Wednesday 8th September 2021 After the travel stresses of the previous evening, we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at the Flying Boat Café and Deli [see Dish of the day]. The extreme low and correspondingly high tides have an impact on the timings of both the Scillonian and the boats between the various islands so although we would have liked to go to St Mary’s to meet our daughters, we found we might not have been able to get the first boat after they landed back to Tresco with them as this was reserved for new arrivals. We therefore stayed on the island to wait for the girls to appear. Matilda had cajoled both daughters into coming to Tresco this year as it coincided with a “walking tide” – one that is low enough to allow people to walk between Tresco and Bryher. At 0.6m it was slightly higher than is recommended for the crossing but it was good enough for us. To fill the time before our daughters’ delayed arrival we took a stroll to the point where it is recommended people start the walk to make sure we knew where to begin the next day. Some people […]
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Sunday 22nd August 2021 The royal town of Caernarfon lies opposite the Isle of Anglesey in north Wales on the eastern shore of the Menai Straits with Snowdonia rising to the east and south-east. Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales here in 1969. Due to continuing restrictions we had pre-booked a number of things just to be sure and we had agreed in advance to visit Caernarfon city and Castle with Liz and Martin on the following day. They kindly agreed to drive us there in their camper van – Connie – as she is smaller and therefore easier to drive down country roads than Al. We had timed tickets and just managed a quick coffee before going in. Caernarfon is steeped in history from Roman times onwards. William the Conqueror ordered a castle built here as part of an unsuccessful attempt to invade Wales and it now boasts the highest percentage of Welsh speaking citizens anywhere in Wales. The displays emphasise the royal heritage with perhaps a nod to the popularity of Game of Thrones. Even partially in ruins, it is an impressive site. A one way system has been introduced so that you no longer […]
Friday 18th June 2021 One of the reasons for downsizing the motorhome to Al was that Matilda had said she would consider driving a smaller vehicle. Although this proves that she can, she does not find it entirely comfortable as her feet did not quite reach the floor and felt as though they were floating she felt this may not provide the best pedal control. Robert was keen to teach her how to use the cruise control but Matilda was adamant that she would take one step at a time. On the way to Coniston, we stopped off at Kendal to visit the Herdy Shop [see Selfie of the day]. It just has to be done. We had pre-booked to go on the Steam Yacht [SY] Gondola on Coniston Water. Launched in 1859 she was built for the Furness Railway and is a screw-propelled, steam-powered vessel. In commercial use until 1936 when she was retired she was converted into a houseboat a decade later. Acquired by the National Trust in the 1970s the derelict vessel was restored and was put back into service in 1979. We watched it return from an earlier cruise. The vessel, originally Victorian, has been rebuilt […]
Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th September 2020 On our way from Exeter to Fowey [pronounced to rhyme with “joy”] we stopped in Bodmin at a garden centre for an al fresco coffee with a dear friend, Angela: we refrained from using the words “old friend” but we used to visit her on our way down to Tresco with our daughters almost 20 years ago. The intervening years seemed to melt away and it was so lovely to catch up. We have promised each other “the same time next year” and hope to make it a regular event. From here we drove on to Fowey which is going to be the base for our forthcoming day trips to re-visit the Eden Project and see the Lost Gardens of Heligan for the first time. Fowey is a long-established port which has existed since before the Norman invasion and which is perched on steep cliffs on the estuary of the River Fowey itself. Robert had booked us into The Ship Inn near the harbour and had been advised to park in the main car park and walk to the town. Whilst this seemed an eminently sensible suggestion in the downwards direction, Matilda found she […]
Thursday, March 12th 2020 At the end of January we returned to the UK from our one month trip to Lapland, Finland, eastern Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. At this stage we had three cruises booked [deposits paid] as well as some rail journeys booked and paid for. For many big hotel chains you can book six to nine months in advance and if you pay in advance you can often save over 20% of the cost of the hotel booking and we had taken advantage of this discount. As the booking stage of this trip geared up during the first two weeks of February 2020 there came the announcement from China of a new virus that was starting to spread amongst humans – a new strain of coronavirus named COVID-19. It was at this stage that we were going through the process of applying for our visas to Russia, Belarus, Mongolia, China and the US. It soon became clear that travel to China in April 2020 was going to be ill-advised if not impossible. So we had to re-plan without passing through China. We could only skip China by not using the train but by flying over it! As […]
