Category Archives: Travel Guides
The Trabant Trek – Crossing the World in a Plastic Car
A group of 20-something adventurers tackle inhospitable geography, harsh climates and the limits of their own endurance all in aid of Cambodian street children as they venture on an overland journey from Germany to Cambodia in the worlds worst car the Soviet-era Trabant. Their escapades include being tailed by the Turkmen KGB, running out of
Through Another Europe
This anthology of travel writings on the Balkans is the first attempt to compile a representative sample of such commentary in a single volume. Taking the seventeenth century as a starting point, Through Another Europe comprises over fifty passages from some of the most interesting and exciting British and American travelogues, many of which are
Walk! Brittany (North)
Walk Brittany (North) is part of a two-volume series of Discovery Walking guides written by Charles Davis exploring the walking possibilities in one of France’s most popular walking destinations. The guide covers a range of walks including routes in Portsall, Santec, Huelgoat, Lezardrieux, Tremargat and Rennes. The routes pass through diverse landscapes including wild moorland,
Avignon of the Popes – City of Exiles
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, anarchy in Italy led to the capital of the Christian world being moved from Romefor the first and only time in history. It was a critical moment, and it resulted in seven successive popes remaining in exile for the next seventy years. The city chosen to replace Rome
GR221 Mallorca`s `Dry Stone Way`
GR221 Mallorca’s ‘Dry Stone Way’ ” is Charles Davis’ Discovery Walking Guide to a walk that covers 115 kilometres including the Tramuntana range, the forest of Holm Oak and more.The guide describes the trail in eight stages, with GPS waymarked walking points; an extensive introduction provides information on the route itself, when to go, flora
The Camargue
One of Europes last remaining wildernesses, the Camargue forms a unique landscape of salt-marsh, lagoons, cultivated farmland and seashore. Where the turbulent River Rhne meets the Mediterranean in southern France lies this huge delta, home to a rich array of wildlifeflamingos, a host of other migrating birds and marshland floraas well as a complex mix
Walk! Mallorca West
Walk Mallorca West is part of a two volume series of Discovery Walking Guides by Charles Davis exploring the walking possibilities in the west of Mallorca. The guide covers a range of walks including routes in the Cami de Calvia, Sa Trapa, Peguera and the northern ports of Estellencs, Sa Pedra de s’Ase and Banyalbufar.
Flood Cycle
`26.6.2008. 9.00 hours. Cloud level has risen sufficiently to see the heights of the island of Hoy. The margin of existence that I had noticed in North Ronaldsay, with its apparent make do approach to the problem of sea encroachment, is displayed along much of the island`s coastline. As I walk along the shores of
The National 3 Peaks ‘“ Taking up the Challenge
The National 3 Peaks ‘“ Taking up the Challenge is Steve Williams’ inspirational Discovery Walking Guide to planning, preparing and completing the 3 Peaks Challenge of climbing Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike in 24 hours. Part narrative and part practical guide, the author explores the training that walkers need to do before attempting the
London Observed
The philosopher and writer Krystin Lach-Szyrma came to Britain in 1820 as tutor to two Polish princes, as their Grand Tour took them to Enlightenment Scotland, where they spent two years studying at Edinburgh University. After a short tour of continental Europe they returned in 1822 to England to enjoy the delights of London and
Walk! Costa Blanca Mountains
Walk! Costa Blanca Mountains guide from Discovery Walking Guides providing descriptions of 37 hiking trails in the mountains north-west of Altea and Benidorm, with extracts from the publishers’ map of the region and general tourist advice.The guide covers an area centred on Guadalest with mountain rages both north and south of the CV-70 road linking
The Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge
If you are new to walking in the Yorkshire Dales, you`re in for a treat, as we trace our way up the Three Peaks. First though, we`ll do them one at a time, giving a chance to savour the experience, as well as getting to know the area. Paul Shorrock is the `local` expert who
The Ford of Heaven
Tientsin in north-eastern China was known as `The Ford of Heaven` as it gave travellers access to the Celestial City of Peking and the Emperor of Heaven eighty miles to the west. It was also a `concession port` in the 1920s and 1930s, occupied by the foreign powers of Britain, France, Russia, America and Japan
In Search of Cluny
A thousand years ago the French abbey of Cluny was the hub of one of the most powerful empires of the Middle Ages, and the spiritual heart of Europe. Nearly 1,500 religious houses were subject to its authority, and it was the seat of immense political power throughout the Christian world. The abbots of Cluny
Dickens on France
“Charles Dickens, Francais naturalise, et Citoyen de Paris.” This is how Dickens signed a letter from France to his friend John Forster in 1847. Behind the joke lay a fascination for French life and culture and a sense of affinity with the country that would take him back often and that would find expression in
Other Routes – 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing
Travel writing is a genre monopolised by Westerners. For centuries the preserve of Europeans who reported on the “exotic”, it sought to make sense of other landscapes and cultures, but almost exclusively through a European prism of references. This anthology, stretching from the fifth to the nineteenth centuries, introduces an entirely different tradition of travel
Romancing Vietnam:Inside the Boat Country
When the Vietnam War finally ended in April 1975 with the communist capture of Saigon, Vietnam itself became a closed country, out of bounds to western travellers and journalists. By 1989, however, such was Vietnam`s economic plight that the government decided the time had come to open its doors again, albeit most gingerly. By a
A-Z of the First World War
“An A-Z of the First World War” is a concise, pocket-size guide, taking readers through the impressive collection of materials related to the Great War in the Imperial War Museum to shed light on this historic event on the occasion of its centenary. Beginning with “Archduke,” which explores the role of the assassination of Archduke
Hotel Bosphorous
Kati Hirschel, in her thirties, is the proud owner of Istanbul`s only crime bookshop. When the German director of a film starring an old school friend is found murdered in his hotel room Kati cannot resist the temptation to start her own maverick investigation. After all her friend Petra is the police`s principal suspect and
First World War Poems from the Front
“From “How to Die,” by Siegfried Sassoon” “Dark clouds are smouldering into red While down the craters morning burns. The dying soldier shifts his head To watch the glory that returns; He lifts his fingers toward the skies Where holy brightness breaks in flame; Radiance reflected in his eyes, And on his lips a whispered
