Dear All Greetings! I write this one from Sheffield this time. I don’t think I’ve ever written one from my home city before, though I guess times such as these are rather unusual and unprecedented. I write once more on the eve before a big trip – my biggest trip since summer 2019. I am excited to be getting back on the travelling road again, after such a long time away from it. I have indeed done some short trips over the last 17 months, but this upcoming one feels a bit more major, a bit more exotic, a bit more back to normal. Tomorrow I head to Scotland! In theory, I could spend the summer visiting a number of places around the world, as the world is starting to open up again once more to ... read more

Dear All Greetings from London. We have just had a lovely, three-day Bank Holiday weekend at the beginning of May, and I took advantage of having the extra day by completing something that I started probably over three years ago now. I completed “Walk 4” in my 1998 book “Country Walks Around London” – yay! I bought this book second-hand from an Amnesty International Second-Hand bookshop in Hammersmith, probably over 10 years ago now. Although it was published in 1998, the “Country Walks Around London” has served me well over the years in following slowly but surely its 26 listed walks in surprisingly beautiful rural areas all around the city limits of London – I am now halfway through the book, having completed 13 walks, with 13 left to go. The walks vary in length from ... read more

Dear All Greetings! This is my fourth and final blog entry on my summer trip 2020, travelling in the north-east of England from Newcastle to Hull. I had so far visited some really quite amazing and special places, and on the second Saturday of my trip, I was once more heading with my backpack, and sword in hand, to explore another undiscovered part of this country for me – the northern city of Kingston-upon-Hull, or simply just Hull. I had really enjoyed my time in the North York Moors National Park, particularly having chosen a lovely farmhouse BnB to base myself in. On the Saturday morning, I caught the country bus number 95 once more in Glaisdale village, back into Whitby again. I wasn’t there long, as I’d joined quite a long queue at the bus ... read more

Dear All Greetings again from London. In this blog entry, I plan to write about my second two full days in the north-east of England whilst based in Newcastle. After my first two days exploring the urban towns and cities of this far corner of England, I planned for my second two days to explore the more rural regions of the area. Firstly a day trip to the absolutely wonderful Holy Island, and secondly a day trip exploring the legendary Hadrian’s Wall. For a number of years I had wanted to visit such places, both to my mind holding a mystical hold on one’s imagination. And indeed as I explored England’s northernmost county, Northumberland, I found such lands really quite magical and mystical, rugged in beauty and welcoming in spirit. The area felt far-flung and remote, ... read more

Dear All Greetings from London! Since I wrote my last entry on my explorations of the Peak District whilst spending the first two weeks of my holidays in Sheffield, I have returned to London and have enjoyed the subsequent three weeks of my holidays here, hosting my wonderful family for visits. This has been a wonderful time, and having been able to spend time with them has certainly been one of the positives that has come out of this tricky situation. I also managed to fit in a day trip myself from London to a nearby point of interest, which I enjoyed very much, and which I will write about here. But first, just a bit of background on where some of my summer travel planning this year began. When we first went into lockdown back ... read more