Friday 3rd January 2020 Before checking out of our hotel we decided to go for a walk around Rovaniemi. However, rain overnight and an unseasonably warm spell had resulted in a thaw and re-freeze which made the pavements truly treacherous whilst the snow sculpture from yesterday’s Selfie of the day had completely collapsed. [Robert had a heavy fall last night, made worse by his successful attempt to save the late night chips]. We walked very carefully down to the Jätkänkynttilä Bridge. This was the winning entry in a competition held in 1982/3 and as the design is intended to pay homage to the city’s logging heritage, it is also known as the Lumberjack Candle Bridge. According to Matilda’s research a lumberjack candle is a popular form of outdoor lighting/heating made by repeatedly sawing partway down a log to create equal sized triangular segments. You can use the wood shavings this creates, or other combustible material, to light a fire in the central channel which will apparently burn for sometime providing light and heat to cook by. A total of 36 sodium fluorescent lights burn night and day at the top of the two main columns on the Jätkänkynttilä Bridge. The […]
Wednesday 4th December to Thursday 5th December 2019 It was a pleasure to be returning to the beautiful city of Bath and we were blessed both by good company and sunshine. Having pre-booked timed entry tickets to the Roman Baths for the following day we strolled around and were pleased to see that a local restaurant was promoting us. We visited Bath Abbey where . . . . . . a major refurbishment project is underway to repair the floor which is collapsing. Outside, the Bath Christmas Market takes over much of the city centre and roads are closed to traffic. It offers all the usual stalls, but mid-week, away from the week-end crowds, and in such a beautiful setting it was one of the most pleasant such markets we have visited. We walked up to the Royal Crescent as the sun was sinking in the sky. We then tried some restorative mulled cider in the “Apres-Ski Bar”. After some Christmas shopping, more refreshment was required and, naturally, Robert could not resist a beer named Stouty McStout Face. The next day we returned to visit the Roman Baths, walking through the Christmas Market . . . . . . .and […]
Thursday, 14th November 2019 Following a leisurely breakfast, we set off to walk round Marrakech. Our walk led us along tree-lined boulevards with wide pavements to the Koutoubia Mosque. The city was founded in 1062 by Youssef ben Tachfin, the leader of a tribe of nomadic warrior monks known as the Almoravids and it became Morocco’s second capital. In 1147 the Almohads took over control of Morocco’s major cities and it was under this dynasty that the Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech was built. The minaret of the Koutoubia Mosque rises proudly above Marrakech and dominates the skyline. Its continued supremacy is due to a century old piece of legislation introduced under French colonial rule which remains on the statute books to this day: it is decreed that no building in the Medina (old city) should be taller than a palm tree and no building in the New City should rise above the height of the Koutoubia minaret. We were unsure whether all palm tress are aware of this restriction or whether one might, inadvertently, in a season of plentiful water and in a burst of ecological enthusiasm exceed the accepted height. The minaret itself is 77 meters tall and complies […]
Thursday 12th September 2019 The plan was to go up the Eiffel Tower early and when we arrived there were signs alerting visitors to the fact that the upper level might be forced to close. We therefore decided to go to the very top first and work our way down. The views are impressive, with the River Seine snaking its way through the city to left and right . . . . . . while the Champ-de-Mars spreads out toward the Place Joffre and the École Militaire. Partly due to its sheer height – the Eiffel Tower measures 324 metres to the tip – even famous landmarks can be hard to identify and we struggled to find Sacré Coeur from the platform at the summit, although we found it could be seen clearly silhouetted against the sky from the lower viewing platform. Apparently Gustave Eiffel built himself a small apartment at the top of the tower where, accompanied by his daughter Claire, he hosted exclusive receptions for important guests. This has been staged to show the visit by Thomas Edison on 10 September 1889, when he gave Gustave Eiffel a model of the famous phonograph which he had just presented […]
Sunday, 18th August 2019 We awarded ourselves a lie-in after the sporting disappointment of the previous day and had a leisurely breakfast before setting out. The day’s destination was to be St Fagans National Museum of History where various buildings have been relocated or reconstructed to show how people in Wales have lived through the ages. A bus from outside our hotel took us all the way there. The buildings include the recreated Bryn Eryr Iron Age roundhouses which host educational sessions during term time. The relocated St Teilo’s church has been refurbished, complete with enchanting mediaeval murals, to reflect how it may have appeared around 1530, before Henry VIII started to break with the Roman Catholic Church in 1532. The Gwalia Stores meanwhile offers a retro retail opportunity circa the outbreak of WWI where . . . . . . many of the brands and much of the packaging on the wooden shelving was nevertheless familiar. Each of the Rhyd-y-car Terrace of six cottages, originally built around 1795 for mine workers, is furbished to reflect a different period: 1805, 1855, 1895, 1925, 1955 and 1985. It is fascinating to take a stroll through time as you walk the length […]
Friday 28th – Saturday 29th June 2019 Our overnight ferry from Toulon, originally scheduled to depart at 21:00, was delayed by several hours. We had hoped for a picturesque departure at sunset but it was already dark when we finally boarded at close to 23:00. The concierge proudly informed us that our cabin had a window but it was not until the morning we realised we were right at the stern with views over the wake. Unfortunately, this also meant that we were above the engine room. Although we were safely tucked up in bed and dozing by the time all the cars, motorhomes and lorries had been loaded and the ship was ready to depart we were wide awake as soon as the captain and pilot revved up the engines to manoeuvre their way out of port. Everything in the cabin – the doors, the prefabricated shower and toilet unit, the aforementioned window, the bed and the metal ladder for the optional extra berth – seemed to rattle, shake or squeak in a discordant cacophony. Fortunately, as we braced ourselves for a sleepless night on board we must have reached open sea; the side thrusters were turned off […]
