Keep Smiling's Guestbook

Castle Drogo
It was a five-year, £13Million project and has been beset with problems, including the company which was carrying out the second phase going into administration and bringing work to a halt until a new contractor was found. It became a six-year project, but I think it's still hoped to finish work late this summer or in the autumn. Check the National Trust website for up-to-date news. When I visited way back in 2014, I climbed the scaffolding for a birds-eye view of the work but doubt there'll be enough scaffolding still in place by the time of your visit for you to do that. If it's not completed, they may have some hard-hat guided tours of the site though. It's worth a visit - not outstanding as it's really just a rich man's folly but, as the last castle to have been built in England (albeit in the 20th century!), it's an historic place with great views of the countryside.

Thanks - writing my blogs always makes me want to return to India too! :0)

I'm sure you didn't miss a thing...
...you just forgot to write them down! As you know, I seldom made notes, but I did take a lot of photos and what my memory fails to remember is jogged by the camera's memory card. By the way, Raisal sends you his regards and says we're welcome any time.

Memories, indeed!
I believe that the people we meet make a visit to any country particularly memorable - none more so than India, where 'visitor is god' and hospitality knows no bounds.

Buddha
I sometimes feel I'd like to become a Buddhist - the 'mudras' are easy, but sitting cross-legged on the floor is a downright impossibility!

Memories!
Thanks again for introducing me to Raju. You must find an excuse to go back to Varanasi some day - you haven't written a blog in a long time! Keep doing it (...smiling that is!).

India's another world!
Thanks for continuing to share our adventures. We were, as always, on a tight schedule, but in a place like Varanasi it would have been a shame to limit ourselves to just the tourist hotspots. And there's another week's worth of blogs still to come - including a few more places that TravelBloggers don't seem to have written about!