Read this blog: The one where Robert doesn’t want to put his trousers on Wednesday 19th February 2025 Luang Prabang lies on a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Mekong River and its tributary the Nam Khan. It is the former royal capital of Laos. In 1545 the administrative capital was moved to Vientiane but the Lau royal family continued to live here until the communist takeover in 1975. Now the cultural Capital of Laos, Luang Prabang has a plethora of temples and colonial-style buildings along Sakkaline Road. We woke to torrential rain [see Video of the day] which was fortunately short-lived and cleared the air making the day seem slightly cooler. After breakfast we set off to see a few sites: Matilda dressed appropriately for any temple visits and Robert with his elephant temple trousers in his bumbag. The sky still looked threatening over the park where the statue of President Souphanouvong stands. He seems to have been something of a contradiction. Born a member of the Laos royal family in Luang Prabang, and originally known as Prince Souphanouvong he became the first President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic [Lao PDR] serving between 1975 and 1991. According to […]
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Read this blog: The one where Robert’s navigations skills are affected by the heat Thursday 14th and Friday 15th March 2024 Having deposited our luggage at the hotel we walked to perhaps the most important historical site in the city: the Citadel or Kinh thành. This was the imperial capital of Vietnam during the rule of the Nguyễn Dynasty between 1802 and 1945. Work started in 1803 at the behest of Emperor Gia Long. This is urban planning at its most regal: not the slow organic growth of a town but a complete capital city with fortifications all at once. The 10 km long outer walls enclosed palaces for the imperial household, shrines as well as gardens and villas for the mandarins – the educated administrative class. The moat is fed with water from the Hương River also known as the Perfume River via a system of sluice gates. We entered through Cua Ngo Mon [Noon Gate or Meridian Gate] which was built by emperor Gia Long‘s successor Minh Mang. Even though Minh Mang announced the completion of the Kinh Thành citadel in 1832 he swiftly embarked on his own improvements and he had the impressive U-shaped Ngu Phung [Five Phoenixes] […]
Read this blog: The one where we enjoy an Ireland win over South Africa Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd September 2023 We arrived at Gare de Lille Flandres and made our way to what we thought was our hotel. Unfortunately Robert had found directions to the Hotel Mercure Lille Centre Grand Place not the Hotel Mercure Lille Centre Vieux-Lille who actually held our booking. Another short walk took us to the correct destination and from there we went in search of a bar showing the Argentina vs Samoa game. We found a square with a pleasant hostelry called Le Django with welcoming bar staff which was going to show the match and which soon filled up with amiable fans from multiple visiting nations. The England vs Chile match was due to kick off at 17:45 on Saturday and our daughter Ruth and her friend Breesha were travelling over late on Friday. We planned to meet them on Saturday morning and make our way to the ground together. Breakfast was not included in our booking and Matilda was looking forward to returning to That’s Toast. Unfortunately, after some confusion on Matilda’s part which was compounded by an error in a previous […]
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 […]
Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th October 2022 We had to hand Caprice back at 09:00 on Wednesday morning and we agreed that we would return to the boatyard on Tuesday to make sure staff could check the engine time reading and we could settle up any paperwork the day before as we had a train to catch. There is a speed limit in the Laguna which the small motor boats and taxis seem to disregard totally. Even in the middle of the night, small boats would speed past, creating a disproportionate amount of wake. We were frequently awoken by Caprice being aggressively bounced and buffeted against the mooring dolphins so violently that it seemed as though we would surely break loose or capsize. As Liz commented, “We really rocked in Venice:” But not always in a good way. As we left the waters of the Venice navigation. . . . . . Martin, as Co-Captain, once again took charge of the mooring ropes . . . . . . and we went back through the lock which separates the salty Laguna from the fresh waters of the River Sile. Thankfully, the damage deposit was returned in full. Engine hours are […]
