Read this blog: The one where we watch Sophie’s fringe performance. Friday 18th August 2023 Ever since 1992 when her mother first introduced us to the fabulous historical properties available to rent through The Landmark Trust, Matilda has been yearning to visit The Pineapple. It is situated in Dunmore near Falkirk, close to Stirling where she went to university, but she was entirely unaware of its existence at the time. When we learnt in the autumn of 2022 that Jaime’s friend Sophie [who came to Tresco with us in 2021] would be performing at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, Matilda looked up availability and found that the weekend of 18th to 21st August was available. As this coincided with Robert and Matilda’s wedding anniversary, as well as likely dates for Sophie’s performances, it seemed as though it was meant to be. The dates of Sophie’s performances were confirmed earlier this year and our best option was to see her perform in Edges at 10:00 on Friday 18th August. During the Edinburgh Festival, accommodation is obviously at a premium so having stayed in Glasgow, we woke early and drove to Falkirk High Station, parked there and took a train in for […]
Read this blog: The one where we experience a haunting Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th August 2023 We had originally planned that we would be taking our elderly dog, Ralf, to stay with Matilda’s sister, Clare, in Essex on our way up to spend a long weekend in Scotland but he sadly died a week before our trip. Although we were so very sorry to have to say goodbye to him, he had had a long and [we hope] happy life with us and we have such fond memories: regular readers may remember him making quite a splash in our Narrowboat Adventures in 2022. Without the need to arrange a holiday home for Ralf, we were able to rethink our plans and break our journey to York at Lyveden, as Matilda is still working on getting Robert’s money’s worth out of her lifetime membership of the National Trust and is keeping a running total of her ‘savings’. Lyveden is a remarkable survivor of the Elizabethan age, particularly as the Tresham family who owned the property were not only devout Catholics but were also involved in the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 against King James I. Sir Thomas Tresham inherited the estate […]
Read this blog: The one where we pass through the Rhine Gorge Thursday 13th to Saturday15th July After returning to the boat in Rüdesheimer, where we had lunch, the boat set off for its journey further north up through the most picturesque part of the River Rhine. Here we are travelling through an area with many beautiful castles on both sides of the river. The Rhine Gorge is the name given to the 65km stretch of the river between Rüdesheim and Koblenz where it runs between steep rock faces up to 200m high. Historically many boats have capsized here on a dangerous curve in the river. The rational explanation is that the rocky riverbed coupled with unusual currents make this section difficult to navigate safely but locals have woven legends to explain the frequent tragedies. The Rhine Gorge still presents a hazard and the most recent shipwreck was in 2011 when a tanker carrying 2,400 tons of sulfuric acid capsized. One feature of the gorge is the Lorelei, a 132 m high steep slate rock formation which has had an amphitheatre perched on the top since the 1930s. There is a bronze statue called the Lorelei Statue which marks the […]
Read this blog: The one where we cycle through a vineyard. Wednesday 12th July to Thursday [morning] 13th July 2023 Having travelled overnight again, we awoke in Speyer and started the day watching a local man fishing while we were eating our breakfast. But we failed to see him catch a single fish, only some seaweed as he gradually got further and further into the water. [His partner did not look as though they were going to go to save him if he fell.] We started by heading into Speyer on foot, to go to the Technik Museum, which has many different vehicles on display ranging from bikes, cars, planes as well as mock ups of Apollo 11. Jaime has commented that there are too many photos of the Technik Museum, but Robert insisted that he wants to show the vast array of vehicles. Be warned: the Technik Museum Speyer was opened in 1991 and contains more than 2,000 exhibits in a total exhibition area, both inside and outdoors, of over 150,000 m². So get ready! There was a row of Rolls Royce cars through the years. Jaime couldn’t really tell much of a difference between them but enjoyed the BMW […]
Read this blog: The one where we start our Rhine cruise Sunday 9th to Tuesday 11th July 2023 Earlier in the year Robert planned to accompany his mother on a river cruise along the Rhine in preparation for them taking a much longer trip in 2024. However, in May this year, his mother decided that, due to various health issues she would not be able to travel. So close to the departure date there was no chance of getting a full refund and she kindly thought to give her place to a deserving cause. Although Matilda felt she could have been a serious contender in this category, she had been allocated tickets in the public ballot for the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon. Such an opportunity might never come her way again and it was something she definitely wanted to tick off her bucket list. At the start of the year when she was offered the tickets she had agreed to go with our elder daughter, Ruth, who [unlike Robert] enjoys Pimms, tennis and strawberries and cream and was willing to pay for her own ticket. With two members of The Herd therefore already committed, the obvious candidate was our […]
