Posted on

Hiking in the heat

Catherine’s son cools down under a water pump while hiking in Alps early May during unexpected heatwave

I was recently asked to contribute to an article on ‘Dangerous Places to Visit’. I politely declined, as warzone voyeurism or ‘extreme’ excursions are not really my thing. I did ask them if they would like an article on my skating across Sweden’s frozen lakes, which is about as dangerous as my world gets really, but that was so not on the danger meter compared with what some people like to put themselves through on holiday.

A slow paced walking holiday is my ideal really. However, with temperatures rising there are now growing concerns about the safety of walkers. Just a few weeks ago, a tragedy occurred when a 78 year old British hiker died from a heart attack, after struggling with the extreme heat while she was walking on Gran Canaria. As temperatures hit 38 degress Celsius six other people, all in their sixties, were rescued that same weekend, suffering from problems relating to heat.

I, like so many others, read this with horror, knowing that even though these hikers were not new to long distance walks, they could be struck so suddenly by the heat in this way.  And even though they were in their more mature years, some of the fittest and most agile walkers I meet on my travels are twenty or thirty years my senior. And, I must admit, that I have hiked in extreme heat and never given it a second thought, as long as I had my usual water, sunscreen and a hat. But of course, there is so much more to take into account, whether you are five or fifty and the British Consul for the Canary Islands gave me ten of the best when I admitted that I wasn’t perhaps as knowledgeable as I thought I was:

  1. Don’t hike alone unless you are an experienced walker and are familiar with the area (guilty)
  2. Always plan your trail in advance.  There are many useful websites with well researched routes (more or less)
  3. Choose an appropriate trail according to your fitness level (Emm, guilty).
  4. Take a map with you and don’t go off the trail (Not guilty, but map not always brilliant quality)
  5. Wear appropriate clothing and footwear for the weather and length of your hike (not guilty).
  6. Take enough water and food (always pretty good on that one).
  7. Don’t forget other essential gear like sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat (ten out of ten).
  8. Inform someone of where you are going and when you expect to return (Guilty)
  9. Take a fully charged mobile phone with you (Guilty).
  10. Phone 112 if you urgently need assistance (OK, I always confuse the international emergency code with 121, I admit – see European Emergency Number Association,  for details)

    Timanfaya National Park in Lanzarote where you can only walk with approved walking guide

Another great piece of advice came from Amanda Marks, Managing Director of Tribes Travel, one of the most exemplary travel companies in terms of ethical and sustainable practices. Just back from Botswana, Amanda told me, “ I’m probably a good one to ask about this problem, as I don’t cope with the heat at all well, yet love going on walking safaris etc.  As soon as it goes above 25 degrees I struggle, but I have learned to cope with this in a variety of ways.  Firstly, shade.  I always walk wearing a hat with a wide brim all the way round. On top of this, if it’s REALLY hot, I take an umbrella.  Yes, I get a lot of stick for that one, and it’s not practical all the time, but can provide much needed shade at critical times.  Secondly, hydration.  Most people know to drink lots of water, but I always add rehydration powders to my water.  It gives you extra salts and sugars that help your body cope with the heat.  Thirdly, choosing your times. Apart from choosing the months which are less hot, I also choose my times of day quite carefully. Always walk in early mornings and late afternoons.  The middle of the day is most definitely siesta time for me”.

So, my hydration salts are going to be a firm fixture in my Camelbak from now on, and if you haven’t heard of Camelbaks, a brand of hydration pack,  check them out. There are many cheaper versions on the market now and when I have lots to carry, I just take the inner section out and transfer it to my normal day pack. Another expert is Carol Palioudaki, resident agent of Pure Crete which offers walking holidays on this stunning island, as well as a superb collection of holiday accommodation all owned by members of the local communities. She says that “People really don’t think about the heat risks, or they underestimate them. We always warn our clients here in Crete that when temperatures are above 35 celsius hiking becomes dangerous. Our body temperature is 37 celsius so when the outside temperature goes above this, the body can’t cool itself. The best time for walking in Crete is during the spring and autumn, but even then mini heat waves can pose a risk. The dangers of walking in extreme heat are well know in Crete, and the Samaria Gorge, one of Europe’s longest and most demanding gorge hikes, closes to visitors during extreme local heat waves” .