Thursday 23rd May 2019 Our first full day on Tresco was to be a day of celebration and planning. Our two daughters were travelling to join us and Ruth had completed the viva for her masters the day before. We took the fast boat from New Grimsby quay . . . . . . back to Saint Mary’s, strolled around the town briefly then went to meet them on the quay to travel back together. We identified a number of places we hoped to visit and activities to do and went to check availability and prices. A ticket one way on the fast boat between St Mary’s and Tresco is £10. So with four adult fares on every journey, the cost soon adds up. However, you can hire a boat from Hut 62 for £100 per day and be master of your own destiny, although there are some limitations: you are not allowed to go to St Mary’s, for example, or beyond Cromwell’s Castle. The three female Herds all felt in need of a massage and we found we could only book these for Sunday morning. Looking at the weather forecast, Friday seemed to be the best day for hiring […]
Monday 29th to Tuesday 30th April 2019 Figueres is an old market town a short train ride from Barcelona and nowadays it has an extensive pedestrianised area where you can stroll around window-shopping and looking at the buildings. As the birth place of Salvador Dalí, Figueres is a tourist attraction and we wisely booked tickets for the Teatro-Museo Dalí online in advance. The queue for tickets snaked across the square but we were able to join a shorter line to enter at our allotted time. Dalí himself bought the town’s disused theatre, which he had visited as a child and which was burnt out during the Spanish Civil War, as a venue to showcase his art and that of certain other artists. The city council approved the plans in 1968 and in 1974 this “great surrealist object” opened. The museum continued to expand and now incorporates the Torre Galatea, a tower named after Dalí’s wife Gala and the only surviving structure from the town’s medieval fort. It is now transformed with giant eggs adorning the roof which are said to symbolise future life while . . . . . . the walls are studded with loaves of traditional bread […]
Thursday 7th March 2019 Feeling refreshed by over twelve hours’ sleep and a leisurely breakfast we prepared to set forth on a second day of sight-seeing in Varanasi. Initially, we needed to engage and negotiate with a new tuk-tuk driver, this time preferably without the hanger-on ‘pseudo’ guide/helper. Hashin had spoken to us the previous day as we arrived and, through the throng of volunteer drivers, we chose him based purely on his English language skills. We asked to visit Ramnagar Fort and the Vishwanath Temple. Predictably, after we had agreed a route and a price, he suggested variations on the planned schedule, no doubt hoping to incorporate visits to various friend’s businesses along the way. During the course of the day these additional extras included the Mughal City (Muslim area); a drink of lassi; a massage for Robert who Matilda feels must be looking very tense as he has been offered two and she has yet to be offered even one; shopping for silk pashminas and, finally, cheap beers. We managed to keep the driver more or less on ‘our’ track, only eventually adding Sarnath to the agenda – a place 10 km north of the city and the […]
Iceland’s Golden Circle – Tuesday 11th December 2018 The Northern Lights seem destined to evade us but we booked a coach tour of the Golden Circle to see some of the incredible natural phenomena of the local landscape. The storm had passed overnight but there were still 30 mile an hour winds. The beauty of Iceland speaks for itself and the weather simply enhanced the experience. The tour took in the Þingvellir National Park including the Rift Valley and the mid Atlantic Ridge. Robert remembers being taught about plate tectonics in geography, some time ago at school, at a time when the theory was only just being developed. Geysir is the site of the original and eponymous geyser where the water boils and bubbles, the land steams and the Strokkur geyser, now the more reliable of the two, obligingly and dramatically erupted several times. The Gullfoss or Golden Waterfall is on the Hvitá – White – River and is fed by the water which melts from Iceland’s second largest glacier, the Langjökull. The water drops 32 meters in two stages into a canyon with walls which tower 70 meters above the gorge. Rainbows shimmer over this spectacular sight in the […]
Valletta, Mdina and Rabat: Thursday, 22nd – Friday, 23rd November 2018 Another trip on the three cities ferry across the harbour and we discovered that our Valletta passes only covered one return trip on the ferry [this is clearly stated on the ticket but we overlooked it]. We were told we would have to pay on the return trip but as all fares on the Maltese buses and ferries seem to be €1.50 per person, this will not have too serious an impact on our holiday budget. Our destination for a very filling, slap-up full English breakfast to sustain us for a day’s sightseeing was Il Bacino with harbour views. Replete, we headed to the bus station to board the 53 to Rabat and Mdina. For much of the journey, the bus ran parallel to the 26.5 km Wignacourt Aqueduct, which was built in the 17th century by the Grand Master of the Order of Saint John to carry water from springs in Dingli and Rabat to the newly-built capital city Valletta. Mdina, [above – see more later] – a stunning fortified citadel – is the old capital of Malta and has just 300 inhabitants. Rabat – which means suburb in Semitic […]