Flanders – … But there *are* no poppies!

Flanders. And no, nothing to do with Ned. I’m sure you’ve all been subjected to the…

Pendle Hill – Religion, Witchcraft, and Meteorology

Part of the Pennine range of Northern England, and geologically part of the same branch as…

Snip Snip Snip – the Cragg Vale Coiners

“I heard the coiners took the scissor to the Union Jack, with a snipper and a…

The hidden fixed travel costs of having a house

There are a lot of posts around on travel blogs talking about how to save money…

Older People Can Backpack Too!

It seems to be a given that the travelling community is made up of wide-eyed twentysomethings…

The £800 travel mistake

As I write this today (30 April 2015), it is exactly a year since I ventured…

The Other Dead Sea

The Aral Sea shoreline. It’s pretty cold; I’m even wearing socks. The sky above, coupled with…

Why I don’t want to holiday in Australia again!

First, let me get something out of the way. I love Australia, I really do. Obviously,…

How not to cross the Benin-Togo border

Barefoot and bagless, lost at an international border with just my passport and some money; I…

A morning at Pere Lachaise cemetery

Although the breeze was light, and the rain had stopped before sunrise, I was glad of…

Timor-Leste: Occupation and Independence

Timor-Leste had been a country on my ‘hit list’ for quite a few years, although the…

Fear of Failure

Every so often, I have a ‘wobble’, usually caused by nothing more than a word, a…