Amalfi in Maytime

I'm back in Amalfi for the third year in a row, leading a coastal walking holiday for Explore and I'm loving San Lazzaro in Agerola. 640 metres up, above the tourist fleshpots of Amalfi and Positano,

Amalfi

selling every lemon-based product known to man, Agerola is a group of villages spread around a valley which spills into a steep limestone gorge as it drops over cliffs to the sea. It's a different world from the synthetic tourist culture of the old coastal towns, though you can't deny their prettiness - pastel-painted faded houses piled up above the sea, separated by narrow pedestrian lanes and steps... steps and more steps.

Furore from San Lazzaro

  Up in San Lazzaro you find the authentic Italy of the 21st Century; friendly, family oriented, welcoming and a culture quite different from your expectations.

Modern Transport

People stop to say 'Ciao' and hand you fruit from their small, intensive plots of land and you're a welcome visitor rather than a tourist to be exploited for maximum gain. Luna d'Agerola is a gem; an Agriturismo run by the Acampora family. Whilst your visit is an important opportunity for their economy they're not disillusioned and I've never been ripped off.

You feel it's a community on the cusp, however, and I've seen increasing numbers of tourists over the last three seasons. I've walked with groups on footpaths which are becoming better marked and more used.
I hope that the increasing numbers don't bring the less welcome aspects of tourism that you see in the coastal hotspots.

Heading Off For The Summer

After my back injury last year I'm determined to get out walking and climbing as much as possible -it's much better for me than working at a desk or driving distances for work. So I've been offered and taken on 16 weeks of leading walks in France and Italy between early April and mid September. Most of this is leading for Explore.
So I'm really looking forward to all of these tours but the downside is that it'll reduce the amount of time I have to go climbing. I'm trying to make the best of what the UK has to offer before heading off and managed to get a couple of good days on the gritstone near Skipton. (No photos to show for it.)
Despite rushing around getting things ready for my first trip next week I did force myself out into the misty around Sheffield yesterday; to one of my favourite places, Wyming Brook, and here I did take my camera. Here are a few photos:

What's in a name?

I've changed the name of this blog because I'm changing the content.

The thing is I was trying to put all of my eclectic set of eggs into one blog-basket and it was making it unfocused. So, from now on this blog will be about my outdoor life, both work and play, both walking and climbing, both in the UK and around the world. I've started a second blog called "Picture Imperfect" for anyone who want's to keep updated on my painting and drawing.

The title of the blog refers to Robert Frost's beautiful poem "The Road Not Taken". The sentiments therein sum up, more eloquently than I could hope to, how I like, not only to travel but to live.

Simon's Seat, North Yorkshire - "the one less travelled by"

Up and running - well, walking about a bit

December already and I can feel the Christmas spirit washing over me. It's been a bit of a challenging year after suffering a prolapsed disc in my lower back early in March. The disc affected my Sciatic Nerve giving rise to the classic symptoms all down my left leg - numbness and PAIN! In between throwing myself on the floor and weeping (in a very manly way) I had occasional periods of simply suffering a really bad backache.
This lasted for 3 months after which things recovered well enough that I could work on several walking tours over the summer. I also had a week in the Alps with Mark and Fidel but the need to carry a heavy rucksack proved a bit too hard on my back - after a few days in the mountains I was forced to calm down. Here are a few photos from the summer.

Upper Val Veny on the Tour de Mont Blanc

Mark on the glacier below the Aiguille du Chardonnet

Reflections in Amalfi

Monte Lattari 1440m above Positano and the Mediterranean

Then, returning in early October, after a month of walking tours in Amalfi for Explore, a relapse took me out again in November. Clearly the walking is good for me and the sitting at computer and driving is not. I paid for it with another month of serious pain.

So,with new resolve, over the weekend I got out for a walk on Kinder Scout, my favourite local hill, with Jill.

Grindslow Knoll on Kinder Scout

A fresh start

Hmm... so here I am, more than a year since my last post and feeling, oddly, slightly embarrassed that I've let it slip for so long. Oh, I've a multitude of excuses (and who'd care anyway) but it's only down to me and my own procrastination.
I shall pick myself up, resolved to apply myself anew. So, wait with bated breath for some news soon to come. Meanwhile here's a picture to be going on with, from an autumnal Peak District.

Limestone walls in the White Peak

Back in sunny Sheffield

A month on the Amalfi Coast has at least improved my tan but I'm still catching up on sleep. I said goodbye to my last group last Saturday,but stayed until Monday for my flight home. Running the walking tour became easier each week and each of my groups was lovely,making the work a joy. Here are some of my highlights in photographs:

Walking in Ferrierre Regional Park

Positano with  wildfire raging above

Fire Salamander

Doorway in Herculaneum

Costiera Amalfitana

Quick blog post before heading to bed.
I'm in Agerola working as a walking tour leader - 4 weeks in succession of walking on the Amalfi Coast of the Sorrento Peninsula, near Naples. It's a tough day in the office but it needs to be done. I'm half way through the second week and I'm not sure if I'm getting hardened up to the walking or if it's starting to take its toll. The uphills are short but the downhills are relentless, on irregular steps. I had a maths teacher in last week's group who counted the steps down to Amalfi -2764 in total.

The Duomo in Amalfi

 And then there's the heat. Who goes walking in southern Italy in August?... err, that must be me, then!
Today was Tuesday, so it's Capri. A ferry from Amalfi, then a walk up to Villa Lysis and Villa Iovis. Both carry tales of debauchery and death; always good for a story and I've always preferred stories to facts.

From Villa Lysis

And then there are wild fires. On each of the last three days wild fires have taken hold in the area and been fought from the air. Today's fire, above Positano was being bombed by a helicopter and two flying boats which would touch down on the sea to fill their tanks with sea water before climbing high above the mountain slopes and dumping their loads on the burning trees. They were doing this at 9:00am and still doing it when we passed by again, at 5:00pm.

Wild fires burning above Positano