Bøker av Stephen Platt

This trip in the early summer of 1994, like other trips we made to the Alps, is a tale of two parts. First we circumnavigated the Vanoise National Park. Created in 1963, it was the first national park in France and is the most bio-diverse with over 5,000 plant species. It borders the Gran Paradiso in Italy and together they form one of the largest protected areas in Europe.We did the six-day hike with Val, a friend from Sheffield and had the alpine flower meadows virtually to ourselves, seeing few other people. The path follows part of the famous Via Alpina, the GR5, that runs from Geneva to Nice, and sections of the GR55. It crosses a number of high passes and most of the path is over 2,500 metres. There was still plenty of snow and we had to watch our step in places. We stayed in refuges or camped near them because wild camping was forbidden in the park.Tony, a friend from Cambridge, joined us for the second week in Chamonix, where we had intended to climb Mont Blanc. In the event, our party of four lacked the experience to tackle the crowning summit and we contented ourselves with three easy routes - the Aiguilles du Tour, Petit Verte and Belvédère. These mixed routes of rock and snow were all delightful, accessible and safe, and the weather was perfect all week. Apart from nights in the Refuges Trient and Lac Blanc, we camped in Frasserands.

The Mare a Mare Nord traverses Corsica from sea to sea. It's nearly 100 miles long (152 km), involves nearly 7000 metres of ascent and descent and took me 11 days.I sailed to Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica, on the west coast, and the walk climbed thickly wooded valleys before crossing the GR20 and the mountainous backbone of Corsica at the Col de Vergio. From Corte, the town in the middle of the island, the path follows mule tracks that link isolated hilltop villages all the way to the east coast at Moriani.Geology and altitude give character to different parts of the walk. You pass through forests of huge sweet chestnuts, tall Laricio pine and beech and follow clear mountain streams past tumbling cascades. The path traverses rugged mountain ridges, ancient stone mule tracks and sunken lanes.The walk is a time travel to a different age. Quiet sleepy villages where the faded signs suggest a busier more prosperous era. Corsica is like an unspoilt wild garden, a walker's paradise, the way carpeted in wildflowers with the scent of herbs and flowers and the constant song of birds.The walk starts and finishes with sandy beaches at the two largest towns in Corsica - Ajaccio and Bastia. The accommodation in Gites and hotels is warm and comfortable and the food excellent.The Mare a Mare Nord is not as hard, dramatic, or as 'good' as the GR20. But what it has that the GR20 doesn't is peace and tranquility; there are just too many doing the immensely popular GR20.

We went from the UK, as part of an Earthquake Engineering Field Investigation (EEFIT) mission, to study recovery after the 2011 Tohoku tsunami. This was a major disaster for Japan. For the country most prepared for earthquakes this was a shocking event that will take years and trillions of dollars to repair. Fifteen months after the disaster, when we made our field trip, recovery was already underway. New embankments were being constructed along the coast of the Sendai plain in Miyage Province and debris had been collected into huge sorted piles. But further north, in Iwate Province a debate was raging between the safety conscious who wanted to construct high embankments and those who wanted to maintain their intimate contact with the shore and sea. I went to Kobe and Kyoto to visit engineers in earthquake institutes. I went site seeing and was beguiled by Japanese architecture and landscape.

Preview Price: £6.92 (excl. VAT) Prints in 3-5 business days Aconcagua at nearly 7,000 metres is the highest mountain outside Asia From the south it is a hard, dangerous climb. From the north, given good weather, it is relatively easy. In my twenties I read a book about three Polish climbers who in 1934 made their own equipment and climbed it by a new elegant route up the east ridge. It captured my imagination. Over thirty years later I asked a friend to come with me. He pulled out and I found a trekking company on the Internet and booked. Our approach was from the east and north by the Valle de las Vacas which was much more pleasant than via Plaza de Mulas in the south. The climb took just over two weeks and, apart from the last day when you go for the summit, you have to climb to each camp twice to acclimatise, taking gear up the first day and moving the tents and sleeping kit the second. Although it was an organised trip I felt I climbed it in good style.

Offa's Dyke runs along the border between England and Wales. I walked from south to north, from Chepstow to Prestatyn, It took me 12 days. The Path was opened in 1971 by Sir John Hunt, leader of the 1952 Everest Expedition. For over a third of its 177 miles it closely follows the earthworks of Offa's Dyke.It falls into 5 stages, all different and equally interesting and challenging. It begins by following the course of the River Wye from its mouth in the Severn Estuary past lush water meadows and limestone cliffs as far as Monmouth. It then crosses farming country to reach the Black Mountains and the long ridgeway to Hay, where the bend in the Wye is joined again, before embarking on one of the tougher sections, the Shropshire Hills, where the Dyke is at its most evident.The Severn floodplain provides a flat respite of canal towpaths and river banks until the land rises again at Llanymynech and the finale of the Eglwyseg Mountain north of Llangollen and the Clwydian Range from Llandegla to PrestatynIn June, Offa's Dyke is a joyous river of bird song, a green abundance of meadows and magnificant, ancient, oak, ash and lime trees in new leaf. Walking, you sense the generations that have settled, farmed and fought over this land and how places harbour the memories of the people that lived and died here.There is little tarmaced road and most of the way is along tracks and grassy paths. None of it is demanding, but for me it was a challenge, not least because I contracted Covid at the start of the trip. Some days were long and tiring but I enjoyed every bit and highly recommend it.

