The South Downs Way

The South Downs Way - Southern England  

The South Downs Way is a long distance footpath in Southern England and is one of Britain's National Trails. It runs for around 100 miles from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in Sussex, with a small loop around Eastbourne. The South Downs Way pases through the South Downs, a beautiful natural area.
We only had three days so we picked particular sections to hike.

The Path of the Gods

The Sentiero degli Dei - Path of the Gods - Italy

While on a trip to the Amalfi Coast, Itlay and Sicily with our friends Ken & Steph Wade, we took a day to hike the famous Path of the Gods. Starting in Positano, we took a bus up to the mountain village of Nocelle and from there hiked to Agerola / Bomerano. The views over Positano and Praiano as well as of the coastline along the way were stunning! The island of Capri could be seen in the distance. The hike wasn't too difficult, just rocky and narrow along portions cliffside. We saw wild herbs growing along the path as well as terraced gardens. Returning from Agerola, we stopped at the Convento di San Domenico for our picnic lunch. We then hiked down to the village of Praiano and after visiting for a bit, took a bus back to Positano.

Milford Track, New Zealand - Nov. 9-13, 2008

Having had so much fun walking England's Coast to Coast in July, we were excited about the possibility of hiking the "world's finest walk" - New Zealand's Milford Track - 4 days and 33 miles across Fiordland National Park on the South Island. It certainly lived up to our expectations. Except for some mist at the top of MacKinnon Pass, we had great weather throughout the journey. This time we had to carry our gear, but we were able to stay in very comfortable accommodations, with hot showers and laundry facilities. Meals were great and local wines were excellent. A big part of the pleasure of this walk was sharing the experience with a wonderful group of fellow "trampers" and 5 awesome guides. It was very difficult to pick only a few pictures from this amazing hike, as you will see below:

Waiting to board the ferry across Lake Te Anau

South Island Bush Robin Shaun, our fearless leaderSundews - Carniverous plants in the wetlandsClinton RiverOld Beech ForestIndependant hiker happy to have caught his dinnerThis bridge was washed out two days before!

A rare fungus flowerRoger, Robert and Bruce on the 11th? zig-zagNicholas CirqueWelcome party at the summitThank you Meg for the Milo and Alison for the Butterscotch Snapps!Peter and Francine at the memorial to Quintin MacKinnonClinton ValleyTwelve second drop!Tarns at the top of MacKinnon Pass

A Weka trying to draw us away from her nest.

We have to use the emergency route on our descent down to the valley- tough on the knees!

Sutherland Falls - highest in New Zealand and world's 5th highest.

Dinner at Quintin Lodge

Lady of the Snows

The mischievous New Zealand Kea

Arthur River

Peter and Caroline's wonderful picnic spot!

Giant's Gate Falls

New Zealand wood pigeon

The end of the track at Sandfly Point

Caroline, Peter, Robert (aka DAD) and Bruce on the way to Milford Sound

Rod and Melissa - happy to have made the first boat

Beautiful Mitre Peak

Very unusual cloud formation at Milford

Awesome guides: Neil, Shaun, Kathleen, Teresa and Meg

Milford Sound

Klaartje

Francine and Peter