One last night in France. No cities, no tours, no nothing. The final night to be spent away from everything in the countryside. At least that’s what we decided when looking around on “Chambre d’Hotes de Charme”. We needed something north of Reims, relatively close to Calais to avoid having to haul ass the next day and above all, something quiet and peaceful. So we found Manoir Francis. If I could choose only one photo that sums up my experienceRead More
As you may well imagine, one of the main reasons for stopping off in the Champagne region was to drink some of the locally produced booze. Imagine!?! Not just drink it though, see all the in’s and out’s of it, to do the tour so to speak. Having done some research online before setting off, it seemed Ruinart was one of the best if not the best tour to do in Reims. So I emailed them and enquired about bookingRead More
Leading with a photo this time, this was taken on the way to Reims when I pulled over to get out of the wind for a minute. I will admit to the two nights in Reims being somewhat of a backup plan, the original plan was to stay a night or two in the nearby town of Épernay and spend much of the time rolling between champagne houses. Having looked at the prices of hotels in the area (and pickingRead More
After getting out of the road works mess that was Dijon (twice – long story), I decided to give the scenic route a miss in favour of getting to the mountains early in the day. So it was a couple of hours on the motorway instead. I’d never been this far east in France before and it was starting to feel more and more like Germany with every passing mile. German, Belgian and Austrian cars, trucks and motor homes outnumberedRead More
Given the amount of ground we were covering, there were always going to be a couple of ‘down’ days. Days where the aim of the game was to get to the next 2 night stop and get to places where we’d already researched the area. From Maison Laudiere to Dijon is roughly 580km, not an impossible or outlandish distance to do in a day but for the sake of Julie’s sanity and my aging bones (and that it’s been aRead More
Day 0 began at about 5:30pm on the Friday with loading up the bike for the approx 256km trip to Cork. By the time we were on the road (and a few km beyond the M50 interchange) I already felt like I was on holiday. Julie wasn’t so easy to sway, she had an exact demarcation point of where the holiday would begin. I’d decided some time ago to take the Cork to Roscoff ferry route and although unsure aboutRead More
While taking my time on the way back to the ferry from Derbyshire on a nice sunny morning, I found this place while quite lost. I was looking for a place to buy a sandwich and a cup of tea before hitting Holyhead for the ferry but that’s neither here nor there. For those interested in my sandwich and tea exploits, I did eventually find a shop with marvelously cheap & tasty sandwiches only about 5 mins from this spot. It struckRead More
Scotland. Can I go back now please?
In the Glenmorangie Distillery just outside Tain earlier this year. Lovely lovely Scotch.
Small/Far away. You decide. New York from out on the east river.
Gemsbok in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City posing for a photo. No need to ask them to hold still in this case.
Parked outside the wool shop that Julie got lost in on Sullivan Street (I think). Don\’t know if it still moves or starts, but it looks like a reliable old crate anyway.
Devils in the details of the doors in Dordrecht. A deliberate decision to deliver a dinging and donging depiction. No, not the start of the silly season just yet, don’t all rush out and buy brightly coloured hats and transparent ponchos. Why brightly coloured hats and transparent ponchos? Because I can clearly see your nuts.
Just down the road from Bleskensgraaf, where we spent our first few nights. Kinderdijk appears to be the place to go in Holland to see windmills. At least that’s what the car park full of coach tours, campers and cars with foreign registrations suggested. Makes a definite change from what we’d seen up till then, one or two windmills dotted around the landscape.
Many many moons ago, when staying in Montreal. Always been housed by Caroline without so much as a grumble or an eye rolled. I’m not the easiest person to invite into your home for weeks on end, but she’s always done so with a smile. Very grateful for that. Very very grateful. Montreal is fantastic. Only ever gone there in winter when it’s covered in a thick layer of snow and ice (and around minus thirty degrees Celsius). I’m dueRead More
Taken from somewhere near the top of the Sir Walter Scott Monument (which was stupidly difficult for me to get to the top of), this is.. well, Edinburgh. Posting is going to be light for the weekend. Think light like non-existent. That kind of light. I’m off up north-west to do ‘the vimto run’. This basically involved getting in the car, driving from Sligo to Enniskillen and popping into Asda for an unhealthy amount of Vimto. Mmmmmmmhmmmm!
The one o’clock gun fired at Edinburgh castle in Scotland. This is the second shot in a quick series. The first one is quite blurred. Why? Because I took it as a result of the shock I got when the gun was fired. It frightened the holy hell out of me, my hand tightened up and my finger pressed the shutter! Thankfully I managed to get this one before the smoke cleared too much. I really didn’t expect it toRead More
One of Edinburgh Castle’s cannon’s pointing out over the city toward the sea. I hadn’t been to Edinburgh in almost ten years so it was quite nice to get back there and re-visit a few sites. Was better to get away from work for a few short days though!