The Coast to Coast was devised by Alfred Wainright and first described in his guide published in 1973. He describes the route in 12 stages; it took me 13 days. I measured it as about 187 miles long (300 km). It traverses three national parks - the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors.The walk is extremely varied passing from the dramatic granite pikes and becks of the Lake District to the fascinating Westmorland limestone pavement. Perhaps the most delightful section is that of the Yorkshire Dales from Kirkby Stephen, over Nine Standards and then along the Swale from Keld to Reeth.The C2C starts with a coastal walk along the sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head and finishes satisfyingly with a similar stretch of the Cleveland Way along the shale and mudstone cliffs from Hawkster to Robin Hoods Bay. The idea of a route from the Irish to the North Sea is beguiling and Wainwright cleverly used parts of bridleways and ancient tracks to link the three national parks but there is too much road and the route feels contrived.I'm glad I did it, however, and enjoyed much of it, apart from the tedious stretch from Richmond to Ingleby Arncliffe across the Vale of Mowbray. Looking back, I most enjoyed the Lakes, despite the rain and storms because I know them so well. And I enjoyed the easy day from Keld to Reeth with Scharlie and Bridget, not least because of their obvious pleasure in the landscape and flora

The Pennine Way is a tough old walk. It's about 270 miles long (435 km), was the first National trail in England and is one of the most famous long-distance walks. I did it a couple of weeks before I should have, during the Covid pandemic of 2020 when the guidelines encouraged outdoor exercise but advised against overnight stays away from home. There was no accommodation or catering en-route and few shops open. I arranged two poste-restante food drops at post offices in Alston and Hawes at approximately one-third and two-thirds of the way. That meant I had to wild camp and carry food for a week.Lockdown during the Covid pandemic was a great time to do the Pennine Way. No one else was on the walk. In fact hardly anyone had done it for months and nature had reclaimed the way and at times the path was almost indistinct. The guidelines that everyone should stay at home meant that the villages and settlements I passed through were deserted. It was like a sci-fi movie when everyone has disappeared.When I got back people asked me, what was the best bit. The problem is that so much happens in the 17 days of a walk like this, so much that is singular and arresting. But with the repetition of walking each day over similar ground it becomes difficult for the mind to encompass and remember.Alfred Wainright, who devised the walk in 1938, said he wrote his 'pictorial companion' for himself, so he could relive the walk back in the comfort of home. In part that's what motivated me. But I also needed to make sense of what I'd done, to map it out, and to fit the parts together as a whole.

went to Vietnam at Vietnam at very short notice to do a job for the World Bank about housing reconstruction after Typhoon Damrey in Novemeber 2017. Others on the team were reporting on transport, irrigation, agriculture, fisheries and economic development. Unfortunately I pulled a calf muscle at dawn on day one running along Nha Trang beach, as shown in the photo, so I didn't see as much of Vietnam as I would have liked. Nevertheless I did go north up the coast and inland to the highlands to see ieffect of storm and progress in recovery.I loved Vietnam. I liked the food, the way the country is developing and the confidence and directness of the people. I wish I could have stayed a month and seen more.

We went to St Petersburg in 2009 for a meeting on an EU project called ISAAC about heritage tourism. The May weather was marvellous and we stayed in a nice hotel next to the Fontanka River in walking distance of Nevsky Prospect. The high spot of our trip was a private tour of the Impressionist paintings in the Hermitage and Russian art in the Russian Museum. The Hermitage Museum, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great is spectacular - lavish, ornate with the most impressive collection of art. The collections occupy a complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, home of Tsars, centre of imperial power, scene of the Bloody Sunday massacre of protesters in 1905 and subject to storming by Red Army troops in the October 1917 Revolution. We also had a boat trip to Peterhof, , the Russian Versailles, begun in 1714 by Peter the Great as his Monplaisir'.

