Here in the northern hemisphere we have just enjoyed the longest day, more daylight than at any other time of the year. We have been having quite a heatwave too, the early mornings and late evenings have been a relief as temperatures have dropped, and wonderful shadows have been revealed.

To inject a bit of fun and joy for a couple of weeks over the Summer Solstice, we invited you via Instagram to share shadows of people walking. They could have been of you or they could have been of others, and not just fellow humans too, but wherever you were in sunshine, we invited you to take a snap or a selfie and share it with us.

We’ve just been in France, in a heat wave and took part in a promenade performance, in which we had to walk through streets that were poorly shaded, but the good news is that they were a fabulous canvas for all sorts of interesting shadows as people walked by (as you can tell from or feature image).

The campaign from Sunday 14 to Sunday 28 June. We assessed the winner by its popularity, and this image from walking artist and Icelandic adventurer Dario J Laganà was the outright winner of our Shadowy Figures campaign.

When Dario is back from walking through fields of lupins and circumnavigating Iceland with a solar-powered trolley, we will pop in the post a copy of The Lost Art of Walking, by Geoff Nicholson recently deceased. Thanks to everyone who took part and especial thanks to Caroline Gannon, Geoff’s partner, for donating the book.

This autumn, you will be hearing more about Geoff’s legacy, his enthusiasm for walking and writing about walking, as well as his support for new walking writing.