Books published by Leveret Publishing

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 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.

In the summer of 2004 we went climbing with Dimitri in the Valle Garrafano in the Apuane Alps, a limestone area famous for its Carrara marble. Dimitri had been a tenant of ours in Cambridge when he had a sabbatical working in the University Library. We returned the following summer and were whisked off again to the rocky valleys of Italy's far northwest. We climbed in the Valle Maira and Valle Gesso in the Maritime Alps, Then we drove further north to the Valle dell'Orco in the Graian Alps near the Parco Gran Paradiso. The rock was superb and we did some great routes following our 'Pied Piper' Dimitri.

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.