Well it’s taken me a long time to write it all up but the challenge has been completed! On 14th January 2017 I visited the first of 53 islands and on 13th January 2018 I landed on the 53rd and final island. Challenge completed! I did it!

The challenge begins.

The challenge ends.

It has been an amazing project. I stuck to Europe as, in order to finance the project, I had to be in the UK for a few days’ work every 10 days. It has been a budget trip throughout with the cheapest flights, budget accommodation and lots of hotel room picnics. The vast majority of the photos in this blog were taken by me with the odd notable exception where mentioned or when I was travelling with friends and I occasionally used some of their photos (with permission of course).  I used http://www.skyscanner.net to find the cheapest flights, http://www.airbnb.co.uk and http://www.booking.com for accommodation and downloaded a lot of Lonely Planet guides on my kindle. The random facts about my destinations came from local websites or from Wikipedia to whom I make a small monthly regular contribution by way of thanks. Thanks to Google for the maps and, although I was fortunate to be able to communicate well in all of the places I visited in one language or another, thanks to Google translate for the occasional translation.

Filicudi from Alicudi

Alicudi view to Filicudi

Otok Losinj sunset

Stromboli from Panarea

Otok Losinj sunset

Everyone has asked me which were my favourite islands.  It’s an almost impossible decision as all of the islands were special and they were all so different with such a wide variety of ‘personalities’.  If I had to choose my favourites, they would be the Aeolian Islands off the coast of Sicily (islands #12-18) especially Lipari (#12), Stromboli (#15) and Alicudi (#18); the Croatian Islands of Lošinj (#36) and Ilovik (#37); the Greek islands of Serifos (#26), Sifnos (#27) & Hydra (#28).  The welcome from local people went a long way to shaping my choices but some of them were just so breathtakingly beautiful it was impossible not to be awestruck.

Lipari cathedral

Marina Corta Lipari

Agios Ioannis Serifos

Serifos boat

I was nervous travelling alone at first but I got very used to it and, in the end, I became very comfortable exploring new places and chatting to new people – speaking a few foreign languages helps! I hid behind my (new) camera (Sony Cybershot) a lot and kept a journal of my travels – it gave me something to do when I was sitting around in bars and restaurants on my own! I became very interested in photography and in walking.  (I used http://www.fotor.com to edit photos and straighten my wonky horizons!) I tried not to over-organise, apart from the basics, and often read the guide books on the plane out. Travelling like this without much of a plan meant I could just wander and explore whatever I found but sometimes meant I missed things.  Having this blog gave me a purpose which was brilliant. I wish I could have stayed longer in most of the places I visited. Next time, I’ll take a tablet with me and write as I go.

Chora & Livadi, Serifos

Kamares sunset, Sifnos

Hydra harbour, Hydra

Chrisopigi monastery, Sifnos

In addition to the 53 I managed to visit, there were at least another 53 that I would have liked to have visited even without leaving Europe – the Swedish Archipelago; Finland’s Thousand Islands; the islands of Estonia; Corsica and Sardinia; the Azores; Italy’s Ponza and Ventotene, Rab and Korcula in Croatia; Rügen in Germany; Jersey and Alderney; the rest of the Isles of Scilly and all of the many Scottish Islands – there are so many! Another year! Another project! Not this year…..

Rovenska harbour, Losinj

Otok Losinj coastal walk

Sunrise, Ilovik

Ilovik harbour

Rovenska beach, Losinj

There are so many thank yous to say. I would like to thank all of my island hosts – in particular Andrea & Neda in Stromboli, Alina & Valentin in Alicudi and the lovely Martha in Serifos.  Muchas gracias to my good friend Alberto and his family in Gran Canaria for their generous hospitality. Thank you to all of the fellow travellers I met along the way, especially Alex and Junior from La Palma and Walter from Germany.

Vikky & I, Culatra

Chris & I, Guernsey

Ali, Nat & I, Procida

Deb & I, Reykjavik

Jules & I, Pfaueninseln

I am very grateful to my friends Vikky, Alison, Natalie, Julian and Deb and my cousin Christine for joining me on some of my trips and for being so encouraging. Thank you Alex Fadlon for your lovely inspiring comments about my photos. To each and every one of you who has read one or more posts or just flicked through the photos – thank you SO very much. If you made it to the end I am in awe!

Dad, boat to Frioul islands

Dad & I, Chateau d’If

The biggest thank you is for my Dad, Dennis Easlea, aka Spraitley, for his wonderful, enthusiastic support for this project, for joining me on a trip to the French Islands (even though he hates boats) and for going down to the library and reading every single post. Thank you Dad!

Me in Hydra

Lovely pony, Hydra

It’s been an amazing year! Thank you all so much for following! I leave you with my favourite Mark Twain quote:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did . So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

THE END!