Guilty on so many charges, La Graciosa, Canary Islands

Gran Canaria is also home to a superb English travel writer, Matthew Hirtes who, if you are a fan of this part of the world, is worth checking out, either on his blog, Gran Canaria Local,  or via his book, Going Local in Gran Canaria (Summertime Publishing, 2012). His thoughts are also worthy of adding to the walking wake up call to those of us, myself included, who have been guilty of walking on regardless.  “What was most depressing of the recent hiking tragedies on Gran Canaria”, says Matthew “ is that they were  so preventable. There’s a reason for the hiking season being from October through to March on Gran Canaria. And that’s because the island is politically Spanish but geographically African. Heatwaves originating from the dry and dusty Sahara, which is a lot nearer than the Iberian Peninsula, make hiking a no-no from April through to September. I recently completed a round-island trek at the tail-end of March and it was heavy-going. The surprisingly verdant interior of Gran Canaria offers a whole new world to explore beyond the bucket and spade. But there’s a time for this place and it’s certainly not May”.

And a few final thoughts to throw into the mix from a spokesman at the British Embassy, following the Canarian tragedy. As well as concurring with all the above, he wisely added that tourists should “bear in mind there may be no supplies of fresh water in the mountains and hills. Streams will often have dried up” and “be aware that the Catalonia region has started charging negligent hikers, climbers, skiers and other adventurers who have to be rescued. The regional government has recently started sending bills to all people who required emergency rescues, to encourage others to be more careful”.  He also couldn’t stress the importance of travel insurance highly enough, adding that “If you need to be returned to the UK it could cost between £12,000 to £16,000 for an air ambulance from the Canaries”. All sobering stuff – not that I paid attention while walking along Pembrokeshire’s Coast Path in Wales a couple of weeks ago. After a night of storms, it suddenly hit a cloudless 24 degrees, and not a bit of shade in sight. I didn’t even have my Camelpak, just my usual aluminium water bottle and certainly hadn’t packed a rehydration sachet. This was Wales after all. After three hours of walking, I had to take a rest under a gorse bush, slowly sip what was left of my bottle, and then walk off my route for a couple of kms to find proper sustenance. I can honestly say I have now learnt my lesson.

 This article was first published in The Southern Star newspaper, Ireland.

 

Posted on

Ile de Batz, Brittany, France

Catherine's family on Ile de Batz at Poul C'horz Photo: Catherine Mack

I don’t really get the island daytrip thing. Why would you go for a day when, in most cases, you can stay for a few, explore every corner, get to know some of the people who live there, and not worry about catching the last ferry home? But I now realise that I am becoming a bit of an offshore obsessive. It all started with La Gomera off Tenerife, way back in my twenties, when I got a last minute cheap flight to the mainland, and followed a few hippies heading straight from the airport to the port to catch the first crossing of the day to this unheard of place which at that time was way off all traditional tourist radars. I have been there three times since then, as well as La Graciosa off Lanzarote, Formentera off Ibiza, Privc off Croatia, and  not forgetting my rapidly growing love affair with Ireland’s own fine collection, of course.  The latest to steal my soul is the Ile de Batz, just fifteen minutes off Roscoff in Brittany.

I don’t think it’s a case of feeding some sort of Crusoe craving, as deserted tropical islands don’t really do it for me.  I am not even great with small ferry crossings, but as soon as I can see new shorelines and micro landscapes approach, my wanderlust kicks some strength into my otherwise wobbly sea legs. I spotted the Ile de Batz on a walking tour of Brittany’s pink granite coastline last year , just one of the many granite rocky outcrops which pepper the Breton waters. Island daytrips are a feature of this coast, but as we had accommodation pre-booked along the mainland we stuck to our walking itinerary that time round. Ile de Batz grabbed my attention, however, because despite being pretty well populated (nearly 600 permanent residents), car-free to visitors,  plenty of ferry connections, a shop, bike hire,  accommodation  and even a campsite, it had hidden its Breton beauty under a bushel, tucked well away from those who are just passing through.  

As people whizzed off the Roscoff ferry in search of autoroutes or cycling trails, we walked into the sleepy town centre, just ten minutes from the port, where we grabbed a €7 breakfast of ‘grand crème’, freshly squeezed orange juice, a pannier full of warm croissants and pain de campagne. I find it strangely  reassuring on my travels to revisit the same spot, and this sunny waterside Café Ty Pierre was where I had sat this time last year, spotted signs to the island, and been gripped by my island grá.  There are ferries to the island every hour, so we supped slowly, took in our new surroundings, and headed out along the pier for the 11am departure. The journey was very calm, crossing out into the bay past the island’s south east peninsula, a Breton flag flying on the cliff top. Well, more high rocks than cliffs, really, with the highest point of the island a mere 33 metres. My heart lifted at the sight of the first white sandy cove of Pors Adelig, then another, Pors Alliou, with just a couple of small fishing boats bobbing in each, before we came round one more small headland into our mooring point, and hub of the island,  at Pors Kernoc.

