Every unique overnight stay. Check out our Polarsteps travel map.
Category Archives: Travel
Races in 2023
We’ve been enjoying some unseasonal warm weather, first in Greece and now in Turkyie. I’ve been enjoying taking it easy and putting in some smaller runs and doing more hiking.
I’ll start building up my training as I prepare for these races in 2023:
- Istria 100k by UTMB, Croatia
Saturday, 15 April - Ultra-Trail Snowdonia by UTMB – 100K
Saturday, 13 May - Val d’Aran 100k by UTMB®
Friday, 7 July
There are several other trail events which I’ll fill in with as we continue to explore southern Europe. More on these as they happen!
Mount Olympus National Park, Greece
Moving on from Albania
Mirsie and I have been resting in Albania over the last two months. Her family have a flat in Shkoder which we’ve appreciated using during the colder, rainy months during winter. It’s been great spending time with her older brother and his extended family, all of whom have been exceptionally kind and generous. At the end of December it was time to get back in the van and move on. First to Berat, then on to mark the new year in Gjirokaster.
One of the reasons for our stay was to explore this beautiful UNESCO World Heritage Site in southern Albania. The second was to visit the dentist. This was my second appointment to see Dr Ervis and I highly recommend him. His practice is highly advanced with the latest equipment. Ervis is a highly experienced dentist, one of the most popular in Berat. And he speaks English! Previously I had a clean and a check up. This time I had some cosmetic treatment done to straighten my teeth. Excellent service and I’ll drop by in the spring for a check up.
After marking the new year in Gjirokastër we visited Dropull, a small village near the Greek border. Mirsie’s mother spent several years of her childhood here. We then crossed over in Greece. All our border crossings have been smooth, quick and uneventful and this was no exception.
The last week has been spent slowly travelling down the western coastline of Greece. The temperatures have been warm – 18C to 22C, the skies cloudless and the sunsets stunning. When you are showering and toileting outside you appreciate the sun!
Exploring the Accursed mountains of Kosovo
The last couple of days have been spent exploring around Peja with Kevin and Ruth. They are authors of the popular travel blog: travelwithkevinandruth.com
We’ve been to visit the White Drin waterfall and local caves in the Zhelb mountain. The caves date back over 2 million years and were formed by an underground river. They’re inhibited by a huge colony of bats and were previously inhabited by humans. In fact parts of the cave network have recently been closed off as the remains of two young children have been discovered. They’re thought to date back over six thousand years.
Yesterday we met the hugely knowledgeable and charming mountain guide – Nol – from Balkan Natural Adventures. https://bnadventure.com/ He provided directions to several local Via Ferranca routes on the rocky massifs of the Rugova Gorge. He hired us the kit we needed to tackle them and we set up with a slight feeling of trepidation.
We loved Via Ferranca! Progress up and across the mountain was slow as we unhooked and hooked ourselves in to the cable bolted to the mountain face. With the sun in our faces and feeling courageous we ascended the rock face to 1,000m. The day ended with a celebratory meal enjoying various local Pec specialities washed down with Peja beer.
Today we’re back in the mountains with Kevin and Ruth for a hike to enjoy the autumnal colours and some steep ascent.
A concert in the Dolomites
Occasionally while hiking in the mountains we spot an opportunity to do something different. In the small town of San Martino Di Castrozza, near Trento in the Dolomites we were offered tickets to a concert featured in the I Suoni delle Dolomiti Festival. The cappella singing group – Accent – performed a mix of covers and their own melodies to a full house of locals and tourists. They were brilliant! Charismatic, funny and sang in great voice. More on their YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/AccentVocal
An Italian mountain stopover: Col du Petit Saint Bernard
A lovely couple of days spent high up on this mountain pass at 2,155m with views over Mont Blanc and down over Lac Longet.
A city break. Chilling in Geneva
After Mirsie’s gruelling 110k race in Montreux we had a few days relaxing by the lake. Montreux is a lovely place and sparkled in the sunshine. There’s a long pedestrian path alongside the lake lined with lots of cafes and parks and numerous places to sit by, or swim in, the lake. We then took a leisurely drive along the lake to Geneva stopping for a picnic and a swim along the way.
In Geneve we stayed a couple of nights with my son, Daniel. He has a spacious three-bedroom apartment by Servette, near the UN with views of the mountains. We had lunch together one day and enjoyed a game of chess in Parc des Bastions near his office. Coinciding with our stay were a series of dawn concerts at the Bains des Pâquis. These are a fantastic spectacle with hundred of folk enjoying different different genres of music, swimming in the lake and enjoying breakfast in the sunshine. I enjoyed some rousing tunes by a local folk band with a truly charismatic singer who had everyone up and dancing at the finale. And all before 7.00am!
We then left to return to Chamonix where we started our year of travelling. We’ll be watching the UTMB series of races which bring 10,000 competitors to Chamonix w/c 22 August. It’s a fantastic spectacle. The whole town is dominated by the races. This year Kilian Jornet and Courtney Dauwalter return to attempt yet another record-breaking win.
Exploring the Tre Cime di Lavaredo mountains
After a couple of days rest following the Dolomyths races, we drove a couple of hours towards the Tre Cime di Lavaredo mountains, part of the the Sexten Dolomites in northeastern Italy. We found a great spot by Lake Antorno and joined lots of other camper vans and motorhomes.
Mirsie did a 30k loop around Tre Cime and the following day we hiked up Monte Piano to visit the Open Air Museum which marks the battles fought between Austria and Italy during 1915-1917. In this remove place there remain many of the trenches, tunnels and encampments created by Italian soldiers.
Moving on… from Chamonix to Lake Garda, northern Italy
Time to say goodbye to our TMB pals and head to Lake Garda for a couple of days rest. We went via the Mont Blanc tunnel – an 11k route under the Alps which links France to Italy, saving us 60 miles of driving. Arriving at the southern most point of the Lake, Mirsie and I parked up in a small campsite right on the shore and rested up. Next stop: Corvara (Badia) in the Dolomites where we’ll take part in the Dolomyths mountain race.
Tour of Mont Blanc 8 days to finish
The six of us hugely enjoyed this challenge of hiking the Tour of Mont Blanc is just 8 days. It was an enormous effort with almost 10,000 metres of ascent and 103 miles covered. Each of the group contributed to making this one of our most enjoyable adventures. From plotting the route and sharing gpx files which we each had on our phones or watches (in addition to a printed map), booking the accommodation or just helping to keep spirits up when the body was flagging!
This was our itinerary with accommodation. (The Refuges and Auberge Mont Blanc are pretty basic but are directly on the trail and fitted our itinerary):
David and Mirsie at the end of our honeymoon.
Paragliders over the Chamonix valley