As usual, more to follow....
The Forest of Bowland (UK)
How could I not start with this? I lived there for 20 years so I've
to most parts of it although my dad still seems able to find new walks
for me to do - well he has been around for longer!
Most people
probably haven't heard of the area which isn't surprising really given
it's small size. It's only about an hour from the south Lake District
so people tend to go there instead.
The strange thing about the
Forest of Bowland is that it isn't a forest at all. It's designated an
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and I may be biased but I think it
deserves it. Walking is not challenging but some of the moorland could
be tricky in low visibility as they are pretty featureless.
Favourite walk: can't remember all the names but head up Parlick, turn left, straight on then right down the valley to Langden castle, turn up the valley on the right and head back onto Saddle fell, cut across Wolf fell and back down the side of Parlick.
The English Lake District
Whereever I've lived it's always been within 2 hours travelling of the Lakes so I know them quite well. Not really much to say that hasn't been said elsewhere and better.
Favourite walk: impossible to say as there are so many
Snowdonia
I haven't much experience of Wales having only been there a few times whilst at University in Manchester. Highlights for me include the Snowdon Horseshoe in winter, Tryfan and followed by the Glyders, leading a small group of students from Manchester up Snowdon.
I've been up Snowdon 3 times now and the weather has always been the same - lots of cloud, driving snow and very cold
Favourite walk: has to be Snowdon Horseshoe including Crib Goch in snow. I doubt I'll be doing this again as I seem to have developed vertigo.
Morocco
I did the High Atlas trek with the trekking company Explore Worldwide.
The reason I choose this trek is that it was the cheapest in their brochure! It would have been great do have gone there and arranged everything myself but this did relieve a lot of hassle and left me to enjoy the walking. It was also a good way to do things if you didn't have anyone to travel with. I arrived at Casablanca airport, my first time out of Europe eyeing up anyone European trying to decide who was likely to be trekking with us. The group turned out to be made up of 16, approximately half of which were couples. At 22 I was the youngest in the group but probably the most experienced in terms of mountain walking. The oldest was around 55.
We spent a couple of great days in Marakech, which was a real eye opener and then headed into the mountains. The first night was in Aremd where everyone elected to sleep on the house roof because a first night under the stars was so tempting. Next day we had a choice - follow the same route that the leader had done on other treks or try something new. We elected for adventure and took the latter option of climbing a ~3000m pass on the first day followed by a night out, a gorge walk followed by another night out and a then a 3000+m pass.
Unfortunately we got more adventure than we'd bargained for as on the first day our English guide was struck down with severe food poisoning and had to turn back. On the second evening I was struck down but we were in the middle of nowhere so the only option was to ride over the 3000+m pass on a mule - quite a frightening experience but if I'd been in good health I'd have enjoyed it.
After that things were pretty uneventful. In the second week most of the group elected to climb Jbel Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa at 4200+m, watch the sunset over the northern tip of the Sahara, spend the night on the summit, watch the sunrise and then walk down in the morning. The walk to the top was a bit of a slog and if it hadn't been for the acclimatisation earlier in the holiday I probably wouldn't have made it. Still, It was worth it for the view and the amazing sunset, sunrise. I'd recommend anyone there at the right time of year to do this. The morning we descended and the day after we climbed Ouanakrim, the second highest in North Africa. This is a much more enjoyable mountain with a small section of scrambling to reach the twin summits.
Overall Impression: hard work but I'd go again if I thought I was fit enough