the village of Alojera, March 16.
(Nokia Lumia 1200, ISO100, converted from a 40 MB raw file, no sharpening, no noise reduction applied)

A red poppy in front of the sun beside a hiking trail in the western part of La Gomera, Canary Islands, March 16.
(Nokia Lumia 1200)

Beside a hiking trail in the southern part of La Gomera, Canary Islands, near the small village of Imada, March15.

Two hikers in the Taunus mountains just north of Frankfurt, Dec.12, as the morning sun dissolves the fog.

Hiking the Wutachschlucht canyon in the southern part of the Black Forest near the border between Germany and Switzerland on a rainy day, Oct.20.

A starry night in the Taunus mountains, just a few kilometers north of Frankfurt, Sep.6. From time to time I pack my sleeping bag, do some hiking and sleep out in the woods with just the trees and the stars above me. That may sound a bit romantic – and it really is!