Monday, August 6th, 2018 Located half way between the northern tip of Norway and the southern tip of Svalbard, Bjørnøya is home to thousands and thousands of birds. We spent a pleasant morning zodiac cruising along the southwest coastline doing…
Thursday, July 14th, 2016 — 12km / 7.5miles A leisurely start at 10am for a leisurely day’s walking. The morning’s pick-up to drop me back at Blackfold was around 9:30am, and I was back on the trail at 10:10am. I’d…
Wednesday, July 13th, 2016 — 19km / 12miles. After breakfast I said good-bye to Alison – who’d arranged a taxi to take her to Inverness airport – and headed to the Drumnadrochit Hotel’s coffee shop for a latte before starting the…
Tuesday, July 12th, 2016 — 24km / 15miles. I set off just before 9am for this, the longest leg, of the Loch Ness Round Walk. Alison decided not to walk today and to take the bus to Drumnadrochit. Probably a…
Monday, July 11th, 2016 — 15km / 9.5miles This was by far the most rewarding day when it came to views. Lessons learned about arriving too early, we again set out at the very civilized time of 10am. Turning left…
Sunday, July 10th, 2016 — 23km / 14.5miles This day was slightly different than the other walk days. As always, I had studied the map and terrain the evening before. Taking into account the distance and elevation gain in the…
Saturday, July 9th, 2016 — 21km / 13miles. That morning we walked out of our B&B before 8am and were greeted by a light drizzle and fog over the Loch. For the first few kilometers the trail veered away a few…
Walking around Loch Ness had been on my walking-wish list for quite some time, so I was really happy to finally get my boots on and to start this circular walk around the Loch. I again used Contours Walking Holidays to…
Saturday, April 30th, 2016 As promised by the weatherman and every weather app available, the day presented itself rather miserable and wet and windy, with no relief in sight. So I decided to take a rain-rest day and travel with…
Friday, April 29th, 2016 It was an absolutely gorgeous morning to wake up to and the weather stayed great all day: sunshine and not too hot, perfect walking weather. Breakfast at 9am was a feast, and we could pick and…
Thursday, April 28th, 2016 By now I was used to the leisurely pace and presented myself for breakfast just before 9am. I did have fresh coffee, milk and a coffeemaker in my room, so I’d enjoyed a cuppa beforehand. Croissant…
Wednesday, April 27th, 2016 To avoid confusion let me mention here that the ‘place names’ in the titles of the posts ‘Walking in the Vallée du Tarn’ are the names of the actual houses I stayed at. When you book…
Tuesday, April 25th, 2016 I found this walking holiday with Franse Valleientocht after doing a google search in Dutch instead of English, and the idea of staying with Dutch speaking hosts appealed to me. It’s a ‘chambre d’hotes/table d’hotes’ formula whereby you walk from house…
Sunday, April 24, 2016 After a few days emotion laden days in Eeklo / Zuienkerke /Gent with family and friends – it was the first anniversary of my dear brother’s, Stefaan, death – I headed towards Albi. The journey went…
We arrived in Eeklo on December 16th, to be there not only for Christmas but also for Stefaan’s birthday on December 17th. Upon arrival in BRU we picked up our rental and, after briefly getting slowed down by the morning…
