Valleys of mountain joy: the Tour du Mont Blanc from France to Italy

October 30, 2024 Trip reports alps, chamonix, cicerone guides, france, french alps, italy, long-distance trails, mont blanc, self-guided walking, the natural adventure, tour du mont blanc 1 Comment

Last year Edita and I hiked the famous GR20 long-distance trail along the spine of mountainous Corsica. It was our first experience of so-called ‘self-guided’ trips, where an operator books your accommodation and luggage transfers, but you make your own way from point to point. We were keen to do another, and there was an obvious one to try next.

At long last, a guidebook to cycling Scotland’s North Coast 500

March 20, 2024 Reviews and tributes britain, cicerone guides, cycling, feet and wheels to chimborazo, north coast 500, scotland 2 Comments

Back in 2017 when Edita and I cycled the NC500, there wasn’t much information available and almost all of it was aimed at people with a vehicle. Imagine my delight when I was contacted by Cicerone’s marketing team asking me if I’d like them to send me a copy of their new guidebook.

The Spasimata Slabs: the day I nearly died on Corsica’s GR20

December 6, 2023 Trip reports cicerone guides, corsica, corsica aventure, france, gr20, long-distance trails, self-guided walking, via ferrata 2 Comments

The weather had been good for the best part of two weeks, but the rain gods were preparing for the last dance. We were about to cross the Spasimata Slabs, the most dangerously exposed section of the trek, and we were going to cross them at the worst possible time.

Rosé, ridges and laricio pines: walking Corsica’s GR20 South

October 25, 2023 Trip reports cicerone guides, corsica, corsica aventure, france, gr20, long-distance trails, self-guided walking, the natural adventure 2 Comments

I’ve known about the GR20 for over 20 years, but it slipped to the back of my mind as I focused on peak bagging in the greater ranges. I sensed that long-distance hiking in Europe was something I would enjoy later in life. I guessed I must have reached that stage now.

The Dubh Slabs: the most iconic scramble in the British Isles

July 26, 2023 Trip reports boat trips, bothy nights, britain, cicerone guides, cuillin ridge, danny macaskill, hill walking, isle of skye, karl smith, munros, scotland, sgurr dubh mor 2 Comments

We decided to continue our Cuillin reconnaissance. But what to reconnoitre? Our guide Karl suggested climbing the Dubh Slabs and staying overnight at Camasunary. I’d known about the Slabs for years, but never imagined I would ever climb them myself

The four summits of Sgurr a Mhadaidh: another Cuillin reconnaissance

July 5, 2023 Trip reports britain, cicerone guides, cuillin ridge, dave fowler, hill walking, isle of skye, karl smith, munros, scotland, sgurr a mhadaidh, west coast mountain guides 5 Comments

It was time for another Cuillin reconnaissance, and there was one section of tricky scrambling that we hadn’t done: an unavoidable obstacle in the form of the four summits of Sgurr a Mhadaidh. I was keen to complete this section before committing to a full traverse of the ridge.

Climbing up on Solsbury Hill, but is it a real place?

February 22, 2023 History britain, cicerone guides, cotswolds, damian hall, solsbury hill, walking, walking guides 8 Comments

As we drove back to the Cotswolds earlier this month, Peter Gabriel’s 1977 hit Solsbury Hill popped up on the car stereo, which prompted Edita to remark: “Is Solsbury Hill a real place? If it is then we should climb it.” So we did.

Snowdonia’s Nantlle Ridge the hard way

May 11, 2022 Trip reports britain, cicerone guides, hill walking, moel hebog, nantlle ridge, snowdon, snowdonia, wales 1 Comment

The Nantlle Ridge in Snowdonia National Park, North Wales, is one of those classic mountain scrambles that has been lurking on my list for many years. Its 9km contained the right sort of terrain: narrow ridge walking interspersed with some short easy scrambles.

Plynlimon: traversing the five tops of the fruitiest mountain in Wales

April 27, 2022 Trip reports britain, cadair idris, cambrian mountains, cicerone guides, drygarn fawr, george borrow, hill walking, plynlimon, wales 1 Comment

Plynlimon, is a complex mountain of multiple rolling summits connected by broad ridges. It is the source of Britain’s longest river, the Severn, and its fourth longest, the River Wye. I have been meaning to climb it for many years, and over Easter I had my chance.

The Cuillin Traverse – to do or not to do?

October 21, 2020 Trip reports andy hogarth, britain, cicerone guides, cuillin ridge, dave fowler, edita, hill walking, inaccessible pinnacle, isle of skye, mamores, munros, scotland 7 Comments

We’d hired a mountain guide to do the Cuillin traverse, a 12km ridge on Scotland’s Isle of Skye, which takes in 11 Munros and many subsidiary peaks. But with injuries in both legs and a knee that couldn’t bend more than 90 degrees it seemed inconceivable for me.

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