Category: Projects
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Guest Post for Home Of Millican: Building The Transcaucasian Trail
Originally published at homeofmillican.com. In an obscure corner of Armenia, in the town of Dilijan, just shy of the central square, a rickety wooden staircase leads up from the street, through the trees, and into the unknown. If you climb these stairs and follow the red-and-white symbols, you’ll rise far above town along pathways etched…
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#FlightFree2020: About The Time I Travelled The World Flight-Free For 4 Years (And Nobody Cared)
My Flight Free 2020 pledge hasn’t come out of nowhere. Call it a rekindling of a long-forgotten conviction that the example I set might actually matter. Because we are all participants, now, in this huge and never-ending conversation we call global society. Our impact is measured in terms of the number of people paying attention…
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#FlightFree2020: Can Flight-Free Living & Adventure Travel Really Coexist? Let’s Find Out
Today, on this day of New Year’s Resolutions, I pledge to join the Flight Free UK campaign. Between now and the 1st of January 2021, I will not take a single flight. I’ve joined the campaign because, as a long-time advocate of adventurous travel and exploration, I can no longer ignore my own hypocrisy. I…
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The Gegham Mountains: Exploring Armenia’s Volcanic Backcountry
The Gegham Mountains are an imposing chain of volcanic domes that bisects Armenia from north to south. For most of the year they are impenetrable due to a thick layer of snow. But come June, as snow starts to melt, the country’s tent-dwelling Yezidi nomads drive their cattle from lowland plains to graze beneath the…
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Applications Now Open For 2019’s Fundraising Treks In Armenia & Georgia
A very quick heads-up that places on the Transcaucasian Trail group fundraising hikes in 2019 are now available. Click here for the dates and details and, if the fancy takes you, to register your participation. I’ve been helping design and promote these treks for the last couple of years, and they’ve proved to be a…
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5 Ancient Monasteries In Armenia’s Dilijan National Park (& How To Hike To Them)
The experience of exploring Armenia on foot is characterised by three things: an abundance of breath-taking landscapes, being invited in by locals to drink homemade oghi (vodka), and stumbling upon at least one ancient church or monastery per day. Dilijan National Park – part of the forested northeastern province of Tavush – is no exception to…
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How To Get Involved With The Transcaucasian Trail
This Transcaucasian Trail thing has really snowballed. It’s got to the point where my life as a “self-unemployed creative nomad fuelled by travel and adventure” seems like a distant memory. Weekly blogs? Monthly newsletters? Hah! – you’re kidding, right? During a much-needed bikepacking escape over the winter, and on the advice of a good friend,…
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Doing It Right: The Politics Of Hiking Trail Development In The Caucasus
When I decided last summer to build the Transcaucasian Trail, I had no idea just what kind of a political mess I was getting myself into. I don’t mean the regional geopolitics of the Caucasus, either. That’s actually pretty clear-cut. Some areas are off-limits, some borders are closed. Thankfully, none of this actually affects a…
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Mestia to Ushguli: Is Svaneti In Danger Of Losing Its Mysticism?
Agendas – hidden or otherwise – seem to play a big part in trail development. Sometimes there is a peace-building motive, knitting together fragmented nations by means of a common travel corridor. More often an effort is framed in terms of the future financial benefits, which usually boils down to a simple equation between more…
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Syunik Province: Southern Armenia’s Most Overlooked Hiking Destination?
Characterised by wild moorlands, terrible roads, and an unintelligible local dialect, the province of Syunik is a large but sparsely populated region at the far end of Armenia, sufficiently far from the capital to have retained its own unique cultural identity. Much like Yorkshire, in fact. Continue reading at transcaucasian.com »