Our journey through Ireland continues as we travel along the Atlantic Coast from Cork to Galway. On the way there we saw one of Ireland’s greatest attractions, the stunning Cliffs of Moher, did some walking in the Connemara Hills, wandered the streets of Galway during the annual International Arts Festival, and saw some of the Galway coast. Click on the […]
Category: Travel Plans
A Lesson in Ancient History in The Orkneys
We left The Highlands behind to take a short trip across the water to the islands off the northern Scottish mainland, The Orkneys. These low windswept isles have a lot to offer, from some great walks, military history, and layer upon layer of archaeological sites. We explored ancient Pictish settlements that were older than The Pyramids of Giza, Viking towns […]
Where on Earth is Mellon Charles?
Heading westwards from Invergordon, the next part of our journey took us back into the towering hills and deep valleys of The Highlands. This time, the scenery was even better because we hugged the magnificent coastline of the northwest of Scotland. To say that the scenery in this part of Scotland is breathtaking would be a serious understatement. The narrow […]
Speyside, The Centre of the Whisky Universe
As we continue our journey northwards through Scotland, we head back towards The Highlands. But before we get there, we pass through Speyside, where more than half of Scotland’s whisky is made. Although it was only a short visit, we were able to combine another house sit, a second walk in the Cairngorms, and a visit to one of Speyside’s […]
A Couple of Days in Perthshire
We needed to get across the country to reach Aberdeen for a house sit we had organised, and decided to break the trip with a couple of days in central Scotland. There is a lot more to see and do in Perthshire than we had time for, but our short stopover still gave us time to see a bit. We […]
In the Footsteps of Romans along Hadrian’s Wall
We have done some great walks in some wonderful places during our adventure, and one of our bucket-list destinations was the walk along Hadrian’s Wall, near the border between Scotland and England. This is the story of the four days we did on the walk, and the days either side. We also wanted to visit here because Chris has family […]
Wet Walking in The Lake District
The Lake District National Park is one of England’s iconic walking destinations, and one of our must-see places. Located in the northwest of England, near the Scottish border, its high hills rise above countless lakes. An absolute mecca for walkers. We stayed in a little seaside village on the western edge of the park, in probably the best apartment of […]
A Weekend in West Yorkshire
We had an opportunity to pick up another house sitting gig on our way north, this time looking after a pair of house-rabbits. They were pretty easy to look after, and it gave us a chance to look at a couple of cities that were at the centre of England’s industrial revolution. As with our visit to Liverpool a few […]
Beatlemania in Liverpool
Neither of us had been to Liverpool, and we had earmarked it a somewhere to see while travelling to some walking spots in the north of England. Really all we knew of it was that The Beatles had begun their musical journey there in the late 1950s. What a pleasant surprise we had. We loved this city, and really didn’t […]
A Ten Day Break in The Heel of Italy’s Boot
There has been a little delay in getting this post out, due to some glitches in the site’s email system. Chris quickly found himself out of his depth when he tried to fix it, but it is handy having a network engineer in the family (thanks Dom!). We seem to have resumed normal transmission, and are pleased we can share […]
Three Weeks in the Stunning Peloponnese
We have just spent three weeks travelling through Greece’s Peloponnese Peninsula. What an amazing experience! We have encountered so much history and legends, and did some great walks through spectacular scenery. The region is much more mountainous than we expected, and car journeys between places never went by a direct route anywhere. We tried to fit everything into one big […]
Sun, Snow and Some Good Walking
As we travel south through Greece, and Spring approaches, we are seeing some warmer weather. This means our walking, mostly dormant for the last few months, can start again in earnest. Staying in Volos, we have great access to some of the best walking in Greece on the Pelion Peninsula. Volos is a lovely port city halfway between Thessaloniki and […]
Reaching for the Sky in Meteora
The monasteries at Meteora in central Greece are a UNESCO World Heritage Site that really has to be seen to be believed. Perched high atop giant sandstone pillars, or clinging impossibly to the side of a cliff, these monuments are incredible. The monks and nuns who have studied there over centuries really were trying to get closer to God. We […]
A Ten-Day Break in Thessaloniki
This post marks the end of our three months in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and Eastern Europe, and back to commence our second 90-day block inside the Schengen Zone. There was a slight hiccup at the Greek border, when we thought for a moment that we were going to be denied entry, but it was resolved, and we made it to […]
A Quick Trip Through Northern Bulgaria
Our 90 days outside the Schengen Zone was drawing to an end, meaning we could enter Greece for the next part of our adventure. But we still had three days to fill in. Getting from the Romanian capital down to Greece’s second-biggest city, through Bulgaria, seemed to be easy enough. But there were some hurdles we hadn’t anticipated. We finished […]
Bucharest, Relics of Communist Extravagance
Bucharest is the capital of Romania. It is sometimes called The Paris of The East because of its grand buildings, arts and long, wide boulevards. Layered over its grandeur from the “belle-epoch”, the decades-long Communist period under hard line ruler Nicolae Ceaușescu saw the addition of architecture from the Socialist Realist style. Ceaușescu had grand plans to turn Bucharest into […]
The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina
Tourists come to the North-Eastern corner of Romania for one reason, to see the sublime UNESCO-listed Painted Monasteries of the Bucovina Region. Although it’s a long way from the attraction in Transylvania, and less than 50 kilometres from the border with Ukraine, the effort to get here and back is repaid tenfold when these gorgeous structures are seen. Enjoy seeing […]
Cluj-napoca, Transylvanian Steampunk
Our travels through Romania continued northward to the de facto capital of Transylvania, Cluj-napoca. It felt a bit strange to be back in a big city after the relaxed environs of Brasov and the medieval towns of Sibiu and Sighisoara, dealing with busy streets and having to dodge pedestrians again. We did, however, adopt a rather relaxed pace for this […]
Two Lovely Little Medieval Towns in Transylvania
Our journey of discovery through Transylvania continues with visits to two cities that are on all the must-see lists for visitors to Romania. Sibiu and Sighisoara are each just a couple of hours on a train from Brasov, although each on a different main line. Negotiating the Cold War era train system that still operates in Romania introduced an added […]
The King’s Lodge, A Royal Start to the Year
We will be celebrating just one New Year while we were away, and we were determined to make it a memorable one. And what better way than to treat ourselves to a bit of Royalty? The King of England, Charles III, owns a property in Transylvania, and when he isn’t staying there himself, it can be booked by commoners for […]