It’s my birthday and to celebrate we’ve checked out of the van for a few days and into a sea view room at Villa Les Hydrangeas in the small seaside town of Perros-Guirec on Brittany’s Pink Granite Coast (Côte de Granit Rose). When we arrived last night we had a stroll down to the beach and I was drawn to a little rock outcrop at the end of Plage de Trestrignel called Pointe du Château so I’m heading out for a short walk to burn a few calories off prior to a five course birthday dinner. The coastal path also happens to be another section of France’s long distance trail, the GR34 Sentier des Douaniers
Continue reading “A walk around Perros-Guirec on the Côte de Granite Rose”
The names of the mountains of Lakeland can often seem like they were created by a random password generator and many a hill walker who has wandered over them has wondered how the likes of Catbells, Barf, Froswick or Great Cockup came to be named such. There can be no such doubt however about today’s mountain, Crinkle Crags. It’s a name that perfectly describes the five undulating and craggy crinkles that form part of the skyline at the head of the beautiful valley of Great Langdale.
Continue reading “A walk up Crinkle Crags”
My walks in Canada including the rain forests of Vancouver Island and the Canadian Rockies. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to see the route.
The Wild Pacific Trail is a series of footpaths exploring the untamed natural beauty of the wild and rugged coastline ...
By any measure Mount Robson is a mountain lovers mountain. Our first view of it is driving south on Highway ...
The Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park is one of the newer national parks in British Columbia, being established in ...
Events elsewhere mean many Canadians are vacationing at home this year and it seems half of them have chosen to ...
When ‘Oyster’ Martin moved to Vancouver Island in the 1980’s he fell in love with the rugged landscape and rocky ...
The alarm goes at 6am and by ten past we are on the road, half awake and unwashed with the ...
It’s a six hour drive from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia on Vancouver Island to our campsite in Tofino ...
The Wild Pacific Trail is a series of footpaths exploring the untamed natural beauty of the wild and rugged coastline near Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Originally the vision of ‘Oyster’ Jim Martin, the Wild Pacific Trail Society was formed in 1999 and over the decades this community project has created a series of footpaths through the rainforests along the coast with interpretive signage, benches and viewing platforms. Having already walked the Tonquin Trail further north on the island I was keen to experience more of the ancient, atmospheric rainforests that stand on the edge of a continent watching over an ocean spanning half way across the world before it meets land again.
Continue reading “Walking the Wild Pacific Trail, Vancouver Island”
I had resolved to visit St Catherine’s Church in the heart of lovely Eskdale during the depths of last winter after an icy walk up Green Crag. The weather could not have been more different when the opportunity arose earlier in the summer whilst Mish and I were at Eskdale National Trust Campsite and the sun shone all week. A bonus was our daughter, who has spent the summer living on an island in Morecambe Bay monitoring nesting terns had a day off and came up to see us.
Continue reading “A walk to St Catherine’s Church and Stanley Ghyll Force, Eskdale”
After our stay at Île Grande we’re at another campsite just a stones throw from the beach, Camping Saint Michel Erquy. Unfortunately being close to the coast is not so great when the sea mist decides to roll in and drape its foggy blanket over everything. I’m hoping to walk another bit of the GR34 today, to Cap d’Erquy along the coast of Northern Brittany with its dramatic coastline of sea cliffs, heather clad headlands and sandy beaches and mist was not in the plan. But whilst walking in sunshine with expansive views is desirable, walking in a bit of mist is small beer compared to the extreme heat, wild fires, floods and drought that Europe has been experiencing this summer. Mother nature is telling us something, unfortunately we don’t seem to be listening.
Continue reading “A walk to Cap d’Erquy along the GR34 in Northern Brittany”
The rhythmic sound of a cuckoo resonates around the head of the Eskdale Valley as I sort my gear out in the parking area just before the start of the Hardknott Pass. There is not a breath of wind around and the morning sun is breaking through the thinning clouds warming the earth and bringing with it a chorus of birdsong and bleating lambs that provide competition for the cuckoo’s onomatopoeic song. The sounds of nature, the beauty of the valley and the stillness of the morning brings a smile to my face and I know this is going to be a fine day’s walking.
