A terrible trail on a beautiful island: Hiking Corsica’s Mare a Mare Nord

In mid-October 2022, I hiked Corsica’s Mare a Mare Nord with my dog. It’s 150km long and crosses the width of Corsica from coast to coast. The Cicerone guidebook recommends that you take 11 days to complete the trail, but me and Bud did it in 7.5 days. Having fallen in love with Corsica when … Continue reading A terrible trail on a beautiful island: Hiking Corsica’s Mare a Mare Nord

The time of my life on the GR20: part 2

In September 2021, I thru-hiked the GR20 in Corsica. This is a section-by-section account of my experiences. You can read part 1 here. Section 6: Castel de Vergio to Manganu refuge “SHIT!” I scream. “WE NEED TO MOVE! QUICK!!!” We all leap up, half-terrified, half-excited, as a helicopter hovers just metres above our heads, about …

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Bogs, beaches and bombs on the Hebridean Way

First of all, I finally opened an Instagram account. Please find me on there! In August I thru-hiked the Hebridean Way, a 250km-long hiking trail spanning the length of the Outer Hebrides. It took me ten days, and I did the trail solo, but with my dog. There’s already some good day-by-day accounts of the …

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My first thru-hike with a dog! Hiking & wild camping the Loch Ness 360

It’s my first hike since coronavirus locked us all down! The weather’s looking torrential in the north-west of Scotland, so I decide to head north-east, where I don’t have to endure days of rain and bog. The Loch Ness 360 is a 130km-long hiking trail, loosely doing a loop around Loch Ness. I say loosely, because there’s some days where you don’t see the loch at all.

The official website describes the trail as “epic”. I think that’s a slight exaggeration. Epic if you’ve only seen Kent, maybe. But it’s definitely a lovely hike, and if you’re an experienced walker, you’ll find it easy. There’s *lots* of forestry track and tarmac, though, so if you’re going to hike this, try to make your bag as light as possible to give your feet a break as they pound the hard ground. Continue reading “My first thru-hike with a dog! Hiking & wild camping the Loch Ness 360”

Hiking Finland’s Karhunkierros Trail (Bear Trail)

*Last summer I hiked the Karhunkierros long distance hiking trail in northern Finland. It’s taken me forever to write about it!*

Me and Sara are in Ruka, a ski resort in northern Finland, and we’re about to walk the 82km-long Karhunkierros, or Bear Trail in English. We grab a not-very-detailed map from the tourist information centre. The worker assures us that this is all we will need. “It’s impossible to get lost!” she says.

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