September-October 2009 (3 weeks)
Corsica, staying at the family home in Villanova, a small village at the end of a cul-de-sac 20' north west of Ajaccio. A lot of relaxing, walks through the Villanova maquis, at the Îles Sanguinaires, to the Lac de Creno, in Vizzavona forest, a 4-day trip taking in Filitosa, Bonifacio, and Tonio's family by Solenzara, and a trip (again) to Cargèse.

September 2008 (5 days)
Wrapping up summer at Bruno & Laurène's in sunny Marseille

Aug-Sep 2008 (3+7+2 days)
Following a Liverpool conference, a trip to the Lake District, Cumbria
(Keswick, Borrowdale/Derwent Water), topped off by a stopover in
London (Stoke Newington) at Erik & Ana's place and an SMWS visit

July 2008 (10 days)
A short trip to Iceland's south, visiting & walking Þórsmörk NR:
Goðaland - Fjallabak NR: Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker
(part Laugavegur [NL]) - Skaftafell NP - South Coast - Reykjavík

Iceland on Facebook (60)
Iceland on F lickr (41)

June 2008 (4+10 days)
Following the ASSC12 conference in Taipei (Taiwan),
a couple of us spent 10 nights in Japan and visited Tokyo,
Kyoto, and stayed in a Shingon sect monastery at Koyasan.

Japan on Flickr (166)
Japan on Facebook (120)
Japan on Google Maps

plus ASSC12 on Flickr (77)

February 2008 (1 week) - Andalusia by car (provinces of Granada, Málaga, & Cadiz) : Granada (Alhambra, Albayzin) - Antequera (Laguna de Fuente de Piedra; El Torcal walk) - El Chorro - Los Burgos - Ronda Pueblos Blancos & Sierra de Grazalema (Grazalema; Zahara de la Sierra; Salto del Cabrero) - Sierra de las Nieves - Mijas.

October-November 2007 (1 month) - by bus - SICHUAN : Chengdu, Leshan Giant Buddha; Xi'an (Shaanxi); Ngawa Tibetan & Qiang AP : Jiuzhaigou NR, Songpan; Garzê Tibetan AP (Sichuan-Tibet Hwy) : Danba, Tagong, Litang, Daocheng & Yading NR // YUNNAN : Zhongdian, Tiger Leaping Gorge (also), Lijiang (also); Kunming & Shilin Stone Forest.

June 2007 (5+5 days)
Following the ASSC11 conference in Las Vegas (Nevada),
Tonio & I undertook a spiffin' 1350 km road trip through
Arizona (Grand Canyon - NP) and Utah (Bryce Canyon)

August 2006 (3 1/2 weeks)
A 2800 km drive through Alberta & BC, with walks & canoeing:
The Rockies - Banff, Jasper, & Yoho NPs
From the Rockies to the coast - Wells Gray PP & Sea-to-Sky
The coast - Vancouver Island (Pacific Rim NP) & Vancouver

Three photoalbums on Flickr:
The Rockies (225)
Rockies to the Coast (200)
The Pacific Coast (soon!)
Canada on Google Maps (bis)

June 2006 (5 days)
Kerry: Driving & some walking on Dingle & Iveragh peninsulas

May 2005 (10 days) - SCOTLAND #3
A 80-85km trek to/through the Knoydart peninsula (6 walking days) :
Glenfinnan - A'Chuil - Sourlies - Inverie / walk to Sandaig (Inverie) /
Inverie - Barrisdale - to Ladhar Bheinn

June 2003 (3 weeks)
Corsica - Mare & Monti North trek (part) & around: Calenzana - Bonifatu - Tuarelli - Galeria - Girolata (Scandola Nature Res.) - Curzu - Serriera; Porto; Ota - Marignana; Evisa - Verghju (Aïtone forest); Villanova (near Ajaccio); Corte with Restonica and lakes Melo & Capitelo; Bastia

April 2003 (1 week)
Staying at Dirk & Inge's in Keele, visiting Manchester & the Peak District
(Edale to Kinder Scout walk)

September 2002 (1 month) - SCOTLAND #1
Part 1 - A Trek Through Skye - a 7-day organised trek
Part 2 - Outer Hebrides : Harris & Lewis by car + 3 walks
Part 3 - Assynt & Wester Ross by car + 5 walks
+ the cities of Glasgow, Inverness, & Edinburgh

