After last night’s epic (by Cambridge standards) 4″ of snow. The Cambridge Rambling Club A group walk around Histon was cancelled so Sally & I met up with Jill at the usual starting place in Harvey Road and concocted our own walk up to Coton (where we bumped into the B group) then across to Grantchester for a scone and cuppa at The Orchard with a ramble back along the river to Cambridge.

A very pretty walk in the snow, although my legs found it quite tiring like walking along the beach. The most surprising part was that the Coton Footpath had been largely cleared of snow so was easy walking.

My Fitbit said I covered 15.4 miles burning 2700 calories the Etrex GPS made it 14.7 miles (3mph) so pretty close. I took quite a few pictures and also made a Everytrail of the walk here.

Snowman on a wall

It was interesting to see the different types of snowmen that students had been making especially the latest trend of creating them sat down on park benches etc My favourite was this one on Elizabeth Way.

The day ended with one of Sally’s wonderfully relaxing hot stone massage I tried to use my Zeo sleep measuring device to see how deep a sleep I go into, but it insisted I needed to plug the iPhone in and lets face it when you are so relaxed can you be bothered….

Here is the guy clearing the entrance to my apartment in Les Gets this morning. Oh how I would love to have such a machine

Heavy Snow in Les Gets

High winds prevented access to the Northern  slopes of Mont Chéry today, so hopefully lots of new runs there tomorrow.

Here is the scene at the mid station today:

The day after a night of snow

Finally managed to get the new Air working as well today with its illuminated keyboard, after making the mistake of transferring all the old files locked with snow leopard requiring me to reinstall Lion (over the slow internet here). Just have to get used to the QWERTZ keyboard now

Sally and I dedicated October to walking The Lycian Way in Turkey. In 23 walking days we managed to do 262 miles of the 318 , so we walked around 82% of the route including both ends.

Section’s we missed are:-

• The day from Akmel to Gelemis. Although we did walk most of it the other way! (Section 8 )
• We walked a different route from Demre (Myra) to Andriake taking in the remains at Sura. Many thanks to Salih for rescuing us from Andriake and helping us with the walk to Alakilise. (End of Section 18 and start of Section 19)
• Alakilise to Mavikent – mainly to save time plus it gets problematic to cross the high ground without a tent & the beach walking along a busy road didn’t appeal. (Parts of Sections 19 & 20)
• A short section from the Roman Bridge to the junction with the high route. Due to no accommodation at the bridge plus the section can be treacherous due to landslips. (Part of section 25b)

It is a great walk fantastic scenery with many beautiful bays most of which are deserted, lots of hill walking, very rocky (I totally wrecked my Scarpa boots). The trail is pretty well marked, although The Gaia iPhone app previously loaded with the GPS trail from Amy & Jim was invaluable most days

We met many great folks particularly the two lanky German boys carrying huge bags with a tent that never got used! plus Keith & Irma from South Africa.

The trail is very well used in many parts although some sections are getting overgrown.

I can really recommend the walk to anyone.

One of the reasons I enjoy travelling so much are the fascinating people you meet. in unexpected situations.

Yesterday when getting on the bus to Marocos I bumped into Ann & John, we instantly struck up a rapport, (they were confused as they had been told to use Bus 1 whereas we were on Bus 208 that was on Bus Stand 1 )

They were taking a day out from their cruise trip, A Boddington’s special cruise in their words! Ann was trying to find a beach John , I suspect, was more after a walk!

What fascinated me is that they had left England 20+ years ago to live in Switzerland with John’s job as an industrial chemist. This, immediately bought back memories of my time doing bucket chemistry in the labs at Renishaw Iron Company and at the same time made me reflect on the job offer I turned down 34 years ago  to work at ILL in Grenoble, France when Nick was 1.

They alighted at Santa Cruz whilst I continued to Marocos to walk the Levada do Canical to the Canical tunnel. A lovely walk where, for the first time, I met several walking parties who would definitely be in the Cambridge Rambling Club B group. Near the end I saw the sign to Boca do Risco (its rated a black walk  in the Rother walking guide to Madeira) so I thought why not! The climb up to the Boca (Col) was excellent. I started to get nervy as I rounded the bend and saw the crashing  Atlantic waves over a thousand feet below me. I continued on but at a land slip my head finally stopped my feet from continuing! After my near drowning in the Trisoli River in Nepal I’ve become far more cautious. Looking back at the narrow path cut into the vertical rock face I was not disappointed at my decision….

