The lake opens at six and the first coach arrives at nine. In between there are three hours when the boats are yours and the water is completely still.
View post: Rowing out on Lago di Braies before the tour buses
Two kilometres of sand, one river crossing and no café. We filmed the walk in at low tide and came back at high tide to a very different beach.
View post: Praia da Bordeira at seven, before anyone else
Tortellini in broth, a second bottle nobody ordered and the owner's mother at the next table. What a proper Bolognese dinner costs and how to find one.
View post: A dinner in Bologna that started at ten
The ten-kilometre loop around the three peaks is the easiest big-mountain walk in the Dolomites, provided you park at the top and start before eight.
View post: Tre Cime with three teenagers, one argument
No itinerary, one lake a day and a cabin with a wood stove. A week in the Rockies planned around doing less than we thought we could stand.
View post: A week of doing very little in Banff
Fourteen kilometres of flat water between cliffs a kilometre high, rented from a shed in Gudvangen. Where to launch, what it costs and when the ferries pass.
View post: Paddling the Nærøyfjord in a rented kayak
Five parks and a van that topped out at 55 miles an hour. What broke, what we would rent again and what we would never do twice.
View post: A 1978 Westfalia through the red-rock parks
Fannette Island sits in Emerald Bay, an hour's paddle from the beach at Eagle Point. Rentals, the wind that gets up after noon and the teahouse ruin at the top.
View post: Kayaking to the only island in Lake Tahoe
Olive oil, salt, one good knife and a cloth. A short list for anyone who has stood in a rental kitchen at nine at night wondering how to cook an egg.
View post: A rental kitchen: what to buy on day one
Destinations
Portugal's south-west coast in June: cliff paths, empty beaches and campsites that cost less than a coffee in Lisbon.
Read the storyTick one more destination off your list: five places our writers keep going back to.
2 weeks ago
Chamonix to Courmayeur over the Col de la Seigne with huts booked and bags light. The section most people skip, and why it might be the best one.
View post: Three days on the Tour du Mont Blanc, the short way
