Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

I rather would entreat thy company; To see the wonders of the world abroad, Than, living dully sluggardized at home, Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness. William Shakespeare – The Two Gentlemen of Verona I’m not sure I would recommend a large tin of cannelini beans unless you were in extremis. My nighr in…

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How far that little candle throws its beams. So shines a good deed in a naughty world. The Merchant of Venice – William Shakespeare Looking at my topoguide to thr GR4, it was going to be another long day crossing a number of 1,000m passes. If all went well, it should take me 12-13 hours…

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To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect Oscar Wilde In the gite at Cipières the evening before, I made an interesting discovery. The walking times between various stages of the GR4 as described in my Topoguide had so far proved uncannily accurate. This meant that my planned walk from Cipières to Entravaux would…

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Who bravely dares, must sometimes risk a fall. Tobias Smollett At 3pm I left Grasse and embarked on the GR4. Five hours later I reached the Lavande gite at Cipières. You couldn’t imagine two more different places. Chalk and cheese! I spent the night at the Foyer Côte d’Azur a sort of religious retirement home…

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The deepest truths are found in silence, not in speech Carl Jung The 14 nuns of the Cistercian convent of Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix at Castaigniers have their work cut out at the moment making chocolates and praying for world peace. I was maybe naive to have expected to encounter a merry throng of  nuns with whom I…

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Many a good newspaper story has been ruined by over verification James Gordon Bennett The day did not get off to the best of starts. As I laid out my kit on the bed in my room in the religious retreat I was staying in at Menton I tried to extend my two Leki poles…

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It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves Katherine Mansfield In 1920, the New Zealand writer Katherine Mansfield came to stay in the French resort of Menton as a valetudinarian, a person seeking health. The word comes from the Latin valere, to be well, but it is easy to misunderstand the etymology…

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France is a paradise inhabited by people who believe they’re in hell Sylvain Tesson – author of Sur les Chemins Noirs Shortly after New Year, quite by chance, I bumped into a couple of old acquaintances, and faithful followers of this blog, in the Waitrose car park in Salisbury. After we had exchanged New Year…

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He flashed like a meteor across the sheepdog horizon.There never was such an outstanding personality. Adam Telfer on Old Hemp You may wonder what Britain’s greatest export to the world is. Constitutional law? Parliamentary democracy? The steam engine? The Beatles? Scotch Whisky? Mr Bean? We can debate the subject until the cows come home. But…

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Everyone who has visited the Basque country longs to return; it is a blessed land. Victor Hugo Shortly after 9am I passed a sign informing me that I was just entering the Pays Basque. Curiously it was written in both French and Basque, a language I am completely unfamiliar with. I was intrigued and spent…

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