Blogs from England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 6

Funny to think that it hasn't been that long since the last blog...2023 is going pretty well, and trust me, it's not over! I spent the last few days first in South Africa for some time at home (the permanent one), some solid sharks, nice golf and top wines! Then came a week in Congo DRC first for the Lubumbashi Golf Open. Amazing party and for once I didn't come empty handed. Was the first overall First category Net without a price! Yes, you know, that guy who is just behind the prices. I won't complain as I took the first net on the second day, and it was a pretty nice feeling! Than came the fun trip to Kinshasa. I'm not sure you can actually call a 10 hours door to door a fun experience....bear ... read more

Just the sheer magnificence of being surrounded by the mountains took our breath away. Our heads, well more me as Chris was driving, were spinning around with the same vocal sounds normally heard at a fireworks display, the ‘oohs and ahhs’ and ‘did you see that?’ just didn’t stop and neither did my camera. I’ve been fortunate to have travelled to Antarctica with work (thank you UKAHT) and was blown away by the scale of everything: the icebergs, seas and scenery and the Pyrenees filled me with the same emotions that held me in awe then. We didn’t drive right over the top as the roads can get just a tad tight and windy and it would have been the first time of taking Bob on such a challenge, so we opted to go through the ... read more

Todays goal was Westminster Abbey! I’ve been to London four times in the past 4 years and haven’t made it there yet. That was number 1 on my to-do list! We decided to take a taxi because to ride the big bus would take too long and we wanted to arrive early. I also decided to take a guided tour because I thought we would learn more about some of the secrets of Westminster abbey. When we arrived, there was a line to get tickets that doubled and tripled around the queue and I figured we’d never get in. So I stood aside order tickets online, but the earliest entry was 11:30. I showed my phone the guard who let us enter. When we got to the ticket booth, I explained that we were there early, ... read more

Between the years 122 and 128AD the Roman Emperor Hadrian had a stone wall up to four metres high built across the narrowest part of Great Britain (in what today are the English counties of Cumbria and Northumberland) from the Irish Sea to the North Sea, delineating the northernmost extent of the Roman Empire. Nowadays there exists both a walking trail and a bicycle route that follow the surviving sections of Hadrian's Wall, with the cycle route being one of three that cross the country roughly parallel to each other (Hadrian's Cycleway, the Rievers Route and - by far the most popular - the Coast2Coast). Having run out of time in Western Europe due to the 90-day Schengen limitation, but with three weeks left before my flight back to Australia and a desire to tackle some ... read more

Whoop Whoop France here we come! It seems like a lifetime that we've been waiting to get to this point but it's been worth it. As ever with Le Shuttle it's always very straightforward - roll up, ANPR acknowledges who you are and your booking, you confirm, then just enough time to nab a coffee and breakfast, before being directed through to border controls (both UK and French). From arrival to driving off the other end was about an hour. The night before we'd checked the weather (just to ensure we were going to be in the sunshine) and picked our first stop, Evreux. A fab little six pitch Camping Car Park site with electric hookup and water/waste and to just put the cherry on the top, 11 Euro a night! It was quite noisy, but ... read more