Anne and I have just returned from three and a half weeks travelling through France, Austria and Italy. Having spent four weeks Interrailing last year I wasn't sure I would enjoy it as much as last time. But it was wonderful! We had a first-class pass for seven travel days, bought in the sale for…
Owing to a family issue we decided to postpone our second Interrail trip to Europe from June to September. So we're off tomorrow morning. Trains - and the odd Flixbus Itinerary as follows: Eurostar (London to Paris) Strasbourg (1 night) Innsbruck (1 night) Pertisau am Achensee (3 nights) Venice (3 nights) Monopoli (6 nights) Bari…
Following on from last summer's epic rail trip (France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy) we've decided to have give it another go while health and finances allow. A different route (apart from a repeat visit to Zermatt) but broadly similar: cities, mountains and a comparatively long lay-up at the seaside halfway through. Mind…
It’s 10 years since I retired from the British Library. A decade indeed! In mid February I reached my 70th birthday: generally known as a milestone, and it certainly feels like it. Hard not to refer to my age when meeting ex-colleagues, as I did last week, one of whom I had not seen since…
Anne and I awoke to another beautiful day in Kandy, Sri Lanka's cultural capital. At last we were over the jetlag and in good form. Saturday 15 February We began with a relaxing stroll round Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens, amongst the best planted and most attractive I have ever seen, with an orchid collection, thousands…
Following four very relaxing days at Sea Rock Villa (Induruwa, near Bentota), we took another 90-minute taxi ride to Veyangoda to join our Exodus group for a two-week long tour of the island. In reality, the south-western third of the island, as the monsoon swings according to the season from one side to the other,…
I need little encouragement to run off to warmer climes in winter. But why Sri Lanka? As the years go by I get less and less keen on long-haul flights but Anne convinced me to go on an Exodus Travels tour of the island, and the more I read about Sri Lanka the more enthusiastic…
Here we are again... bashing out a review of our year with its ups and downs. It would have been a challenge to put all this on a card. There are some in-page links to posts made earlier in the year. Or you can skip to the end if we're boring you. If nothing else…
Our fourth and final night in Cirne/Kyrenia ended with a stroll round the harbour, then to "The George" (our temporary local) where we had the misfortune to watch England v Greece on TV. England lost 2-1 and were utterly useless. *** The next morning we took a dolmuş back to Lekoşa (i.e. north Nicosia), where…
You can never have too many holidays. Or perhaps you can? I'l ponder that fascinating question on another occasion. Be that as it may, we decided to take a short autumn break in Cyprus. I'd never been before, but I knew there was a lot to see and October seemed to be the best time…
The Wight Stuff 