Travel Blog
We set up our travel blog to keep a journal of our holidays and travels, it is easy to forget details. As we Travel around the world we want to visit as many countries as possible following the sun. Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas are all on our list to explore more
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Autumn Sun
Our short sojourn between adventures has provided, as our times at home usually do, an opportunity to catch up with friends, family, football… and Cornwall. A changeable week in Cornwall weather wise brought a pattern of alternate sunny and wet days, though regardless of which it was, each day was pretty mild for the time of year. A few photos from the sunny days….
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Sun, Sea & Safari: Notes From The English Seaside
A short walk from our home – in fact, a very short walk, less a mile – is a dead end ditch-lined track known as Braggs Lane, which winds its way through farm fields to the edge of the woods between Herne Bay and Canterbury. The dead end is at what is known as Bleangate, one of the main entrances for hikers and ramblers to enter Blean Woods. Blean Woods, a large area of ancient woodland dating back centuries, is a designated area of special scientific interest due to its unique ecology and flora and fauna. Crossing through the centre of the woodland is a droveway which has been traced…
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Our Next Adventure: Nairobi To Cape Town Through 7 Countries
Yep, that’s what we’re doing next. In the middle of July we’ll be flying out to Nairobi, so making Kenya the first of seven countries on our slow journey from there to the continent’s southern coast. We will be starting with only an outline plan of our route, a framework which contains a number of definites and several “must sees” but with a variable plan which is likely to evolve and change as we make our way southwards. All seven countries will be, for us, new African ground. Together we have previously visited Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Cape Verde and Tanzania including Zanzibar, and Michaela has also visited Gambia and Senegal,…
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Waiter, There’s A Praying Mantis In My Soup
Two out of the ordinary things happened this morning even before breakfast. Floating in my bedside glass of water was the lifeless carcass of a moth, having evidently drowned some time during the night. Outside on the terrace, equally lifeless, was a strawberry. I don’t grow strawberries, I have none in the house and haven’t had for some considerable time, so exactly how a big juicy red strawberry could end up just laying there on the paving slab a few feet from my door is something of a mystery. Whilst the story of the strawberry is one to ponder, it doesn’t evoke the same sense of injustice as the story…
- Africa, Asia, Central America, Europe, Independent travel, Photography, South America, Travel Blog, Wildlife
Biding Our Time
“Wasting my time, resting my mind And I’ll never pine For the sad days and the bad days When we was working from nine to five” Lyrics from “Biding My Time” by Pink Floyd We’re in a bit of what you might call a hiatus. It’s been a strange year, one way and another, with the whole of January at home to deal with a property matter, then our Brazil trip interrupted by the sad news of Michaela’s Dad’s death and our return to England for the funeral. Of course, we then reconvened our trip and enjoyed ten weeks of Brazil, the southern states of the USA and a little…
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Days Are Numbers
I don’t know if I’m supposed to get permission to do this, but bloggers are always reproducing quotes so why not song lyrics. These are the full lyrics to a rather wonderful song, “Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)” by the Alan Parsons Project. A song we very much relate to….especially just now….. The traveller is always leaving town He never has the time to turn around And if the road he’s taken isn’t leading anywhere He seems to be completely unaware The traveller is always leaving home The only kind of life he’s ever known When every moment seems to be a race against the time There’s always one more…
- California, Independent travel, North America, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Travel Blog, USA, Walking, Wildlife
California: Chill Time Before We Head Home
Underfoot the ground is parched, rock hard and dusty, the sun shines hot from crystal skies and occasional breezes rustle the trees and send dust clouds up into small eddies while only marginally cooling the heat. Tufts of weed and grass remain but seem to be turning to pale yellow by the hour, some already sun kissed enough to disintegrate into more dust if we step on them. It’s all very different from the verdant forests and regular rain of the last three weeks. Spring is turning into summer into the mountains above Los Angeles. Acton, the small town which is my daughter Lindsay’s home, receives its hot days of…
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On The Road Again: From Smoky Mountains To Sweet Home Alabama
It’s with a real sense of occasion that we set off from Gatlinburg through the greenery which is this morning made even more intense by the glorious bright sunshine brightening the leafage and dappling the roadway. We’re on the road again on the final leg of our southern states road trip. Ahead of us lies an 850-mile journey from the Smoky Mountains back to New Orleans where we will return the rental car and catch a flight to Los Angeles; splitting the trip into three sections means two more small town one night stands on the way. Anticipation is buzzing inside the Chevy. With more time between check out and…
- History, Independent travel, North America, Outdoor Activities, Photography, Tennessee, Travel Blog, USA, Walking, Wildlife
Smoky Mountains, Black Bears & The Trail Of Tears: Gatlinburg, Tennessee
It’s the sort of thing you take with a pinch of salt, advice placed inside the apartment on what to do if you meet a bear when you go out the door. I mean, it’s never really going to happen, is it…. Except it does. On our fourth, and last, night here, we set off towards town for our last evening meal, and get no more than 50 yards from our door when we come face to face with a young black bear in the street outside. Thankfully he or she is more scared than we are, and turns and trots the other way, soon joined by what looks like…
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Non-Stop Nashville: 4 Days In Music City, Then Time For A Change
The Interstate cuts a sunken swathe right through the heart of Nashville, the gleaming skyscrapers of the city telling of its recently gained reputation as an economic powerhouse. Giant companies such as AT&T, FedEx, Nissan and Bridgestone have all set up major bases here as Nashville grows in confidence and influence, commerce clearly adding another string to its bow. Or maybe another string to its guitar. It may have made that move, but as we walk down Broadway (aka Honky Tonk Highway) for the first time there’s absolutely no mistaking the fact that Music City is still Music City, not only another site of huge musical origins and influence but…