Saturday 7th May We had remembered using the GPSmyCity app during a visit to Madrid and decided to try inputting all the places we still wanted to visit to generate a route for the day. Our first stop was to be the Mapparium at the First Church of Christ, Scientist. Christian Science was founded in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy [1821 – 1910] with the publication of her book Science and Health, following her miraculous recovery from what were deemed to be fatal injuries. The Mary Eddy Baker Library is next to the church. The Welcome Hall is imposing and there are various exhibitions to wander through as you wait for your timed entry to the Mapparium. Only guided tours are permitted. The Mapparium was intended to show the countries of the world in an accurate geographical relationship to each other. It is described as “a mirror-image, concave reversal of the Earth, made of stained glass and viewed from the inside”. And, yes, it is slightly surreal. Its architect, Chester Lindsay Churchill intended it to be updated as borders were redrawn by international events. However, it is understandable that there never seemed to be a good time to make revised glass […]
Thursday 3rd to Saturday 5th March 2022 Having booked our transit through the Standedge Tunnel, we now had to ensure that we reached Diggle in time. We knew this would involve some long days travelling and plenty of locks. Day 16 started well as Martin kindly picked Matilda up, took her to his house to use the newly installed shower and then to do some grocery shopping before we set off. The Macclesfield Canal took us past the mill where the wheat was originally ground to make Hovis bread between 1898 and 1904. When milling had to be moved to larger premises, the old mill became the site where the paper wrappers were made. Now converted into apartments, you can still see the archway which led to the wharf where boats could unload their cargo under cover directly into the mill. And so began our eight hour journey. The Puss in Boots commands a prime canal side position and would be a good spot for an evening sundowner by the canal. We saw several herons on this canal each standing so still that at first we both thought it might be plastic. We watched the third heron we saw plunge into […]
Monday 13th September 2021 Once again the extreme tides meant that we would have more time than usual on St Martin’s and would therefore have time to walk all round the island, which is the northernmost of the inhabited onesmaking up the Isles of Scilly. The Firethorn dropped us at the quay in Higher Town. In what must surely be one of the most prosaic examples of place naming in the UK, the three main settlements on St Martin’s are called Higher Town, Middle Town and Lower Town, although it could be argued that the use of the word “town” must itself have required quite a feat of imagination: in the 2011 census the island reported a population of just 136. Initially we set off to walk anti-clockwise round the island towards the highest point at its northeast corner on Chapel Down, passing an unexpected vineyard on the way. The highest point is dominated by a large red and white striped daymark or unlighted beacon, reminiscent of the upper section of Tintin’s rocket, which was visible from some distance across the bays and inlets as we walked. The date above the blocked, arched doorway on the daymark reads 1637 but […]
Thursday 26th August 2021 As always on these historic railways, the steam engines on the Bala Lake Railway are lovingly restored and cared for with gleaming paintwork and highly polished copper domes. The track was built 150 years ago but was re-opened for passengers in 1972 and follows the shoreline of Llyn Tegid, or Lake Bala, which is the largest natural lake in Wales. Although we had not booked to travel on this line, we went to see one of the trains arriving and . . . . . . watched while they restoked the engine and moved it to the front of the carriages [See Video of the day]. From here, Liz and Martin set off to cycle along the shores of the lake whilst we headed south to Codsall, near Walsall, to visit Robert’s uncle and cousins. It was lovely to be able to catch up after such a long and trying time. We then stayed in a very quiet motorhome site close by prior to travelling home the following day. There are many more trains to ride and we will surely be returning to Wales at some point [Robert will be in October!]. Video of the day:
Thursday 8 January 2020 We probably chose the worst day to visit Suomenlinna as there was driving rain and a bitterly cold wind almost strong enough to knock you over in some exposed areas – see Video of the day below. However as this would be our only opportunity this trip to visit the fortified islands, we caught the boat from the harbour past the ferry to Tallinn: Matilda was very pleased to note that we will be travelling the next leg of our journey by train. Suomenlinna was originally called Sveaborg [Swedish] or Viapori [which is apparently its phonetic equivalent in Finnish] and the signs on the quay give both Suomenlinna and Sveaborg as destinations which is potentially confusing. Suomenlinna means the Castle of Finland and the fort has been known by this name since 1918. When we disembarked there was a blue trail to follow to the King’s Gate [see feature photo], an imposing entrance which was started in 1753 to mark the place where King Adolf Frederick of Sweden’s ship was anchored when he came to inspect the building works in 1752. The boat from Helsinki leaves you at the opposite end of the island fortress to […]
