Did one of the finest British travel writers of the 20th century start his epic adventure across Europe on a meteorological fib? Patrick Leigh Fermor – “a thousand glistening umbrellas tilted over a thousand bowler hats in Piccadilly”. The Sunday Times – “At Kew it was 33° (1°C). Light falls of snow again occurred locally.” But does it… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel Blog
How Pembrokeshire was shunted into a siding
It’s a long way from London to Pembrokeshire, so if you didn’t have too much to carry, you might fancy a nice through train from Paddington to, say, Tenby, famous old resort. And until 2019 you could do just that. Four and a half hours of Co2-busting ease, bypassing the holiday jams. But not any… Continue reading →
Poirot turns 100: how the Belgian ‘tec met his match in the desert
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 →
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 →
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 →
The discrete charm of England’s Sefton Coast
Post-lockdown, might the British return to the seaside like they used to, especially on big beaches with lots of social distancing? The National Trust reserve at Formby, Lancashire, part of one of the largest areas of unspoilt dunes in Europe. And it is safe haven for some of the few remaining red squirrels in England…. Continue reading →