Blogs from Bodmin, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, Europe

With spending a lot of money on home improvements we had decided no holidays for this year but, after a year since our last break, I felt I needed a few days away somewhere. Fiona's two older children were away with their dad meaning that we could find a reasonable B&B room somewhere for just the three of us. I suggest a few days in Cornwall, so that I could meet with my childhood friend, Sally. My friend would have possibly been able to host us, but she felt her home was unsafe for my 2-year-old daughter, Jovie, given she was having some renovation work done to her property. My friend lives in Bodmin, which is in the middle of the county of Cornwall and not such a demand for the hospitality industry as most people ... read more

Ok - let's do the maths. 63 days and counting . Counting to what - a long four week holiday to Greece. 9 weeks today we will be getting up early. The butterflies and the thumping great elephants charging round our stomachs will have kept us up all night as we lie there waiting for morning knowing we would be on our way in a few hours. By 7 we would have taken Suzy off the drive and would be on our way to our first stop of the day - breakfast , bacon butties and a pot of tea in a motorway service station. 9 weeks easy to count off on your fingers. 8 weekends. 8 Saturdays and 8 Sundays . 14 more working days. Still a lot to do though before we head off ... read more

The sweet, sickly smell of decomposition made me gag. Its pungency hung thick in the air. There was no escaping it. To make matters worse, the aroma came from decaying human flesh, the human flesh of my wife. It's a topic of conversation I never envisaged having. "Excuse me love, but I believe your foot is slowly rotting away." We both knew it was happening. We both hoped by ignoring the issue, it would just disappear. As to be expected, it hadn't. Ever since the second day of our 1160 mile charity walk form Lands End to John o'Groats, my wife had been inundated with blister issues. Covering her feet with blister plasters seemed to have corrected the problems. But now taking the plasters off for the first time seven days later, I knew they were ... read more

"Hey rambler......you're a fucking dick." I turned around to see a group of sneering, drunk youths. It wasn't even 10am and it was obvious those shouting the abuse had been up all night. I ignored them and kept walking. There was no point in saying anything. It was obvious they were looking for a confrontation. It was even more apparent that I would've been on the end of a serious beating if I'd even made eye contact. Ramblers. Hikers. Walkers. They don't have the best of reputations. I've never considered myself to be one, but it seems attempting any journey wearing hiking shoes and carrying a backpack classifies you in this category. Like being a bird-watcher, train-spotter or even a runner, this leads to being singled out for high levels of ridicule for no particular reason. ... read more

My itinerary is provisionally mapped out: Beginning in Atlanta, Georgia I will go from there to Savannah, crossing into South Carolina to spend some time in Charleston, before heading North to Raleigh to begin an exploration of North Carolina. In North Carolina I will spend time in Greensboro, Asheville and Charlotte, then head to Tennessee to visit Chattanooga, Knoxville, Pigeon Forge (Dollywood!), Cherokee, Nashville and Memphis (Graceland). From Memphis I will head to New Orleans before flying back to Atlanta to spend a few days in Athens, Georgia and finally exploring Atlanta itself before flying home. Well that's the plan, but it may change some along the way. I already have hosts set up in Charleston, Charlotte and Nashville, with other accommodation options still under discussion. This is my first time to the USA and I ... read more