Alta Via 1 - Dolomiti

September 2018

"The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have."

Reinhold Messner

Before starting the walk we spent one day in Bolzano and went to visit the Messner Mountain Museum located in Castel Firmiano, this was really a great place to visit and to find the right set of mind for the walk to come. Not only the location is beautiful (the fortress offers fine views of Bolzano and the Texel mountains), but the structure, richness and sense of peace and the impossible adds up to the overall experience. The itinerary starts with pictures of a young Messner climbing barefoot and on others people shoulders, then it went on to explore other parts of the castle, with Buddist's statues, symbol and chants everywhere, on top of paintings, expeditions and climbers all over the place, it was a true hymn to mountains. And the main quote I will remember from this place is:

“The most important thing is to know where the mountain is”

Cycling in the Lake District

(Happy Birthday Paul!)

7 to 10 July 2018

What a better way to pre-celebrate Paul's birthday than a good cycle around the Lake District? We wanted climbs and that's definitely what we got...possibly a bit too much really but what doesn't kill you make you stronger, or just very sore...

We based our routes on the Cicerone “Cycling in the Lake District” guide, very nice and handy wee book with many maps and practical details, although the steepness of the climbs can't never really be described

West Highland Way (second half)

2-3 June 2018

We realised we hadn't done much hiking this year and the feet were starting to hitch. In preparation of our big hike in the Dolomites in September, and with "good" weather forecasted, we headed for a 2 day hike along the West Highlands Way. I walked the route years ago, and last year I run the half Glencoe Gathering marathon. While running through those places I thought Paul should definitely see them and the route was added to the “to do” list. We only had 2 days though, so that we opted for the best bit, Bridge of Orchy to Fort Williams, with the idea to climb Ben Nevis on our last day.

Caingorms Loop

05 to 07 May 2018

Stonehave to Ballatear – 75km / 646m up

The start of the journey was not the most auspicious. We could only book the 10.30m train to Stonehaven as the previous ones had no bike spaces so that reluctantly we had a late start, perfectly sincronised with the tens and tens of football fans heading to Aberdeen for the match...the horror, never ever again please!

Easter in Mull

31 March to 02 April 2018

You really don't need to go far away to find amazing places, even more true if you are lucky enough to live in Scotland! In line with our “let's fly less” plan we decided to spend a few days cycling in the Isle of Mull in the West Coast of Scotland. I still can't believe that it took me 10 years to get to visit it, it's now in my top list of favourite places for landscapes and wildlife. Truth is that we were extremely lucky with the weather, while most of the UK was sinking in rain we were in the only corner blessed with sunshine, well some gale wind too but not a single drop of rain. The weather put off many people from traveling, so that the roads were not too busy and most of the time we were alone in stunning places. Alone is not probably the right word since wildlife abounded and regularly entertained us.

Mallorca 2018

We couldn't have chosen a better week for this winter break. Edinburgh was badly hit by a Siberian snow storm and we left the day after the airport re-opened and skipped all the aftermath, perfect timing indeed!

Bye bye snowy Edinburgh!

As usual we were looking for a warm place to stock up some vitamin D and do some hiking and cycling, we were not disappointed, I could have done with some more vitamin D but overall it was a brilliant place to explore.

We stayed in Palma, at the Hotel Zurbarán and were impressed by the size of the city. The Hotel was a bit far away from the train and bus station, which meant a good 7km walk every day (sometimes 14) just to get there and back. The walk itself was quite nice though and it gave us a good opportunity to explore new streets everytime we walked it. On a positive note we were 5 min away from the castle and its huge park. If we will ever go again we will definitely choose a place close to the Plaza Espanya!