Paul & Sheila Williams

silvernomads

Paul & Sheila Williams

We love to travel and experience different places and particularly like to view and photograph the world's wonderful array of wildlife - and we are so so lucky to still be able to do so although a little slower these days. After retiring in 2010, we have travelled the world covering every continent as older generation nomads - hence our name Silvernomads. We have been really blessed to live out our retirement as we had always dreamed when we worked all those long years.

The world is such a kaleidoscope of colours and cultures that have blown our senses away and this blog is a great means to store all of those memories in a secure ‘out of body’ hard drive! Hopefully we will always have this great ‘encyclopaedia’ to look back on and ‘laugh at’ or sometimes ‘cry over’ - ‘did we really do that’ … …

We wish every one of you, peace, fun and laughter, life is too short to wish for anything else - go out and do what you want to do, or you will always regret not doing so.

Happy and safe travelling to you all ? Paul + Sheila

Norfolk, UK - 12-17 April

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Norfolk April 19th 2022

Enjoying the Norfolk sunshine

silvernomads

Norfolk 12 - 17 April 2022 We have enjoyed our journey around North Norfolk and have returned to several of the nature reserves as each time you visit you spot something different. There are so many reserves to see but we really enjoyed both Cley Marshes (NWT)and Titchwell Marsh (RSPB) so visited these sites on more than one occasion. CLEY MARSHES On our second visit to Cley we also walked around Walsey Hills NOA. This small reserve is situated just to the south east of Cley NWT so can easily be combined. Being located close to Cley’s East Bank, the site offers superb views across the coastal marshes and across Snipes Marsh to the woodland of the North Foreland. On the day of our visit we came across a little Chiffchaff caught in a net and ... read more

Norfolk, UK - 8th April

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Norfolk April 11th 2022

Our holiday home - The School-house

silvernomads

Its been 9 months since our last blog and although we have travelled a few places in the UK I didn't write up any new blogs but hopefully we will be able to travel a little bit more now having had to cancel a number of trips for various reasons. Its was good to be on the road again and have a change of scene and we have been blessed with beautiful blue skies and some warm sunshine on our first three days in North Norfolk. We have also worn coats, gloves, scarves and hats but had to apply ample sunscreen as well. When the sun shines its hot but when the wind blows it is very very cold - which is not surprising really with this northern coastline living up to its reputation – wild ... read more

GLORIOUS WALES - PART 2

Europe » United Kingdom » Wales » Pembrokeshire July 10th 2021

Saint Dogmaels

silvernomads

LOTS OF SAINTS AND PUFFINS TOO … 1. SAINT DOGMAELS Heading south towards Milford Haven our first stop was only a short distance from Rocket House near Poppit Sands where we had spent a glorious week. Llandudoch in Welsh or Saint Dogmaels (our first Saint), an unusual name and a fascinating place particularly for the history enthusiast. This small parish and community had a peaceful setting next to the River Teifi, a mile downstream from the town of Cardigan. Not much is known about Saint Dogmael who has given his name to this Pembrokeshire village, apart from that he was a native of Ceredigion (Cardigan). He preached both in Wales and Brittany and several churches bear his unusual name. The remains of a 12th century Abbey built on a site of a pre-Norman monastery takes pride ... read more

Cwm-yr-Eglwys (English: Valley of the Church)

GLORIOUS WALES

Europe » United Kingdom » Wales July 5th 2021

Hitching a Ride

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TO0 MUCH HOMETIME AND THEN FREEDOM IN GLORIOUS WALES … … It has been nearly a year since I last wrote up and published a travelblog but of course Covid has kept Paul and I firmly close to home for these long, long months, as indeed it has for everyone all around the world. Who would have thought that this dreadful pandemic would last this long - such a sad time - the world sure does weep. The UK is hopefully now looking forward to some stability and at last we have been able to plan a journey away from home although we still feel as though we should remain near to our home patch. So we have been able to reinvent a trip we had planned for 2019 - two years ago now! Lockdown has ... read more

Peregrine about to land on St Mary's Church Andover

EMERGING FROM LOCKDOWN - OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLAND HOME

