Tag Archives: walk

There is magic in the rocks and trees of Haida Gwaii in Canada’s British Columbia (BC). The people of the Haida Nation have lived here for at least 13,000 years – although ninety percent of the population died in the 1800s from smallpox, thanks to the first European contact in 1774. The islands were important […]

View full post »

We were starting out early: my Berber guide Mohammed was worried about the impact of the hot autumn sun on our steep climb from the trekking lodge (Azzaden Trekking Lodge) near Tizi Oussem in the Toubkal National Park in Morocco, to the mountain pass we needed to cross. I was worried too! I had found […]

View full post »

Back in September of 2023, Morocco was rocked by an earthquake – with devastating consequences. More than 2,900 people were killed and a further 5,500 injured (see: The Centre for Disaster Recovery). Over two million dwellings were damaged – displacing at least 500,000 people. Although the effects of the 6.8-magnitude quake were felt in the […]

View full post »

There is something very special about Haida Gwaii. It might be the fresh air and abundance of old-growth and second-growth forests; it might be knowing that the Indigenous people here have spiritual and family connections to the land going back more than 13,000 years; it might be the breathtaking natural beauty. Whatever it is, these […]

View full post »

Any visitor to these pages knows I love hiking. But, if the truth be told, I don’t always love it while I’m doing it! I discovered very quickly that there is nothing easy about hiking in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The ground is steep, covered in rubble, strewn in rubbish, and dotted with […]

View full post »