Hiking the Camino, Granada to Merida, Spain

All roads lead to Santiago de Compostela. The iconic pilgrims' walk to the Galician cathedral begins from wherever you want it to. We set off from Granada, aiming for the 400 km to Merida.


With neatly packed backpacks, we trudged through the open landscapes of Andalucia. Only every 15 miles or so did we enter a hill town dominated by an old Moorish fort.

Our peregrinations fell into a happy routine of walking, sleeping and eating tortilla and olives. Lots of olives. Occasionally we'd pass a deserted finca. Sam would put a note under the door offering to buy it and Phil would pinch the pomegranates.

The first day was fine, the second day found our blisters and by day ten we were ready for a break. Cordoba was a tonic of charming side-streets, intriguing history and the sublime mosque.

Moving on, the scenery changed beneath our boots. We trekked through olive groves, oak-filled meadows, pig enclosures and uninviting rivers. We were now in Extramedura - known for its mud.

There is a grand old church in every small Spanish town and a pilgrimage is still respected. There aren't many peregrinos on this particular route so we appreciated the words of encouragement and even titbits of cheese and wine from the locals en route.

We only had to follow the yellow arrows but we did get lost once or twice. It was getting dark when, somewhere near Castuera, we wandered off track. But, guided by the smell of boiling sugar, Sam led us into a local nougat factory for directions.


Many strides later, we reached the town of Merida. The amphitheatre, hippodrome, aqueduct and the longest existing Roman bridge were all impressive features. However, it was the sauna at the beautiful 4 star parador hotel that we really loved.

We shall return for the stage from Merida to Santiago... Only 800 km to go!

Historical Tour of Northern England

When back in the UK we tend not to take pictures and make wry observations for the blog. However we made an exception for a trip up North when we delved into our own past. Sam revisited university years in Durham with Brian.

Phil went even further back in time, poking around the graves of ancestors in the Yorkshire Dales.

Sam int'North (video clip)

Sam feels the buzz from Phil's Dad's male voice choir.

Summer Work

If the previous few months had been a little dream-like, by August we had to - shock, horror - do some actual work. Phil's peculiar profession turned up trumps for a high summer in the arctic seas off Greenland.


Meanwhile, back in Reading, Sam quietly carved out a new career as an English teacher.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Another day, another country. Moving into northern Europe, the baroque splendour of Ljubljana formed a very nice backdrop for a quick picnic of horse-meat sausage.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

We had a lot of driving to do but Croatia's coastal road made it more of a pleasure cruise.


Dubrovnik lived up to all expectations. We feasted on seafood and walked the renovated walls of this spectacular red-roofed old town, very aware of the scars of its weighty recent history.

On the opening night of the city's summer festival we jostled for a space on the celebratory harbour front.

Balkan Appetites (video clip)

They don't do small portions in the hills of Montenegro. As we discovered with our lovely friends Nir and Vania.

Montenegro

Next on our zip through the Balkans: Montenegro. A tiny country that packs in as much breathtaking scenery as a continent.


In hot summer sun we drove by glacial lakes, over refreshing green rivers and through winding mountain passes. In just a few days we hiked and camped in various idyllic landscapes with our good friends, Nir and Vania (also our unofficial Balkan guide).

A true highlight, we deemed Perast to be one of the finds of our travels. Venetian in style and tucked inside southern Europe's only fjord, we're already planning a return visit.

Albanian Honeymoon

A little time to recuperate on Skopelos before we set off on the drive back to the UK. Our first stop: Albania. An obvious honeymoon destination.


We were impressed by Albania's wild beauty and baffled by its quirks. An anachronism in modern Europe, but after travels in Africa we took its potholes in our stride. At Butrint, all of Mediterranean history is to be found, in a jumble of ruins by the sea.


Our many rewarding memories of Albania will be dominated by the idiosyncrasies - the ageing concrete bunkers, the checkpoint police who offered hotel rooms, the cautiously warm people and the fact that every other car is a Mercedes stolen from a high street near you.


(Ours is the anomaly with the roof rack.)

Our Big Day

Return to Greece

After all the beautiful places we've seen, it was a happy thrill to enjoy the views as we drove through the mountains of Greece. Meteora is quite a setting for a lunch stop. After many months of dreaming of our favourite food we demolished our first Greek salad.

Vineyards of Valdobiadene, Italy

It took our coarse palates a good few attempts to establish a particular preference for frizzante or spumante, brut or extra dry. We eventually made our decision and crammed our little Corsa jam full of Prosecco.

