About

Hi and welcome to my blog.

My name is Jonathan Dutton. Originally from the UK, I’ve lived and worked all over the world – 15 years in South Korea, as well as periods in Sri Lanka, Sweden, Hong Kong, Japan and the Middle East. I’ve travelled extensively both in Europe and further afield in Asia and Latin America.

I’m now retired and live in south west France with my wife Olivia and our working cocker spaniel, Puzzle.

Over the years I’ve done a fair bit of long distance walking. I first got the walking “bug” when I walked part of Offa’s Dyke Path as a 16 year old in 1980. Over the following years I’ve walked most of the long distance paths in the UK as well as a number in Europe including the Sentier de St Jacques (GR65) in France, the Camino de Santiago in Spain and the Via Francigena, a 2,200km pilgrim route from Canterbury to Rome.

Last year (2025) I walked 240km from Port-la-Nouvelle to Foix on the Sentiere cathare (GR367) in May and in September I walked 500km from Carcassonne to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the chemin piemont pyreneen (GR78) a pilgrim route leading to Compostella.

This year I’m hoping to walk all 2,000km across France, starting in Menton and finishing at Cap de la Hague, the most northerly point on the Cotentin peninsula. My walk will take me on some of the great long distance footpaths of France including the GR653 along the shores of the Cote d’Azur, across the Massif Central on the GR4 and from Tours to Mont-Saint-Michel on an ancient pilgrim route, Le Grand Chemin Montois.