CLIMBS ETC

Transport yourself to the chestnut forests of Southern Tuscany, on the slopes and valleys around a long-silent volcano, Monte Amiata, not far from the old pilgrim's path to Rome, the Via Francigena. Walking in the woods you will come across oddly shaped boulders, remnants of volcanic rock spewed out in a former era. And if - like me - you can't resist a bit of climbing or, in this case, bouldering, you try out some of the boulders for size. The rock is rough, trachyte, eas

Cratcliffe Tor. Two sheer-sided prows and, on the deck above, a Zen garden of boulders.