Continue reading “A walk up Hard Knott and the Roman Fort”
Walks throughout Europe that can be completed in a day. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to locate the route.
It's my birthday and to celebrate we've checked out of the van for a few days and into a sea ...
After our stay at Île Grande we're at another campsite just a stones throw from the beach, Camping Saint Michel ...
Île-Grande is a big name for a little island. Measuring just 2km by 1km Île Grande is on Brittany's Côte ...
I forget that it’s market day and we’re stuck in traffic crawling through the ancient walled town of Alcudia on ...
My first visit to Chamonix was in 1993 when I walked there from the shores of Lake Geneva doing a section ...
The ‘Bisses’ of the Valais region of Switzerland are long irrigation channels, many of them hundreds of years old, built ...
MacGillycuddy's Reeks may sound like a character out of a Roald Dahl book but is in fact an extensive mountain ...
I am back for a second attempt at walking up Puig del Vilar. My first, halfhearted and unprepared effort was ...
The walk over the Coll de Síller begins in the attractive tourist resort of Port de Pollença with its bars, ...
The Formentor peninsula is the rocky, volcanic spit of land that sticks out into the blue Mediterranean on the north ...
Of all the walks around Pollenca, the walk up Puig de Santuiri is perhaps not the most exciting one to ...
La Mola looks down onto the pretty seaside town of Cala sant Vicenc in the far north east of the ...
If you are a walker staying in the Pollenca area of Mallorca, the pretty walk along the valley de Boquer ...
We’ve been visiting Mallorca for decades. In the early days it was Santa Ponca in the South West but over ...
Île-Grande is a big name for a little island. Measuring just 2km by 1km Île Grande is on Brittany’s Côte de Granite Rose (pink granite coast) a popular 30km stretch of coastline known for its pink granite rock formations and wide sandy beaches. The GR34, Sentier des Douaniers (custom officers path) goes around the island, just a small segment of its long journey from Saint Nazaire to Mont Saint Michel. A distance of roughly 1240 miles makes it the longest coastal trail in France and twice the distance of the South West Coast Path.
Continue reading “A walk around Île-Grande on the Côte de Granite Rose”
My walks in the United States including Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. Click on the walk to read the post or use the interactive map to see the route.
Is a walk of less than a mile really a walk? That's maybe one for the philosophers but I'll go ...
“But no temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite. Every rock in its wall seems to glow with life.” ...
Our campsite, just outside Moab, Utah is in the middle of the Colorado Plateau. The plateau varies between three to ...
The Arches National Park is like no place I have ever walked in before. Set high on the desert plateau ...
‘Don’t worry Mom, I know all about cannibalism, I saw it on TV’. Like Danny in The Shining, it’s all ...
Reading the news recently that there are now more redwoods in the U.K. than in California (read here) reminded me ...
The last time I was in Eskdale it was freezing. Today it’s a balmy 25°c as I take advantage of a warm dry spell to complete the southern fells within reach from this beautifully remote and most quiet of lakeland valleys. I’m staying at Eskdale NT Campsite and although my objectives today, Whin Rigg and Illgill Head are a bit of a trek from here there’s lots of historical interest on the way which makes this a walk through history as well as a walk in the mountains.
Continue reading “A walk up Whin Rigg and Illgill Head from Eskdale”
By any measure Mount Robson is a mountain lovers mountain. Our first view of it is driving south on Highway 16 where it appears like a giant at the end of a long straight stretch of highway. The tall regimental green pines flanking the roadside act like a funnel drawing our eyes towards it’s huge bulk, long narrow ridges, vertical drops and snow plastered peak. It’s a mammoth mountain and it comes as no surprise to learn that at 12,972ft it’s the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.