May 2002 (8 days)
Somerset: Bath, Bradford-on-Avon, Mendip Hills: Wookey Hole & Ebbor Gorge, Wells, Glastonbury + London

2009 : September - Poland: Krakow / July - Germany: Cologne / June - Corsica: Cargèse (same summer school) & Germany: Berlin / March - Germany: Cologne // 2008 : February - Germany: Hamburg // 2007 : March & August - Denmark: Aarhus (love Copenhagen airport) / April - UK: Cardiff, Bath & London / June - Corsica: Cargèse (best summer school ever - pics) / September - Czech Rep.: Brno & Prague // 2006 : March - UK: Keele & Newcastle / September - Poland: Krakow & Pultusk + Warsaw // 2005 : February - Poland: Kazimierz / July - Hungary: Budapest - Germany: Würzburg / August - Denmark: Copenhagen, Roskilde, Louisiana, Helsingor // 2004 : September - Portugal: Lisboa // 2003 : July & September - Italy: Torino, Padova & Venezia / September - Spain: Granada // 2001 : June - Spain: Barcelona / July - UK: Guildford / October - Germany: Berlin // 2000 : May - Portugal: Lisboa & Evora / August - USA: Philadelphia & New York / September - Germany: Würzburg.

Look at some pictures of the one-week seminar of Shaolin kung fu with shiboShi Xing Hong in Hungary
(one week in July 2005, together with members of my wushu/kung fu club Long Hu Men St. Gilles)
- and while you're at it, check the page of my club (it's this particular one) -

MY FAVOURITE SCOTLAND SITES

for a serious collection of stunning Scotland pics, check out the flickr page of Ana & Eric, who lived in Edinburgh for one year (several huge albums)

one of my favourite Scotland sites (great pics), of the compulsively walking Barber family : BarberSASA Scotland (that's Simon, Angela, Susan, & Andrew)
(also a lesson/light to those who believe their adventurous traveling days are over once you have kids - or that the destinations have to be "child-oriented")

and Douglas Wilcox' Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery offers utterly outrageous pictures (incl. aereal!) of Scottish mountains (including the Cuillins)

another site with sheer untoppable pics is the one by Gavin Shaw - especially his Harris series are unbelievable, but check out Gavin's homepage

Armin Grewe, the guy who put me onto the Panorama Factory program and who has loads of QTVR panoramas covering his numerous Scot-trips

also, Paul Kennedy's Mountain Ramblings site, with a marvelous section on his obsessive bagging of Memorable Munros (good but small pics)

one more: Anthony Dyer has a great page on many mountain walks, with a big (incl. pics) Hiking Guide to the Scottish Mountains - don't miss
(!has a much needed link to timetables of bus services in Wester Ross!)

! NEW ! if you're looking for all sorts of info on munros, hill- or mountain walking routes and what more, check out munromagic.com! NEW !

! NEW ! if you want organised walking trips to scotland and the north, check out the absolute dreamtrips on North West Frontiers ! NEW !

while in Taiwan in 2008 I finally bought a dslr (reflex) Nikon, but we also like to keep it lightweight, and the Canon has all manual possibilities & great image
the others are plain point & shoot (the pics, starting from New Zealand, got touched up with the Fireworks program associated with Macromedia Dreamweaver)

2008-present - Japan, Iceland, Lakes - Nikon D80 10Mo (dslr), mostly with Nikon AF-S 18-200mm VR lens (35mm eq 27-300mm; approx 11.1x zoom) f/3.5-5.6

2005-2008 - Knoydart, Ireland, Canada, US, China, Andalusia, Marseille - Canon PowerShot S70 7.1Mo, 28-100mm (35mm eq; approx. 3.5x zoom) f/2.8-5.3

2002-2004 - September 2002, New Zealand &The Northern Atlantic - Olympus µ [mju:]-II ZOOM 115, mostly with 400ASA film
(NA pics: negatives to cdr immediately; NZ & Sep02 pics: scanned with hp scanjet 5400c; in
September 2002 we also used throwaway Kodak & FujiAPS panoramic cameras - never again)

before that one (no pics of it on line yet) we had a simple but effective Kodak p&s model of which I can't remember the name