North Downs Way – Dorking to Oxted
Running for 246km from Farnham to Dover, the North Downs Way is one of 16 long distance National Trails in Britain. On a sunny summer day I walked sections 3…
Category: Hiking
Tour du Mont Blanc v Walker’s Haute Route
The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) and the Haute Route are two of the best known multi day walks in the Alps. They both start from Chamonix, with the TMB…
Highlights of the Walker’s Haute Route
The Haute Route is one of the most spectacular multi day walks in the Alps, ~200km through some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world. Longer, harder and more…
Walker’s Haute Route accommodation
One of the highlights of walking in the Alps is the quality and variety of accommodation available, quite different to my usual experience in the New Zealand backcountry. On the…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stage 14 Europa Hut to Zermatt
Final day walking the Haute Route, which I had mixed feelings about. After nine days it was getting a bit routine, though there were a few nice surprises today, but…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 12a & 13 St Niklaus to Europa Hut
For it’s final two stages the Haute Route follows the Europaweg, a 31km high altitude mountain path running along the Mattertal Valley. In places this is the most dangerous part…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 11 & 12 Cabane Bella Tola to St Niklaus
My seventh day on the Haute Route, not the most enjoyable but the scenery still continued to surprise and impress. It was also the last of my double stage days.…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 10 & 11 Cabane de Moiry to Cabae Bella Tola
The quietest day walking the Haute Route, other than a truely memorable start. I woke at dawn in the Cabane de Moiry to find that six inches of snow had…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 7, 8 & 9 Cabane des Dix to Cabane de Moiry
A hugely varied day, it’s amazing how much adjacent valleys in the Alps can differ. I started the day crossing a rocky glacier, then explored a lush green valley, before…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 6 & 7 Cabane du Mont Fort to Cabane des Dix
An absolutely epic day, possibly the most spectacular I’ve ever walked, and certainly the most technically demanding. There were narrow tracks with sizeable drops offs, fields of boulders to navigate,…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stage 5 Le Chable to Cabane du Mont Fort
The shortest day I had walking the Haute Route, though it still involved walking 15km and up over 1,800m. It was meant to be 9km but I took a few…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 3 & 4 Le Peuty to Le Chable
It was a long second day walking the Haute Route, lacking the spectacular scenery and sunshine of the first day. There was still plenty of interest though, particularly in the…
Walker’s Haute Route – Stages 1 & 2 Chamonix to Le Peuty
The Walker’s Haute Route is a ~200km, 9-14 day walk between Chamonix in France and Zermatt In Switzerland, from Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn. Along the way it passes by…
Auckland day walks ranked
There are almost no multi-day walks near Auckland, but thankfully there are many decent day walks, often along spectacular coastlines. Sadly the Waitakere Ranges are almost entirely closed now, to…
New Zealand day walks ranked
There’s a lot to be said for shorter walks. They may lack the sense of escape that a multi-day walk brings, but they can often match the scenery and carrying…
Highlights of the Kokoda Track
The Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea was one of the most enjoyable walks I’ve done, despite relatively average views, and endless slippery, muddy hills to ascend and descend in…
Things learnt on the Kokoda Track
I walked the Kokoda Track over seven days from Owers’ Corner to Kokoda at the start of June 2019 with South Sea Horizons. This is what I learnt… The Kokoda…
Kokoda Track – Isurava Memorial to Kokoda
My last day walking the Kokoda Track. This was a wonderful way to spend a week learning about Papua New Guinean culture and village life, the fighting that took place…
Kokoda Track – Templeton’s Crossing I to Isurava Memorial
My penultimate day walking the Kokoda Track. I’ve been off the grid hiking or at sea plenty of times before but never as totally or for as long. It wasn’t…
Kokoda Track – Efogi to Templeton’s Crossing I
Just as I thought I had a good understanding of what to expect on the Kokoda Track day five caught me by surprise. The terrain and most notably the weather…