Sunburnt at Murnau, Bavaria

The road back from the Murnau Moos with a clear view of the mountains.

My mother-in-law’s walking choice for the week was around a town called Murnau. It is embarrassing to admit but we got a mild sunburn while doing a hike there. We knew the weather would be good but we did not know that the walk would have barely any shade. Additionally, we did not know we were going to make a 15 km (about 9.3 miles) hike that day. 

It’s breath-taking at Mittenwald, Bavaria

View of the mountains behind Lautersee.

My mother-in law was surprised when she learned that I had never been to Mittenwald. It is a 90-minute drive (in good traffic) south of Munich but on weekends, this could stretch well over 2 hours. Mittenwald is a beautiful area close to the Alps and a popular escape destination for city dwellers to immerse in nature. It was also our pick for our weekly walking tour. 

A visit to Fjaðrárgljúfur Canyon, Iceland

The mouth of the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon.

We made Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon our first stop of the day. Unfortunately for us, it was a grey sky that morning. Getting there was a bit tricky. We found that road signs were lacking and had almost missed the turn into route 206. From route 1 (the main road around Iceland), the path to the canyon was a dirt road so the 4W drive we had was definitely necessary. While our stop at Fjaðrárgljúfur was a brief one, the canyon was worth the stop. It was beautiful!

Reykjadalur – the “Steam Valley”, Iceland

Reykjadalur: view of the valley from the hiking trail.

Reykjadalur was our last stop for the day. The Steam Valley is a well known walking trail that leads to a natural hot spring where many head to for taking a bath. The start of the trail is somewhat hidden behind the town Hveragerdi at the Hot River Cafe. Our plan had been to camp beside the hot spring for the night, however to do this, we had to carry all our camping gear and make the 3km hike. It took us probably over an hour to reach the hot spring, but it was well worth the effort.

Hiking up Mt. Yufu, Yufuin, Japan

Yufudake, the twin peaked mountain in the background from Yufuin. On the right, Iimorigajo (飯盛ヶ城) to conquer first before hiking up Mt. Yufu.

Aside from the hot springs, we were drawn to the town Yufuin for the twin peaked mountain, Mt. Yufu also known as Yufudake (由布岳). Like our previous hikes on Yakushima (start reading about that here), we had first read about this hike on Lonely Planet’s “Hiking in Japan”(details of our edition of the book were posted here) and decided to walk this trail as a day trip. After checking out, we left our luggage at the Ryokan Sanso Tanaka (read about this awesome accommodation previously posted) for the day and took a local bus to the starting point, Yufu-tozan-guchi (由布登山口) for our hike up Mt. Yufu.

Walking through Torrent de Pareis, Mallorca

The mountains in the region of Port de Sa Calobra. Taken during our drive back from the walk.

Our walk through Torrent de Pareis was our third hike on Mallorca (Read about our first two hikes in Levant Nature Park). Situated in the north-western region of the island, the entire route starts from a town called Escorca and ends at the port in Sa Calobra (this website has more details).

Hiking in the Levant Nature Park, Mallorca

The coastal path that commences the Puig de Sa Tudosa route.

We made 3 walks in Mallorca of which 2 were done in the Nature Park of Levant, the North-east region of the island between the towns Betlem and Artà.

Hiking across Yakushima: the Okabuhodo trail and the Kusugawa trail

Read about the 2nd day of the 3-day hike.

Or read about the 1st day of the 3-day hike.

The intense green from moss and trees along the Kusugawa trail! Simply spectacular!

We woke to the sound of movement from the other campers below us. Some of them had spent the night sleeping in big plastic bags…literally with plastic bags over their heads as well.

Hiking across Yakushima, Mt. Miyanoura dake

Read about the 1st day of the 3-day hike.

Or read about the 3rd day of the 3-day hike.

Our second day of hiking through Yakushima was GREAT! The weather was amazing! We could not have believed it ourselves after reading about how much it rains on this island! It was so much better than we had expected! Full sunshine with a gentle breeze! We couldn’t have asked for better! And the view! Need I say more?! 🙂

Deer spotted grazing at the highland marsh intersection.

Cedar tree in the fog

It’s strange to wander in the fog!
A lonely bush, a lonely stone,
No tree can see the other one,
And one is all alone.

extract from “In the Fog” by Hermann Hesse
Original text in German.