This will involve six days backpacking across the volcanic wilderness of Southern Iceland.

The proposed itinerary for the trip is as follows:

Saturday 13^th July, group meets in Reykjavik.
Over night stay in city centre based in twin room apartment accommodation.

Sunday 14th July
 We start our journey early on an off road bus to Landmannalaugar, the start of the hike. This will take approximately four hours. The second half of the journey takes us through the lava fields, mountains and rivers of Southern Iceland. We will set up camp in a designated campsite. We will then go on a 2 hours hike up the nearby mountain of Blahnukur, a superb vantage point. We will then return to the camp for a meal and a possible swim in the hot springs. It does not get dark this time of year so there are no time pressures to complete things before it gets dark!

^{Monday 15th July}
Hike day 1 from Landmannalaugar to Hrafntinnusker 12km (7.5 miles) 600 meters ascent. Camp.

Tuesday 16th July
Hike day 2 from Hrafntinnusker to Lake Alftavatn 12km (7.5 miles) 500 meters of descent. Camp.
If the weather is poor or there is a lot of snow at Hrantinnusker we may choose to combine these two days. There are showers and a small bar at Alftavatn.

Wednesday 17th July
Hike day 3 from Alftavatn to Emstrur  15km (9.5 miles) 40 meters descent. Camp.
Visit the Markarfljotsgljufur Canyon, a 30 minutes walk from the campsite. Showers are available at this campsite.

Thursday 18th July
Hike day 4 from Emstrur to Thorsmork, 15Km (9.5 miles) 300 meters of descent. Camp. There are showers and a nice lodge where we can have food and drink. More supplies can be bought from here.

Friday 19th July

Hike day 5 from Thorsmork to Fimmuorduhals, 11km, (7 miles) 900 meters ascent. Camp.

If conditions are poor we may continue all the way to Skogar.
We will be walking close to the Eyjafjallajokull ice cap and over the area of the 2010 volcanic eruption We will be walking next to the two new craters of Modi and Magni formed after the 2010 eruption. We will have to melt snow at this camp for water as there is not a natural supply.

Saturday 20th July
Hike day 6 from Fimmuorduhals to Skogar, 13km, 600 meters descent. Early start In order to catch bus back to Reykjavik. We finish the hike at the famous Skogafoss waterfall. Catch bus back to Reykjavik at 14.00. Overnight in Reykjavik, celebration dinner.

Sunday 21st July
Depart for UK or stay an optional extra day for relaxing and sight seeing.

Most people will stay an extra day to explore Reykjavik and fly home on the Monday

Saturday: Fly easyjet to Aqaba arriving 16.45.  A short taxi journey will take us to our hotel, The Maswada Plaza. For those traveling on a different flight we will meet up at the hotel. Walk to the centre of town for evening meal and a look round the shops.

Sunday:  Leave hotel at 9.30am. Travel to the Wadi Rum. This should take around two hours. Meet up with our Bedouin guide Ali. After sorting equipment we will leave for a four days expedition into the desert starting with a scramble through the amazing Rakabat Canyon. This will take around 2 hours. On exiting the canyon we will have lunch. After lunch we will hike approximately 6 miles to our overnight bivouac at the base of Burdah mountain.

Monday: We will make a scramble up to the Burdah Bridge, a rock arch 1000 feet above the desert floor. This involves sections of exposed grade 1 scrambling. The ascent and descent will take around four hours. On arriving back on the desert floor we will have lunch. After lunch we will hike approximately 6 miles to Jebel Kesh. This is a very remote part of the Wadi Rum close to the Saudi Arabian border. Here we will bivouac. Our support crew will meet us there.

Tuesday: We will hike for approximately eight miles through the desert with amazing views and rock architecture. We will climb a peak on the way offering amazing 360 degrees views. We will have lunch at some point during the hike. We will arrive at an overnight fixed camp. Here there are toilets and showers. An evening meal will be cooked by a Bedouin chef. A well deserved bit of relative luxury!

Weds.: Hike back approximately 5 miles to Rum Village. Here we will prepare for our onward journey to Petra. It is a two hours drive to Petra where we will be staying at the very clean and comfortable Petra Corner Hotel. This is conveniently located close to the entrance of the Petra site. Evening meal at the hotel.

Thursday: Early start of around 7.00am for a visit to Petra. Here we will be free to hike anywhere we like. Petra is at it’s best in the early morning. We have a hike planned taking in The High Place and many other fantastic sites. Return to the hotel to relax. Early evening meal and then an optional visit to see The Treasury at night. This starts at 8.00pm and finishes at 10.00pm. This costs 17 Jordanian Dinars (about £20.00).

Friday: We will take a taxi north to the village of Beidah. From here we will hike a little walked trail through the ‘back door’ of Petra. In its later stages it follows rock shelves with fantastic views of the black mountains and Wadi Araba. We will then find ourselves at the breath taking Monastery site.

From here we will descend the tourist path into central Petra. For those who want further excitement we will continue the hike along little walked Wadis and rock slabs to exit Petra near our hotel. Evening meal at a local restaurant.

Saturday: In the morning we will take a taxi to visit Little Petra. This is a great little place that takes about an hour to explore. After lunch we will depart for Aqaba airport. People with other arrangements or flight times may depart at different times.

Thursday – Fly to Palma on morning flight. Transfer to Soller by nine seater minibus. Check in to the Hostel Nadal. Afternoon hike to explore Soller and Port Soller.

Friday to Sunday – Full day hikes up to seven hours in duration. These may include the ascent of Puig de Massanella, the descent of the Torrent de Pareis and the circuit of Tossals Verds. We will have plenty of time to enjoy and explore the beautiful town of Soller. There is a Sunday market in the square which is worth a visit.

