There are two ways to go eyeball to eyeball with the Statue of Liberty. One is to hire a helicopter and hope you get close enough to the face of the 151 foot high statue before twitchy New York security hauls – or shoots – you out of the sky.

The other is to visit a museum in the little town of Colmar, in the Alsace region of France, where you may gaze at leisure into the formidable features of the most recognizable effigy on earth, in the definitive, person-sized scale model.She is the fullest expression of the traditional alliance between France and the USA.

One fine morning I set off to chase the last Welsh ruler round his realm.

Owain Glyndwr hasn’t been seen in these parts for 600 years, but his mark is still on the landscape – in old castles he roughed up during his 14-year defiance of Henry IV.

As a marching man, Glyndwr would have been proud to know he now has a whole footpath – more precisely a national trail – named after him. This royal route, subtitled ‘fit for a prince’, opened in 2002, linking places significant to his story.

Just 25 miles from England the instruction ‘on yer bike’ – or local equivalent – is a form of welcome rather than a variation on ‘get lost’. Cycling in France is an invitation to adventure, and it starts at the portals of the Channel Tunnel. The Nord Pas-de-Calais tourist people have stared wistfully – and… Continue reading →