Tag: hiking (Page 1 of 4)

The Manaslu Circuit Trek with a Ten Year Old – Crossing the Larke Pass

19 October 2025 / author

This ten year old has the Himalaya bug. She also has the determination of mountain goat. The Larke Pass is the highest point of the 165km Manaslu Circuit trek and it’s a big day for an adult, let alone a kid. Up at 3:15am, out at 4:30am, climb from 4,460 meters up to over 5,100 meters, then a huge steep descent way down to 3,700 meters about 14 hours later. She did all that in non-stop rain and snow, after throwing up a dodgy hot chocolate. And by the end, she was bouncing down the trail bursting with enthusiasm for future Himalayan escapades.

Raiders of Ojo del Albino

25 July 2023 / author

“Can I ask a question?” he said in Spanish (that much I knew, though my traveller’s Spanish is all but gone). “Is this the path to Ojo del Albino?”

I looked at Barcelona. Barcelona looked at me. We both shrugged at the guy we would come to know as France. There were no names on this mission, no background stories. Just three guys from three places, brought together by fate for one purpose – to find the Eye of the Albino.

The High Cliffs of Huangyukou

16 August 2020 / author

^ With Ben (left) on top of the cliff at Huangyukou

Most navigation arguments have little real consequence. “You missed the exit!” “That was the exit?” “I told you to get in the right lane!” You might be late, but you won’t have to sleep outside in the cold.

But on the side of a cliff in failing light, they take on a different complexion.

Sunrise above Shuitoucun

8 August 2020 / author

November, 2016. Sunrise above Shuitoucun. Set off at three in the morning, a cold November Sunday, hike four kilometers through fog and forest to the pass, down to the Watergate and then up the long line of Great Wall. The first light rises as you breach the cloudbase, and then, southeast, to your left, the huge yellow sun bursts into the world from beyond the range.

Twin Otters in the Borneo Highlands

31 July 2020 / author

(click to watch in high definition at vimeo)

Sometimes you want to visit places a little off the regular route. The Kelabit Highlands, for example. You can get there by road, if you’re prepared for a minimum of eight hours in a bumpy jeep bouncing over logging trails, and longer still in the wet. Or you can fly by tiny Twin Otter…

Virginia & Maryland mini Road Trips

19 May 2020 / author

Living in Washington, DC, is not like living in Beijing, China. There are a million differences (and a few similarities to be covered another time, not least the traffic). Perhaps the most telling for me is the difference in hiking.

The Black Lake at Tarfala

29 April 2020 / author

I wanted to write that a glacier is like a living thing, because of the noise it makes, that jarring, creaking sound of ice grinding against ice. But living is the wrong word because any given glacier today is dying. This was only a small one, but once it was bigger, and there is no going back.

Great Basin National Park

22 April 2020 / author

Remember when you were a kid and someone taught you to count the seconds between the lightning flash and the thunderclap to work out how far away the storm was?

Seven Days Trekking in Iceland

15 April 2020 / author

Feel the need to trim down a bit? Try this hike. I went in weighing 74kg. Seven days later, I was 62kg. In between, I’d lugged 30 kg up and down mountains, through rivers, across snow fields and volcanic plains. I’d eaten anything I could lay my hands on, including fish served through my tent window by an Icelandic child in the middle of a downpour. We saw sun, wind, rain and snow, just on the first day. And in all that time, I only had one shower. It was three minutes long and cost about five bucks. Welcome to the Laugavegur – Iceland’s famous and awesome trek.

Once Upon a Time…Northern Vietnam

1 February 2020 / author

Sixteen years of marriage. The ups, the downs, the really downs, the ups again, and the promise of more ups than downs to come. The constant? Love, respect, and commitment.

Our first trip as a married couple was our honeymoon in northern Viet Nam. They were the days – the days of fresh faces and film.

With love for the person who doesn’t need to read this because she’s on all the Journeys, &c.