We did have a party to host...

The Alps, Austria

A full day's driving took us into the mountain air of the Austrian Alps. We were very ready to rest and tucked into the heartiest food we shall ever struggle to eat.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

A pit stop in England and we were off again, driving our little car to Greece. Our first layover in the most civilised place we'd ever been: Luxembourg.

Our good friends Martine and Stu showed us around this affable city and helped us indulge in settled European living. After so much time in the wilds, we particularly enjoyed the wine, cheese and even the tap water.

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

For our final days in Africa we felt we had to go on one more safari: to Ngorongoro Crater.

Kilimanjaro Half-Marathon, Tanzania

Just a day after we came down from the mountain Sam ran the Kilimanjaro half marathon.

Phil cheered her on in astonished admiration.

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

The idea had been swirling around us for months, if not years. After all our upland trekking in Ethiopia, this was the time to go for it. So we climbed Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres).

Serious altitude was new to Phil. We kept our head for heights by remembering to eat, constantly sipping water and steadily plodding up and up.

The scores of other climbers clambering up the iconic peak might qualify as Africa's most obnoxious wildlife. Litter, smelly loos and bad tempers marred the basic campsites en route. We tended to hide in our tent and focus on the spectacular views.

At midnight, a trail of head torches form a procession of pain up the final 1,500 metres. As the grind continued we overtook increasing numbers of climbers foundering on the narrow trail. Step by step, "pole-pole", we made progress. A scramble up to the final ridge on steep, loose gravel was made even more horrendous by a bitter wind lashing us with hail stones. We made it though. Look!

n.b. We would like to thank British Airways. The BA blankets we pinched almost made up for our lack of branded mountain gear.

Shira Camp, Kilimanjaro (video clip)

A tent with two views high on the slopes of Kilimanjaro.

Just Peaked, Let's Get Down (video clip)

We've just climbed to the top of Africa. We feel two sensations: elation and intense cold.

Danakil Depression, Ethiopia

Sam has a thing for intensely hostile environments. Phil doesn't. For the first time ever we decided to split up, with Sam joining an extraordinary expedition into the badlands of the Afar. Phil read his book.

The jaunt into the world's most vicious desert required a fully kitted-out Land Rover convoy. Armed guards riding atop the jeep were not necessarily comforting, but the threat from rogue nomads was very real.

In this eerie landscape the ground is of jagged basalt and the fumes from bubbling sulphur bleach clothing. A few people brave the environmental extremes to cut salt and load this valuable resource onto camel trains that cross hundreds of miles to be sold for $5 a slab.

The climax of this geologist's dream field trip is to peek over the edge of a volcano's crater and into a cauldron of magma. Erta Ale is one of only a few flowing lava lakes in the world.

Salt Caravan (video clip)

Tablets of salt are strapped to recalcitrant camels before plodding out through the desert.

Rock-Hewn Churches of Tigrai, Ethiopia

Dotted around the north of the country are dozens of monastic retreats carved into inaccessible cliff faces. Getting to see a few of them required effort and a head for heights.

Enclaved in these remote spots, deep in Africa, Christianity took on some astonishing twists. We were thrilled to see this fresco of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the archangels - all with black faces.

Holy men arrived here in the 5th century after fleeing persecution in what is now Syria. They brought with them their belief in the Bible and their habit of living as hermits.

Following in their footsteps, we edged along horrible cliff footholds and into the very rock itself to discover breathtaking religious artworks and relics.

We sought rational answers to explain the amazing engineering in these improbable places. But facts and myths are so interwoven here that we learned to just shrug and go along with imaginative explanations such as "angels built this".

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Our first port of call in Addis was to see the 3.2 million year old Lucy. The first walking ape is a fascinating evolutionary find. But the impish 8 year olds made us giggle an awful lot more.

Ethiopia's food is fantastically tasty. We feasted on spicy mezzes of veggie treats served on the sour flatbread injera.

Axum, Ethiopia

We battled our way by local bus for another history lesson. Axum was the capital of one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. Yet no-one seems to know anything about it, except for a clutch of myths and these enigmatic stelae.

These imperial tombstones saw their pomp between 400BC and 100AD, when the Axumites controlled a vast trading network link from Rome to ancient India. Pride came before a fall when the grandest obelisk, at 33 metres, crashed to the ground.

It now points the way to the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. The place where, if you so believe, the actual Ark of the Covenant now resides. Quite a history lesson.