In the evening whilst having my after dinner coffee in Cafe do Teatro who should come in for their after dinner drinks,  before their cruise sailed at 11pm, but John & Ann. Ann was adamant that Madeira wasn’t for her as no decent beaches!  So I guess you will find her on Gran Canaria. John it turned out had recently walked and thoroughly enjoyed the  Camino de Frances from SJPP to Muxia, just like I did in 2004 the year I retired! He had found it every bit as emotional as I had, (At the end I was in tears on the bus from Muxia to Santiago and would gladly have turned around and walked it again).

All in all a very interesting day and so good to meet up with a very interesting couple, maybe we will meet again in July when Sally & I go with Paul and Sarah to Les Gets, I’m quite sure we will be visiting the thermal spa in Ovronnaz so we could all meet up there!.

Geoff in Maderia

One of my dreams has been to live in the winter sun, I really hate to be burning up money just to try and keep myself warm! It seems a lot more economical to live in a climate where the sun keeps you warm! However, I couldn’t live in really hot countries like Dubai etc where you equally  have to waste money on AC.

So the challenge is to find somewhere that is sunny but  still cool!, reasonably economic to live and with walking and snowboarding close by

So here I am in Madeira. 32 degrees North of the Equator surrounded by the cool Atlantic ocean, so warm but not hot! Currently its around 20ºC in the sun but cooler in the light wind. As a mega bonus the walking is superb, I’ve spent the last 7 days walking over very varied terrain and still haven’t seen but a fraction of the island.

My return flight from Stansted on Easyjet was  £57.93  I’m now staying at the very central (behind The Cathedral) Residencial queimada de baixo which is run by the Chafariz Hotel,  the rate I’m paying is €500 for a month (Equivalent to 14 days at their €35 day rate). Which I think is very reasonable; it includes breakfast and a daily clean too. For the 10 days Sally is here they are charging me €50 more My evening meal at Cafe do Teatro is about €17 for beer, main, dessert & coffee. Coffee’s in town are about €1and the cakes are delicious.

The hotel has no internet but the municipality have installed wifi points around town so you can get free internet OK. (T-mobile are charging £10 for 50MB on their roaming tariff).

Walking is a dream Buses (SAM, Horarios do Funchal & Rodoeste )  to the the walk starts are between €2 and €3. I’m using the Rother walking guide to Madeira. In the past week I’ve completed walks 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 17, 19 & 35 so still 41 more to do in that book!  Although some will need taxi’s to get to the starts and a couple I’m probably not capable of doing due to my vertigo

All my walks I’ve done this last week are on Everytrail with pictures on Picasa.

• Penisular walk still one of my favourites
• Tabua Valley on a very wet day.
• Lavada dos Tornos but I walked from Funchal to Monte
• Trout Levada but it was dry! I also walked down to the coast.
• Donkey pass incredible mountain views.
• Levada do Norte uncompleted due to vertigo

Two very useful iPhone apps (both based on the Open Street Map project) are OffMaps which stores the OSM map locally on your iPhone and the slightly buggy Mobile City Maps on Madeira by dubbele.com.  The OSM map so far has had all the Levadas and walks beautifully mapped and its great to know exactly where you are and in what direction you are facing!  Thank goodness for the dxpower WT-1700B power pack on the iPhone.

So far I’ve only found one outdoor shop, O Bordao on Rue Carreira 171 run by the very helpful Joao who sold me a cheap trekking pole! Very useful since Easyjet won’t allow my lovely Leki’s on the plane

And now to plan tomorrows walk…..

After my last independent trek here in Nepal, I decided to try a trek with a guide especially one who I had just created a website for

We took of from Pokhara in Buddhi’s brothers taxi to Naudader to start walking the Panchasse Circuit. Buddhi had planned it would take 2 nights and three days.

We set of downhill to start with but soon started our 2500 feet climb to the village at Panchasse village. It was interesting talking to Buddhi especially  to contrast relationships At 25 his parents decided he should be married. So a young lady was found in another village. Buddhi played no role in this ! He met his future wife only a few days before the wedding and then only for a hour or so. Buddhi in turn was shocked that I had been married and divorced twice !!! What a contrast.