Monday – Depending on the time of the return flight from Palma we may relax in Soller or explore Palma.

Saturday – Fly to Tashkent, all meet at a designated hotel, evening meal and trip chat.

Sunday – Travel by train to Samarkand, journey should take approximately three hours.

Check in to hotel and spend the afternoon and evening exploring.

Monday – Visit more of the ancient sites. We will have an English speaking guide for part of the day to tell us about the remarkable history of this ancient city.

Tuesday – Transfer by taxis to the Uzbekistan – Tajikistan border. Walk across the border and meet

our Tajikistan transportation. Drive to the centre of Penjikent where we will spend a few hours exploring this border town with its dominating Soviet architecture. We will then travel to the Fan Mountains our first stop being at Iskanderkul Lake where we will have lunch. After lunch we will drive to the village of Sarytag at an altitude of 2390 meters. We will settle into our accommodation and then take a short hike to explore the surrounding area.

This is an amazing day seeing and doing so much.

Wednesday – After breakfast we will hike up to Maslokhatepe and maybe beyond slowly gaining altitude to a height of approximately 2800 meters. Return to Sarytag to relax and spend a second night here.

Thursday – Leave after breakfast and travel to the village of Artuch where we will start our six days hike deep into the Fan Mountains. We will be using a team of porters with donkeys to transport our camping equipment.  We will hike up to and make camp at the Kulikalon Lakes area at an altitude of approximately 3000 meters. Here we will stay for two nights.

Friday – Acclimatisation hike to Dushakha Lakes and possibly further to the base of the 2000 meter high north face of Mirali. Return to camp to relax.

Saturday – Hike over the Alaudin Pass our highest point of the hike at 3800 meters. It should take between three and four hours to reach the top of the pass. From here we will descend to Alaudin Lakes at 3000 meters where we will camp.

Sunday – Day hike to Mutnyi Lake at 3500 meters. There may be an option depending on conditions and fitness to continue ascending towards the foot of Chimtarga pass at just over 4000 meters. Return to camp.

Monday – Hike over Laudan pass at 3630 meters. Back to the Kulikalon Lakes area. Camp.

Tuesday – Return to Artuch Village via the beautiful and remote Chukurak pass at 3200 meters.

Wednesday – Meet our transport and transfer back to Penjikent. Stay night in Penjikent. Short transfer to Uzbekistan border. Here we will walk one kilometre through no mans land to enter Uzbekistan. We will then travel back to Bukhara where we will stay the night.

Thursday – Spend the day visiting the sites of Bukhara.

Friday – Travel overland to Tashkent, spend the night.

Saturday – Travel back to UK

Thursday – An afternoon flight from Luton arrives in Kutaisi early morning and we transfer to nearby accommodation to catch some sleep before our onward journey to Svaneti.

Friday – After an early breakfast we will drive 4-5 hours from Kutaisi to Mestia, the gateway to Upper Svaneti, and our destination for the first night. We will have the afternoon to explore this charming mountain town with centuries-old defensive Koshkebi stone towers.

Saturday – After a hearty breakfast we meet our local guide in Mestia, leave the town, follow the river East and we hike the trail through forests and over pastures from which we will have fantastic views of Mt. Ushba. The path continues south-east and opens up for the beautiful Svaneti valley dominated by Mt. Tetnuldi peak, our highest point of the day. From here we descend the trail passing through Zhamushi and Cholashi villages before finishing at our destination of Zhabeshi village. 16km distance, 750m+ ascent, 500m descent.

Sunday – Out of Zhabeshi village we head in a south-east direction and climb over a series of pastures.

The trail crosses open meadows with nice views and wildflowers before we traverse the base of Mt. Tetnuldi through the open grasslands. Finally the trail turns south and we have a steep descent into the village of Adishi, our destination for the night. 11km distance, 900m ascent, 500m descent

 

Monday – We continue our journey east and follow the trail along the Adishi River. After 1 hour we  reach the foot of Adishi glacier here we ford the river, either by wading or by horse. Once across the river we ascend the trail for 2 hours through fields of rhododendrons until we reach Chkhunderi pass (2655m) which offers incredible views of surrounding snow capped mountains and the Adishi glacier. If the weather is fine we’ll head up further to along the north-east ridge for even better views of the glacier. From the Chkhunderi pass we descend the trail into the valley following the Khaldechala river until we reach the tiny village of Iprali, our destination for the night. 19km distance, 900m ascent, 1100, descent

Tuesday – We leave Iprali, cross the Khaldechala river, hike through alpine meadows and light forests and the village of Davberi. 2 kilometres from Ushguli we move off the trail and head to Murkmeli, one of four communities forming Ushguli. We pass the village, cross the bridge and follow the trail along the Enguri river until we reach the village of Ushguli. Recognised as the Upper Svaneti UNESCO World Heritage Site, at 2100m above sea level it’s one of the highest continuously inhabited villages in Europe. We will have the chance to explore this fairytale like village or just relax in our guesthouse and gaze at the surrounding mountains. 13km distance, 700m ascent, 450m descent.

Wednesday – We have the option of a half-day hike to the Shkhara glacier or another short hike to a viewpoint of Mt. Shkhara, Georgia’s highest mountain, which soars to over 5,200 metres and marks the Russian border. In the afternoon we transfer to Mestia where we’ll have time to check in to our guesthouse followed by a self-guided tour of Mestia or just relax before our final Svanetian meal and maybe even some live traditional music. 10km distance, 300m ascent, 300m descent, 2 hours driving.

Thursday – After saying goodbye to our hosts we drive back to the airport at Kutaisi for our flight home.

You may of course choose to extend your stay to further explore Kutaisi, the Black Sea city of Batumi, or Tbilisi, the most charming of Caucasian capital.