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 […]
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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 […]
Maspalomas: Thursday, 15th – Friday, 16th November 2018 Robert has not previously wanted to commit to staying in one place for too long as he has always wanted to maximise the number of places we visit in a limited period of time. Now that we have more time at our disposal Matilda has been encouraging him to embrace the “two nights” concept so that she does less packing and has fewer travelling days. So on this trip it is two days per location and this seems to be going well. Thursday was the transfer day between the two locations on the island and we caught a local bus, for one hour, to travel the length of the island, north to south, to Maspalomas and our new hotel which boasts a pool, pool bar and spa complex . . . . . . .and the receptionist said we would have good views from our balcony. . . . . . across the golf course. The evening view of the hotel bar and pool was also impressive. Playa des Maspalomas and Playa des Ingles (Englishman’s beach) together offer visitors over six kilometres of sand. One version has it that Playa des Ingles was named […]
Wednesday, 10th October 2018 We are slowly learning the tricks of motorhoming abroad. And we believe there may be many. Robert chose to buy a British motorhome version of a vehicle designed and built in Italy, which has the leisure/habitation door on the left/pavement side in the UK. Most continental models have this door on the right. The accepted convention on any site is to park so that each motorhome is on the same edge of the plot and therefore has private space to set up tables and chairs which is not overlooked. But as we are bucking the trend with our UK model we will need to consider carefully in future whether we drive on or reverse on to make sure we maximise the private space for all involved. Yesterday our side/leisure door faced our neighbour’s. They had a very docile dog who seemed to have been trained not to stray off their piece of astroturf laid out to mark out their territory. However, Ralf sensed that this dog spent some time, sat on the edge of this staring at our [closed] door and was not quite so chilled about this. It seems dogs are even more territorial than motorhomers. […]
Wednesday, 8th August 2018 Robert woke up at 03:00 to the sounds of carriages and buffers and when he went to investigate he realised that the sleeper carriage we were in, and the two behind, were stationary at a platform at Salzburg. We had been uncoupled from our engine and the rest of our train and it had disappeared on its way to Budapest without us. Apparently, this is standard practice, otherwise we would have arrived in Budapest too early and not had the chance for a full night’s sleep. At 04:00 we were connected to the Zurich to Budapest sleeper and we were on our way again. We woke at about 08:00 and once we were up, dressed and ship shape the train steward converted our beds back into chairs and a table and served us our breakfast. Matilda had been a little concerned when boarding the sleeper the evening before that she might find herself sharing with complete strangers as the berths booked were 32 and 36. The non-sequential numbers were explained by the fact that carriages can not only accommodate three sleeping berths but also three seats – or two seats and a table for breakfast – […]
Last night we realised that the windbreaks, mentioned in the last post, which many use to mark out their territory on a camp site, are not necessarily effective against a curious Lakeland who is prepared to sneak under a motorhome and poke his nose into someone else’s personal space. Robert is the self-styled chef for this trip. Matilda was a little concerned that the preparation of the breakfast muffins for the morning seemed to take precedence over her evening meal. Robert is not going to make a short order chef any time soon: he does produce quite a professional English muffin, except when demands are being made for an imminent meal. The phrase ‘critical path flow’ springs to mind. But the view of Southwold beyond the muffins is very picturesque. The first morning waking up in the motorhome with Ralf was punctuated by whimpers and urgent indications that he wanted to go for a walk. Robert would have preferred a chilled start to the day including a coffee but Matilda persuaded him to head out. A passing dog walker commented, “I think it’s going to rain.” We smiled politely, but turning back to look in the direction he was heading we […]