Stuart Kenny

Nov 20, 2024 | theguardian.com | Stuart Kenny

The sun splashes off the lagoon and I shield my eyes to see the wave rushing up behind me. I’m lying on my big foam surfboard in perfect position as it arrives. “Three big paddle strokes to catch the wave,” is what my instructor, Owen, had told me. I do just that, pop up and voilà: I’m surfing, arms out, gliding, grinning, sailing, slipping, falling flat on my face, hard into the water. I stand back up, unable to suppress a seismic smile and shake myself off like a wet dog.

Nov 19, 2024 | theguardian.com | Stuart Kenny

I am sitting on a sofa with my feet up, next to a log-burning fire, which is crackling away. The view out of the floor-to-ceiling window in front of me is on to a mess of deciduous forest stripped of its colour by winter. Beyond the trees, the main character of the piece, Loch Fyne, shines. The month is late November, and Scotland’s longest sea loch wears a coating of ice; thin enough to sink a skater but thick enough to colour the reflection of the vermilion sky and the rolling hills beyond.

Nov 19, 2024 | mpora.com | Stuart Kenny

Travel The mountains of Asturias are the last remaining refuge of the Cantabrian Brown Bear. Stuart Kenny goes in search of the elusive creatures. “We’re deep in the untouched part of Asturias here,” says Fernando Abarquero Zorilla, my guide. Specifically, we’re in the Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña e Ibias Natural Park, in northwestern Spain. We’re looking across a deep, narrow valley, to where a tangle of green beech, birch and oak trees rise steeply up from the Ibias River.

Oct 31, 2024 | active-traveller.com | Stuart Kenny

“We’re deep in the untouched part of Asturias here," says Fernando Abarquero Zorilla, my guide. Specifically, we’re in the Fuentes del Narcea, Degaña e Ibias Natural Park, in northwestern Spain. We’re looking across a deep, narrow valley, to where a tangle of green beech, birch and oak trees rise steeply up from the Ibias River. The slopes are punctuated by huge slabs and sharp spikes of limestone rock.

Oct 28, 2024 | muchbetteradventures.com | Stuart Kenny

Portugal is renowned for its beautiful coastline, which interwines sandy beaches with rugged cliffs, and witnesses some of the Atlantic’s wildest waves. The interior of Portugal is equally beautiful, from the limestone and karst mountains to the rewilded territories home to lynx, wolves, eagles and vultures - and the stunning, historic stone villages found in abundance throughout this storied country. The best hikes in Portugal can feature any one of these diverse landscapes.