My bicycle tour from Romania to the UK followed Eurovelo 6 along some of Europe’s major rivers, the Danube, Rhine and Loire. I frequently passed people going up and down the river in kayaks and one night spotted a group camping on one of the islands on the Danube. Ever since then I have dreamed of doing a similar trip,…
A friend recently introduced me to Hive, a board game with no board. It is made up of 22 hexagonal tiles that you can place onto any surface without worrying about carrying a board, dice, or any other pieces. I like to do creative projects over Christmas and the simplicity of the game made me start considering what I would…
Our stay in Eğirdir was just one night, we stayed at Charly’s Pension and met İbrahim in the evening who provided a very useful up to date route which I loaded onto maps.me. He also offered to help organise the boat trip across the lake when the time came. Knowing İbrahim is almost essential to making an easy crossing across…
One of the advantages of walking a route that someone you know has already done is that it becomes easier to plan short days. We had been assured that there is a nice camping spot with a spring bubbling up from under a tree within half a days walk from Sütçüler. After a week of walking we needed a late…
A challenge that we face every year is how to go on a great holiday outside of the holiday season, so to avoid the heaving masses. This year Thomas and I wanted somewhere to go backpacking in May which would be mostly dry but also be suitable for wild camping. Last year it was Portugal, which was fantastic but we…
As we enter spring and the days lengthen I have started to think about where I want to go backpacking and wild camping in England over this year. I looked up a map of England’s National Parks and bought ten waterproof OS Explorer maps, ranging across the country from Dartmoor in the south to the Lake district in the north.…
If you’ve followed the Exploration Journal for some time, you will know by now that I love waterfalls. They make frequent appearances in many of my posts and a lot of my time involves scrambling down muddy ravines or long walks just to reach them. I find the prospect of locating waterfalls just as exciting as arriving at it and…
This is the final section of the Portugal walk in 2021, which I’ve finally finished writing. Our plan to set off from the semi-illegal campsite in the early hours didn’t come to fruition, mainly due to needing a longer rest and enjoying the quiet of the campsite. Despite this we were not discovered and set off at around 9am. We…
This is the second part to walking the GR50 through Peneda Gerês National Park in Portugal. Read about the first section here – GR50 – Tourem to Xertelo After camping in the gorse around Sete Lagoas we started the walk back to rejoin the GR50, this time following the more popular route that meandered relatively flat along the top of…
We started walking the GR50 in Peneda Gerês National Park about four days ago and spotted a footpath sign reading PR9 just after Xertelo. We fancied an adventure and so decided to follow it through a gorge-like valley and camp somewhere along the river near ‘Trilho Sete Lagoas’. Camping somewhere was a priority immediately after starting the route as it…