My most memorable adventures of 2023

2023 has been a fantastic year of adventure. My favourite kind of trip is a multi-day hike and this year l've found time to complete three, including my first outside the UK. It has been a challenge to distil the year down. However, I've managed to whittle it down to seven Tours for this Collection, including segments of each of the three multi-day hikes, as well as walks near to home and trips in continental Europe.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿There’s a couple of walks in the Southern Highlands, about an hour’s drive from home. I'm clearly biassed but The Highlands have some of the most stunning scenery anywhere in the world. Hopefully the photos convey some of those highlights.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿This year, I completed both the Cumbria Way and the Herriot Way. Neither are really taxing at 70 and 52 miles (112 and 84 km) in length respectively, and with 8,200 and 5,600 feet (2,500 and 1,700 m) of elevation gain. But again the scenery was spectacular – this time in the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. One of the great pleasures of a multi-day walk is findling a charming inn or pub at the end of each day and there are certainly plenty of great options on these routes.

🇪🇸 By far the highlight of the year was completing the GR221: The Dry Stone Route in Mallorca. The route runs the length of the Tramuntana range from the south west to north west coast. Incredible landscapes, stunning views, varied terrain, beautiful villages along the way and, of course, sunshine!

🌞😎 In October, we set off to catch a flight to the Greek island of Lefkas. En route we got stopped on the motorway, which had just been closed due to a collision. We were held up for three hours, by which time we missed our flight to Lefkas – and it’s a weekly flight! Undaunted we headed to the airport and booked the first flight we could that was headed to the sun. So, we ended up in Ibiza with its charming inland villages, lovely sandy beaches and hippy markets. We elected to miss out the night clubs ... perhaps a few years ago 😉. The main town, Eivissa, with its castle, narrow lanes and harbour was certainly worth a visit.

🇮🇹A trip to the Puglia region in the south east of Italy lived up to its promise of ‘trulli’ villages and whitewashed hilltop towns. My favourite of these was Locorotondo. Hopefully the photos included in this Tour illustrate why 😍.

Looking forward, 2024, adventures will include the West Highland Way 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 in April, hopefully a return visit to Mallorca in October for a further go at the GR221 and plenty of other routes that I will "borrow" from fellow komooters 😁