Hiking and walking
Main image: Gemmenalphorn, Switzerland, October 2025
Hiking in Switzerland
Since my earliest days living in Switzerland, the scenery and sheer amount of photographic opportunity—to say nothing of the number and sheer kilometres of hiking paths—have pushed me to get outside of my comfortable shoes and into the mountains and valleys of the Alps.
Lunch at the glacier
Taking the cable-car to a traditional mountain restaurant below vast cliffs for a birthday treat.
Autumn colour in the Rosenlaui valley
A long but beautiful hiking route with a couple of short steeper sections, best done in autumn.
On Spiez Hill
Walking through the woods and vineyards in the town I have called home for 25 years.
And so it begins
First snows of the season, and a lake in the woods already frozen over.
The Wainwright Fells
214 of the fells (hills and mountains) in the English Lake District are described in Alfred Wainwright‘s seven-volume Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells. I’ve been visiting the Lake District since the 1990s and after taking up hiking in 2010, the Wainwrights have become my favourite destination; even trumping the wonderful and breath-taking routes I walk at home in the Swiss Alps.
Hard Knott from the pass road
During our time in the Lake District in 2024, I did a lone hike to the top of the fell which I’ve been driving past ever since first visiting the region in the 1990s.
Red Tarn from Glenridding via Birkhouse Moor
In all of the years of visiting the Lake District, I’ve always pondered Helvellyn, but a hike in autumn 2024 was the first time I’d seen it up close.
Silver How, Swinescar Pike and Lang How from Grasmere
A wet and cold walk to a small Wainwright fell in January 2019.
Low Fell from Thackthwaite
A gentle autumn walk to wonderful views across Lorton Vale and Crummock Water.
Interesting links
STI Excursions
Walks and hikes suggested by the Spiez-Thun-Interlaken bus company, which are accessible by their public transport services. Website in German.
Scotland’s Best Wee Hills
Sometimes you don’t have the energy or time to slog your way up one of the great iconic giants of the Highlands. Some of Scotland’s best-loved hills are the smaller peaks, often more accessible, full of character and offering equally spectacular views. Here’s our pick of 16 of the best wee hills around the country… some widely famed and celebrated, others virtually unknown, but all under 600m high.
