I woke up this morning to what I think was a magpie or a crow making some unearthly squawking noise outside the van, but when I looked, all I saw was the tiniest, sweetest little brown Wren bobbing about on the olive tree we have parked under. Last night we both stopped what we were doing to listen to the most unusual, haunting bird song I have heard in a long while. I unfortunately however, have a very poor knowledge of birds, especially continental ones, so could not possibly identify what it was. Goldfinches flit around the van and birdsong fills [View Full Entry]

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“A church made of bone!?” I exclaimed. “Yes, and tastefully done too,” came Ralph’s reply. The bus taking both of us from the city of Palmyra in Syria continued to rumble along the dusty, desert highway as visions of a bone church unfurled in my mind. I again questioned, “Human bone?” and the answer, though expected, was still a surprising “Yes”. I contemplated such a church, and thought that anything constructed of human bone would be confined to the realm of computer games, where these unholy places were always guarded by a great horned demon who pursued any foolhardy intruder relentlessly [View Full Entry]

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One hundred-twenty kilometres north of Sagres, after a long strip of amiable small towns and charming beaches, Porto Covo stands out for its cool streets with tidily displayed houses, all of which neatly painted white and blue. Only a short trip from Lisbon, this is a place for weekenders, for newly-married couples. Where middle-class Portuguese families take their children. We are half way through the Portuguese winter. The sun shines bright up in the clear, blue sky, however there is a subtle cool breeze, enough for the men to show off their best sweaters; ladies, their designer's wool coats. Even furcoats [View Full Entry]

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What happened to Maddy. Last Night(the 18th) a programme produced by Channel 4 examines the possibilities of what happened to Maddy McCann. There have been many theories and ideas. In the programme : dispatches five " experts" were called in to give their observations. Some of what they said was valid , but most of it was in fact misdirected. I have just returned from a Ugandan orphanage where we prayed all night long for the safe return of Madeleine McCann... anyway... the so called " experts " postulated the following theories: They went through three possibilities ... 1. She wandered [View Full Entry]

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Travel blog 6 Wednesday 10th Time to leave this lovely site - amazing being only ones here though a lot of static touring vans filled most spaces. Stopped at bottom of 'la 'ill' as decided to update blog from library in town. Left Andy in the market for few hours while I found the library. That itself was wonderful; extremely old heavy stone building with an ultra modern interior which somehow worked. Headed off for Villa Real and again we had to cross a mountain to get to it - uphill 10 miles and downhill another 10. Villa Real advertised as [View Full Entry]

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Hello Again, We’ve been so very lucky with the weather so far - but this week has been almost too much to hope for. We’ve travelled inland about 100 miles and the temperature has gone up several degrees. The site we are staying on is within walking distance of Evora but it really is too hot to walk - fortunately there are plenty of places to park, free of charge, just outside with city walls, so we’re taking advantage of this. The site also has a lovely pool heated to 23c perfect for a swim at the end of a long [View Full Entry]

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Travel blog 5 If this gets too boring please switch off - I will never know and whatever you do when we get back is not to invite us round if we mention showing you our holiday snaps!! Forgot on last blog to mention that on the awful day across mountains we found a most fabulous site in the nature reserve and we slept by a waterfall at a place called Geres. We thought this would be relaxing, but turned out a big annoying. I had trouble with my ear since I left England and realised how bad it had got [View Full Entry]

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You never know what will be similar and what will be different in a foreign country. Parking is like in Seattle where you go to a machine, insert money (not sure if you can use a credit card or not), get a ticket, and put itin you car window. On the other hand, shopping carts are very different. They are locked in a little like the luggage carts at the airport, and you have to insert a .50€ piece to use it. When you put it back, you can retrieve your .50€. Today, I'm in Guimaraes, a lovely small town with [View Full Entry]

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Évora. Déjà ce nom évocateur, témoigne d’un riche passé,à la fois complexe et varié. Du cromolech des almendres (sortes de Menhirs de l’age néolithique,favorisant la forme phallique plus que toute autre)aux palais,couvents et cathédrale qui sont regroupés sur ce promontoire de la taille d’un petit Mont-Royal,Évora étale ses 2000 ans d’histoire sous toutes ses formes. Un temple romain côtoie une cathédrale transitant entre le style roman et gothique où ,parait-il Vasco de Gama aurait reçu les drapeaux de sa flotte avant de quitter pour l’orient,le palais des comtes de Basto, ancien alcazar mauresque est assis sur la muraille romano-gotho-musulmane (s’cusez ce [View Full Entry]

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“On the road time is valueless”: the perfect epitaph for the real traveller! I actually have never believed to the tale of the value of time, not even in these sedentary times of my life, I mean. I guess that once, a very, very long ago, someone decided that “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”, and “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today”, and “Procrastination is the thief of time” and so on with a long list of badly disguised invitations to dedicate one’s life to be productive. The folks [View Full Entry]

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