Days not Homeless: 5 Years, 67 Days ...and loving every second of this alpine adventure!
City Break: Nimes
We knew that to escape the rainy Alps we would have to head south, the reasoning behind Nimes coming during our recent EuroVelo 17 cycle ride. On that occasion it was Avignon and Arles that got the attention, our route missing Nimes by a day - we felt that we had...
EuroVelo 17
Would this be the start of bigger things or maybe just put us off long distance cycle touring? Fortunately for me this wasn't the first time spending back to back days in the saddle, whilst Andrea on the other hand was going to find out what is was all about! The...
City Break: Lake Como
To date we had yet to visit any of the Italian Lakes, the reason being... well we had no excuses! We were living barely on the French side of the Mt Blanc tunnel and Como was a short 3 hours by car - as I said, no excuses, we were just waiting for the right time....
Winter of Skinning
The thought of being let loose on our own with fancy tech bindings and mohair skins, barely two weeks of skiing under our belts, was slightly intimidating to say the least! Shutdown had come far too early in the middle of March 2020, seemingly far too quickly followed...
French Bureaucracy
Yes, we had views to die for, great winter conditions, amazing summer hiking, a bigger apartment, our own car; all suddenly becoming a bit less significant now that we had discovered the infamous French bureaucracy.... and taxes! We had arrived in France eight and a...
TMB Revisited
Seeing the ultra runners with their minimalist vests and lightweight trekking poles on Corsica's GR20 earlier this year set the seed. Whilst we hauled 20kg backpacks over the rugged terrain these guys passed us with ease, skipping through multiple stages en route to...
Corsica GR 20
France had just removed its 100km travel limitation, Italy was about to open borders with its neighbors; still we were left with few options for a much needed vacation. We had been hiking like crazy in the Chamonix valley and needed something worthy of our fitness...
Tour des Fiz
Every time we drove or cycled out of town, passing Les Houches en route to Servoz or Passy, we would see this huge chunk of rock dominating the view off to our right. Turns out this is known as the Fiz massif. A little investigation also told us that there's a decent...
Chamonix Life
Every once in a while we get the feeling that this is the place, the place where we'd like to discover more, experience new adventures, and spend a longer period of time. This time it was the picturesque Chamonix Valley. Whilst we had visited a few times before, once...
The Rock of Niue
Less than fours hours after taking off from Auckland International airport we were touching down on the tiny island nation of Niue, a mere blip in the South Pacific. With access only by air from New Zealand or sailing boat, the Rock as it's locally called, is far less...
The Price of Success
If everything goes well on summit day then tagging the worlds loftiest mountain is a huge deal, no matter what you hear otherwise. It comes with immense satisfaction, an emotional rollercoaster ride, and the realization that with enough desire anything is possible....
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...
