Being back in New Zealand after nearly 3 years of nomadic across a couple of continents meant one thing for me: I was ready for a hike. It was the end of March and the first morning frosts had begun to appear across the South Island.
Karpaz peninsula has always reminded me of a rhino. It sticks its massive long Cypriotic horn right into the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the least developed area of Northern Cyprus. It’s full of olive orchards, wild donkey, farmland, stray dogs and amazing rocky sea coast. There are quite a few hikes you can do but we just decided to go for it and cross the whole peninsula there and back in its full length. I mean sort of. Sometimes we cheated a bit hitched (see further).
Northern Cyprus is quite a unique country full of contrasts. I don’t want to get political here so excuse me if you’re offended that I call it a country, but having spent a few weeks in the Greek part and then crossing to the Turkish side, it definitely felt like I’d arrived in a different country. The boarders were stricter than any within the European union and the culture was definitely different.
Cyprus is a well-known holiday destination for many Europeans who want to escape the mainland’s winter. It’s also known as a good walking and hiking destination. If you’re interested in going hiking in Cyprus, this article should give you a good idea of what it’s like, where to go and how to prepare.
There is barely a more iconic mountain in the Southern Highlands of Scotland than The Cobbler, also called Ben Arthur. It has such a good position within the Arrochar Alps that when hikers climb it, they often add in some of the other surrounding peaks like Beinn Narnain or Beinn Íme (to bag a few more munros in one trip).
Last year I decided to change my traditional hiking gear for ultralight gear. I’ve been always a big fan of ultralight hiking but my circumstances hadn’t allowed me to make the switch. Why is that? Firstly, I already had all the hiking gear I needed and switiching to ultralight was unacceptable for my environmentalist soul.
It was the morning of 24th December when I arrived at the car park, ready for a snowy climb. I was the first weirdo there, all the other sane Christmas hikers were still in their warm beds, which was a smart idea since my thermometer in the car was showing -12 degrees Celcius.
So you’re thinking about walking the West Highland Way and you’re wondering what gear you should take with you. Well, it really depends on 2 things: If you’re going to camp or stay in a hotel/Bnb and when you want to hike the West Highland Way.
The MSR Titanium kettle is a 850 ml mug with a sturdy handle and a flat lid. I’m not sure why it’s called a kettle since it’s more a mug/pot. It can be used for 1 person as a universal pot/mug or for 2 people if you don’t plan on cooking something complicated like lasagne. It works just fine for 2 portions of cous cous and similar instant meals.
Hiking alone is a powerful experience and I wish everyone would go for it on regular basis. And I’m not talking about a few hours in a local park. I’m talking about a multi-day hike when you see nothing but forest, hear nothing but birds and when the stars shine so much that you can’t sleep at night.