Well, the sun's shining, the walking is fabulous and the hotels are wonderful. What more could I wish for? I'm here on the beautiful island of Samos in the Aegean checking our walking notes and saying hello to our hoteliers, as I dine on some wonderful traditional Greek cuisine each evening after a rewarding day's walk. You can follow my exploits in far more detail by logging on to Facebook and/or Twitter, both of which I am keeping regularly updated. Read the full post

Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O'Briain and Rory McGrath have set sail again as 'Three Men in a Boat' on the BBC (last night), this time sailing up the Adriatic from Montenegro via Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian Coast, heading for their final destination, Venice, where they plan to compete in a gondola race. As usual, they are jumping from one interesting vessel to another, in their characteristic, yet seemingly disorganized manner...   Read the full post

No need for Plan B today – everything went according to plan, despite the inclement weather that seems to be lingering. Today's rewalk was hard – uphill for 7km from the coastal town of Los Silos into the mountains, then 6km to the town of Erjos and the return. It was hard work – it's still humid but it's a very rewarding walk, climbing up through a dramatic barranco (ravine), and returning via a valley filled with flowers. Read the full post

The main purpose of my colleagues and I being sent to our holiday destinations is to do our best to make sure that everything is organised so that when you arrive on your holiday all the pieces will fall into place and everything will run smoothly. However, there is one thing that we cannot organise, pre-order or arrange – and that's the weather, as I found out, much to my frustration, today.

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Today has been an admin / research / fact-finding day (it's not all about checking / writing walking notes) - an important job when visiting our destinations abroad and a good opportunity to get to know our hoteliers. On this occasion I'd been asked, amongst other things, to view different types of rooms at the Hotel Victoria in La Orotava; to check out where alternative restaurants, within easy walking distance of the hotel, are located; and then re-check the driving notes for guests...

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