Tour de France - we'll follow in their tracks.

Tour de France starts tomorrow in Corsica. Can't wait to see it. There are three stages and the first is tomorrow June 29, 2013 from Porto Vecchio to Bastia. Then Sunday goes from Bastia, to Corte and on to Ajaccio. This is the area we will be hiking.

This won't be the first time we have followed in the tracks of the Tour. In fact, many of the routes they take in the Alps are passes or roads we have passed over.

Books to travel by

As I begin to compile my bookshelf page I am taking the books off my shelf, thumbing through them and remembering how much each one has contributed to my travels. This is going to take a long time as I easily get wrapped up in one chapter, then the next. Just like food, or sounds or sights can evoke a memory or thought of a place, these books sail me back to where I've been and where the author has been.

Sometimes I read up before I go, sometimes I take the book with me and other times I read long after I've returned home. These are the books I can never let go of. They are the ones that will collect dust until years later I discover them again. They are as important to me as the photos I take, the music I've purchased or the journals I've written while traveling.

Many of these books have been hard to come by. They are out of print or only available in the United Kingdom so thanks to Amazon, I've been able to find most everything I want.

Many have also found me. I love to scour the travel sections of used book stores and have found many treasures I would never of heard of had I not bumped into them on the store's shelf.

Of course there are many titles I have borrowed from the library and though they are not on my personal shelf, I know they will always be accessible as long as libraries are around.

The stack is growing next to me so I best be back to work if I am ever going to list all of my favorites.

More hikes and pages to come

Thinking about what other hikes we've done in Europe and coming up with a list of new pages to create.

England
The Cornish Coast
The Lakes District
The Cotswolds

Ireland
The Burren in County Clare and Galway
Connemara National Park
Dublin -- another great city for walk, walk, walking

Switzerland
Lauterbrunnen Valley

France
Dordogne
Port-Cros National Park, Iles d'Hyeres
Parc Natural Regional des Alpilles

Italy
Santa Margherita

And hikes and places that are on the list but not done yet

Spain
Andalusia -- must do

France 
GR5 or haute route
Pyrenees
Any place in the Alps we haven't been and places we have -- more Vanoise, more Savoie, Ecrins, Ardeche, Vercours

Italy
Gran Paradiso
More Dolomites
Sicily

Slovenia
Austria
Norway
Scotland

Just for starters....

Corsica Bookshelf

One of the things I love about hiking and traveling, is the time leading up to it when I am learning about the place we will be walking through.

Here are a few books about Corsica besides travel guides that I have read or plan on reading:

Asterix in Corsica by Rene Goscinny
A very funny book that some say captures the Corsican spirit better than any travel guide could.

Granite Island by Dorothy Carrington
This is a fascinating story about the time the author spent in Corsica after World War II. She lived there for many years and writes about what makes Corsicans so unique. Their long history of invasions, their mythology and relationship with their dead family members, the vendetta, bandits and the importance of family and respect. It is all woven together to create a culture that is not Italian, not French but uniquely Corsican. It does help explain why there are more murders in this small island than any other country in Europe even today.

Honorable Bandit: A walk across Corsica by Brian Bouldrey
I haven't started this one yet and his travel is farther south than we will be, but looks interesting.

See the Corsica page for more details about our upcoming hike.

Paris

Gearing up for Paris once again. I have lost count how many times we've been there and how much time we have spent in Paris. Well over a dozen times, and probably several months all in all. Though we have worn out many pairs of shoes on Paris cobblestones, I have never tired of it. It is still one of the most walkable, beautiful cities in the world with a surprise around every corner.

We'll be spending a week there this summer and will be going ever deeper and farther to explore the city we love. For my favorite places and things to do, see the Paris Walks page.

Queyras

Yes, we did go hiking in the Queyras in the summer of 2012. Getting to the trailhead was an adventure in itself. We spent the night with our friends in St. Marcel and were up at the break of dawn. Because of the size of our group and that we'd all go our separate ways at the end of the hike, we took two cars. We caravanned up over the and Col du Galiblier, famous for the Tour de France that always passes up and over this grueling, twisting steep pass and then up the even twistier road of the Col d'Iseran and finally ended up in the deep green valleys of the Queyras.

The trail head begins and ends in France, but most of our hiking was in Italy. We literally hiked up one side of the French Alps, down into a deep valley in Italy, round Mt Viso, back up to the pass on the Italian French border and dropped down back into France.

For photos and more trail details see the Tour du Mont Viso - Queyras page.

Next up, Corsica.