We opted for a budget package deal to Hurghada, arriving there for the last week of April. Our hotel was the Royal Lagoons Resort, a 5-star hotel that is not too far from a mediocre beach. The hotel is fine, the food is great, the rooms and staff are fine. I couldn’t fault the place really for the price we paid: under £400 each for 2 adults, booked through TUI. The...
Crete has much to offer outside the busy tourist resorts: there are remote beaches, rugged mountains, hidden gorges, remote villages, and ancient monuments to explore. Crete has to be the number one Greek Island for hiking. There are countless well-marked spectacular walks, from easy strolls along deserted beaches to more arduous treks up to the peaks of the high...
Day 1: Arrive and unpack We had only a 4 night break here (Jet2 holidays), staying at a slightly tired but friendly Kamari 2* hotel in Kefalos, on the far southwestern tip of the island of Kos. We arrived early evening of the first day so didn’t really do much other than have a couple of beers in the hotel bar. Day 2: Quad biking Next morning we hired a 50cc...
Gran Canaria is a fantastic place to go hiking. Why not take a break from the beach resorts and have a few days up in the mountains? The scenery is stunning and the views are magnificent. There are endless numbers of hikes to do in Gran Canaria, but these are three moderate ones that we did during a week’s stay there. When to go We visited Gran Canaria during the...
The stunning Ardechce region of France is a very touristy area and gets many visitors over the summer. The last week of August is the off-season because the French have all gone back to work. I’d say this is a better time of year to visit the Ardeche as there are fewer tourists and campsite prices are lower. The weather is still great too at this time of year. There...
In summer 2023 we had 5 weeks during the school holiday to head to mainland Europe on a road trip. The main aim was to put our new Hilux Overland conversion through its paces. After some pondering, a rough plan was formulated: head down to Normandy and on to the French Atlantic Coast, then through the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean. After that, we planned to head...
The design brief: We wanted a comfortable, reliable vehicle for a family of four for overland travel around the hot climates of Southern Europe and Southern / Eastern Africa. We need good spare parts availability in Africa, and widely available aftermarket goodies in the UK to accessorise it with. The Toyota Hilux was the obvious choice for a base vehicle. I looked...
We had arranged an Airbnb apartment in Andorra, so we left Hendaye with 2 days to get there. We headed overland through the mountains to Pamplona and then East on a fast highway toward Ordesa. There were some good-looking wild camping spots around the Yesa Reservoir, but we were on a schedule so continued onwards. The highway follows a plateau at the foot of the...
We had booked 10 nights in an Airbnb in Pas De La Casa, in the northeast of the small principality of Andorra. It is a small country: you can drive across it in under an hour in good traffic. There is one main road that traverses the country. Other roads branch off this main road, leading up the side valleys, and are mostly dead-ends. It is also a very prosperous...
Stage 1: Andorra to first camp I had read about the famous Smugglers Route leading over a pass from Valnord in Andorra down to Alins in Spain. Driving this route meant going in the opposite direction to the Mediterranean, but it didn’t matter, we had plenty of time. I found a 4WD gpx file on Wikiloc that we could pick up and follow to the coast. It was to be a mix of...