Farewell and Amen
In 2011 I decided to get back on the road for a spell...
Graffiti as I roam
A couple of posts on this blog have graffiti as the theme. With...
That time waiting
While waiting for someone I know to have an operation, I found myself...
Spring 2023
Most Springs I am in good shape, this one I'm recovering from an...
Convalescent trek
It was the First of March and I was in hospital. I had...
Carob cookies
I was bored, sitting around waiting for an op to be scheduled. Something...
An afternoon in Tudela
The boys were gathered in a circle, some yards from where I stood....
Temporary refocus
He sat on the top step, his battered old hat slightly down over...
A strange dangling thing
There are times when history can catch up with you. It wasn't planned...
A Basque farewell
Since 2013 I have spent a lot of time in the Basque Country,...
San Fermin 2022
Around the world, the Covid Pandemic has brought about many changes. Some are...
A bit too long in Legarda
It took four days to find a room in Pamplona for the next...
Back on the road
With the lifting of a lot of restrictions, I spent some time looking...
Periwinkles and butterflies
The thought of doing a Spring post the days just before the season...
Not the usual sort of thing
We go places and take photographs of the regular type of stuff, but...
Finally a lightweight laptop
I began writing up my travel experiences over ten years ago. There were...
The last page is missing
Imagine reading a book which page by page yields good stuff, then you...
Some asides
This is just a few little things that I'm doing during the lockdown...
Madrid memory
This year marks the tenth anniversary of running this blog. As I sat...
You're gonna love California
My father told me to go out and make some friends. I stood...
About those ego travellers
There are times when I'm off the road that I get bored and...
Unplanned and unwanted
I awoke early, just before 7am, got up and put the kettle on...
Those astonishing circumstances
Occasionally you end up in a strange situation. It happens almost naturally and...
Sitting and staring
One thing I notice when out and about, particularly in touristy places, are...
King of traffic jams
London is huge. Like very big with an attitude. Every town and city...
Finding things to do when you can't get on the road
We ain't going nowhere. The current situation has put a clamp on just...
Water and bloom
Spring has officially arrived and it looks like we are, finally, about to...
Stay home
Normally I am not one to let outside things hold me back from...
Pamplona without the leaves
The day previously: airports, some trains and other public transportation had been shut...
A winnowing in the offing
Last summer in the Basque Country saw me only visit two towns, one...
Don't I wish
It was just an ordinary ride on a local bus. When the temperature...
Sometimes you just need a laugh
With all the seriousness in epidemic mode around the world, there needs to...
A festival and change of plans
I discovered this year in Pamplona that there are Street festivals for many...
3 hours in Artajona
The nights are getting quite cool now in Pamplona, so I grabbed a...
Durango
The sheriff of Durango caught the outlaws and slung them in jail. At...
Buses and a concrete artist
I find it interesting how pricing changes for flights. The use of companies...
The Kilmer connection
He watched carefully as the patrol moved. The G98 was raised slowly and...
Cutting it down and fixing it up
In an earlier post I mentioned the new pack I'd bought to use...
Once upon a time in the Negev
Even though it's winter, the sun is higher in the sky than I'm...
Charles
When in Porto a few years ago, I noticed a lot of homeless...
About those Expats
I stood in amazement as this white, middle class, Englishman ranted on to...
Three hours to kill in Paris
Crossing a major city from one train terminal to another is always a...
Tossa de Mar
The Costa Brava is one of those places I usually give a miss....
Seven and then
Going from a to b in London, at any time, is a pain...
Faces of the San Fermin
One of the things about large festivals, is the number of people and...
The Doors and Portals
We look out a window, often to see what's there. Sometimes imagination comes...
Just a little shakshuka
We all like our various dishes as the towns and countries roll by....
Drug addicts plus an English whore and a big black dog
It had been an interesting four months. A contract to IBM, Netherlands, saw...
That stint in Frankfurt
Arriving in Montpellier, after the floods of Barcelona and fires of France was...
Things are different today
How often do I hear that? You've gone off on a gap year,...
Transconning the USA in 1968
It was late June 1968, this guy was passing out loaves of bread....
Unknown roads
Having raised two children of my own, I know that four years old...
Backpacking way back then
They wanted to take stuff from one place to another so it was...
Maybe it's time for a change
Lately a number of situations have arisen which are giving rise to a...
Stuttgart to Ulm
The summer was hot, very hot for parts of Europe. It was 2003...
Walking Pamplona's City Walls
Fortress cities abound in Europe. Sitting in a valley plain nestled between mountain...
5 Tips for Surviving the San Fermin
Wild, exciting, tiring, mayhem, messy, expensive and very, very crowded. Every year on...
Destination Jerusalem
Imagine a range of hills tucked away from just about everywhere. In those...
The Walls of Pamplona
If you visit Pamplona, there are a few things that are very noticeable....
Bolivian Festival of the Virgin Urkupina
There are a lot of Bolivians in Pamplona. They bring part of their...
Cold beer, silence and a water snake
The temperature was in the mid ninties, it was humid, the San Fermin...
Olite in the afternoon
The apartment, where room I rented in Pamplona, was on the corner of...
Oronoz-Mugaire to Legasa by foot
Looking at the map, the two towns appeared close enough to do a...
Reaching Pamplona differently
My fifth journey to Pamplona, Spain was different this time. All previous trips...
The other side of Porto
Sitting down with a glass of wine, I began thinking about my time...
Povoa de Varzim
Way out, at the end of the Porto Metro is the coastal town...
Kicking it off in Porto
There is a certain point where you just want to get on with...
Fiesole
This little town, almost a village, is just outside of Florence. You can...
Afternoon in Siena
It is very easy to reach Siena from Florence. I decided to use...
Bagno A Ripoli
It was winter, cold, wet and Florence full of tourists. I had two...
Cerreto Guidi
Maybe it was the rain, then again it might have been the hordes...
Italy, a different perspective
Flying from London City Airport is nice. It's small and so are the...
Lord of the Rings, a Travelers Guide
The past 50 odd years has seen The Lord of the Rings progress...
Merignac and street kids
The text message from home informed me of the document. I had to...
Narrow streets and ancient churches
The morning was still cool as I boarded a bus to Estella. The...
Two hours in Beasain
Looking at the map I figured the bus journey would be, at best,...
San Martin in the mountains
The bus had stopped right across the road from the church of St....
Sunday afternoon stroll
If you happen to visit Pamplona, you will find that nearly everything shuts...
San Fermin 2015 - Part II
One of the main aspects of the San Fermin is the family. More...
San Fermin 2015 - Part I
They stand, waving the red scarves, waiting, waiting. A man reaches out and...
The artist and the shopkeeper
I sat having a beer with two friends at a local bar. One...
Pamplona's Old Town Festival
Once a year, the old part of Pamplona has a kind of festival....
Graffiti to street art
It's all over the place. From miserable scrawls to world class artists. Scribbles...
Back to Basque
I stood with my hands on the rail looking out across the city....
Cold, wet and a flooded Dax
Closing the front door, I stepped into the cold drizzle of the night....
Lisbon in the rain
It's February and a very stormy one at that. I was in Pamplona...
Couple of days in Seville
An overnight bus left me in the city as the sun was rising....
A short stay in Pamplona
I had spent the summer doing a lot of hiking and getting in...
Ruined castle at Eynsford
The ticket office at the station said I would have to pay about...
Glasses shaped wood and rabbits
The pilot struggled to keep the damaged fighter airborne as the weather worsened....
Owl and Clock
Finding something unique in this town involved a bit of a hunt. Upon...
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