Hire bikes on Ile de Batz Photo: Catherine Mack

We had booked a family room at the island’s Auberge de Jeunesse, or youth hostel, which was just five minutes’ walk from the pier, up a short hill past seashore creperies and couple of bike hire outlets, to a spot which is elevated enough to see paths leading down to both the north east and south east sides of the island. The Ile de Batz is only 3.5 kms long and 1.5 kms wide, with a walk around the whole coastline all of 12 kms. Ah, so we could ‘do it in a day’ , I hear you say, and yes you could, but for the other island infatuates out there, you can do half the island one day, the other half the next, and then just choose a different beach to loll on each day after that, with one for almost every kilometre you cover.

Our first beach, Pors Alliou, was just fifty metres from the hostel, down a quiet path to sands which lead out to grassy island when the tides are low, but which we left in peace as hundreds of seabirds were nesting at the time. But it must make the most perfect fishing spot at other times of year. Pors Allious was close enough to run down in togs and a towel (OK, wetsuits) and be back to put the kettle on, which we did need as the waters here were Celtic cold. There is plenty of drying room at the hostel, so don’t hesitate to pack a wetsuit if you love a quick dip, especially with enticing swim spots at the end of just about every lane.

The hostel is basic and not for everyone, but I value the hostel ethos, and even though our family room was just a smaller dorm off the larger communal one, which we had to pass through to go to the loos and (not very efficient) showers, we threw ourselves into the hostelling vibe of it all and enjoyed the company of our fellow travellers. Especially over breakfast, with fresh baguettes, Breton butter, home-made jam and coffee always ready when we got up,  all of us pyjama clad in the communal area discussing our plans for the day.  A couple of battered sofas were much needed in my view, however, with benches around tables getting a bit tiresome after a day. And with what one co-hosteller described as ‘grains de pluie’ (literally ‘grains of rain’) being regular features in Brittany,  you do need a bit of a cosy corner to play cards in or read your book, rather than just heading back to the dorm. There are, however, plenty of self-catering options on the island as well as a couple of charming guest houses. See iledebatz.com for details.

Luckily, the sun shone nearly the whole time for us, and with my 9 year old discovering a love of rock climbing, and almost every beach being accessible by gripping and grasping his way along the impressive piles of granite, we were out all day. My husband volunteered to supervise the clambering while my 12 year old son and I opted for the rather more yielding dune and marram grass route up above. This route also shows off the impressive amount of farming on the island, something a lot less evident in island life back home. Fields bearing potatoes, cauliflowers and shallots belong to 25 farms in total, their produce being sold on via a cooperative to mainland supermarkets all over France. This explains why the only traffic you see on the island is that of a few tractors. Otherwise the roads are quiet, allowing us to send the kids into the feral mode they so miss living the urban lives we have thrust upon them.

Fishing is also still very much in evidence on the Ile de Batz, with several houses along our walks offering fish and seafood for sale. Within two minutes’ walk from the hostel we were able to buy fresh new potatoes straight from the field and so, on our second night we dined on enormous Pollack steaks with local salad and spuds, all sourced within about three minutes’ walk from the hostel, as we sat in the sun overlooking the bay. Another night was spent drinking our aperitifs and eating savoury galettes and crepes at the Creperie du Port, again on the sunny water’s edge, where fishermen gathered at the end of the day, and kids spent hours jumping over the sea wall onto the soft sands below.

And all only ten minutes’ walk back along the shore to our beds. Ah, so perhaps that is why I have an insatiable love of islands. It isn’t some tortured need to be isolated from the world, or to feel like I can walk around it and always know where I will end up. It’s simply sheer laziness. Nothing is far away, natural beauty is everywhere I look, I can swim, trek and cycle, and not feel as if I have to take on a triathlon, and the pace of life reverts to the traditional clocks of farming and fishing. We all tuned into this quickly and happily, watching the daytrip suckers dash for the last boat back, as we sipped our Breton cider ‘au bar’ and pretended we were locals. We may have only been islanders for a few days, but the separation of even just this short stretch of water made us feel as if we had been marooned for a month.

Ile de Batz Porz Reter Photo: Catherine Mack

Go there: Take the ferry from Cork in Ireland, or Plymouth in UK to Roscoff with Brittany Ferries. From €185 per person return from Ireland, based on two passengers travelling on foot and sharing a 2-berth en suite cabin. Or £160 return from UK. Ferry from Roscoff to Ile de Batz €8 adults, €4 children. Bring cash for the island ferry, as card facilities were not available when we travelled.

