Category: International Walking

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Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike from Glenridding

Glenridding Dodd and Sheffield Pike, the objects of today’s walk form the northern wall of the Glenridding valley and can be clearly seen from Glenridding village and from Gillside campsite, my home for a couple of days walking. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you like the heat) today’s walk coincides with some of the hottest days of the summer and with temperatures reaching into the 30°c’s an early start seems best to avoid both the crowds and the heat.

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A walk up La Mola, Mallorca

La Mola looks down onto the pretty seaside town of Cala sant Vicenc in the far north east of the beautiful island of Mallorca. Here, you can while away the hours enjoying a nice cold beer or meal in one of its many picturesque sea front bars whilst gazing out onto the aqua blue Mediterranean gently lapping onto the small sandy beach. In fact, the Med features prominently today, being in view throughout most of the walk.

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Milford Track Day Four Dumpling Hut to Sandfly Point

It’s our final day on the Milford Track and there is a sense of anticipation in the air. Today, the forty of us ‘independent trampers’ who over the last four days have all walked together, ate together, talked together and slept under the same roof together will all complete our journey and at last fulfill what for many, including myself, will have been a long held dream and ambition to have walked ‘The Finest Walk in the World’.

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Milford Track Day Three Mintaro Hut to Dumpling Hut

As forecast we awake to a completely different scene from the Sunshine and clear blue skies of yesterday. Cloud and mist have descended low into the valley overnight, draining the colour from the trees and muffling the sound of the birds and the rivers. The huge rock wall of Mount Balloon opposite which last night rose up before us like a giant is completely enveloped in mist and may as well have disappeared as far as we were concerned as we could see nothing beyond twenty metres. The air was still and the mist, cold and damp, hung in the air. It was like a grey wet blanket had been thrown over the valley.

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Milford Track Day Two Clinton Hut to Mintaro Hut

Sometime during the night the rain had stopped and when we left the bunk room the sun was breaking through and the clouds were beginning to lift away from the mountain tops. We enjoyed breakfast of porridge and banana washed down with plenty of tea and chatted with some of the Americans who we met at dinner last night. Our fellow ‘trampers’ seem to be a fairly international bunch, mostly Americans with a smattering of French, German, Dutch and Australian. As far as I can tell, no Kiwis though. The only other Brits seem to be a doctor who is working in Dunedin and his wife.

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Milford Track Day One Glade Wharf to Clinton Hut

The Milford Track is remote, so remote in fact that you have to get a boat to the start and from the finish of it. There are no roads on the track, everything has to be walked in or brought in by helicopter. This, in its very essence was the appeal of walking the Milford Track for me. A four day walk through pristine rain forest wilderness, following crystal clear rivers, surrounded by snow capped mountains rising straight up from steep sided valleys sounds just like heaven, and in a way it is.

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A walk along the Vall de Boquer

If you are a walker staying in the Pollenca area of Mallorca, the pretty walk along the valley de Boquer to the small bay at Cala Boquer can make for an attractive alternative to sitting on the beach or frequenting the gift shops. It is not too strenuous, would fill a morning or afternoon nicely and as well as providing some valuable holiday exercise it reveals a little glimpse of authentic Mallorcan landscape. If you are walking in the summer, remember to take plenty of sun protection, hat, fluid and food as there is no shade and no facilities throughout the walk.

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Kilimanjaro Day Eight Millennium Huts to Mweka Gate – The End

Day 8 Millennium Huts (12,556ft) to Mweka Gate (5,358ft) – The end

Unsurprisingly I slept like a log, helped no doubt by the fact that I was absolutely shattered after summiting Kilimanjaro. We walked for thirteen hours yesterday, and we are now back in the land of trees and warmth and I was sleeping on soft flat dry soil as opposed to dusty gravel at a 45 degree angle and minus 5c. Having gone to bed at 6.30pm last night I was wide awake at 6am this morning for the final day of our magnificent Kilimanjaro adventure. Continue reading “Kilimanjaro Day Eight Millennium Huts to Mweka Gate – The End”

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Kilimanjaro Day Seven (Part 2) – Uhuru Peak, Summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to Millennium Huts

Day 7 (Part 2) Summit day – Uhuru Peak 19,341ft to Millennium Huts (12,556ft)

Why men climb mountains is a question that has been asked for as long as men and women have been climbing mountains. I guess the answer is as individual as the person who is asked. I’m sure Alex Honnold and Chris Bonington would give different, but not maybe too different answers. For me, walking satisfies a deep need. A need, not to achieve, or conquer but to find peace with myself. It gives me time to think and reflect, time to pray and settle my mind, time to consider and make decisions. Life and experience change us but the Mountains remain reassuringly the same. They provide a constancy in our lives and the mountains are always bigger than our own personal circumstances. So here I am on top of a Mount Kilimanjaro, filled with that immense sense of satisfaction that comes from doing something that is not easy, that takes something out of you but gives you so much more back in return.  

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