When I return to the men’s camp site dinner is ready and people are scattered around eating and talking. The conversation drifts over a variety of topics, as it always does in large groups. One man is expounding volubly on the difficulties of negotiating life in prison. He is discussing the conflict that exists between [...]
Tagged california, death valley, desert, peopleEverything is slightly out of kilter for me on the Pacific west coast.
It is the mornings that are misty here. The sun rises – in the east, like it always does – behind the hills and as it creeps upwards light spills in luminous sheets and shafts through gaps and fissures in the ranges, silver [...]
When the last petals drop from the fireweed, summer is over.
Tagged autumn, fireweed, washingtonSlugs are a little gross but some are also pretty amazing. These are a few I have been impressed by.
Tagged canada, on the highway, slugs, wildlifeThe east side of Vancouver Island was something of a disappointment to me. It seemed over-populated and over-logged, after months out in the wilderness, and the highway was not pleasant riding.
Tagged canada, retro-bloggingYou’d be amazed at how many shooting stars there are, if you slept outside – or is it just that the sky is full of space junk now?
Tagged canadaI am lying on my back looking up at the stars and watching shredded muslin clouds unfurl across the sky. I wonder, a little, at the wisdom of my plan to sleep on a beach without a tent on Vancouver Island – sleeping on the beach in Croatia is one thing and in British Columbia [...]
Tagged a place to stay, canada, pacific oceanI have pretty limited access to internet while I’m cycling about in the wilderness. I try to post when I can but it is always easier when I am somewhere for a few days and I am currently riding down the Cassiar Highway which is pretty remote.
At the moment my posts are about a week [...]
Finding somewhere to sleep as an itinerant on a bicycle is the biggest daily challenge. I have had some fantastic experiences with spontaneous hospitality offered by people that I meet on my way but, in general, I spend most of my time camping. The quality of my campsite makes a big difference to how agreeable [...]
Tagged a place to stay, camping“Are you alone?” It is the first question anybody asks, invariably followed by, “Aren’t you scared?”
The first matter is easily disposed of but the scope of the second enquiry is never clarified so I am left wondering… scared of what, exactly? Bear attacks, murder, rape, robbery, a traffic accident, illness, losing my way, of the [...]