Author Archives: katecrawley

An Unexpected French Bakery Altitude sickness left me feeling pretty unwell following Huayna Potosí but after a few days steering clear of street food in La Paz, I found myself on another night bus. This particularly cold and uncomfortable bus was to Rurrenabaque, a small town in the north of Bolivia on the edge ofContinue reading “Walking the Bolivian Salt Flats”

Having completed Salkantay and Ausangate within two weeks relatively unscathed, an uncovered drain managed to twist my ankle on my penultimate day in Cusco. With more hiking off the cards for the moment, I spent a few nights in Pisac, a small village in the Sacred Valley near Cusco. Pisac was a strange place fullContinue reading “And into Bolivia…”

Welcome to the third consecutive blog detailing me up a mountain somewhere. Much like the others, this one will read: “woke up, walked, slept;’ however, the Ausangate Trek was four days of snowy mountains and glaciers making it not only one of the highest hikes I’ve ever done but one of the most beautiful. So,Continue reading “Peru: Ausangate Trek”

Friday 19th March: 11km, 600m ascent My trip to Machu Picchu began at 5:30am hunched over a mixing bowl full of porridge with a spoon and a ladle between the four of us. We were aiming to catch the first collectivo out of Cusco to Challacancha, the beginning of the trek. Dressed in fleeces withContinue reading “Peru: Salkantay Trek & Machu Picchu”

My trip began with a series of planning failures. My first mistake was not having fully read Peru’s entry requirements. I tried. I opened the gov.uk webpage and read the entry requirements – right up to the point which informed me I didn’t need a visa to enter the country. I promptly closed the webContinue reading “Peru: Lima – Huaraz”

This blog with bring you to a dinner table I shared with my brother and two maharajahs. A rajtilak is a coronation ceremony of an India maharajah. When my grandfather invited me as a plus one to the rajtilak of his friend, Hima, I was quick to say yes alongside several other extended family members.Continue reading “The Rajtilak of the Seventeenth Ruler of Gondal: Maharajah H H Shri Himanshusinhji Jyotendrasinhji.”

At Leon, a few new pilgrims joined the Camino and our rest day meant some people we hadn’t seen for a while caught up. After our wonderful day of gluttony and with some different faces, we returned to the meseta. The second half of this day was particularly brutal – 17km without shade or water.Continue reading “The Camino: the middle (part two)”

Because I had joined Selin on the Camino late, I missed walking through the Pyrenees. Instead, I started on the meseta, the second stage of the Camino. Later on, an albergue host told me the meseta was his favourite part because of the ‘mental challenge’ It is a very flat section of the walk withContinue reading “The Camino: the middle (part one)”

A quick disclaimer: all information in this post is anecdotal, either my own or offered to me by some random stranger somewhere in Spain – nothing has been fact checked. Enjoy. X It was 40 minutes into the morning of Wednesday the 7th of June 2023 and my bus from Madrid airport to Burgos, aContinue reading “The Camino de Santiago: the beginning”