After 16 years of guiding people around Ibiza on foot, Toby Clarke is beginning his final Around the Island adventure as lead guide.

The Ibiza-born guide set off on Thursday, October 1, 2026, for what will be his last full circumnavigation of Ibiza in that role. The 11-day journey covers approximately 260 kilometres around the island's coastline and marks the end of a chapter that began with a much simpler adventure in 2010.

Clarke's original walk, undertaken with his dog Cosmo and just €1 in his pocket, ultimately inspired the creation of Walking Ibiza, the company that later evolved into Ibiza Outdoors.

From one dog walk to a business

Clarke's story began in October 2010, when he decided to walk around Ibiza with Cosmo.

According to Ibiza Outdoors, he set out carrying food for his first day and only one euro, intending to rely on the generosity of people he encountered along the way.

He completed the journey in 11 days.

The experience changed the direction of his life. People subsequently began asking him to guide them around the island and show them the places he had discovered.

What began as a personal challenge gradually developed into Walking Ibiza, one of the island's early businesses dedicated to guided walking experiences.

The company has since evolved into Ibiza Outdoors, which now offers hiking, kayaking, e-bike tours, community walks, group activities and multi-day adventures.

The 2026 journey

Clarke's final Around the Island adventure as lead guide runs from October 1 to October 11.

Participants will walk approximately 260 kilometres over 11 days, following the coastline around Ibiza.

The current organised experience is very different from Clarke's original expedition.

Participants have accommodation, food, professional guides and logistical support, while a support vehicle transfers luggage between overnight stops. The route is designed as a demanding but organised multi-day walking experience rather than the improvised journey Clarke undertook in 2010.

The journey begins in Ibiza Town and takes participants around different sections of the island before returning towards the capital.

Clarke says the experience can change people's lives

Over the years, Clarke says he has witnessed some profound personal changes among people who have completed the route.

In an interview published as he prepares for his final expedition, he said some participants had left their jobs, ended long-term marriages or eventually moved to Ibiza after completing the walk.

These are Clarke's personal observations rather than independently measured statistics.

He believes the effect comes partly from the unusual environment created by spending 11 days walking, talking and living alongside a small group.

For Clarke, the journey becomes a period of introspection.

Participants spend hours walking together, away from their normal routines, and conversations naturally turn towards relationships, work, personal fears and future plans.

He describes the experience as a kind of continuous meditation, where people have time to consider whether the lives they are living are the lives they actually want.

Discovering a different side of Ibiza

Clarke says many of the people who join the expedition already love Ibiza, although some initially arrive because of the island's famous nightlife.

The walking route gives them a very different way to experience the island.

Instead of focusing on clubs and beaches alone, participants spend days moving through Ibiza's coastline, countryside and quieter landscapes.

Clarke also incorporates elements of the island's history and spirituality into the experience, including references to Tanit and traditional ideas surrounding the island.

His approach is based on showing visitors a side of Ibiza that can easily be missed when a trip is centred around nightlife.

The original one-euro philosophy

The one-euro story remains central to Clarke's relationship with the route.

In 2010, he deliberately wanted to see if he could complete the journey while relying on the generosity of people he met along the way.

He says he returned after 11 days with the same euro still in his pocket.

The journey demonstrated to him not only that Ibiza's coastline could be walked, but also how strongly the island's residents and communities responded to someone making the effort to explore it on foot.

That experience eventually became the foundation for his professional work.

A dream of an Ibiza version of the Camino de Santiago

Clarke has also spent years promoting the idea of creating a recognised long-distance walking route around Ibiza.

He has described his ambition as developing an Ibiza equivalent of the Camino de Santiago, using existing paths and improving signage and infrastructure so visitors could explore the island on foot.

He has pointed to Menorca's Camí de Cavalls as an example of how a recognised island walking route can become an established attraction.

However, Clarke says administrative procedures and the need to coordinate between different municipalities have made progress difficult.

His frustration with the bureaucracy has become part of the story of his efforts to establish a more formalised walking route around Ibiza.

The route will continue after Toby

Although this is Clarke's final Around the Island adventure as lead guide, the experience itself is not ending.

Ibiza Outdoors says future Around the Island trips will continue with other members of its guiding team.

Clarke will also remain involved with other walking and outdoor experiences rather than leaving the company or the world of guided adventures altogether.

Patrick, who has already worked as a guide and led groups in Formentera, is expected to take on a greater role in continuing the tradition.

For Clarke, the change represents a passing of responsibility rather than the end of the route.

Sixteen years later

Sixteen years after setting out with Cosmo and a single euro, Clarke is walking around Ibiza one final time as the lead guide.

The landscape remains the same inspiration that first motivated him, but the journey has grown from a personal adventure into an organised experience that has introduced visitors to another side of the island.

His final expedition runs for 11 days and approximately 260 kilometres, bringing the story that began in 2010 full circle.

The route will continue.

This time, someone else will lead the way.