The third in the series of random photos from 11 months in Latin America comes from National Park Los Alerces in Chebut Province, Argentina. The park takes its name form the Alerce tree, which only grows in this part of the world. These trees are some of the oldest living trees in the world, some being over 3,000 years old.
Aside from the Alerce trees, the park has numerous lakes and rivers, and an abundance of trails for hikers. Well worth a trip if you are in this part of …

My first experience of the real Mexican taco came at about 9pm on 1st October 2005 in Guerrero Negro, a dusty town in the middle of Baja California, famous for salt production and whale spotting.
Having spent the previous 12 hours on a bus from Tijuana, I badly needed sustenance. My day had been spent it a state of perpetual worry, as I had managed to walk across the border without completing any formalities at all. I was illegally in Mexico. Not the best way to begin my first solo travelling …

What constitutes a good travel blog?
How much information should be included?
Which topics do people like to read?
Do you read for information, enjoyment, curiosity or something else?
I have recently started thinking about developing a structure for blog entries, trying to formulate an outline of what posts will be like, partly to work out how to structure things so I can think about subjects as I’m cycling, but mainly to give readers an insight into how the blog will take shape. This process will hopefully make writing entries easier and less time …

The second in the series of photos highlighting good trips in Latin America comes from Torres del Paine in Chilean Patagonia, where I trekked the “W” route for 5 days. The park is a world biosphere reserve and is home to a huge amount of plant and animal species, as well as snow capped mountain peaks, rivers, lakes, glaciers and waterfalls.

This photo was taken at the entrance to the park, and as I wrote at the time, it got things off to a great start:
I had an hour …

I recently read a good article about planning, written by Leo Woodland over on crazyguyonabike. I especially like this quote, taken from a conversation the author had with a friend of his:
‘You know what I realised?’ he said with his habit of answering one question with another. ‘Away from civilisation you hardly need any money. And when you’re in civilisation, you think “Well, the roads are crowded, and that everywhere they’re selling cars and that cars get dirty in the rain.” So I go to garages and say I’m cycling …

I’ve decided to do a series of random photo posts, highlighting a good day or excursion from my travels.
The first in the series comes from the Copper Canyon in Mexico, taken only a week or two into the 11 month Latin America trip. The train from Los Mochis to Creel is a must-do for anyone in the area.

Read the blog entry by clicking here.

Another week, another item of equipment. This time its the comfort factor taken care of with some sleeping mats.
I’ve opted for the Slim Airic self-inflating camp mat. You can check out the product page here.

“Plod forever, but never believe you are going to get there.”
Those are the words that Sir Ranulph Fiennes used to motivate himself on his third attempt to climb Everest.
At the age of 65 he shows us all that if we can control ourselves mentally and not allow negative thoughts to creep in, our bodies are capable of much more than we would ever believe.