My final objective in the Tatras was to cross a pair of high saddles (Priečne Sedlo and Prielom) located either side of the mountain refuge of Zbojnicka Chata, where I had managed to secure a bed for the Monday night. Given that both saddles sit over 2200m high at the top of steep climbs featuring the use of extended sections of fixed chains, I had wisely decided not to attempt the route with my full pack - nor in bad weather - so upon returning to the campground in Tatranska Štrba on Sunday evening I paid for three nights, so that I could leave my tent set up (with backpack inside) while I tackled the route fast and light with just my daypack over the following two days. Originally the weather forecast had predicted possible thunderstorms ... read more

The Tatras are a compact mountain range that forms part of the border between Poland and Slovakia. Although looking much like the Alps in miniature, the Tatras are actually a northwestern extension of the Carpathian Mountains, that form an arc through Eastern Europe. Sub-divided into three separate ranges (the White, High and Western Tatras) they are a chain of rugged mountains topped with jagged peaks, rising up to 2654m in height. And best of all, they are easy to explore - not only is there a complex network of hiking routes snaking throughout the mountains on both sides of the border, but as with numerous other mountainous areas in Europe there is also a series of mountain huts placed in strategic (and often downright beautiful) locations, allowing people the opportunity to walk from hut to hut ... read more

A decade ago I spent the second year of a three-year working holiday in Scotland. Having spent the first year in England my expectations when it came to the weather were low indeed, yet still I managed to be disappointed when the summer of 2011 brought just three sunny days with a temperature of over twenty degrees - two in the first week of June and another at the end of June. So as I finally headed back to Scotland to kick-start my adventurous northern summer of 2023, it was with a fair degree of trepidation - even more so once I decided to tackle the country's most famous multi-day walking trail - the West Highland Way - as a camping trip, staying in my tent rather than in the various hostels or B&Bs scattered along ... read more

Limping into Pemberton after walking 110km in five days on a left foot sporting multiple injuries, I was finally able to call a halt to proceedings to give my foot the time it needed to heal. And if this decision was initially cause for disappointment - understandable given that the prior section of the Bibbulmun Track had been my favourite so far, with a number of friends made along the way - then this soon dissipated once I saw the forecast for the coming week: seven days' worth of rain! But with the only budget accommodation in Pemberton consisting of a single dorm room at the local backpackers hostel - left open solely for the benefit of Bibbulmun Track walkers - I decided to take the coach a couple of hours southeast to the coastal town ... read more

Returning to the Bibbulmun Track after a relaxing couple of nights in Collie, it didn't take long for me to hit my stride - despite the presence of a pesky blister on one of my toes that I had picked up on my interminable water-logged trudge from Possum Springs to Harris Dam three days earlier. In fact the going was so easy that it took only four-and-a-half hours to complete the 20km section to Yabberup campsite, with just the two rest stops taken along the way. After crossing the Collie River and passing the artificial lake at Mungallup Dam, I finished the day with another emu encounter, before arriving at Yabberup campsite where I had just the one other hiker for company - a solo end-to-ender named Chris, who I had met the day before in ... read more