Days not Homeless: 4 Years, 278 Days ...and loving every second of this alpine adventure!
29,035 ft
"Huge congrats to this guy for completing the Seven Summits with his ascent of Everest on the 22nd! I first met Wayne on Aconcagua in 2003 and we climbed together on Everest in 2005 turning back below the south Summit with the Gibbon boys. 14 years on, he again put...
Everest Pt 3: Climb
UPDATE 4: Sitting watching Free Solo in our heated dining tent, hands sweating once again, was a welcome distraction from the snow swirling outside. Everest basecamp weather is fickle at best, the mornings so far being bright and sunny, sometimes annoyingly hot,...
Everest Pt 2: Lobuche
UPDATE 3: Banging out a mountain as significant as Everest requires a boat load of dedication, both mental and physical - the physical part is easy, the mental not so much. Moving on from one sniffing and coughing bout to the next is no fun but almost feels normal....
Everest Pt 1: Trek
UPDATE 1:Fast forward fourteen years the city of Kathmandu hadn’t changed in the slightest; taxis, motos, hotel minibuses and rickshaws all vying for the same potholed real estate. Drivers with eyes in the back of their heads weaving in and out of pedestrians,...
Winter Fourteeners
Colorado would make an ideal training venue for the short seven weeks prior to departing for Mount Everest, the rockies reaching up above 14,000 feet whilst offering limitless opportunities for winter hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and fatbiking. With...
Countdown to Everest
Following months of intense negotiations with the better half a return to Mount Everest changed from a far off possibility into a 50/50 realistic opportunity, before finally blossoming into a firm commitment! Since that epic date the Dollars have been flowing -...
La Gomera GR 132
My choice was the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Andrea’s some winter sun in the Canary Islands, the latter winning out. This was to be a Thanksgiving break for Andrea so how could I not be accommodating! The Canaries ended up as a win-win, and although my last visit was...
A Little Bit of Skye
Having only been to Edinburgh and fleeting visits to Ben Nevis and the Cairngorms many years ago meant that we had limitless Scottish destinations. We were spoilt for choice so why not head to the summer tourist trap of Skye, easily accessible and looking awesome in...
Dingle Dongle & Doolin
Island hopping from Iceland to the Emerald Isle provided us with the chance to revisit the places we only skimmed over on a 3 night trip a few years prior, this time with the addition of two weeks house sitting for a couple of border collies. Following a night in...
Snæfellsnes & Westfjords
A stopover in Iceland, the first time in the midst of winter, this time in the middle of the typically temperamental Icelandic Autumn, is an easy option for us. We were on the way to Ireland and with our footloose lifestyle had plenty of time to discover more of...
A Weekend in the Maroon Bells
This has to be one of our top multi-day hikes. For sheer beauty the Maroon Bells 4 pass loop has it all. Not too long; coming in at 29 miles, a little hilly; the total ascent around 7,500ft, and right on the doorstep of Aspen and Snowmass. If it wasn't for a good...
Africa 2018 in a Nutshell
Exactly 133 days after arriving on the African continent we were sadly saying our farewells. Cape Town had been our arrival city and was now our departure point back to Europe and the US. We both agreed that we could have spent another few weeks here! Other than the...
Fistful of Kwacha
Malawi was looking like another of those countries where we may have been leaving the moment we arrived, with daily reported power cuts, poor Internet and a US Government website declaring that a letter of approval was required for Americans - we needed good Internet,...
South Luangwa
Quite possibly the best bit of travel advice we've been given was to add South Luangwa to our list of African destinations. Coupled with the Cape Epic mountain bike race this was the only thing planned in advance and definitely the costliest of anything we did whilst...
Land of a Thousand Hills
Our arrival into Kigali's small but modern airport late in the evening made us slightly apprehensive, mostly due to us having no idea as to the safety nor location of our accommodation. That was good enough reason to take the Ivuka Art Gallery transportation. Twenty...
Bunyonyi & Bwindi
Lake Bunyonyi and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park provided us an exciting insight into Uganda, a country that even in the six days we visited offered so much. We had planned to move beyond the extreme southwest corner but for two reasons had to reconsider - firstly...
Donations Welcome
During our time in Bwindi National Park in Southwest Uganda my wife Andrea and I made the decision to visit two community orphanages/ primary schools in an attempt to gain an insight into the conditions the local children have to endure; we were not prepared for what...
Remember Unite Renew
All we knew about Rwanda prior to our arrival was that at some point not too long ago they had suffered through a genocide and that more recently their Mountain Gorilla permits had been raised from $750 per person to $1500; something to do with wanting to attract a...
Chobe
Although premium lodges and high-end tourism are the norm in this landlocked country we did manage to survive on somewhat of a budget. We had already visited for a full hour whilst heading from Namibia to Zimbabwe, a brief encounter that included a dead zebra and...
Three Border Crossings
It was now time to leave Namibia behind, the last week spent on the narrow strip of land in the extreme north of the country known as the Caprivi Strip. We had pretty much based ourselves out of the eastern most points biggest town, Katima Mulilo, due to the fact that...