Monday, 18th to Tuesday 19th November 2019 Having had a drive around the city sights to get our bearings we thought we would walk a similar route towards the Hassan II Mosque for views across the rocky strata to the lighthouse. . . . . . and along the seafront. On the drive the previous day Matilda had noticed “Rick’s 1942” which had a sign outside announcing it would be “opening soon” as the “ultimate tourist experience”. This is a bold claim indeed given it is up against the Hassan II Mosque. From the outside it seems to have sufficient space to make it appear more like the film set version than the one we visited last night. No doubt it will be a success as people [Matilda included] will want to pay their own small tribute to the enduring appeal of this iconic movie. We decided to visit another of the recommended restaurants for our evening meal, this time with a Spanish influence. The meal, the service and the ambience were all excellent. The following morning we had a train to catch from Casablanca to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Our carriage for the journey to Rabat was in […]
Friday 5th July 2019 The original plan for the journey to Bonifacio was for us to make a three hour journey by bus, changing at Scopetto. However, the time spent rehydrating around marinas on this trip had proved inspirational for Robert and he had discovered we could catch a tourist boat to Bonifacio. This revised route would only take an extra half hour and would include views of the city from the sea and take in various significant geological features on the way, which appealed to the geography graduate in him. Having bought the boat tickets on our first night in Ajaccio Robert did not inspect them until we were waiting on the quay to board the boat only to discover that the tickets had been issued for the day we arrived in Ajaccio two days earlier on 3 July. Fortunately the ticket office opened at about 07:30 and Robert was able to go and point out the error – the credit card receipt proved that we had in fact purchased our tickets long after the boat we were booked on had already sailed. Travelling by boat to Bonifacio was a real treat. The route hugs the coastline past successive […]
Tuesday 12th March 2019 We did not know before our last post but Monday 11th March was Robert’s beer free day #2 as he was feeling under the weather [not the chilly weather, but the Delhi-belly kind]. Our fourth and final trip on the DHR takes us back down the 6,700 feet to New Jalpaiguri Junction to catch a sleeper to Kolkata [Calcutta for the imperialists]. The first train of the day is scheduled to leave at 08:00 and we arrived in good time to watch the preparations [see today’s ‘Video of the day’ below]. The DHR is well-staffed [possibly over-staffed like much of the India we have seen] with people taking on different roles in the running and management of the line from cleaning and ticket sales to engine maintenance, as well as actually working on the trains. It apparently takes about seven or eight people, in addition to the steam or diesel drivers and guards, to get ready for the first run of the day. There seemed to be some serious discussion about rearranging the carriages going on. According to Robert, anyone who has ever owned a model railway knows that half the fun is in the shunting […]
Monday, 15th October 2018 – Tuesday, 16th October 2018 Richard and Mandie Königs recommended Bastogne as a place of character and historical interest and so when we left Maastricht we agreed we would return to Belgium, to visit a town which is now synonymous with the Battle of the Bulge – the last offensive by the German army in WWII which prompted the heroic defence of the town by American soldiers. The terrain of the Ardennes was supposedly impassable and the Allies believed the Germans would not attack through these hills and forests. While the area was not heavily guarded the German’s quietly assembled 50 divisions and attacked the Allies on December 15, 1944 besieging several American divisions in the town. As soon as you arrive in Bastogne you can see the military significance of the town and the obvious local pride in the outcome of the Battle of the Bulge. There are tanks by the roadside as well as a Sherman tank in the main square and the local beer has names such as Airborne and Nuts [in honour of the American response to the German request on December 22 for them to surrender]. A bar in the main square is also […]
Sunday, 12th August 2018 A much more leisurely start to today. We were able to lie in at the hotel, have breakfast at 08:15 and then walk to the railway station to catch the 09:57 from Oradea [Romania] to Cluc-Napoca [Romania]. Today’s journey takes 2h 36mins and is approximately 100 miles. We had elected to travel 1st class because it was only slightly more expensive. An equivalent train journey in the UK is Coventry to London. It cost 39lei for the two of us [£8], and that includes reservations for the window seats at a table. Well thank goodness we had booked our seats because the train was heaving, with people standing everywhere. Strangely, the gentleman we had to ask to vacate Matilda’s seat opted to stand and leave his luggage on the seat next to her, despite the heat and the length of the journey. Unfortunately, the train’s air conditioning was not working and the windows were locked. So it got pretty hot, especially with the volume of people. We mentioned yesterday about the state of the railway infrastructure here in Romania. Below is an example of a typical rural station. Most of the buildings are derelict, the platforms […]