For the absence of doubt I am not a fan of hiking in the tropics which will explain why, despite an extensive record of mountain walking in 5 continents over the last three decades,  for all the accumulated years I have spent living in Thailand I have never ventured further than walks along the Pattaya and Jomtien promenades in an effort to maintain my fitness or walks through the rice paddies when staying in Isaan! Continue reading →

My Canadian nephew Daniel recently stayed with me in Mürren Switzerland for 12 nights. It was his fifth visit, as he first stayed with us when he was 9, again at 18 not long before we climbed Kilamanjaro with our daughter Lisa. He returned again when he was 23 and 29. I think we worked out he had spent almost two months in Mürren, although his father and my brother-in-law Wayne has yet to make a visit! Continue reading →

I have had a close affinity with Canada for over half of my life, being married in British Columbia, or more specifically in New Westminster, either an independent town (or small city as defined in Canada) or a suburb of Vancouver, depending on your viewpoint. Continue reading →

At the age of 69 I had considered that my days of Himalayan trekking were long since past  so how did November 25 2018 find me bouncing around in a minibus heading north from the Nepalese lakeside town of Pokhara to the trailhead at Kande for a 12 day return trek into the magnificent Annapurna Sanctuary? Continue reading →

With the exception of two 12 day trips to Spain and three 48 hour visits back to the UK for minor surgery (and follow up) on my left eye, I consider myself immensely fortunate to have spent most of the period from mid June to mid November this year based in the Swiss Alps. Continue reading →