Ah, King Arthur. I’m sure he was here. Somewhere. I’m standing high above Southern England on the west end of the Marlborough Downs at dusk searching for a Dark Ages super hero. Everyday life continues far below me, in the evening deluge of traffic up and down the M4. In the distance a late… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
Early risers walk easy on Turkey’s newest long distance path
Long-distance paths. Now aren’t they a particularly British thing? Not really. France has a most intricate spiders web of ways, the Chemins de Grandes Randonnées, threading throughout the countryside, marked with regular flashes of colour painted onto rocks, on buildings, posts, or anything that stays still. Spain draws the various converging arms of the St… Continue reading →
Shrewsbury, birthplace of Charles Darwin – handsome border outpost
February 2019. This is an update of a piece I wrote in 2010. Charles Darwin, Shrewsbury’s most famous son, was born in 1809 in this handsome border outpost within an almost circular loop of the River Severn. I took the train to one “England’s finest Tudor towns” and one of England’s most appealing day trip and… Continue reading →
Rotterdam’s revival – how direct London trains will boost Holland’s second city
Jan 2019 update. Eurostar is to start a third daily direct service from London to Rotterdam and Amsterdam on 11 June, 2019. The existing two services a day have been selling well since they were introduced through the Channel Tunnel on 4 April, 2018. Fares on the high-speed rail service will continue to start at £35 one way, with… Continue reading →
In the house where Dylan Thomas set “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”
This is the time to think of Christmas books. Dickens started our passion, but who has time for the whole of Pickwick Papers, unless you just read the snowy, seasonal scenes? A Christmas Carol is a possibility, but, weighed down with Victorian sentimentality, it lends itself to cinematic or theatrical adaptation rather then a comfy read in… Continue reading →
Writing Aylesbury out of a children’s classic: how important are real places in literature?
When The Story of Holly and Ivy was first published, it was set in the Buckinghamshire market town of Aylesbury. In later editions the location was switched to the made-up Appleton. Has the book lost something as a result? “And where does your grandmother live?” asks a gentleman in the train compartment. “In Aylesbury”, answers Ivy. “Yes,… Continue reading →