Tag Archives: National Park

MAGIC OF WALKING ON THE GRAND RONDONEE 52

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Looking north from the top of Mangiabo on GR 52.
Looking north from the top of Mangiabo on GR 52.

Grand Randonnée 5 represents France’s premier alpine adventure running from Thonon-les-Bains on the south shore of Lake Geneva to Nice on the Mediterranean.  Many choose another alternative for the final third of the route, switching GR 52 for 5 just south of the Col de Larche.  This route – known as the Balcon du Mercantour – stays much higher than GR 5 and offers much more drama as it marches southeast and then south to finish on the Mediterranean at the boat harbor of Menton-Garavan.

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ICELAND IMPRESSIONS – ÞINGVELLIR MAGIC MET ON THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

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Church and Prime Minister's summer home at Þingvellir.
Church and Prime Minister’s summer home at Þingvellir.

A recent trip to Europe ended up flying us through the far northern island country of Iceland.  I had wanted to visit this country since hiking about in the tundra and mountains of Norway back in the early years of the 1980s.  The vast treeless moors of the Hadangervidda and the Jotunheimen served as magnificent introductions into the immense beauty to be discovered in the subarctic.  Iceland figured to take the natural beauty up a notch or two. The tundra also provided a bridge between magical nature with the political past at Þingvellir.

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