The scenic area of Xiaoqikong wasn’t in my guide book or on travel blogs, I ended up finding it from scanning the map of China and being drawn in by the intense blue water. It turned out to be fairly easy to reach, involving two high speed trains and then a taxi for the final…
Tag: hiking
The Longji Rice Terraces |China
We couldn’t decide whether it was worth returning to the Longji rice terraces as our previous experience wasn’t a great one. We arrived on a cold January day 8 years ago and the guesthouse we booked wasn’t where it said it would be on the map which meant we had to hike all the way…
Nizwa’s goat market, wadis and mountain drives | Oman
Our final days in Oman had a mix of activities and the first of which was the Nizwa livestock market. It takes place every Friday and this tradition has been happening in the same location for hundreds of years. We had to arrive early to catch the action so we were joining the crowds at…
Oman’s dramatic mountains and a crazy night camping on them
It’s time to explore the mountains of Oman! We’ve been driving alongside dramatic peaks and I can’t help but feel if it was America for example there would be a parking lot with hiking trails, not with lots of infrastructure or paved paths, just rugged but accessible. Oman kinda feels so untouched that it’s like…
Exploring the Bimmah Sinkhole and Wadi Shab | Oman
We woke up surrounded by small sand dunes with the sun hitting the wind-swept ripples and our tent nestled beneath them. After some breakfast in the dunes we took the opportunity to pour some water over my hair and give it a wash which was well needed and then we hit the road towards Wadi…
Autumn hikes in the Lake District
It’s September and officially Autumn which is a season I absolutely adore so we headed out on a nice long day-hike starting in Great Langdale and up to the picture-perfect Blea Tarn before dropping down into the Little Langdale valley. The views of the rocky Langdale pikes were incredible as we looked back up from…
Our best camping trip | Wild swims, crazy sunsets and cloud inversions
A bizarre heat-wave hit us at the start of September and we couldn’t resist a 2 night 3 day camping trip in the hills. We headed north on a bus through the Lake District where we began an extremely steep hike, gaining about 500m elevation in less than a kilometre. We’d camped in the same…
Day hikes, sunsets and wildlife in the Lake District
While we had big plans of camping throughout the summer the weather had other ideas with June through August being a soggy mess so instead we opted for day hikes during the dry spells. We managed to do a pretty good job of hiking in the good weather-windows and exploring a few new routes. On…
Two extremely different camping trips | Thunderstorms and crazy sunsets
Summer in the Lake District has looked a little different to what we were expecting, call us ignorant but 3 months of rain and wind was a bit of a shock. Our camping trips came to a grinding halt because it’s just miserable in bad weather, saying that we did a spontaneous trip for my…
Camping above the clouds in the Lake District
Just as we began walking through the forest two owls swooped above our heads. It happened so quickly but Craig managed to see where one of them flew and we were able to have a look at the wee thing that resembled a 90’s fur-baby. Craig googled the breed of owl when we got home…