• Spain and Galicia’s  Romantic Ria de Muros y Noia

    The A6 motorway through the León, Cantabrian and Galician mountain ranges to the Atlantic Ocean’s Ria de Muros y Noia is stunning, starting with a rural idyll of rolling pastures, cow-bells tinkling and forested valleys, and becoming more dramatic past Ponferrada, when russet cliffs and mountains contrast with the verdant green forests. There’s miles and…

  • Ameyugo in Spain’s Léon y Castile

    From giant stone shepherds to sun-flower fields, gorges and ruined chapels, Leon y Castile’s Ameyugo is a wonderful hiking destination.

  • A Detour to Thomas Hardy’s Dorchester and a trek to Dorset’s Golden Cap

    I can’t visit Dorset without a mooch around one of Thomas Hardy’s old haunts, in this case Dorchester, the setting of his tragic novel, The Mayor of Casterbridge.   However, this is us, so we turn up on a Friday to visit Max Gate, the house that Hardy, as an architect, designed and where he…

  • Dorset’s Kimmeridge Bay to Chesil Beach – Fossil Hunters, Crocodile teeth, Tropical Seas and Smugglers

    Kimmeridge to Chesil Beach’s section of the South West Coastal Path has it all: from pterodactyl remains to mysterious mansions and smuggling dens. We drive along the undulating B3069 from Tom’s Field Campsite 9 miles to Kimmeridge, the road taking us under cathedrals of trees, through valleys and over hills, past bucolic villages, such as…

  • Durlston Nature Reserve

    From pithy poetry to fantastic natural world facts; from sea views, lighthouses and castles to obelisks – this walk has it all.

  • The Dorset Coastal Path – Idyllic Isle of Purbeck

    The Isle of Purbeck rolls out around us in green chalk-lands, tree-lined lanes and luscious  hedgerows. Corfe Castle sits on its hilltop with 360 degree views, to the sea and across the biodiverse heathland.  William the Conqueror sited his royal palace at this perfect vantage point to ward off invaders. But my favourite story is…