This is an account of a trip with Emily So of Cambridge University in 2006 to the areas affected by the Pakistan earthquake of 8 October 2005. The aim was to conduct a survey of survivors of the earthquake about their injuries as part of her PhD. My aim was to shed light on the factors affecting long-term recovery after major disasters. We interviewed people in Islamabad responsible for coordinating relief and reconstruction and visited the areas affected by the earthquake. We also drove up the beautiful Kaghan Valley as far as we were able. Understanding some of the issues faced by survivors of the earthquake was a powerful experience and we were treated with the warmest hospitality and generosity by everyone we met in Pakistan

We had a trip to Morocco in mind for some years, since Frances, our daughter, went there on buying trips twenty years ago. But this time we visited parts that were new to her. From Fez we crossed the Atlas Mountains and went south into the desert, then west along the mountains to Finnt, across to Marrakesh and back along the northern flank to Fez. I'm glad we went now because Morocco is changing. Everywhere we went there were signs of development - half finished apartments blocks, new suburbs and building plots. But Morocco feels authentic - women in bright Berber costume riding donkeys loaded with fodder, families out for an evening stroll, women washing clothes in the river. Even the stallholders and merchants seemed more polite and agreeable than in other places. Everyone was friendly and helpful and it was a pleasure to speak bad French.

I went to Kyrgyzstan as part of the EU SENSUM team investigating using remote sensing to map hazards and monitor disaster recovery. We ran a scenario planning game in Bishkek with Emergency personnel from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.Our host takes us to a night club. It's in a vast concert bunker. We toast each other unmercifully with vodka shots until encouraged onto the dance floor where we dance with a group of attractive young girls they call the 'jet-set'.We went for a walk in the snow covered Tien Shan and walked up the Ala Acha gorge. We wanted to see snow leopard, but all we saw were the inquisitive marmots and circling eagles. Having forgotten my trainers I had only sandals to keep my feet warm.Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan is a fascinating city, with its tree-lined boulevards, Soviet 'brave new world' architecture and a huge statue of Lenin pointing towards a future long gone. Bishkek is a city on the ancient 'silk-road' and there is a relaxed human feel to the place.

Australia is far-flung and until the airplane overcame the tyranny of distance Australia was terra incognita. Aboriginals of Australia are one of the oldest living peoples of the world having occupied the same territory longer than any other human population, about 50,000 years. They believe their ancestors brought the world into being by naming the landscape and the creatures that inhabit it. They sing to keep the land alive and their songs are stories of ancestor figures and a GPS to help guide them over vast distances. In Sydney and were treated to a spectacular exhibition of Aboriginal art and dance depicting places along the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia but we missed a visit to the Opera House and ferry rides across the harbour because of a mix-up with the flights. In Perth we attended the 60th Perth International Arts Festival with a dawn-dusk opening that aimed to reconcile the Nyungar guardians of Mudurup Rocks at Cottesloe with modern Australia.

The Laugavegur is one of the big walks. It is the most famous trek in Iceland and crosses other worldly landscapes formed by recent volcanos. I did it from north to south and it runs over 80km from Landmannalauger via Thorsmork to Skogar on the coast. The trail is normally open from late June to mid-August. I started on the 15 June, the first day the bus ran to Landmannalaugar. I hadn't booked the huts as I didn't know whether I'd make it. So I took camping gear. The scenery is sensational and unlike anywhere I'd been before. At this time of the year there is still a lot of snow. I was alone much of the time, having started early in the year. There were three river crossings in flood and I needed to strip and take care.You pass through vivid rhyolite mountains, climb snow slopes, cross ash deserts, rift canyons and glacial streams. There are wild flowers, sweet birch and the cries of redshank and ptarmigan. I did the trek from Landmannalaugar to Skogar in 4 days including the bus trips at either end.

The GR20 is one of the great walks of Europe, comparable in length to the Tour of Mont Blanc and similar in quality to the Cuillen Ridge on Skye. It runs across Corsica northwest to southeast. It crosses jagged peaks, that are snow covered for much of the year. It is over a hundred and thirty miles long, involves over 25,000 metres of ascent and descent and takes nearly two weeks. It is divided into two sections by a small gauge railway that crosses the GR20 at Vizzavona. We walked the northern part from Calenza in 2001 and the southern part from Conca in 2004, when we had just turned sixty. Like so many who do this walk, we found our own way, carrying all our food and the minimum of gear and clothing. This is an account of the walk, plus excursions to the Aiguilles de Bavella and Monte Renosu, two high level variants. It will introduce you to the joys of multi-day high level walking and maybe encourage you to try for yourselves.

Because of its remoteness, New Zealand was one of the last places to be settled by humans who arrived only 7-800 years ago from Polynesia and founded what today is a strong and highly influential Maori culture. We went to study recovery after the 2012 earthquake and stayed with Scharlie's cousin John and his wife Mollie in Christchurch. We interviewed key people involved in planning the reconstruction and also surveyed the damage in the centre and the badly affected suburbs, After we went off trekking, first on the Bealey Spur near Arthur's Pass north west of Christchurch and then along the Abel Tasman trail on the north coast of South Island. It was stunningly beautiful and we had it almost to ourselves. Finally, we crossed the Cook Strait to Wellington to meet people in GNS Science and visit a small piece of original bush preserved in the heart of the city.