We then started talking about the caste system over here in Nepal, which IMHO cripples mobility and stigmatises people I was appalled that your caste is shown on your government ID so basically its state approved racism. Also if you marry a person of lower caste, then you and your children assume that castes lower status, also certain jobs are reserved for certain castes. What a way to cripple a persons chance in life!

We eventually reached Panchasse after many more discussions on starting & running businesses etc etc all very interesting given the huge difference in costs and rewards eg they pay £25 a month for each childs education. Quite a lot here but nothing compared to The Perse’s £1,000a month!

The ‘Happy Heart hotel’ in Panchasse was truly amazing! Red mud flloors in the bedroom (swept daily so they shine) and a kitchen out of date by a few hundred years (the village has no electric)! All the cooking (and we had a delicious Dal Bhat) is cooked on an open wood fire with no chimney! It was very interesting to see the sisters control the temperature by pulling the sticks in and out of the fire plus an occasional puff down a pipe to get it to flare again. Even more interesting was watching the sisters clean the pans by mixing the wood ash with a little water to make a paste to wipe the pans with!

The next day we were up at 5am to do the trek to see the sunrise on top of Panchasse Hill a nice brisk 1500 foot climb before breakfast. After breakfast we descended steeply down to catch the rickety old bus from Pame back to Pokhara.

A memorable trip (especially meeting one of the founders of Auroville, which is top of my list of places to visit in India -after 40 years in Auroville he has now married one of the sisters) and many thanks to Buddhi my ace Nepalese guide!

PS: We only took 2 days as we are both quite quick walkers It’s OK he can go slower he was telling me about a customer he guided for 60days as the guy could only walk an hour or two each day!

The post header is THe Annapurna Range from Panchasse Hill

Here is the walk on Everytrail:-
Panchasse trek at EveryTrail
EveryTrail – Find hiking trails in California and beyond

Having just returned from my mini 5 day trek in the Annapurna foothills it has to be said that Nepal is a fantastic trekking place! especially for Sally with strategically placed tea houses every hour or so of walking

I decided to do the trek without a guide (1500 rupee a day with his  food & board) or porter (will carry upto 30kg). You can also hire a combined guide/porter if your backpack is less than 12kg.

To do solo trekking you have to get an additional “Registration card for individual trekkers” for 1500 Rupee on top of the 2000Rupee Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) Entry Permit. Both can be obtained in Pokhara, you will also need 4 passport photographs. The office opens at 10am plus buy a map from the local shops. I had to check in at Nayapul then again across the bridge at Birethanti, finally checking out at Dhampus.

I took a taxi to Nayapul (1500 rupee), this will be the last wheeled vehicle you will see until you leave the ACA! lugged up the mountain From then on every item you see (including the rock used in the tracks)  has been lugged up by porters!

The first night, Wednesday, I stopped at Sudame a modest 300metre climb, it was a hot day and I managed a couple of dips in the crystal clear rushing river Accomodation is cheap 100 Rupees a night typically but you are obliged to have dinner and breakfast too, these prices are fixed by the mountain mafia Lodge Management Commitee in Ghandruk so the night cost 1300 Rupee. All the lodges have duvets (blankets) and clean white sheets. All the ones I stayed in where very clean, if somewhat structurally unsound (not surprising when everything has been carried up on some poor sods back!

Thursday was a straight 1600metre (vertical 1 mile) climb up a steep stone staircase to Ghorepani. A tough day indeed especially carrying my 9Kg backpack, how the porters do it with 30+Kg  is amazing. This accomodation worked out at 2050 Rupee.  Next morning was a 4am start to get to Poon Hill for the sunrise, a nice 400metre climb before brekkie, after brekkie it was another straight 400m climb to Deurali then down a lovely gorge into Tadapani.

I set of early on Friday from Tadapani to go to Ghandruk, seeing a whole pack of monkeys en route arriving early I decided to go up to Jhinudanda and go swimming in the hot springs, fab except for the 200m climb back to the lodge after the swim!

Saturday was another down and up plus I lost my gorgeous titanium framed specs that I bought in Beijing in the morning followed by a very steep 400m climb then short downhill into Pothana and my final night.

Sunday was a steep downhill to Dhampus and back to seeing cars!

