Category: Travel

From Russia …

The Romanov Tombs  You need to know your iconostasis from your elbow and not muddle them up with a reredos in Russian churches. But let’s get back to my childhood at Barmeath. My grandfather was a fount of knowledge and I lapped it up, like I slurp gin now. The general sense of the story… Continue reading From Russia …

Midnight in Minsk

y Every Picture Tells a Story Sveltana Alexievich has a flat in this apartment building. She knows how to tell a story. She has written about the Second World War, sorry The Great Patriotic War, the war in Afghanistan and Chernobyl. Her technique is to interview people and tell the story through their words. This… Continue reading Midnight in Minsk

Carreg Cennen to Kathmandu

Yesterday we went castle-creeping in Wales. Conveniently Carreg Cennen is within walking, splashing, stile-crossing, gate-vaulting distance of where we are staying. We met sheep, horses and English Longhorn cattle along the way.

Leptis Magna and Virginia Water

I spent a week in Libya in November 2005  ; I took  a direct flight to Tripoli to meet friends who were already in the country; I only had hand luggage; this had consequences.

May Hill

On Friday morning we climbed May Hill. It’s 971 feet above sea level and has a trig point at the summit.

Planting Trees

English gardens and parkland changed decisively in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as plant hunters brought specimens back from Asia. EH ‘Chinese” Wilson was one of the most famous, bringing around two thousand plants and trees back to Britain and America, while working for James Veitch & Sons in Chelsea and the Arnold… Continue reading Planting Trees

Scrambled Eggs

Brexit was inevitable. Breakfast in the British Isles is not like breakfast in Europe. If you can’t agree about brekker it’s time to part brass rags.

The Devil’s Pulpit

Many years ago I walked along the Wye (my grandfather caught a 41 1/4 lb salmon on the river in the 1930s) with Ingaret the Navigator; more recently along Offa’s Dyke with Robert. On Wednesday these two paths intersected at Brockweir.

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Going West

We drove to the Forest of Dean on a wet Tuesday. I am getting to know the green car better. Sometimes it is breathtakingly brainy, at other times exasperating; in fact just like Bertie.