During the COVID lockdown, with all swimming pools shut like many others I took to the sea. I didn’t have to go far: only a few miles along the coast from my home there is a lovely, sheltered bay. Immersion was gloriously cold and exhilarating, and I loved it…but having a healthy respect for tides, … More Waterlog: A Swimmer’s Journey through Britain by Roger Deakin
Hubby’s friend, Steve, was one of the few people I’ve met who could rightly be described as a ‘character’. He did things his own way and seemed to command attention wherever he went. Take the time Hubby and Steve went skiing. Steve arrived in jeans, a raincoat from the Army and Navy Stores, and fingerless … More Travels with Maurice: An Outrageous Adventure in Europe, 1968 by Gary Orleck
Several years ago, I volunteered for an assignment in Milton Keynes. It would last two days and involve an overnight stay. At the end of day one, I checked into my hotel and headed out for a jog. I’d spotted a park on the map and figured an out and back run, including a circuit … More English Journey or the Road to Milton Keynes by Beryl Bainbridge
My job requires me to travel anywhere in Britain and in the last three years it’s taken me to places I’d never visited before, such as Southampton. Southampton, like my home city of Liverpool, built its wealth from its port. I was anticipating a grand waterfront, not necessarily buildings as iconic as the Liver Building … More English Journey by J B Priestley
If you read my last blog you might remember I suggested the literary tourists among you might consider visiting the Mauritshuis art museum, The Hague, to check out Carel Fabritius’s The Goldfinch and Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring, paintings which inspired novels by Donna Tartt and Tracey Chevalier respectively. I have succumbed to … More Footnotes – A Journey Round Britain in the Company of Great Writers by Peter Fiennes
My hubby has a great sense of humour. He’s observant and quick-witted. But when he’s in a bad mood his comments can sometimes come across as nasty instead of funny. Which is why I can’t help thinking Bill Bryson wasn’t in the lightest of spirits when he wrote The Road to Little Dribbling. The book … More The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
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