Walking the Camino Frances had a very big affect on both of us. After a few days you seem to strike a rhythm, both outer and inner. There is the sense of the best kind of solitude, alone in the world with your thoughts and perceptions, but at the same time surrounded by the strong …
The Amalfi coast, despite being overburdened by tourists, is an amazing place on this planet. It is a totally built environment, but like parts of Bali or Japan, seems to have struck a very happy balance with the aesthetic of the natural environment.
We spent time in Dharamsala in 2015. This is where the Dalai Lama has lived for many years in exile from Tibet. During this time we volunteered with a small local agency assisting Tibetan refugees, we were lucky enough to meet many truly incredible people.
Following the gray years of lockdown and curfew, I managed to escape with a small band of friends to trek to the base camp of Kanchenjunga in Nepal; third highest mountain in the world. A difficult and dangerous trip, but well worth the effort.
The Irish are, it seems, a happy bunch, despite a fairly tragic history. Perhaps they are buoyed by the thought of ‘constancy’. YB Yeats said: “Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.” A very relaxing and entertaining place to be.
I first visited Morocco in 1972, where I lived on a beach for six months with friends. I returned in 2011 with a different group of friends, miraculously it still seemed as amazing as it had the first time.
We were lucky enough to be asked to visit Ladakh and give our opinion on the work being done there by a small Australian Non-Government Agency. What a magical place. Following the Chinese invasion and subjugation of Tibet, Ladakh is probably one of the last places on earth where Tibetan culture flourishes as it has …
In 2018 we spent three months over winter house-sitting for friends in beautiful Cambridge. Walks in the meadows, lunches in the Grantchester pub, and long walks into the center of town for coffee. A special time.