A Vercors Circular

I got a taste of the Vercors on my trip along the E4 in 2011 but felt that I might be missing the best parts.  The E4 took me along the western side of the plateau and although I experienced some of the huge characteristic limestone cliffs and gorges it was the ridge on the eastern side that looked really special.  The escarpment, particularly when viewed from the north from the Chartreuse, looked like a frozen wave magically captured at the point of breaking. Well I’ve now been back, walked my own “Vercors Circular” and can confirm that this is an amazing place.

Day 2 Crete des Rochers de la Balme

Geologically part of the sub-alpine Jura, the Vercors is separated from the Chartreuse, a sister range to the north, by the Isere Valley.  It’s generally described as a plateau but the reality feels more complicated.  Huge cliffs form the north, east and western boundaries but there are valleys on top of the “plateau” running north / south and gorges which slice into it from east to west. Across the valley to the east you have the Alps proper and to the west the Rhone valley and beyond that the Massif Central.

Walking the Dingle Way

My sister lives in Dingle so at the beginning of July, after the wettest English June anyone can remember, I decided to combine a visit with a walk around the 179 km Dingle Way.  I had a great time, loved the scenery, the pubs and the food - the weather for once was better in Ireland than England - but I have to say I was disappointed with the walk itself.  At least 40 per cent of it was on roads with a significant part of the balance along beaches and it’s quite clear that the local farmers and landowners don’t welcome walkers. 

Feck Off!

The Dingle Way is one 30 Irish national waymarked trails and along with the Kerry Way and the Wicklow Way has an international reputation.  Starting at Tralee, the county town of Kerry, the route takes you on a 179 km walk around Dingle Peninsula. It’s an easy walk to plan with lots of readily available high quality information.

Favours on the E4

Someone asked me the other day what I had learnt from walking across Europe.  Not an easy question but it kicked a conversation, made me think and bought back some lovely memories.  I concluded that the thing I learnt was that you can get better at asking for and taking favours. I learnt that people love to help. 

Perhaps worth mentioning in this context that if favours have an opposite I didn’t get any.  I walked virtually every day for just over six months covering over 5,000 kilometres through six countries and without speaking any language other than English. Not once did anyone try to rip me off or abuse me in any way.  I was never threatened and, although occasionally frustrated at my own incompetence, never felt afraid.

Man on motorbike fetches water for parched walker

There were so many favours that it’s difficult to produce a selection but to give you idea I’ll try anyway.

What makes a good walk?

Most of the E4 is excellent and the route takes you through wonderful countryside along walker friendly trails.  Some bits, on the other hand,  are just awful and should only to be walked by nutcases determined to complete the whole trail.  Going from Tarifa to Budapest I was that nutcase but was not far enough gone not to wonder why a particular stretch had been designated as a walking trail and whether or not “standards” had been applied.   In fact it became a bit of obsession, and I would bore friends who joined me to do bits of the E4 with my ideas for some sort of trail accreditation scheme

What I hated most were long stretches of road walking.  I’m still bitter about a hot sunny day spent walking a 35 kilometre busy road  stretch of the E4 from Santiago de la Espada to Puebla de Don Fadrique in northern Andulucia.  

On the road to Puebla de Don Fadrique

Solar Powered

Power assisted walking

On my recent trip to Nepal, particularly on the Mera Peak trip and the long nights in the tent, my iPhone was my top gadget.    I used it to read books, (using the Kindle app), listened to a huge variety of podcasts, audiobooks and music,  to watch films and of course to write my blog. My iPhone told me how high I had got on Mera Peak and once I got within range I was able to SMS home to tell everyone I was OK.   I still used a separate camera for taking pictures but suspect that if I practised a bit more I would get equivalent or perhaps better results with the iPhone particularly if I could work out how to use some of the amazing editing apps which are now available.

South Downs Way

Every year around May, a bunch of us get together and go for a walk and in various configurations; have been doing this for last 18 years.  Essentially it's a good opportunity to moan on about the state of things, catch up with each other and drink large quantities of beer.  Key requirements are good countryside, good pubs and good accommodation.

Generally speaking all the trips take place in the UK (we went to Belgium once when the UK countryside was closed down with foot and mouth) and after years of getting soaked in the north and west there has been a shift in sentiment towards the south-east.  I live in Brighton, love walking on the South Downs and pushed the idea of the South Downs Way (SDW).  Because it was my idea and because I had always managed to avoid doing it in the past, this year the task of planning the walk fell on my shoulders.

Mera Peak - March/April 2012

Doing Annapurna Circuit and the Mera Peak expedition back to back, it’s hard not to compare the two treks. Employing any rational criteria Annapurna Circuit would come out on top.   The scenery, both in terms of its scale and variety, is better on the Annapurna Circuit.   You're closer to really big mountains, they come earlier in the trip and stay with you day after day.  The landscape also changes from deep river - cut valleys to wide flat bottomed gorges, and from the wetter Indian -facing mountains to the dry Tibetan style terrain in Lower Mustang.  The scenery on the Mera Peak trek is wonderful, really interesting, but you're a long way into it before you have anything that compares with what you get by day three of the Annapurna Circuit.

It's my trip to Mera Peak though and not Annapurna which has left the stronger impression.  I'm struggling a bit to understand why but even at my age, perhaps particularly at my age, I think it's the word "adventure" that nails it.  Mera was an adventure and for some reason Annapurna just didn't score on what apparently remains a much more important criteria.