After the epic mountains of Bosnia, I was very keen to check out the durmitor national park across the border in Montenegro (having hiked the lovely southern Prokletije mountains in Montenegro last year when doing the peak of the balkans trail). I flew to Podgorica and rented a car to drive to the mountain town […]
Dawdling around Durmitor Read More »
Hubby and I had planned a lovely winter sun holiday to Jordan in December 2021, but Steph got covid just before we were supposed to leave. Having paid all the deposits, we managed to salvage most of the cost, and we are off for a very hot September week. Floating in the Dead Sea We
Jaunt around Jordan Read More »
I took a bit of a beating in Bosnia given the heat and carrying a heavy load of food, and my fitness isn’t in top form, so I adjusted my plans for hiking the HRP (the High Route) in August to be a little bit easier. For the first time in years, I am actually
Hiking the Haute Route in the Pyrenees Read More »
I was in Scotland after a board meeting with three days to spare and an acceptable weather window, so I decided to utilise the services of the wonderful Rory (Scotland’s best cabbie) to drop me off at Glen Affric so I could walk 100km over to Glen Dessary. I love Scotland but she sure does
Kintail and the Knoydart Read More »
I loved the Peaks of the Balkans trail which I did last October, so having done some research I have decided to section hike the Via Dinarica – an extraordinary 2000 km trail that starts in Slovenia and passes through Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and on to Albania. I have a week and am planning to
Backpacking in Bosnia Read More »
Leaving Chitral along the main highway (which was about wide enough for a car and a half) Saaed played chicken with oncoming trucks, vans and ‘mummy daddy’ cars (more on them later). We turned off the main road at Ayun – a mostly muslim village, and home to lots of Afghan refugees, and headed up
Kafirs in the Kalash Read More »
Saying farewell to the Hunza, we returned to Gilgit after stopping to load up with some cherries from the tree in Saaed’s cousins garden. Gilgit was a bustling metropolis compared to Hunza and the bazaar was in full swing. We stopped to take more photocopies of our passports for the multiple checkpoints we would encounter
Heading up the Hindu Kush Read More »
Sleeping in the airport Our flight to islamabad was two hours delayed – no explanation – or at least no explanation until we were on the plane and half way to Pakistan. Apparently Imran Khan’s protest machine (he recently lost his role as Prime Minister) had led to road closures all over the country. BA
Hanging out in Hunza Read More »
Day 5 Hoq Cave, Arher beach and Ras Erissel I was looking forward to today – a hike uphill to the very deep Hoq Cave. Many of the tourists skip it in may due to the heat, and the guide book said it was about 2 hours to get there, but also that it was
Socotra Yemen part 2 – Hiking and Wadi swimming Read More »
I had been planning to go to Socotra for a while. It’s a bonkers place – very unusual trees, a remote location, very devout muslims, no wifi or 3g, no government, no rubbish collection, and not much in the way of women’s rights. It is bloody hard to get to – flights go on Monday
Socotra, Yemen (part 1) – Dragon blood trees, dunes and dolphins Read More »