Equipment & Accessories
The Hiker’s Picnic
It doesn’t matter whether hiking in Spain or Portugal, Italy or Austria, the filling you’ll find in the picnic made by the hotel is likely to be the same … […]
Gran Canaria
Hiking
A wake up call, pondering mornings on the trail
Pull on a pair of hiking boots in the morning and an anticipatory thrill zings through the laces at the thought of what unexpected treasures lie ahead on whatever dirt track/forest path/rocky road leads into a promising distance. […]
Food & drink
Raising a glass to the vineyards of Europe
It was the second time in just over a week we’d stayed in a vineyard. Both cases prompted thoughts of many other visits to vineyards around Europe, visits that had formed long-lasting, warm and fuzzy (not just thanks to enthusiastic tasting) memories. […]
El Hierro
Worlds of difference, comparing Canary Islands
Going into detail about the differences between the Canary Islands would fill a book, so I’m only going to provide a brief snapshot as an illustration why it’s essential to universe-hop when carrying out travel research. […]
Europe
The travel destination with a perfect climate
It is 46C. My phone pings with warnings from the Portuguese Met Office about there being an extreme risk of fires. We will eat lunch outside, huddling under the shade of an umbrella which only […]
Europe
Confused about the cuisine, gastronomy in the Canary Islands
A study into what visitors to the Canary Islands thought about the food they experienced has thrown up some interesting and illuminating findings. […]
Food & drink
Finding craft beers in the Canary Islands
When we returned to the Canary Islands we stopped ordering sunny Dorada cervezas in the western islands and light and frisky Tropical in the eastern ones and started looking for something with more of a swaggering personality. […]
The Canary Islands
The death of the travel forum
If a writer gets it very wrong about the Canaries, how can I trust them when it comes to other destinations? The answer is I can’t. […]
Europe
7 Seven Canary Islands, 7 classic walking routes
if I had to recommend one circular route on each of the seven main Canary Islands these are the ones I’d choose. […]
El Hierro
The colonial charm of the Canary Islands
Quite a few years ago, when we were wearing particularly thick rose-tinted glasses, we had a discussion with a Canarian friend about the beauty of the Canary Islands. Although she loved the islands she took […]
Europe
The problem with walking routes in the Canary Islands
The first time we fell foul of the Canary Islands’ anarchic approach to marking walking routes was on La Gomera when a couple of signposts on one trail weren’t where they should have been. […]
Fuerteventura
Finding rural life on frustrating Fuerteventura
Which is the most touristy Canary Island and which is the least? Before anyone answers we need to consider what does ‘most’ and ‘least’ touristy actually mean. Tenerife attracts the most tourists each year followed […]
Hiking
Walking across the Canary Islands on the GR131
A few years ago we decided one of our objectives would be to walk across the Canary Islands following the GR131 and staying at rural hotels… […]
Checking In
The best and worst of Paradors in the Canary Islands
We’ve stayed in all of the ones in Canary Island Paradors and each has thrown up a variety of experiences that weren’t always consistent with the others. […]
Chile
12 favourite scenes from travel in 2016
We’ve lost count of the kilometres we’ve notched up walking through landscapes where nature has done its best to compensate for a year which, in world terms, has seemed a bit of a mess. […]