Walking
At home in England, walking is a big part of our lives, either in the countryside or by the coast. So of course, as we make our way around the world we love to go trekking. Mountains are there to be conquered, hidden waterfalls need to be found, those ruins need to be experienced. In some more challenging places we may use a guide, for safety and for information. However, we usually walk alone, just us and the map and our sense of direction. There are few feelings better than sinking that rewarding beer at the end of a long day walking thinking back over all that you’ve seen. Quaint villages, fabulous views, village bars, classic buildings, you will see it all, the rewards are endless.
- Europe, Independent travel, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Switzerland, Transport, Travel Blog, Walking
From St Moritz To Zermatt On The Glacier Express
The White Turf course and its attendant marquees stand silent now, dormant until the next race meeting in a week’s time, while the rest of the town blinks its eyes as the morning sun bounces off the white snow and dazzles those emerging from their slumbers. It’s sunglasses at dawn here. It’s not just the brightness which makes the eyes water in St Moritz, it’s the prices too – make no mistake, this is one seriously expensive town. A couple of nights here would buy a three-week trip to some parts of the world. It feels considerably colder this morning as we stride along the platform towards the waiting Glacier…
- Central America, Independent travel, Outdoor Activities, Panama, Photography, Travel Blog, Walking, Wildlife
The Joy Of The Jungle: Gamboa Delivers
The chunky little bus that takes us on the night safari is called The Night Chiva. Absolutely no prizes then for guessing which Bee Gees song is in our heads as we peer into the darkness hoping to see something incredible. Apart from a pair of jewels which we are assured is the eyes of a caiman staring back at us, and some algae moving because the turtles are stirring below, we see nothing but darkness and the guide’s flashlight. So humming 80s disco music while eating dinner is tonight’s high. But who cares if the brief (and free with room reservation) night trip doesn’t deliver: pretty much everything else…
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El Valle: A Town Inside A Volcano
Panama is the 23rd country of the world in which we’ve driven cars and there’s no way we could ever describe it as one of the hardest. Away from the most rural roads which can be a bit sketchy, the highways and even B-roads boast good quality, smooth surfaces and very little traffic compared to home. At times the PanAmerican resembles an empty Scalextric track as it rolls over and around the hillsides. Our next destination, El Valle de Anton, is reputedly the largest settlement in the entire world which is located inside the caldera of a volcano, and as we make our approach on the steeply dropping hairpinned road,…
- Central America, Independent travel, Outdoor Activities, Panama, Photography, Travel Blog, Walking, Wildlife
Boca Chica: Sometimes Panama Needs A Mute Switch
It’s Day 47 of this trip when Michaela’s fitbit throws in the towel and responds to each request with a blank screen, then slides from 100% charge to under 10% in less than an hour. Not so interesting, except that this is the fifth fitbit in 3 years to follow this route. When we retired, Michaela decided that a fitbit would be a useful travelling companion, helping to record, in particular, our walking distances. Five have now bit the dust, not one of them lasting twelve months and four of them failing to complete their maiden journey. Every single one has failed whilst abroad. Any ideas what’s going on, anyone?…
- Central America, Independent travel, Outdoor Activities, Panama, Photography, Travel Blog, Walking, Wildlife
Zip Wires, Rafting & Hanging Bridges: The Adrenaline Flows In Boquete
The first clue is the bus: this military-looking heavy beast is clearly built to cross difficult terrain, yet there is little clue as to what’s next as we climb the mountain roads through the extensive and orderly coffee plantations. Then, without warning, we are off the road and on to something which would resemble a river bed if it wasn’t for the steep incline – and for over 30 minutes we rock, roll and bang our way up the volcano. This is Finca El Oasis, primarily a coffee farm but these days bringing in extra cash from a zip wire trail, with eight lines heading down Volcan Baru from a…
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Northwards To The Picturesque Town Of Boquete
“No ingles, solo español”, says Jose as we climb into his slightly battered looking speedboat. It takes Jose a good eight pulls on the cable before the motor finally bursts into life rather than coughing and spluttering, and we are off across the waves towards Isla Iguana, although the occasional phut-phut noises make us wonder if we’re going to make it. Despite the name of the island, iguanas, though they are here, are not the main reason to take an excursion to this dot of land out in the seas off Pedasi, and nor are the tens of thousands of crabs which make it look at times like the ground…
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Into (And Up) The Blue Mountains
On previous trips we have spent time in a remote tribal village in northern Thailand, in a mud hut in the Sunderbans mangrove swamps way beyond the reach of roads, and, in Albania, miles from anywhere in the wonderfully named Accursed Mountains. Our new location in Jamaica feels at least as remote and wonderful as those places…. This is without doubt one of the most breathtaking, peaceful, remote locations in which we have ever stayed, where exotic hummingbirds feed from the bottle bush trees and the occasional echoing bird call is all that breaks the silence. The hulking mountains loom large across the valley, darkened against the sky, brooding in…
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These Cornish Things
In our last blog post we discussed how unseasonable the current weather is, feeling far too mild to be cusp November. After over four decades of visiting Cornwall I really should have known better, for my comeuppance arrives swiftly and with a vengeance, in the form of howling gales and unforgiving hailstorms. Walking from Rock to Polzeath is a doddle, the morning clouds banished by the strong winds which, coming from behind, propel us along the coast path at roughly twice our normal walking speed. The return walk couldn’t be more different. Just in time for reaching the part of the path furthest from shelter, those winds, now head on…
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Changing Times, Different Moods
It definitely didn’t used to be like this, not when we were kids. Growing up in the Midlands – Michaela in the West Midlands and me in Derbyshire – it was cold by now and it had been so for weeks. October got progressively colder, frosts a regular morning feature, whitened cobwebs draped like lace across rockery plants and garden shrubs, the walk to school taking place with the protection of coats, hats, scarves, gloves. Hallowe’en was a non-event, just another night in the build up to Guy Fawkes Night aka Bonfire Night, but by the time we were standing back and watching the pyrotechnics light up the night sky,…
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Rocks, Trees & Fault Lines: Back Into California
When you imagine temperatures of over 110F (43C), you picture blistering sunshine and the need to find shade, yet for a good part of our drive across the desert from the Grand Canyon to Joshua Tree, the temperature gauge is up there above that number yet the skies are consistently overcast. It even rains a couple of times. When we step out of the car for a break, we are hit by a wall of heat incompatible with the cloudy skies above. Leaving the Interstate 140, we drive south west through some extraordinarily barren country, miles of dead straight road through open land. Once past the salt flats at Amboy…
