A Walk in the Clouds

Alpine expert Kev Reynolds has spent fifty years exploring mountain landscapes and thirty writing about his experiences. Here he shares some of the high points of a full life as a wanderer and writer. Kev is the leading international authority on many mountain ranges, including the Pyrenees, many regions of the Alps and the Nepal Himalaya. As the author of numerous guides he has inspired many thousands of trekkers to follow in his footsteps. As a lecturer he regularly evokes the mood and majesty of the mountains to spellbound audiences. In this book Kev tells how he set off, aged 21, to explore the Atlas Mountains of Morocco - and never looked back. He abandoned his desk-bound local government job to pursue a life in the mountains, living and working in Britain, Austria and Switzerland before finding his true metier as a writer. These 75 stories capture the joy he has take in exploring the Atlas Mountains, Pyrenees, Alps, Himalaya and 'Other Wild Places' again and again, meeting the local people and the mountain guides, experiencing the local food, faiths and lifestyle and watching the sun rise and set against some of the world's highest peaks from summit bivvies.

Auteur

A lifelong passion for the countryside in general, and mountains in particular, drives Kev's desire to share his sense of wonder and delight in the natural world through his writing, guiding, photography and lecturing. Spending several months every year among various high mountain regions researching guidebooks, makes him The Man with the World's Best Job; a title he aims to keep by remaining active for another 100 years at least. Kev has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Cicerone since the 1970s, producing 50 books, including guides to five major trekking regions of Nepal, and to numerous routes in the European Alps and Pyrenees, as well as walking guides for Kent, Sussex and the Cotswolds and he has several more books in the pipeline. His latest book, A Walk in the Clouds, is a collection of autobiographical short stories recording 50 years of mountain travel and adventures. He is also the contributing editor of the collaborative guide Trekking in the Himalaya. A frequent contributor to outdoor magazines, Kev also writes and illustrates brochures for national tourist authorities and travel companies. When not away in the mountains, Kev lives with his wife in a small cottage among what he calls 'the Kentish Alps', with unrestricted walking country on the doorstep. But he also travels throughout Britain during the winter months to share his love of the places he writes about through a series of lectures.

Contenu

A word before we begin Atlas Mountains: exotic mountain playground 1: Travels in an ancient land 2: Mules, frogs and bivvy bags 3: Mint tea with a muleteer Pyrenees: a spiritual home 4: Out of the shadows, into the light 5: Up and over 6: The last green valley 7: It was the nightingale 8: Tragedy on Jean-Pierre 9: The longest day 10: C'est le paradis 11: A Pyrenean maestro 12: Something of a doo-day 13: No friend in high places 14: Death of an izard 15: Among the Enchanted Mountains 16: Hole in one 17: The lost patrol 18: The way to Andorra 19: Rendezvous in Gavarnie Alps: always something new to discover 20: A big moon rising 21: Living in the clouds 22: Chasing sunrise 23: Out with a pro 24: Battle of the ibex 25: Reflections in the alpenglow 26: The wind of relief 27: Mello magic 28: The pink château 29: A roar of disapproval 30: Unease on ice 31: The joy of doing nothing 32: Just hanging around 33: Walking on ice 34: One sunset too many 35: Henry V goes walkabout 36: Heart of the storm 37: Rtikon paradise 38: Breakfast on a tray 39: Under leaden skies 40: For the thank you 41: Recording historic landscapes 42: The Emperor's Mountains 43: The giant green tortoise 44: Collecting summits 45: On the hill with Hrst 46: Moments of being Himalaya: where dreams come true 47: Abode of the gods 48: Ten thousand prayers in the wind 49: Culture shock 50: Guru with an empty doko 51: The puja room 52: Clever little sod 53: The wonder of a blue front door 54: The ultimate chapatti 55: A taste of beauty 56: Head-to-head in the Himalaya 57: The Khumbu carpenter 58: Old man very tired 59: Song of the hidden land 60: Lost 61: Mountaineers of the future 62: To the ends of the Earth 63: A shadow to Cheri Gompa 64: Ballast 65: Saving Tsewan 66: With the aid of a hearse 67: Pasa Chaur Other wild places: a kaleidoscope of experience 68: Corsica: sun and snow on the scented isle 69: Norway: the blessings of bad weather days 70: Spain: the fragrance of the hills 71: Madeira: lunching with lizards 72: Tenerife: island of the dragon tree 73: Turkey: yogurt with the matriarch 74: Peru: the garden of tears 75: Peru: Alpamayo dreaming Afterthought Glossary