Hiking – Berkeley Square Barbarian

Another Fun Trip with GO London: Two Days of Hiking in Snowdonia

May 16, 2024 4 Comments

Those who regularly visit this blog will know that Ellie and I go hiking with GO London at least once a month. We’ve been doing so for many years now, and never regretted it. DISCLAIMER This post is not so much about hiking in Snowdonia, but about another variation of ‘Fun Things To Do Outdoors,’ about GO London, and about group hiking trips in general. I got a bit carried away, so feel encouraged to go by the headings and skip those sections that don’t look interesting to you. Hopefully, even if you’re based somewhere else in the world, and the vast majority of you are, then this post might give you ideas about what you want to do when you’re not grinding away on the job. A GREAT PLACE TO MAKE FRIENDS… Half of our friends are people we met through GO London. This includes my main climbing […]

Asia, Fun, Hiking, Nepal, Travel

7 Things that freaked us out about EBC Trek (but turned out to be very different)

May 2, 2022 18 Comments

This article is part of a collaboration between Berkeley Square Barbarian and the tour operator Spiritual Excursion. A couple of months ago, Ellie & I were preparing for our Nepal trip in April. There were seven things that freaked us out about EBC Trek: (1) IS IT GOING TO BE TOUGH COPING WITH THE HIGH ALTITUDE? Everest Base Camp lies at 5,364m above sea level. Kala Patthar, a nearby peak with great views of Everest, is 5,644m. Climbing it is usually included as ‘optional’ in every Trek package. But only one in ten trekkers completes the climb. Most don’t try or make a U-turn half way up. Either way, the trek goes pretty high up. The altitude can affect people. Were we going to see fellow mountain lovers being helicoptered out in emergency evacuations? Trekkers falling seriously ill? Was it going to be hard to sleep because of […]

Hiking, Portugal, Travel

Fisherman’s Trail – Four Days of Hiking in Beautiful Southern Portugal

March 26, 2022 20 Comments

A month ago, my buddy Pete from The Man Who Hiked The World, was invited by Ricardo Estêvão from Vicentina Travel to check out their self-guided, four-day Fisherman’s Trail package. CHIPPING IN After Pete’s plus-one had had to bail out from the Fisherman’s Trail on very short notice, Pete asked roughly two dozen friends of his if they wanted to join him instead. Fortunately, they all had to decline because of conflicting commitments. This meant that I got a chance to join him on the trip. Throughout the trip it was one of our running gags that I had been so far down the list. Of course, I made sure that Pete got a good run for his money, too, banter-wise. Pete and I have only known each other for a short while. We met on an organised group hiking weekend in the Peak District with GO London end of […]

England, Hiking

Rye to Hastings – A Self-Guided Walk

May 23, 2021 4 Comments

On one of the first days after the lockdown here in England was eased, Ellie & I did the Rye to Hastings walk for the third or fourth time. It’s one of our favourite walks and this time around we did it without a guide. How to get lost on a coastal walk I hear what you’re saying: why would anyone need a guide for a coastal walk? You simply walk along the coast. Water to your left, land to your right, right? What’s the challenge? Oh well… there are plenty of more talented navigation experts out there, but it’s not that we are the only people that sometimes get lost on coastal walks. You will, of course, usually have a pretty good idea of which direction your destination is, broadly speaking. However, you might not always have a clear view of the sea and there are many cases where […]

England, Hiking

Hiking from Glynde to Seaford with ‘Go London’: ‘The sunny South Downs and seaside walk’

May 17, 2021 2 Comments

Ellie & I have been doing walks with Gary Bebb’s fabulous ‘Go London’ (usually spelled GO London) hiking group for more than two years now. Soon after the last lockdown ended we booked ourselves on another walk with them. However, when we checked the weather forecast the night before the walk, we froze: temperatures around 3C / 37F and constant rain all day. I’ll be frank, I thought about bailing out, and Ms B made up her mind quickly: this was not for her. In the end I went on my own. 15 hikers bailed out from the ‘Sunny Walk’ When I arrived in Glynde after about an hour on the train just before the agreed time of 10:30am, only 10 of the 25 persons who had booked had actually shown up. Neil (Neil Froggitt), with whom Ellie & I had done another walk before, was our guide for the […]

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