Red world, grey moon
This issue walks. Four days along the Gediz Rim, two across the Blue Erg, three in the grey hills of Selka: the Reach is best seen at walking pace, even when walking means a pressure suit and a hut every ten kilometres.
Dev Castellan wrote the guides he wishes his guests had read, Ilse Marrow explains why Orrin's sunsets turn blue, and Liora Venn found the window on Halcyon worth the queue. Pack light.
Four days and 38 km along the rim of the Gediz canyon, from Corran's dome past Bolívar Pass to the view of Mount Halvard. Suits, huts, air, water, packing and fitness, day by day.
Why Orrin's northern dunes are dark basalt that looks blue from orbit, how they creep a few metres a year, and how to walk them safely in a pressure suit.
Orrin's noon sky is butterscotch and its sunsets cold blue. Our science correspondent explains the dust behind it, where to watch near Corran and how to photograph it through a visor.
Two days from Halcyon, Calder's airless moon offers walkers a black sky at noon, the soft grey hills of the Taurin Valley and boot prints that will outlast them. Three days on foot from Camp Ardent.
Halcyon's 300-metre observation deck has reopened after its refit. What has changed, what you will see through the new glass, how to behave on the deck and how to book a dawn session.
The six-hour shuttle from Port Kestrel to Halcyon is routine, but your first one won't feel it. A former launch-pad hostel keeper on ears, stomachs, water, sleep and that first view.
Dorm beds from 30 marks, noodles for 6 and the best launch view in the Reach for nothing: a former hostel keeper's guide to doing Port Kestrel cheaply.