Europe » United Kingdom August 17th 2020

South West Coastal Path

silvernomads

A VERY DIFFERENT YEAR Its been a while since I last wrote a blog - our wonderful adventures travelling having been suddenly cut short … … Lucky for us we had returned from an amazing journey around China just before the Covid outbreak started but since then life for us all has changed dramatically. I would like to say a big thank you to fellow travel blogger, Alex Waring - your recent inspirational blog made me put pen to paper again and really appreciate what we have on our very own doorstep. My feet had been itching so badly through the months of March, April, May and June with ever tighter travel restrictions coming in so ‘thick and fast’ and travel limited and then stopped altogether ... ... ... never in my lifetime could I have ... read more

CHINA - Yangtze River & Shanghai - October 2019

Asia » China » Shanghai October 24th 2019

Meeting Victoria Jenna on the Yangtze

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THE VICTORIA JENNA - YANGTZE 3 NIGHT RIVER CRUISE It didn’t stop raining and we had a long walk to get to our ship, the Victoria Jenna docked in Chongquing on the Yangtze River. Launched in 2009 the Victoria Jenna is one of the largest, most technologically advanced ships on the Yangtze River. The 10,000-ton, 418 passenger vessel is almost 440 feet long, spans six decks and is roughly 50 percent larger than other Victoria cruise ships. Due to scheduled maintenance at the Three Gorges Dam our ship was not permitted through the ship locks there and we would be going to finish our journey, just west of the dam at Maoping. On arrival absolutely soaking wet we decided to upgrade our Standard Cabin to an Executive Suite and we were glad we did it was ... read more

CHINA - Chengdu & Giant Pandas - October 2019

Asia » China October 24th 2019

Airport Chengdu

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CHENGDU Our flight from Lijiang to Chengdu was with Lucky Air but not completely lucky as we were delayed by an hour - but overall it was a smooth flight and we had some excellent views on our way over the mountains, with clear skies until we neared Chengdu when it became quite overcast which was so different to what we were now used too … … We were taken straight to visit Broad and Narrow Streets and were not really impressed with this we would have preferred to book into our hotel first. These two streets were basically two adjacent long straight roads, one very narrow and one a little bit wider - both full of tourist shops and eateries. Everywhere you looked it was heaving with people, you just got caught along in a ... read more

CHINA - Ancient Towns & Villages - October 2019

Asia » China October 19th 2019

Ancient Gateway

silvernomads

LEAVING KUNMING We left Kunming and boarded our bus - the journey was going to take up to six hours, depending on traffic, heading up into the mountains but it would give us an opportunity to watch the world go by. We were lucky we were such a small group of nine and of course Helen our National Guide so there was plenty of room on the bus and we could all spread out. Water was available on the bus and you could buy three small bottles for 10 RMB. We drove through several small villages and a few larger towns the traffic was quite light which was good. In the small edged fields we saw local people tending their crops, mainly with hand tools, we did not see any tractors or other farm machinery just ... read more

CHINA - Guilin and Yangshuo - October 2019

Asia » China » Guangxi October 11th 2019

Sun and Moon Pagodas - Guilin

silvernomads

GUILIN Our flight from Xian was quick and as we drove from the airport we noticed a slightly slower pace of life, although a lot busier than we had anticipated and probably not only due to the fact that we were in the middle of their national holiday and its special year. We were looking forward to seeing this scenic area and hiking up into the rice terraces. Guilin is renowned as one of China’s most beautiful spots and I must say our first glimpse was impressive but we had only seen large cities so far on this journey. Our guide Helen said that this was her home town and she was really enthusiastic about everything we could do here. It was hot though in the mid 30s so you had to take things at a ... read more

CHINA - Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors - October 2019

Asia » China October 4th 2019

Bullet Train - Beijing

silvernomads

HIGH SPEED BULLET TRAIN We took the high speed train from Beijing to Xian which still took 6 hours as we made 13 stops en-route! However we did travel at speeds of 190 miles per hour which was pretty fast. Although not as fast as a plane as far as travel time goes, you save so much time and stress by avoiding having to get to an airport 2 hours in advance, long security lines and the queues would be long this week as we were now in the middle of the ‘magic holiday week’ in China - even more so due to the 70th year celebration of the People’s Republic of China. We had comfortable seats with plenty of leg room and we just relaxed and looked out of the windows as we passed through ... read more

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