Böcker i Travel Journals-serien

The Laugavegur is one of the big walks. It is the most famous trek in Iceland and crosses other worldly landscapes formed by recent volcanos. I did it from north to south and it runs over 80km from Landmannalauger via Thorsmork to Skogar on the coast. The trail is normally open from late June to mid-August. I started on the 15 June, the first day the bus ran to Landmannalaugar. I hadn't booked the huts as I didn't know whether I'd make it. So I took camping gear. The scenery is sensational and unlike anywhere I'd been before. At this time of the year there is still a lot of snow. I was alone much of the time, having started early in the year. There were three river crossings in flood and I needed to strip and take care.You pass through vivid rhyolite mountains, climb snow slopes, cross ash deserts, rift canyons and glacial streams. There are wild flowers, sweet birch and the cries of redshank and ptarmigan. I did the trek from Landmannalaugar to Skogar in 4 days including the bus trips at either end.

I went to Kyrgyzstan as part of the EU SENSUM team investigating using remote sensing to map hazards and monitor disaster recovery. We ran a scenario planning game in Bishkek with Emergency personnel from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.Our host takes us to a night club. It's in a vast concert bunker. We toast each other unmercifully with vodka shots until encouraged onto the dance floor where we dance with a group of attractive young girls they call the 'jet-set'.We went for a walk in the snow covered Tien Shan and walked up the Ala Acha gorge. We wanted to see snow leopard, but all we saw were the inquisitive marmots and circling eagles. Having forgotten my trainers I had only sandals to keep my feet warm.Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan is a fascinating city, with its tree-lined boulevards, Soviet 'brave new world' architecture and a huge statue of Lenin pointing towards a future long gone. Bishkek is a city on the ancient 'silk-road' and there is a relaxed human feel to the place.

In 2003 we went climbing with Muni and Rose to Varasova, a limestone cliff in Greece east of Missolonghi. This 900m high promontory that drops into the Ionian Sea is the home of Greek climbing. There are over 200 routes, some sports routes of 3-4 pitches on the south face near the sea and some much longer trad climbs of up to 18 pitches on the south-west face. The rock is very solid, relatively sharp, mostly gray or yellow limestone of outstanding quality. We climbed a lot of routes at VS standard with a couple of longer more serious climbs. Scharlie also had an adventure climbing the mountain to the summit on her own one day, We visited Missolonghi where Byron had died of a fever fighting for Greek independence, and Nafpaktos where Cervantes had lost an arm fighting in the sea battle of Lepanto in the Gulf of Corinth, We also went to Delphi where Rose and Scharlie had a race around the 400 m stadium.

In the summer of 2004 we went climbing with Dimitri in the Valle Garrafano in the Apuane Alps, a limestone area famous for its Carrara marble. Dimitri had been a tenant of ours in Cambridge when he had a sabbatical working in the University Library. We returned the following summer and were whisked off again to the rocky valleys of Italy's far northwest. We climbed in the Valle Maira and Valle Gesso in the Maritime Alps, Then we drove further north to the Valle dell'Orco in the Graian Alps near the Parco Gran Paradiso. The rock was superb and we did some great routes following our 'Pied Piper' Dimitri.