Blogs from Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England, United Kingdom, Europe

We were going to visit Wakehurst Place at the end of March, but postponed owing to the national lockdown. Mark took days off on 15th and 16th September; we decided to visit there on 16 September. He checked the bus timetable between Haywards Health and Wakehurst Place and booked a slot for us to enter there at 12.30. Following one-way system, we entered from the temporary entrance upon our arrival and found the picnic table to have lunch. After that, we headed for the water gardens via Black Pond and Iris Dell, and walked down to Westwood Lake via Himalyan Glade. Colourful aquatic flowers were blossoming and showed picturesque scenes with winding rivers and stone bridges. Many trees and shrubs retained green leaves. Upon the arrival of Westwood Lake, we followed the footpath and the broadwalks ... read more

We went to Wakehurst Place on 16 October 2018. Wakehurst Place is located in the heart of Sussex, owned by the National Trust and managed by the Kew Garden. We took the train to Haywards Heath from Victoria and took the bus to Crawley. It was lunch time we arrived; so we had a picnic lunch. It was quite warm and sunny; we could see lots of leaves that had turned autumnal colours – gold, red, orange and yellow – and these leaves were falling on the ground little by little. We decided to walk down to woodland via Pinetum and Himalayan Glade. There were various shapes of pine trees, conifers grown on Pinetum. On foot of trees we found vivid y red mushrooms – they look bright under the blue sky, although they were poisonous ... read more

Greetings patient ones. I landed back in the UK to blue skies and warm sunshine - an unexpected pleasure. Some 56 hours after leaving El Calafate, two buses, a taxi, three planes, four airports, and two trains later the wanderer is back in the wee abode he chooses to use as the base for his life. The body is weary and the mind is finding it somewhat tricky to comprehend (once again) the instant switch of context that happens when you board a plane half a (very different) world away and then find yourself in familiar surroundings at the other end. I'll try to go back and update some trail details but the mind is too blurred for the moment. The body needs a bath and the brain needs time to lie still in its juices ... read more

Being in the middle of one of those work phases, this trip is shorter than might otherwise be desired but it allows the wanderer to visit a long-held target (the Torres del Paine). Also hoping to visit the Perito Moreno glacier. On the afternoon of February 20th, a long series of flights (LHR > MAD > SCL > PUQ) will find the wanderer in one of the southern-most airports of our planet - Punta Arenas (pretty close to the bottom of Chile) on the afternoon of February 21st. If all goes well, the wanderer finds a fellow wanderer (FD - last found in the Khumbu in December 2012) awaiting his arrival. The next day, the wanderers hope to find a long bus ride to Puerto Natales. An overnight pause and supply stop and then another bus ... read more

Hi All Well, I'm on the last leg of this great adventure and trying to squeeze in the last few things I want to do before I have to step on the plane back to the cold and wet UK :-( I will try to bring a little sunshine back with me in time for the Easter weekend. My time in Perth has been made so much easier by a new friend I have made here. Gail emigrated here about three years ago and is the daughter of my parents' neighbours' friends! We had never met before but when I emailed to say I would be visiting Perth she immediately offered me a place to stay. I accepted gratefully. We are about the same age and hit it off straight away and it has been lovely ... read more