The First Piper

12/11/2025

Nagiso to Narai 🐿️

Great thing about the Nakasendo Trail is that if you don’t want to hike various sections, you can just hop on a train 🚊

With that in mind, we trained it from Nagiso to Yabuhara then hiked over the Torii pass. Back in the day, this was supposed to be the hardest section of the Nakasendo trail, but it honestly wasn’t too bad 🥾

Best part about this section was the forest trail, Autumn colours, chestnut groves and then the descent into Narai town. Uff so pretty! 🍂

Spent the night in an old government building and had what might just be the best instant ramen on earth 🍜

Also found out that the “squirrels with the giant balls” we kept seeing are a Japanese fairy tale creature called “Tanuki.” Their large huevos are a symbol of good luck and wealth! The MORE YOU KNOW 💫

12/11/2025

Magome to Nagiso 🇯🇵

Chestnut ice cream. Old tea houses. Persimmon sweets. And… Joanna Lumley!

Day two on the Nakasendo Trail (Magome to Nagiso). This was definitely the prettiest stretch so far. The weather was insaaaane!

Kicked off the day in Magome, grabbed coffee at a lovely wee café, and checked out a few cute shops before heading into the forest. 45 mins in we came to an old tea house, proudly showing off a photo of Joanna Lumley. LOL

A little more bamboo forest and cobbled trail later, we reached Tsumago and tried the most amazing persimmon sweets (huge thanks to the ladies who recommended them!).

Wrapped up the day with a sunset walk into Nagiso and checked into the coolest Airbnb. I'm gonna make a Short for that!

08/11/2025

First day on the Nakasendo ⛩️

In 2024 I stumbled across an article about Japan’s old hiking routes. The first photo in the article was of a misty mountain village with cobbled streets - I was totally sold!

A year later, we’re here, setting off along the Nakasendo Trail, the ancient route that once linked Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto.

A lot of it is now regular roads, but once you reach the mountains, it’s a lot of stone paths, cedar forests, and old “post towns.” Years ago, this was the highway for samurai, merchants, and feudal lords (how cool is that?!) 🇯🇵

We took the bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya, then to Nakatsugawa, and began walking to Magome… only to realise later you’re meant to take a bus to the start, not skirt the highway. Whoops 😅

Accommodation in the old towns fills up fast, so we ended up in a very 90s family hotel which had a wee onsen and an awesome dinner setup 🍱

06/11/2025

02/11/2025

The Hike to El Mirador (E66) 🇬🇹

Five days of Mayan ruins, steamy jungle, alien-faced birds and the odd T-Rex 🦖

My God I miss Guatemala and yes, I still have 34 of these video to go 😅

23/10/2025

Birds of a Feather 🪶

For a few years we’ve wanted to get a piece of art inspired by the Philippines. After a bit of research we found an artist and conservationist Kathleen Dorothy, so we decided to get in touch to see if she does commissions! 🎨

After scrolling through all her art (and looking at dozens of native bird species), we decided on two kingfishers - both found only in the Philippines. The vibrant blue is the Indigo-banded Kingfisher, and the little orange one is the Philippine Dwarf Kingfisher, the smallest of its kind here 🥹

Maraming salamat to Kathleen for bringing these beautiful birds to life. We absolutely love’em! 🎣

To everyone reading this far, check out her art and book one of her workshops 🙌

06/10/2025

Call me Ross-Bek 🇰🇿

The national parks around Almaty (Kazakhstan) are flippin’ stunning and the range in landscapes is CRAZY! Within the space of an hour you go from red-rock canyons to alpine lakes 🤯

I did an overnight with Visit Alatau and we managed to drop into Kolsai & Kaindy Lakes as well as the “Grand Canyon’s younger brother” aka Charyn Canyon 🏜️

If you’ve got an extra day or two in Kazakstan, rent a car and head out the city for a few days! 🚗 💨

06/10/2025

This is the ancestor to every apple variety today!