Kaixo! As you will be a very welcome guest in my home, let me present myself. I arrived in the Basque Country by accident some 20 years ago in pursuit of a dream, and I never left. Until then I had worked in various countries as an English language teacher, journalist and cross-cultural facilitator and I am also a feature writer for the Sunday Times on Basque Culture. My teaching environments have oscillated between the Spanish embassy boardrooms in Copenhagen and the husky-drawn sledges of Greenland, where I trained the Inuit hunters as English-speaking guides. Teaching irregular verbs at -30 degrees has its challenges!
For the past 20 years I have lived in warmer climes running my company Pyrenean Experience Ltd which organises language, walking and cultural programmes in Ituren, Navarra. My dreams have come true and I now spend much of my time outdoors with my guests guiding them through the Basque Pyrenees and introducing them to the Basque culture and history. In the process, I have developed a fascination for the old smugglers' trails and the Comet (Comète) resistance network.
My first book on self-development was called 'Freedom to Choose' (Denmark 1997), followed by 'Breaking the Language Barrier' (England 2001) which was a rhapsody on language learning. My current manuscript - a travelogue/memoir - entitled 'Life on a Basque Mountain', has just been completed. published by Simon & Simon Ltd. The origins of Pyrenean Experience Ltd were inspired by both books, harnessing a restless spirit and love of adventure!