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.

When I am not traveling, I am planning to travel. Travel always involves a hike, usually long distance whenever time allows. Right now the plane tickets have been purchased for the upcoming summer, the hiking destination has been chosen and the fun begins -- reading, searching and talking about the hike to come.

For me, I like to know more about what to expect on the trail. What will the level of difficulty be? Will there be scary spots where I just need to suck it up and get over it? Usually there are very few of these spots and in hindsight, they are never as bad as I imagine. In fact, the scary spots have always  been memorable in a very good way. I can say to myself, "I did it, I made it past the worst and lived to tell the tale".

To most average humans, the scary spots were just another footfall on the trail and no different from the others. I come from a slightly different perspective. I have always been less athletic than my friends, therefore less confident in my abilities to leap over chasms or not get shaky knees on the steep parts, but thanks mostly to their encouragement (and no thanks to any courage of mine) and the fact that many humans have made it past those points and no worse for wear, I too have accomplished feats I never thought possible.

I have had dreadful moments of anticipation, knowing that the scary bit is on the horizon and thinking most likely I will die, then at the actual moment of do or die, the battle of my mind begins in all its fierceness. My brain will simply not let my legs move forward. They are as rooted to the earth as the stone path in front of me. Then some divine intervention occurs. Perhaps it is my friends encouragement which in all their kindness is really saying, "Come on! Get over it! We have to be at the pass by lunch time!" Or I finally face the truth that no way am I going back to where we started and that I have no choice in the matter, something moves me along. Baby steps and gripped to whatever I can grip, I move along mumbling all the while, "you can do it, you can do it" and then I am on the other side and I feel good! "That was nothing" I proclaim! Though everyone knows the truth. I was scared shitless.

Those experiences, even when I know they are coming, will never, never stop me from going on our long distance hikes. The rewards are far too great for my little psycho insecurities to prevent me from slipping into my trail hikers, hoisting up my pack and heading off into the great, wild trails of Europe.

Next destination, The Queyras on the eastern edge of France. More to come.