Charlie Walker
  • Home
  • Adventures
    • 43,000 miles by bicycle
    • 5,200-mile triathlon
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Congo by dugout canoe
    • Mongolia by horse
    • Walking the Gobi
  • Speaking
    • Schools Speaking
    • Keynote Speaking
  • Shop
    • Shop
    • Audiobooks
  • About
  • Contact

Home

23/11/2014

7 Comments

 
PictureJamie on the road to Madrid, Spain
Location: Bowerchalke, England
Day 1,606
Miles on the clock: 43,630

Gibraltar is an odd place. The road signs are British but people drive on the right. The people are British but most speak with soft Spanish lisps. I had a pint of tepid Old Speckled Hen in The Lord Nelson on the afternoon I arrived. I was killing time, waiting for my friend Jamie's flight to get in. As is happened, a thick fog shrouded Gibraltar rock that evening and the plane was redirected to Malaga. I heard staff in the airport making jovial banter about the "pea-souper" that had fallen. 


Read More
7 Comments

Turkey

19/10/2010

24 Comments

 
Day 111
Location: Erzurum
Miles on the clock: 6,985

After a couple of days of nightclubs, restaurants and repose in the affluent seaside town of Varna, I felt a little cumbersome as I climbed inland and up into Bulgaria’s hills.

Read More
24 Comments

Poland to Bulgaria

21/9/2010

15 Comments

 
Day 82
Location: Varna, Bulgaria
Miles on the clock: 5835

I felt ashamed after posting the dejected and pathetic rant about bad weather and Polish roads in my last blog. As if to compound this feeling, a day later the rain finally relented and I reached better roads with less murderous lorry drivers. 


Read More
15 Comments

Finland and the Baltic

1/9/2010

7 Comments

 
Day 63
Location: Lublin, Poland
Miles on the clock: 4820

During my last couple of days in Arctic Norway I noticed the leaves beginning to yellow and the temperature dropping close to freezing each night. Autumn comes early in the Arctic and I realised I would be chasing the tail of summer as it receeded south. Having befriended a generous bunch who work in the Alta cinema (and provided me with all the free popcorn, drinks and films I could have dreamt of) I was sad to leave the city.

Read More
7 Comments

Nordkapp

11/8/2010

19 Comments

 
Day 42
Location: Alta, Norway
Miles covered: 3,036
PictureTundra in summer
After two days R&R in Alta I began the final push of my journey's first leg. The road turned inland and climbed sharply away from the stunning Altafjord and its gaspingly cold water. I soon found myself following a steadily growing river across a vast expanse of the snowless summer tundra dotted with reindeer and small houses, each with a parked snowmoblie impatiently awaiting winter.


Read More
19 Comments

A little income and an unusual diet

11/8/2010

14 Comments

 
Day 35
Location: Alta, Norway
Miles covered: 2710

PictureLakeside supper, Sweden
Sweden was good to me. The people friendly; the camping spots idyllic and abundant; the roads good; the traffic light; and (excepting a couple of thoroughly drenching days) the weather kind. Because food prices are high, and currently the pound doesn't exchange favourably, I found a way to counter the costs that could prove so caustic to a low-budget wanderer's wallet.


Read More
14 Comments

Into Scandanavia

22/7/2010

8 Comments

 
Day 22
Location: Ljusdal, Sweden
Miles covered: 1720

I was swept out of Amsterdam amid a somnolent tide of Dutch commuters, bleary-eyed from celebrations having reached the world cup final the previous night. Trying, and failing, to imitate the perfect, straight-backed postures of those around me, I drifted alongside the waterways and followed the coast around an inland sea. As evening hovered I was very suddenly besieged by insects as they lurched into life after lying in the grass all day. They positively pelted me as I passed and lodged themselves severally among my arm hairs and fledgeling beard. At one point I noticed that my billowing breast pocket had filled with probably close to 200 crawling, writing black shapes which had struck my chest and fallen in.

Read More
8 Comments

One week on the road

7/7/2010

16 Comments

 
Picture
Setting off with a cuppa...
After six days and almost 500 miles on the road I've arrived in Amsterdam and am enjoying a morning off, my first since embarking. The going has been good and the Low Countries are delightfully flat making the riding fairly effortless and allowing time to enjoy the often peerless landscapes.

Read More
16 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Asia
    Canoeing
    Central Africa
    Central Asia
    China
    Cycle Tour
    East Africa
    Eastern Europe
    Europe
    Following The Line
    Hikking
    Horsetrekking
    Middle East
    North Africa
    Scandanavia
    Southeast Asia
    Southern Africa
    Western Europe

    RSS Feed