In October 1920 Agatha Christie introduced Hercule Poirot in her novel, “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”. And the great detective lives on, in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Death on the Nile, which follows the actor/director’s Murder on the Orient Express. The film is expected to open late in 2020. 1994 I interviewed David Suchet on set during the filming of… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel
How to walk the stripling Thames – using only public transport to get there
Extinction Rebellion launched its Hourglass newspaper in September 2019. The newspaper folded in 2020, a victim of the pandemic. I contributed a series of simple travel articles, under the heading Whistle Stop Walks. I would take a train to a random station, and walk for between six and 12 miles to another station on the… Continue reading →
Does the Stonehenge tunnel have a place in a post COVID world?
Stop Press. Written statement to Parliament, 16 July 2020 Transport update: construction of new carriageway for A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down in Wiltshire. From: Department for Transport Following notification of a recent archaeological find within the World Heritage Site, the deadline for the decision is to be further extended to 13 November 2020 (an extension… Continue reading →
Post lockdown travel has to be built around the train
June, 2020. The Department for Transport (DfT) released its plan to “decarbonize” UK transport on March 26 this year. Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said that “public transport and active travel will be the natural first choice for our daily activities” and that “we will use our cars less.” Three days earlier, on… Continue reading →
France opens up the Causses and Cévennes – the land the sheep made
We watch Country File and Springwatch and many an informative documentary on landscape and rural life. So it shouldn’t be hard for us to open up to, and understand, a not so well-known area of France. One that is green and pure and wide and spacious, where the mood music is the ancient sound of… Continue reading →
Post lockdown cycling in New Forest medieval mosaic landscape
New Forest ponies – right to roam The bold vision of many of us who write on the subject is that travel will have to be greener after lockdown. But that is becoming more cloudy. It’s now clear it may be some time, possibly many months, before leisure passengers feel comfortable travelling by train… Continue reading →