Category: Travel

Crossing the Taklamakan

I read Tim Severin’s obituary yesterday. One of his earliest expeditions was crossing the Atlantic in a currach made of wood and animal hides. When he made an unscheduled stop at Iceland almost all his crew deserted him. Severin had a reputation as a less kindly version of Captain Bligh.

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An Expotition

I was in the rear carriage of a District Line train returning from work one evening in 1992. The rear carriage is the fashionable one from which residents living near Gloucester Road and Barons Court debauch. On this occasion I saw the father of my godson. Frankly, I eyed him with some apprehension as I… Continue reading An Expotition

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Does Size Matter?

I have never been to Europe’s largest city, changing ‘planes doesn’t count, but I have visited sixteen out of the twenty largest by population.

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Strangers on a Train

It is April 2015, so pre-blog, I take a train to Berwick-on-Tweed to meet friends who have driven from East Anglia. So you are in the picture, as the army is fond of saying, we plan to walk down the coast to Alnwick.

Georgia On My Mind

Eleven years ago (2009) I went with a few friends to Georgia in the Caucasus for a holiday. We took a flight to Tbilisi from Heathrow and when we walked into the baggage hall I knew what was going to happen.

Sweetness and Light

“The pursuit of perfection, then, is the pursuit of sweetness and light … He who works for sweetness and light united, works to make reason and the will of God prevail.“ (Culture and Anarchy, 1869, Matthew Arnold)

Gap Year

In late September 1972 I arrived by train at Rheims. It was the beginning of an eventful gap year.

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Catch a Clipper

In 1961 you either had to have a vaccination certificate or quarantine for fourteen days if you arrived in the US from the UK. But you know that, because you read it here in 2017. It looks like next year that’s what will happen again; that’s if an effective vaccine is found. It’s a funny… Continue reading Catch a Clipper