We arrived in South Africa back on 1st December, escaping the grim English winter, with a rough plan of how we were to spend our 3 months here. Our first stop was Donkey Valley farm, where we were to spend our first 5 weeks. We contacted them through an organisation called WWOOF which puts volunteers in touch with farms who want help in exchange for board and lodgings. The farm is run by a lovely South African couple, Hannes and Jeanne, along with her daughter...

Major catch up time on the blog, with 3 entries coming in quick succession covering the end of our Scandinavian trip (which was followed by a few weeks at home) then 2 for our first seven weeks in South Africa. The last couple of weeks of our Scandinavian odyssey were very relaxed, Denmark didn't pose too many challenges and we enjoyed drifting south through Funen at a leisurely pace. We particularly liken Skagen, it's a lovely fishing town right in the north,...

You'd think that by heading south of the Arctic Circle the weather would improve, but for us it signalled a threat of snow which was to follow us and catch us up on occasion all the way to the southernmost tip of Norway. Our first major stop on the way south was the fabulous city of Trondheim. We had a great day of sightseeing there and gorged ourselves on a great seafood lunch and masses of waffles and jam. From there we followed the coast including the shor...

There was an almost immediate change in the landscape as we crossed from the densely forested rolling landscape of Finland into the far more rugged, mountainous and dramatic landscape of Norway. This was going to be an interesting country! We decided to try out Norway's national parks to see if they would be on par with their Finnish neighbours. After quite a struggle to find the main access point to Stabbursdalen National Park we were greeted by a ramshackle ...

Northern Finland has been glorious. We have really got into our groove here and are feeling very much at home. There is a comfortable sense of predictability about our days which are made up of a combination of the same experiences: gathering and gorging on the abundant forest berries; spending nights drinking hot chocolate & brandy and looking out for the northern lights; sweating like mad in hot and steamy saunas; hiking through never ending forests and ove...