TRAVEL SECRETS
wanderlust.co.uk October 2019 9394
Stopofor
apick-me-up
atCapeWrath,Scotland
Sean Conway, endurance
adventurer, author and
motivational speaker
Have you ever been
on a long walk and arrive at the
café 10 minutes after it closes?
It’s heart-breaking when that
piece of cake and cup of soup
you’ve been dreaming of for
hours is locked behind a glass
door. Well, if you happen to be
walking toward Cape Wrath
lighthouse on Scotland’s northern-
most reaches then you will never
have this problem. There is a café
in the lighthouse that will open for
you whatever time of day or night.
IknowthisbecauseIhavetested
itwhenIarrivedat10.30pmto
awarmbowlofsoup.
seanconway.com95
Goskiingin
Tehran,Iran
Andy Smart, comedian
and travel writer
If you have some time
o in Tehran why not
go skiing for the day. The city is
surrounded by the desert to the
south and a crescent of mountains
to the north. There is a ski resort
at Tochal, on the highest peak of
these mountains. It takes about an
hour from the city centre to the
bottom of the lifts. The runs are
basic but not busy. Just two hoursnorth is the bigger resort of Dizin,
with chalets and ski hire shops.
A Hitch in Time (AA Publishing,
2019) is out now.96
Adventure down
theAmazonon
apublicriverboat
Mark Stratton,
travel writer and radio
broadcaster
Adventure cruises by
boat are an exciting way to explore
the world’s great rivers. Yet such
expeditions can be prohibitively
expensive. So consider using
long distance public ferries for
a fraction of the cost. I recently
made a legendary trip down the
Amazon from its mouth at Belem
to Manaus on a public riverboat.
The 6-day journey cost just R$200
(£40) for a cabin. Besides soaking
in the Amazonian scenery I wiled
the days away getting to know the
mostly Brazilian passengers.97
Take a tour of
Rurrenabaque
Pampas, Bolivia
100km north-east of Rurrenabaque,
in the Bolivian lowlands, is Santa
Rosa, the remote jumping o
point for boat tours on the
slow-moving Río Yacuma, where
wildlife is bountiful. Families of
capybara, hundreds of caiman,
pink river dolphin, raucous hoatzin,
herons and innumerable other
birds can be seen at boat level.
Look up into the gallery forest
for howler, squirrel and capuchin
monkeys. On a walk through the
marshes, wading in parts,you’ll
see spoonbills and maybeeven an
anaconda if you’re lucky.Spirit of adventure
(clockwise from far left)
Steve Backshall
exploring caves in the
Yucatan; Cape Wrath;
a squirrel monkey in
Rurrenabaque