ATR 72
Boarding ATR72 at Roland-Garros airport, La Réunion. Cargo at the front, self-loading freight (passengers) to rear.
Tropical fair weather clouds
And so back to the UK, my first leg was on an ATR 72 turbo-prop plane, pressurised cabin and flying up to about 4250 m. to Mauritius. Cramped and noisy compared to a jet. Amazing to think that before jet travel to La Réunion it was planes more basic than this which forged the routes.
Cilaos crater hike, Forêt du Grand Matarum GR R1 - Parc national de La Réunion
Piton des Neiges (3070 m.), view from Cilaos (1150 m.)
View of Cilaos village from GR R1. Indian Ocean horizon beyond the crater.
Hiking up the inside of the volcanic crater from the town of Cilaos on the GR R1 long-distance hiking route. This, the Forêt du Grand Matarum, is primal tropical forest, never harvested. But all the species have arrived from somewhere since the volcano went quiet so there’s a hotchpotch of trees and plants we know from Europe plus many from elsewhere.
Early start, to avoid the worst of the heat and also the usual afternoon cloud. I met many people coming down who’d climbed the previous night to see the dawn - I’d seen the lights of their torches up on the track from my hotel room, also the stars of the Southern Cross, unfamiliar to me.
Tough climb up the crater side, many steps of at least knee height. Programming rests and recovery by altitude, as with my training hikes in the UK. And suddenly I found myself at 2180 m., 800 m. up from the start of my hike at 1380 m., more than the height of Skiddaw in Cumbria that I’d hiked the previous month as a training hike.
More photos: Cilaos crater hike, Forêt du Grand Matarum GR R1 - Parc national de La Réunion
Tropical bikers - Road of 400 bends - Île de la Réunion
No, not bikers on Mars. This is one group I talked with at Plaine des Sables (2347 m.) on the recently-active volcano, Piton de la Fournaise. These riders like four cylinders, think 600cc is enough for la Réunion and were wearing safety kit. Up in the clouds but really bright: UV Index 10 and +22°C.
Restricted as a tourist to four wheels plus pedalling a mountain bike when I can hire one, I’m deeply envious seeing Sunday bikers riding out on the fantastically engineered roads across the centre of Réunion Island and up in to the cirques and volcanic craters. The landscape of the Piton de la Fournaise looks like Mars, except it has cars and daisies. There was volcanic activity here just last weekend,
More photos: Tropical bikers - Road of 400 bends - Île de la Réunion
Route forestière de la Roche Merveilleuse, Cilaos - Parc national de La Réunion
I hired the only hardtail bike available in Cilaos, a Scott Aspect 50. There’s a forest bike park just outside the town with a selection of graded trails. Unfortunately the road tyres and brakes really won’t do that - I turned back after 10 m. down one of the red trails. So just the loop up to 1500 m. altitude on the forest road, but good enough to ride through cloud forest of Cryptomeria trees with the track lined with Ginger plants.
Cilaos (1150 m.) also has a mini BMX pump track, hidden and away from tourists. The locals made space for my efforts, then showed me much more. Anyhow great to feel the Gs of a different track to Keswick and Marseille and the bike was fine for that.
More photos: Route forestière de la Roche Merveilleuse, Cilaos - Parc national de La Réunion
Mafate volcano crater rim hike - Parc national de La Réunion
Piton des Neiges (3070 m.) on left, view from Le Maïdo
Hiking the Grand Bord, part of the rim of the Mafate volcano crater on the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion. Hike from the Le Maïdo parking (2205 m.) on the Route de la Glacière to an overlook at 2414 m.on the Grand Bord. A specific climate zone, plentiful sunshine (UV Index 15 today) plus moisture and temperatures result in small leaves and flowers on vegetation that is hardened to the conditions.
More photos: Mafate volcano crater rim hike - Parc national de La Réunion
Lagoon - Savannah - Black Rock. Île de la Réunion.
Finding and following an old track across the savane (savannah) marked with black rocks either side was the highlight of this ride on the west side of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.
More photos: Lagoon - Savannah - Black Rock. Île de la Réunion.
Tropical trees - Île de la Réunion
Nothing visual says “tropical” more directly than flowering trees. These are a few from St. Gilles les Bains, on the east of the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion. And of course some tropical palm trees.
River Greta in spate - Lake District National Park
The Greta is a formidable river as it enters its gorge upstream from Keswick. The K2T Keswick Railway Footpath follows the river downstream from Threlkeld. This is the view from Low Pearson’s Bridge with meltwater and a day’s rain fuelling the flow.
More than a few years since I first walked this route; now the Greta is a neighbour and I cross it and enjoy the varying moods of the river when I’m walking to the supermarket in Keswick.
West Cumbria training hike - Lake District National Park
Warnings of ice on the roads in to the western valleys so we hiked from Seascale on public paths around West Cumbria livestock farms, in and out of the Lake District National Park. Another training hike building up for more major hikes. We loaded my rucksack up to 9.5 kg with 24 m. of climbing ropes, as well as my DSLR, snack, thermos, torch and the usual emergency kit. And kept the pace up.
More photos: West Cumbria training hike - Lake District National Park
Go RR in the Var
Last ride of 2025 on my CBR600RR in Provence. Blue sky and temperatures 15°C or so. Out to the Var département, passing the Circuit du Castellet. I found a route around the vineyards of Côtes de Provence and then back over Ste. Baume.
The Nutcracker - Royal Ballet, Covent Garden 2025
The Nutcracker magic starts with the first notes of Tchaikovsky’s music taking us in to the world of the supernatural. This production is about the dance, the costumes and the tunes. Of course there’s the story but it’s almost impossible to follow. And within the world of the Nutcracker, it’s magnificent. But in 1913, just twenty-one years after the first performance of The Nutcracker in 1892, The Rite of Spring erupted in to the world of ballet and nothing would be the same again.
Classic Royal Ballet production this, now the definitive British interpretation. It was the most complete London production when it first appeared in 1984, when it displaced Nureyev’s 1968 version. As expected, this revival was light and beautiful, sprinkled lightly with magic dust with little of the dark undercurrents and menace brought out in contemporary dance productions.
Read more: The Nutcracker - Royal Ballet, Covent Garden 2025