Monday 15th May 2023 Once again Matilda was woken early by ear ache and having had breakfast we realised that we had time to visit a pharmacy in Penzance for advice before going for our pre-booked tour of the Minack Theatre. The hotel receptionist had told a us that there was a pharmacy at Sainsbury’s near the heliport but this had closed last month [in April 2023] and we were directed to the pharmacy attached to the minor injuries unit. Here Matilda was advised to use Ear Calm [which was kept in a small cabinet on the shelves] and call the health centre on the Isles of Scilly if this therapeutic spray did not provide any lasting relief. Reading the active ingredients, it seemed to be comprised predominantly of vinegar. From here we retraced our steps towards Land’s End and the Minack Theatre nestled on the cliffs at Minack Point above Porthcurno. This is quite unique. The approach reminded us of the ‘a big reveal’ at the Eden Project: here you walk through the car park, the entrance and down a winding path before the whole site dramatically appears below you. Minack is an open-air theatre created by Rowena Cade […]
Sunday 14th May 2023 Some subscribers may know that Matilda likes to read a novel which is in some way associated with the places we visit. She was unfortunately woken early on Sunday by earache (more of this in subsequent posts) but she was pleased that this also gave her time to start Crooked House by Agatha Christie before setting off to visit Greenway. Although she has watched innumerable film and TV adaptations of Miss Marple and Poirot she had not previously read any of the novels. She chose Crooked House as it appeared in a list of the top ten Agatha Christie books; at the time of publication, the ending was felt to be too shocking even for Agatha Christie and the author’s preface describes it as “one of my own special favourites”. Matilda subsequently discovered that Dead Man’s Folly was inspired by the house and part of it was filmed there, so that will have to be added to her reading list. In 1938 Agatha Christie bought the property Greenway House as a holiday home/summer retreat [see featured photo]. She described it as being “the loveliest place in the world” but did not take up residence until after […]
Saturday 13th May 2023 We are on our way to join Robert‘s mother on Tresco in the Isles of Scilly as this is the final year of his parents’ 30 year timeshare there. Although part of the UK, getting to the Scillies is an expedition in itself and unfortunately his father is now frail and forgetful and unable to make such a long journey. We are younger and less forgetful but we still like to break the journey when we can and take in a few sights on the way. This year, Matilda wanted to include seeing both her ex-neighbour who now lives in Wadebridge and the National Trust property Greenway, Agatha Christie’s country home near Brixham in Devon. Robert had decided to break the journey first at Exeter so that we could then carry on and see both these two on one day. He usually likes to set off early to “beat the traffic” but Matilda knows that this is really cover for him trying to get to a hostelry for the end of the school day. He also wanted to watch the Saracens vs Northampton Saints rugby match. Matilda meanwhile is fighting a rearguard action to delay the first […]
Tuesday 28th March 2023 We anticipated that there could be some continued disruption following the strike so Robert went down to reception early to ensure he could sort out the issues with our extended hotel stay. Once again it seemed to take three members of staff to unravel what one person on reception had done. Eventually it transpired that the receptionist had cancelled our first booking for two days and then reinstated a booking for the wrong date. This went some way to explaining why the hotel thought we had checked out when we hadn’t. When all was under control and good relations restored we set off for Maastricht. Most of the trains were running but we would need to take a bus for part of the journey. Although staff on the railway were telling passengers that their tickets were valid on the bus, the bus driver did not seem to have been informed of this fact. Eventually he became tired of repeating himself and simply allowed passengers with train tickets to board unchallenged. The last time we were in Maastricht was in the autumn of 2018. For our first trip after Matilda retired we took our Lakeland Terrier, Ralf, away […]
Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th March 2023 This trip has a complicated history. We originally planned a three day trip to Bruges in December 2021 with our friends Liz and Martin. However, just as we were about to depart, an incomprehensible rule was introduced which prevented people from staying for more than 48 hours in Belgium without taking a Covid test. We were never entirely sure how this was meant to restrict the spread of the virus but we did not want to break the rules and risk having to pay for our own accommodation to isolate. Our Eurostar tickets were non-transferable so we could change neither the names of the passengers nor the route travelled. We therefore decided to leave Belgium early, spend one night in Lille, in France, and book new tickets to travel home from there to circumvent the rule. This left us with two return tickets from Brussels. Robert has been repeatedly deferring these tickets ever since but our time has run out and it was a case of ‘use them or lose them’. So here we are, on a trip planned to take in Düsseldorf, Bonn and Maastricht, returning via Brussels. As will become apparent in […]
Monday 27th March 2023 Yesterday, just as the tram we were waiting for arrived, Robert spotted a message on the rolling digital notice board saying that there would be a national transport strike in Germany on 28th March. Robert mentioned this to Matilda. We were booked on a train to Bonn that day, so this obviously caused us some consternation. Having already boarded the tram, we discussed the ramifications and decided to get off at the next stop and walk back to the Hauptbahnhof to see how the situation could be resolved. As we walked, Robert called our hotel to ask if we could stay an extra night. Once this was agreed in principle we went to the ticket office to see what our options were. We were told that our tickets would be valid for several days after the designated strike day and we were given a printout of the train times for the following days. We returned to the hotel to confirm we would be staying for an extra day and find out whether we would need to change rooms. We would not. The woman on reception told us she had amended our booking and gave us new keycards […]