Stay there: International Youth Hostel Association Membership  €11 for under 26,€16 for over 26,  €23 for family (per annum), Seemauberges-de-jeunesse.com. €17 per night including breakfast to stay at the Ile de Batz youth hostel. Sheets €2.50 per visit.  For information on all other accommodation see iledebatz.com

Eat there: There is a small island market every Sunday morning in the summer season, or you can catch a burgeoning food market in Roscoff every Wednesday between 7am-2pm, with over 150 stalls. Otherwise the island has a host of creperies and family run restaurants. For more information on Brittany and its stunning coastline, see  brittanytourism.com

This article was first published in The Irish Times

 

Posted on

Urgent appeal to keep Goa ‘going with the flow’

If you love Goa, then you have a chance to take action to preserve its most vital resource – water. There are so many injustices going on with relation to water that the majority of tourists don’t have any idea about, and the fact is that water which is being made available to tourists in contrast with that available to people who live there has hit crisis point. Which is why I am asking you to urgently sign a petition to the Goan government, as part of an campaign led by Tourism Concern, the Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) and Eco Footprints to urgently address the overexploitation of Goa’s water resources by  a growing numbers of resorts and hotels.

Petitions do make a difference, especially when they have an heap of tourists behind them, upon whom Goa’s economy heavily depends. New research by Tourism Concern entitled Reclaiming Water Rights – Towards and Equitable Social Contract in Goa will also give a strong spine to the petition landing on the Ministers’ desks, which indicates that the luxury tourism sector is being prioritised over domestic and small-scale livelihood needs.

For example, findings show that residents in the popular resort town of Calangute receive piped water for just two hours every two days. Traditional community wells are becoming unusable due to pollution and over-extraction, forcing a growing dependency on inadequate public supplies and infrastructure. Meanwhile, nearby resorts boasting swimming pools and golf courses enjoy a continuous water supply. One 5-star hotel in Benaulim consumes up to 1,785 litres of water per guest per day, compared to just 14 litres per day by neighbouring villagers. One guesthouse owner in Calungute comments,  “The wells here have been contaminated for 10 years. The contamination has been partly caused by soak pits from tourism. Dirty water leaches into the ground. The soak pits are illegal. In the hot, dry season – March, April, May – we get water for 20-30 minutes a day…. Many people depend on tankers.   Local people sometimes feel angry, but they recognise the benefits that tourism can bring. But it is we ordinary people who are suffering. We are drinking this water, they are not. Some can afford to buy water, some cannot.”

Dumped waste and sewage behind hotels at Colva Creek Photo: Tourism Concern

It does not mean that you shouldn’t go to Goa, enjoy your pool, shower or golf course, although using water responsibly, just as we do at home these days, does help.   Real immediate change must start at government level, so that urgent improvements can be felt straight away among the local population, who need water urgently.  “The Government of Goa must respond to this critical issue and implement the recommendations of our report, Reclaiming Water Rights – Towards an Equitable Social Contract in Goa. We urge them to instigate a clear regulatory framework for water and tourism management, implement existing laws and improve infrastructure to ensure community water rights don’t come second to major resort developments”, says Mark Watson, Executive Director of Tourism Concern.

The research simmers with discontent, quoting many local people who are now panicking about this life threatening issue. Geraldine Fernandes, another guesthouse owner in Benaulim says, “I have a well, but the water level is going down.  When they build these new developments they dig a borewell with a pump. My well water has significantly declined. I’m now running dry by February… There’s so much environmental destruction and garbage, and lack of proper sewage treatment… We are not anti-development; we want development that protects our livelihoods.”

So please, if you love Goa, take thirty seconds and sign the petition here to keep Goa going.

 

 

Posted on

The people I meet

Ben Rramat and Ben Longisa with Catherine in Masai Mara, Kenya

I remember pitching a column idea to some editors a few years ago, on one of those ‘if you don’t ask you don’t get’ sort of days. It had the working title of ‘The People I Meet’.  My aim was to get human stories onto the travel pages and, in the process, create a consumer awareness of responsible tourism without labelling it such. So many people get uptight about terminology linked to the responsible tourism movement but my feeling is that, call it what you will, it always comes back to people. Predictably I received several polite ‘no thanks’ to the pitch, but the one which stood out was from a leading broadsheet which just said “We and our readers want to read about places, not people.  If you could get an interview with Richard Branson, however, we might run it”.