29,035 ft
"Huge congrats to this guy for completing the Seven Summits with his ascent of Everest on the 22nd! I first met Wayne on Aconcagua in 2003 and we climbed together on Everest in 2005 turning back below the south Summit with the Gibbon boys. 14 years on, he again put...
Everest Pt 3: Climb
UPDATE 4: Sitting watching Free Solo in our heated dining tent, hands sweating once again, was a welcome distraction from the snow swirling outside. Everest basecamp weather is fickle at best, the mornings so far being bright and sunny, sometimes annoyingly hot,...
Everest Pt 2: Lobuche
UPDATE 3: Banging out a mountain as significant as Everest requires a boat load of dedication, both mental and physical - the physical part is easy, the mental not so much. Moving on from one sniffing and coughing bout to the next is no fun but almost feels normal....
Everest Pt 1: Trek
UPDATE 1:Fast forward fourteen years the city of Kathmandu hadn’t changed in the slightest; taxis, motos, hotel minibuses and rickshaws all vying for the same potholed real estate. Drivers with eyes in the back of their heads weaving in and out of pedestrians,...
Winter Fourteeners
Colorado would make an ideal training venue for the short seven weeks prior to departing for Mount Everest, the rockies reaching up above 14,000 feet whilst offering limitless opportunities for winter hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing and fatbiking. With...
Countdown to Everest
Following months of intense negotiations with the better half a return to Mount Everest changed from a far off possibility into a 50/50 realistic opportunity, before finally blossoming into a firm commitment! Since that epic date the Dollars have been flowing -...
La Gomera GR 132
My choice was the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, Andrea’s some winter sun in the Canary Islands, the latter winning out. This was to be a Thanksgiving break for Andrea so how could I not be accommodating! The Canaries ended up as a win-win, and although my last visit was...
A Little Bit of Skye
Having only been to Edinburgh and fleeting visits to Ben Nevis and the Cairngorms many years ago meant that we had limitless Scottish destinations. We were spoilt for choice so why not head to the summer tourist trap of Skye, easily accessible and looking awesome in...
Dingle Dongle & Doolin
Island hopping from Iceland to the Emerald Isle provided us with the chance to revisit the places we only skimmed over on a 3 night trip a few years prior, this time with the addition of two weeks house sitting for a couple of border collies. Following a night in...
Snæfellsnes & Westfjords
A stopover in Iceland, the first time in the midst of winter, this time in the middle of the typically temperamental Icelandic Autumn, is an easy option for us. We were on the way to Ireland and with our footloose lifestyle had plenty of time to discover more of...
A Weekend in the Maroon Bells
This has to be one of our top multi-day hikes. For sheer beauty the Maroon Bells 4 pass loop has it all. Not too long; coming in at 29 miles, a little hilly; the total ascent around 7,500ft, and right on the doorstep of Aspen and Snowmass. If it wasn't for a good...
Africa 2018 in a Nutshell
Exactly 133 days after arriving on the African continent we were sadly saying our farewells. Cape Town had been our arrival city and was now our departure point back to Europe and the US. We both agreed that we could have spent another few weeks here! Other than the...
Fistful of Kwacha
Malawi was looking like another of those countries where we may have been leaving the moment we arrived, with daily reported power cuts, poor Internet and a US Government website declaring that a letter of approval was required for Americans - we needed good Internet,...
South Luangwa
Quite possibly the best bit of travel advice we've been given was to add South Luangwa to our list of African destinations. Coupled with the Cape Epic mountain bike race this was the only thing planned in advance and definitely the costliest of anything we did whilst...
Land of a Thousand Hills
Our arrival into Kigali's small but modern airport late in the evening made us slightly apprehensive, mostly due to us having no idea as to the safety nor location of our accommodation. That was good enough reason to take the Ivuka Art Gallery transportation. Twenty...
Bunyonyi & Bwindi
Lake Bunyonyi and Bwindi Impenetrable National Park provided us an exciting insight into Uganda, a country that even in the six days we visited offered so much. We had planned to move beyond the extreme southwest corner but for two reasons had to reconsider - firstly...
Donations Welcome
During our time in Bwindi National Park in Southwest Uganda my wife Andrea and I made the decision to visit two community orphanages/ primary schools in an attempt to gain an insight into the conditions the local children have to endure; we were not prepared for what...
Remember Unite Renew
All we knew about Rwanda prior to our arrival was that at some point not too long ago they had suffered through a genocide and that more recently their Mountain Gorilla permits had been raised from $750 per person to $1500; something to do with wanting to attract a...
Chobe
Although premium lodges and high-end tourism are the norm in this landlocked country we did manage to survive on somewhat of a budget. We had already visited for a full hour whilst heading from Namibia to Zimbabwe, a brief encounter that included a dead zebra and...
Three Border Crossings
It was now time to leave Namibia behind, the last week spent on the narrow strip of land in the extreme north of the country known as the Caprivi Strip. We had pretty much based ourselves out of the eastern most points biggest town, Katima Mulilo, due to the fact that...
