Section 5 of the Loop was from Hamsey Green to Coulsdon South. Section 6 finished in Banstead Downs. These were the final two sections for my London Loop walking companion. I had three more sections to go: 1, 2, and 9, which she had done independently. When we passed through Happy Valley, we looked in … Continue reading / view photos London Loop — sections 5,6
Category: Hiking
London Loop — sections 3, 4
It took a few weeks to return to normal after coming home from East Asia. I started hiking again. For the day we picked to resume the London Loop, the weather in London was forecast to be good. I had a few more sections to walk before completing the 150-mile (242 km) loop. Belatedly, I learnt that, … Continue reading / view photos London Loop — sections 3, 4
Mount Moiwa and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art
Mount Moiwas is 532m above sea level. My walk to the top started from the same location as the Maruyama walk a couple of days ago. This was twice the height. There were more people on the walk but it wasn’t that busy. Hikers are very friendly: everyone says hello to you (“konichiwa”). There were … Continue reading / view photos Mount Moiwa and Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art
A hike, a shrine, and the red-light district
On the Alltrails hiking website, I found a few hikes around Sapporo. Since I’d started late, I chose one of the shorter ones that would give me views of the city and whose start could easily be reached. A reviewer of the walk commented that they wished they’d done the walk in reverse because there … Continue reading / view photos A hike, a shrine, and the red-light district
Baegundae Peak
Samgaksan is the highest mountain in the chain of mountains to the north of Seoul and consists of three high peaks named Baegundae (836m), Insubong (810m) and Mangyeongdae (787m). When people saw the mountain from a particular location, it looked like three horns. These three peaks were collectively named Samgaksan (literally ‘three-horned mountain’). You can … Continue reading / view photos Baegundae Peak
Haeparang coastal trail
There’s a scenic linear coastal path that starts at the south-western end of the “Diamond Bridge”. I took the metro to get close to the start then walked the rest of the way. It was a lovely sunny day and being a weekday, there weren’t that many people doing it. On this walk, in contrast … Continue reading / view photos Haeparang coastal trail
Monsters and Dragons
My friend and I met, coincidently, where the tram terminated the previous day — at Shau Kei Wan, the east-end of Hong Kong Island. From there, we took a minibus to the beginning of our walk, called the Dragon’s Back. The minibus we took is renowned for going fast. It was like being in a … Continue reading / view photos Monsters and Dragons
Taroko Gorge
I bought a two-day bus pass at the central bus station, which was next to the train station. The staff at the station were helpful. I decided, on the bus journey, that I would take the bus to the terminus, which was the highest point in the gorge the bus reached. This would give me, … Continue reading / view photos Taroko Gorge
Monkey mountain
Kaohsiung has a national park on its doorstep. Shoushan National Park was about 45 minutes away from where I was staying. I’d found some hikes online and decided to do one. At some point I needed to take the light railway, which was walking distance from my hostel. On the way, I popped into the … Continue reading / view photos Monkey mountain
Astray in amazing Alishan
I would have preferred to stay in Alishan, but accommodation is difficult to find and it’s expensive. I therefore stayed in Fenqihu. My hostel owner said she’d drive me to Shizhao an adjacent town, at 8am to get the bus to Alishan. When we arrived at the bus stop, I could see something wasn’t quite … Continue reading / view photos Astray in amazing Alishan