Sunday 5th February 2023 MrShuttle again sent a confirmation of the time of we would be picked up for our visit to Auschwitz and as we would be leaving before breakfast the hotel provided us with a packed lunch each in a brown paper bag. It included such shiny green apples that we felt it must be someone’s job in the kitchen to polish them. Auschwitz is about 70km from Kraków and on board the coach we watched a video about the camps. Auschwitz: a single word synonymous with genocide which conjures up the worst that mankind can do. A single word known the world over. Far from being a single place, Auschwitz was in fact a vast complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps consisting of Auschwitz I, the main camp or Stammlager; Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a concentration and death camp with purpose-built gas chambers; Auschwitz III-Monowitz, a labour camp for the chemical conglomerate IG Farben as well as dozens of sub-camps. A single word cannot convey the sheer scale of the site and we both struggle to describe the enormity of this place and therefore sometimes, below, we are indebted to better minds than ours for their words. Robert has visited […]
Sunday 5th February 2023 We planned to go to the Wieliczka Salt Mine in the morning and Oskar Schindler’s Factory Museum in the afternoon. The Wieliczka Salt Mine is about half an hour’s drive outside Kraków and Robert had booked a guided tour through MrShuttle to include transport and entry to the mine. The evening before, he had received a text confirming the booking and telling him what time we would be picked up from outside our hotel. Fortunately, this was later than expected and would give us plenty of time to have breakfast. We were picked up promptly at 09:00 and driven by car to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. It briefly seemed to us as though this must be a very quiet time of year for tourism if there were only going to be the two of us on the tour. However, once we arrived at the mine entrance [see below] we were joined by a minibus full of other MrShuttle customers all waiting for the English-speaking tour. Salt or sodium chloride [NaCl] has been extracted at this site since Neolithic times. The surface water was such a highly saturated salt solution that it was undrinkable and was effectively […]
Saturday 4th February 2023 Matilda was delighted to wake up and realise that she had been successful in the Wimbledon Ballot for the 2023 Championships and had been offered tickets to the Men’s Singles Final. There was a brief period when she thought this might have been a scam but logging in to her account she found that the ticket offer was genuine. Her initial reaction of “Woah, that’s quite a lot of money,” was quite swiftly followed by “Wow this could be my one and only chance to do this”. One off the bucket list. Having confirmed with Robert that he would be her ‘plus one’ if no one else more interested in tennis, strawberries and Pimms could go with her she accepted and paid for her tickets. Matilda then spent most of the train journey from Warsaw to Kraków smiling to herself and is now really looking forward to July. We first came to Kraków together in 2016 before the inception of TravellingHerd.uk when we also visited Warsaw [see previous blog] and so we had already seen some of the major sights including the Royal Castle and Royal Cathedral. Having settled in to our hotel we set off, […]
Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd February 2023 The station building at Gdańsk Głowny [below] is quite splendid. Unfortunately, it is also being renovated so our plan to find a convenient place for coffee and breakfast while we waited for our train to Warsaw was thwarted. Instead, we had quite a long wait on the platform in the cold. Matilda wished she had put on her thermal underwear. Fortunately, as we were travelling first class we were offered complimentary hot beverages and a choice of meal which would be prepared to order with fresh ingredients. We both opted for salad with ham, pear and blue cheese which was definitely fresh and very tasty. After disembarking in Warsaw, as we left the train station we saw the imposing Pałac Kultury [Palace of Culture and Science] which was a gift to the people of Warsaw from the nations of the USSR and was built between 1952 and 1955. Matilda was convinced that she had gone up to the observation deck before and it was not until a little research revealed that it is remarkably similar to the Latvian Academy of Sciences in Riga that she realised her error, and that she had been […]
Wednesday 1st February 2023 We planned our walking route to the Europejskie Centrum Solidarności [European Solidarity Centre], taking in some of the ‘must see’ sights of the city. This included the Golden Gate which formed part of the old city fortifications and was the inland entrance to the Trakt Królewski or royal route of Gdańsk. Almost 90% of the city was destroyed in WWII and when the Polish came to rebuild, there was understandably some fairly strong anti-German feeling: the people did not want to spend money and effort on recreating old-style Germanic architecture. Instead, other European influences were drawn on, in particular the Flemish-Dutch connection from the time of the Hanseatic League and much of the old town now features traditional Dutch style gables. The Targ Węglowy or the Prison Tower complex was originally part of the Ulica Długa Gate and was built as part of the medieval city fortifications. The tower was added to several times to make it taller and, presumably, more imposing but when new fortifications were built between 1571 and 1576, it no longer formed part of the city’s defences and the smaller building was used as a courthouse and torture chamber while the tower was used as […]