So, I put the idea to bed for a while, and in my own way, still try to incorporate the people I meet into my travel features. For example, Ben Llongisa, the Maasai elder whom I met a few years ago and who, against all odds, has created a lodge to host tourists in his village of Enkereri in Kenya ( see the video thanks to The Travel Foundation). I remember one of the editor’s arguments against ‘people stories’ was that they don’t sellholidays and, in an effort to keep their sponsors and advertisers happy, they need to talk about the place first and foremost. However, ever since leaving home at eighteen, it has so often been people who have lead me to a place, not effusive editorial or ‘on brand’ marketing campaigns. In fact, it was hearing a Maasai elder speak at WTM about how they just ‘needed a voice’ that made me want to go to Kenya in the first place.

Christine Kieffer, donkey conservationist and mountain guide shows us our route through The Alpes - to be led by one of her donkeys

Of course, I accept that not every traveller wants to holiday in order to ‘give people a voice’ or indeed, an ear. But I do believe that people’s stories do often influence our travel choices. The success of the much missed BBC Radio Four’s Excess Baggage or popular books such as A Year in Provence are simple examples of this.  Last year we had the honour of hosting Michel Awad in our home, the co-founder of the Siraj Center in Palestine, an interfaith, community based tourism initiative in Palestine, which runs walking and cycling holidays. Michel talked to us about his fascinating organisation, which works closely with the Palestinan Center for Rapprochement Between People, enabling them to partner with many grassroots organisations to discuss and act upon issues such as water distribution and, of course, changing tourists’ perceptions about Palestine. Palestine is now at the top of my list of places I hope to visit in the near future, not because of a PR pitch or an alluring article, but because I met a lovely person doing extraordinary work there.  I will certainly be needing  a people-phile editor to commission that one as the stories will, hopefully, be worthy of a weighty word count.

It was a great relief, therefore, that humans were being put back in the heart of tourism at the recent  Tourism Industry and Human Rights meeting in London, co-hosted by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and Tourism Concern . Speakers from the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, Water Aid, International Business Leaders Forum, Minority Rights Group, and the the International Labour Organisation (ILO) all agreed that human rights issues have been at the top of corporate agendas in other industry sectors for a long time now, and that tourism has a lot of catching up to do. Not for the want of trying, I am sure Tourism Concern wanted to shout out, the charity which has been putting people first for a long time now, and giving a voice to many people who wouldn’t have had a hope in hell of being heard in the past.

Zinaib, a Berber woman, teaches me the basics of weaving in Morocco

In other industries, speakers reminded us, the commercialisation of an industry needs to take into account all the costs involved and a true analysis of the social, or human cost should take place in tourism destinations as well. There was a lot of talk about UN Guiding Principles, endorsed in June 2011, which outline how States and businesses should implement the “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework in order to better manage business and human rights challenges. So, do destinations which are marketing themselves for tourism protect their country from human rights abuses by travel companies, for example? Secondly, adhering to the corporate responsibility to respect human rights in all tourism activities, and then thirdly, providing greater access to victims to seek a remedy for any injuries resulting from human rights abuses.

The tourism industry was also being urged to get a system of due diligence in place quickly if they were to play ethical catch up. What are the country’s human rights risks, are you linked to them in any way, how transparent are you being about these risks, and do you have adequate remedies available when, as one human rights expert stated ‘ when bad things happen’ ?  Tourism businesses were being advised to ‘stop being the experts and go out and see what people think on the ground – not just once, but often, as human rights issues change all the time – and if you don’t engage you won’t know’. We are not just talking about the Burmas and Balis either here. This could involve child sex tourism in Eastern Europe, inhumane working conditions in the UK hospitality sector, or people displacement in Scotland in the name of a golf course.  And if, as a tourism organisation, you are super proactive in the area of remedying some of these issues, then these are stories you might want to shout about. And hopefully, if any editors out there don’t want to shy away from the human element in tourism, I can then share.

David Job, owner of Yarde Orchard eco bunkhouse and cafe on North Devon's Tarka Trail

By writing about people who are creating a force for change in tourism, we can not only assist them in seeking remedy, but we can also simply remind tourists that human beings and their homes are central to our holidays.  I stayed at a Cretan house a few years ago, and we invited our hosts in for a bottle of wine on the first night. A bottle of home made wine they had been kind enough to give us, by the way. In spite of our language barriers, we enjoyed the wine, more wine, songs, laughs and warmth. And then more wine. When we left, our host told us we were the first UK family in twenty years of hosting, to invite him and his family in. This is far from a human rights issue, but for that human, it was certainly a big issue. If it is this hard for us to even say ‘hi’ on holiday, then we have a long way to go before we hear the real stories behind the smiles. But, we have to start somewhere.