The walking is very tough lots of steep up and downs, mainly on stone steps plus quite a few rickety looking narrow wobbly suspension bridges. I met several people walking to Annapurna base camp (ABC) without guides and getting on fine. However, everyone I met doing the Annapurna circuit (20+ days) had a guide and porter. My favourite guide & porter were Goma (a girl guide!)  and Thakur. They were very friendly and helpful  towards me. The German lady who had employed them via Lang Tang Ri was very complementary about them too! and she had been walking with them for 27 days!!

In Pokhara you may be told that a guide is essential to get accomodation in peak season, this is a ruse, all the lodges I stopped at said that they would always find space even if it meant you sleeping in the dining hall!  I was going to sleep before 8pm and getting up at 6am typically so sleeping in the dining room would be fine (the guides & porters do anyway!)

Oh and the really great thing for all us vegetarians is that ALL the food in the higher lodges is veggie!!!! The meat doesn’t keep apparently so trekking in Nepal is the perfect vegetarian holiday

NB: In 2010 the exchange rate is 1000 Rupee to £8.75, $14USD,  10Euro

My Poon Hill trek GPS (GPX) files on Everytrail are:-

26 Oct 2010 Day 1 Pokhara to Sudame

27 Oct 2010 Day 2 Sudame to Ghorepani

28 Oct 2010 Day 3 Ghorepani to Tadapani (from Poon Hill)

29 Oct 2010 Day 4 Tadapani to Jhinudanda

30 Oct 2010 Day 5  Jhinudanda to Pothana

31 Oct 2010 Day 6 Pothana to Pokhara

Clicking the date will take you to my photographs for that day. Clicking the place names will take you to the Everytrail’s

Having just about recovered from my trauma in the River Trisuli here in Nepal I thought it would be wise to write it up for others to learn something about the dangers of whitewater rafting down 3+/4 rapids.

I booked a two day  trip with Adrenaline Nepal rafting down the Trisuli for $80 to include overnight camping plus transport onwards to Pokhara (My intention was to cut out some of the very dangerous Kathmandu to Pokhara road and have some fun).

I started at 6.30am and waited till past 7 to be picked up still on my own. My heart sank to my feet when we stopped to pick up 7/8 very overweight and unfit looking Israeli tourists with their mountain of bags! At this point I should have opted out and got my $80 back. First point choose your fellow crew carefully!

We proceeded to the river with a couple of thrash the ash breaks. At the river the ex East Londoner Maxim then did a detailed safety drill (some of the Israelis ignored this and  just went for a paddle much to Max’s annoyance) at this stage we learnt several couldn’t swim and seemed posively frightened of the water. I’m not sure if they were expecting a Rhine type cruise or punting on The Cam. We were then split into two boats plus a safety Kayak. I was made the front right person in the boat piloted by a local lad whose command of English was poor plus he muttered his commands. I noticed a couple of the folks were those who couldn’t swim!

We set off and all went well for the first stretches to where we had lunch on a pleasant sandy beach with the local dogs and kids. After lunch Maxim declared that the most dangerous rapid was just around the next corner re-emphasising his safety instructions and making the point the full force of the river flow was against a 15/20m high vertical black rock!

On the water again we followed Max until (Max told me later he had deliberately slowed down) we hit his boat in the side causing us to spin. At this point we were nearly in the rapid, due to the collision we were now heading for the aforementioned black cliff and the most dangerous part of the river!

We were travelling across the current towards the cliff  when suddenly the front right of the boat reared up, I  clung onto the rafts safety rope but quickly realised that I was in danger of toppling the craft so I let go! flying over the front left person (who apparently slid into the water) I entered the water according to my GPS at 16mph at 05m.55s (my helmet must have come off at this point) under I went, fortunately my lifejacket stayed on although it rode up (Why can’t they have a crutch strap to keep them in place). Round and round I went, me desperately trying to get on my back but the sheer weight of water had other ideas. On one of my surfacing the front of the kayak was there so I managed to get my thumbs in the strap and legs straddling the deck. The poor lad couldnt get out of the whirlpool with my 90kg weighing him down. Over he went, I thought I had better let go as he would never right the thing with me on it! A few more spins in the malestrom and I managed to get on the back of the kayak – no use, exactly as before over he went. Desperation was beginning to set in!