Continue reading “A walk to Kinney Lake – Mount Robson Provincial Park”
The settled high pressure of the last few days continues to keep the clouds away and after another freezing, star studded night the morning dawns bright and clear. It’s a perfect day for walking. If yesterday’s walk, Harter Fell is on the fringes of Lakeland today’s, Green Crag is the border post. There is not a Wainwright further south west of it and beyond are the flattening foothills and fields leading to the Cumbria coastline.
Continue reading “A walk up Green Crag from Eskdale”
Driving over Birker Fell last night the road started icing up as the sun lowered over the horizon and I wondered at one point if I was going to have to pull over and spent the night on the moor. Thankfully I made it down into Eskdale and after a freezing night under the stars dawn has brought blue skies and watery sunshine, which is providing no warmth at all on the frozen fields but makes for a bright, dry and clear day, perfect for walking.
Continue reading “A walk up Harter Fell from Eskdale”
It’s my second day parked up in a nice little spot on the Wrynose Pass. Last night it got down to -1°c in the van and it’s freezing as I walk up the road to the three shire stone, grateful for the steepness to warm me up. Yesterday I turned left and headed to Great Carrs, today I turn right towards Pike O’Blisco and Cold Pike. It’s another crisp and clear day in Lakeland with not a cloud to be seen in the cornflower blue sky.
Continue reading “Pike O’Blisco and Cold Pike from Wrynose Pass”
The Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park is one of the newer national parks in British Columbia, being established in 2016. It’s a relatively small park with only a short hike around it and the walking is almost all along boardwalks that have been put in place to protect the delicate ecosystems from human feet. Some of the western red cedars in the forest are a thousand years old or more and the park is a rare example of inland temperate rainforest, an environment unique to North America. And who can resist a walk in a rainforest.
Continue reading “A walk in Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Provincial Park”
I’ve had a summer away from Lakeland doing other things but as I drink my morning coffee a thousand feet up the Wrynose Pass watching the sun rise over Wetherlam it’s like meeting up with an old friend again. Shared experiences and years of familiarity mean the relationship is comfortably secure and time and distance apart is quickly forgotten. Every corner tells a story, and my particular memory here is of pushing an old mark three Cortina up an icy Wrynose Pass just after Christmas sometime in the mid eighties on our way to Eskdale YHA.
Continue reading “Great Carrs, Swirl How and Grey Friar from Wrynose Pass”
Events elsewhere mean many Canadians are vacationing at home this year and it seems half of them have chosen to visit Banff and Lake Louise at the same time as us. Consequently, I made sure to call at Lake Louise Ski Resort yesterday and secure our tickets for the 8.15am bus stopping at Moraine Lake first before going on to Lake Louise. This way we still get to see both of these extremely popular and beautiful lakes but can take our time at Lake Louise and walk the Lake Agnes Tea House Trail, a walk I’ve had my eye on for some time.
Continue reading “Moraine Lake and Lake Agnes Tea House Trail”
When ‘Oyster’ Martin moved to Vancouver Island in the 1980’s he fell in love with the rugged landscape and rocky headlands of the west coast that he saw from his fishing boat each day and had a dream to create a trail along the coastline that could be accessed and enjoyed by all. Forty years later that vision has grown into the Wild Pacific Trail and today I’m walking the Lighthouse Loop section, which happens to be the first section that was completed back in 1999.
Continue reading “The Lighthouse Loop Trail – Vancouver Island”
The alarm goes at 6am and by ten past we are on the road, half awake and unwashed with the bed still warm in the back of the van. All is quiet as we drive out of Lake Louise Campground through the sleepy town and out onto the Trans Canada One heading west. The sun is breaking through but clouds still cover the higher peaks and mist floats over the Bow river as we head up Kicking Horse Pass and back into British Columbia and Yoho National Park. The only other vehicles on the road are gigantic trucks, engines labouring up the incline.
Continue reading “A walk around Emerald Lake, Yoho National Park”
