After reading the book I’m certainly looking forward to my visit, but I don’t think I’ll be in the queue to buy the farm next door. Stewart is careful not to give away the exact location of their farm – … Continue reading →
A planned visit to Provence in April prompted me to read this book some 12 years after it was on the best-seller lists. It’s hard now to see what the fuss was about – maybe the TV serialisation was more … Continue reading →
As ticklists go, visiting the highest point in each state in the USA is one of the more bizarre. Those who follow this obsession are Highpointers. Jack Bennett is one such who, having completed the USA round, turned his attention … Continue reading →
Subtitled “The triumph of Sepu Kangri”, the book chronicles Bonington and Clarke’s reconnaissance of this mountain and their attempt to climb it in 1998. The climbing content is limited – the book is more a travel book about the remote … Continue reading →
Having scoffed at David Whyte’s references to this Anglo-Saxon poem, I thought I’d better read it. Strong shades of Tolkien, which is not surprising, as he wrote possibly the most influential critique of the work in the 20th century.
Continue reading →Things didn’t quite go according to plan on this trip. Our original plan was an 8 – 9 day traverse of the Berner Oberland, with some significant summits on the way. Then there were Plans B, C, D, . . … Continue reading →
Funny and entertaining account of an unfit bloke cycling the route of the Tour de France. Very much in the "We’d never done any white-water rafting in bear country before, but we thought we’d give it a go" genre, but … Continue reading →
A young English lawyer’s experiences on a 2-year volunteer assignment in the remote Pacific islands of Tuvalu. Forget the idea of an island paradise – the traditional way of life has all but disappeared, and it doesn’t seem to have … Continue reading →
A recently-published revised edition of a classic text – an academic view of the whole range of glaciation phenomena, with each aspect clearly illustrated with superb black-and-white photographs.
Continue reading →An interesting and well-written account of one of the great siege-style mountaineering achievements – Bonington’s 1975 expedition which made the first ascent of the SW face of Everest. If you want to appreciate the planning and management that goes into … Continue reading →