On my next circuit I noticed a jagged bit of rock which I might be able to grab, a couple of circuits more and I reached a calm bit of water against the cliff, no way could I reach the jagged bit but I looked up and miracles of miracles I could see the yellow safety rope been dropped down by some kids on the top of the cliff (later I learnt the kayaker had hurled the safety rope to them from the river up 15m) Lesson make sure the safety kayaker keeps the safety rope on his back (like mine did) not hidden in the kayak!

I clung onto the rope but no way were they going tobe able to pull me up. I rested thanking my lucky stars. Time now 06.01 ie I had been in the water for 5mins. A short while later another rope came down from Max (He had  had problems getting his crew to stop!) this time with a hitch in the end, I threaded my left wrist into it and made it tight.  I now had a hand to climb with. They pulled me up to the first foothold. I then with difficulty and their pulling managed to climb the cliff! Utterly exhausted I arrived on the ledge where the first thing I did was do a big dump in front of my rescuers (sorry guys). A bit more clambering and we came to the road where I discovered why the kids had been there – a truck had come of the road and was perilously resting on a ledge! One persons misfortune had greatly helped me.

So the lessons I learnt are:-

• Choose your crew carefully and if some can’t swim think twice! They are a liability to the team.
• Make sure you have a safety kayaker with you and that he keeps his rope ABOVE the kayak skirt!
• Only have one raft at a time in rapids!
• The pilot should have a booming voice!
• Make sure you are used to being underwater.

AAt the beginning of any rafting trip, personally, I would park the rafts on the opposite bank and make the folks cross the river using the safety rope! That way you can be sure no one is scared off the water!!

Here is the GPS trace from my Garmin HCX kept in my shorts pocket:-

All in all a never to be repeated experience. I’m still surprised that neither the pilot of my boat  or the lad I knocked in came to say anything back at the boathouse! Full credit to Maxim a great guy and thank god he knows about knots!

On Saturday , Sally and I went to visit her parents in Isham. We managed to get her Dad out for a walk around the village and to take a peek at the local exhibition, to see the two headed lamb and various other curio’s in the ancient village hall.

What is amazing is that where her Dad currently lives  is literally a stones throw from where he was born and went to school so you can imagine a walk involves literally everybody saying hello most of whom remembered Sally too!

I put the walk on Everytrail so you can see the ancient threshing machine (similar to the one I used at 14) plus Jim’s magnificent runner beans that will hopefully, find there way into our tummies this weekend.

Jim also gave us a trout he caught, later  in the evening this was expertly bbq’d by Anthony around at Kay’s where we stayed the night. A great day out

I couldn’t resist using the old sign board for this post’s featured image!

As most people know by now I’m back in Cambridge after my mega bike trip.
I managed to bring my bike back, from my apartment in Les Gets, where I left it after last years ride out there.

To fit in with this years theme I decided to follow the Rhine (from its source near the Oberalppass) to the sea (near Rotterdam with its convenient ferry back to East Anglia). However, to get to the Rhine from Les Gets you have to follow the Rhone to its source as well. I managed to cycle from Les Gets down to Lake Geneva and then up the Rhone valley to Martigny but then decided to hop on the train to Andermatt where my Rhein-Radweg books start.

The overall trip was just under 1100 miles which I did in 14 days at about 10mph, 12 days of which was following The Rhine.

My Dawes Galaxy Tour worked perfectly standing up to the rough off road bits equally well as the super smooth bike paths. The gear ratios are all perfect and Thierry adjusted the derailleurs so they clicked through effortlessly. After having it fitted with straight handlebars and click gears last year. This year I added the Altura drylined handlebar bag which worked perfectly. The new handlebar ends were disappointing and led to my rib damage! I need to find the ones like in Holland or that Gail has!

I fell off once with some damage to a rib which is still making me feel as though I’m having a heart attack a week later! However, it is improving.

I didn’t find the Germans or Swiss particularly friendly whilst riding so maybe the next trip will be to France / Spain or maybe New Zealand (A couple on a tandem had just come back from 6 months of touring NZ which they enjoyed).

Here is  a table of all the various blog posts, Everyttail’s and Picasa pictures:-

Thanks to Joost and Chris at GlobalMotion I have a complete Everytrail of The Rhine part of the trip (hang on it takes a while to download):-
Cycling the length of The Rhine at EveryTrail

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