My dear friend Karen came over from Hastings for a long weekend and we are spending it exploring Cornwall. Although today was raining all day long, we had a lovely time! Starting in our lovely hotel – Penmere Manor. Built in 1825, it was originally home to Captain John Bullock of the Falmouth Packet Service. During …
Many people are amazed when they learn that I journey around the world as a solo traveller – and even more than that, I do not have a family ‘back home’ who know my every whereabouts and activity. I truly am the epitome of a solo traveller! While friends have a general idea of which …
After sleeping in (hmmmm, that is definitely becoming a habit on this trip!) I bundled up with my winter woollies, and headed off to find “Husky Haven” where I was to have my first dog sled experience – in the snow! The dogs are adorably stunningly glorious..! The man with the sun beaming down on …
From their website: “Ardoe House sits on an estate which was part of a 1,000 acre parcel of land gifted to Arbroath Abbey by Alexander II, King of Scotland way back in in 1244. It has been described and divided throughout the centuries as the sunny half and the shady half. Ardoe House was built …
Upon leaving my northern Scottish castle in Tain, the sun was shining, and it was a magnificent day! I did have to sit in the car for a while to warm it up and to remove the eighth-inch layer of ice on the windscreen before heading off in 2oC / 35oF temperature – and I …
OK, so ‘technically’ it’s not ‘my’ castle, but I like the sound of saying “my castle in Scotland”… 🙂 Since I am not able to be there with you for Christmas and New Year’s, I thought I would at least be able to give you a present to let you know that you are in …
When I arrived in South Devon, I knew instantly I was “home“… In over fifty years on this planet, I had never before known that feeling… (and discovering I had ancestors in South Devon going back to the late 1400s just confirmed the feeling)… …and arriving in the Scottish Highlands, that feeling is multiplied a …
The Winter Solstice marks the darkest day and shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere due to the sun being at it’s most southern position, directly above the Tropic of Capricorn. Today, for the first time since 1664, the sun and Saturn actually line up – and this has resulted in many, many …
Leaving beautiful Fort William this morning, I came across the WWII Commando Memorial. It’s sad that so many memorial halls and monuments were erected after WWI when the nation felt that nothing on that scale could ever happen again… and then… I could have happily seated myself beside the Caledonian Canal Locks at Fort …
Voted several years in a row as the top rail journey in the world (Wunderlust Magazine), the Jacobite train trip in Scotland has been on my bucket list for some time. Starting near the highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis, it visits Britain’s most westerly mainland railway station, Arisaig; passes close by the deepest freshwater …
