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No matter what speed I rode at, Alan adjusted his speed to match mine, but with bike to bike intercoms I was confident that I wouldn’t get lost if we split up We discovered the perfect rustic restaurant with home cooked food in one of the villages high on a hill, however having already had our picnic in the shade of a pine forest by the side of a monastery we had to pass that lunch stop up. At one point two large mountain goats bounded across the road ahead of us; this was yet another reason to yell excitedly into Alan’s ear piece, and equally so when we found ourselves riding along among a kettle of enormous griffin vultures that swooped across the road between us at eye level (yes, the collective name for vultures in flight is a kettle!) That time in Vietnam I chose to ride pillion with my guide Nam, because I was apprehensive about riding and I wanted to enjoy the views rather than concentrate on the road and the traffic,

A series of buses and trains across Spain got me to the final bus from Pamplona to St Jean Pied de Port with a couple of hours to spare and time to sample some tapas in a small bar. The lady at the desk in the Pilgrim Office couldn’t stress strongly enough that I had to avoid the ‘extremely dangerous’ forest path leading down off the Pyrenees and she suggested that I head off on the Thursday (this was Tuesday afternoon) because of a more favourable weather window, but she assured me that I would see plenty of other people along the route. We must have been mad to set off again and I for one had underestimated how hard those final kilometers would seem to be after a long day’s walk All things are put into perspective; partly due to the simplicity of the day to day routine of life but also thanks to the enormous scale of the task involved.

But I still wasn’t ‘getting’ Morocco despite doing my best to connect with as many local people as possible By the way, if you would like to experience Morocco but you aren’t feeling confident enough to brave it alone, my friend Jamillah offers tours and is fast becoming an expert on everything Morocco. Yes I would return to Morocco but I would travel in a different way. I can’t emphasise enough that I never felt unsafe and Morocco is a beautiful country with friendly people and an interesting culture so do visit if you have some time spare.

My favourite way to solo-travel and avoid loneliness is to participate in work exchanges; working for room and board (such as HelpX or WWOOF.) This is her advice: Travelling long-term can be difficult, especially travelling solo. Travelling solo doesn’t always mean you’re alone, it’s much easier to make friends. I can certainly relate to the above from Alice because the challenges raised with solo travel from the basis of my self help course and set me along my own journey to become a life coach and mentor to people with low esteem.