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Showing posts with the label travel
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Now Back Home In Britain I Had To...... After such an epic, five month long adventure, traveling through Europe and North Africa, I decided that I should become familiar with my own shores. The British Isles are a beautiful collection of islands and I knew nothing about them apart from what I had learnt in my history and geography classes at school. So, now back home in Britain I had to plan another trip. My initial idea was to hitchhike and backpack up to and through Snowdonia and Anglesey, two gorgeous areas of North Wales. An area that always intrigued me…it was calling. Having consulted maps and photographs of the area I decided to head straight into the mountains (and National Park) of Snowdonia. I wanted to camp on Mount Snowdon's slopes, and hike the beautiful valleys at my leisure and for my pleasure. So packing my rucksack, once again I set off. I ‘thumbed’ my way up to North Wales in the space of a day. It was an uneventful trip and eventually I found myself in the tiny v

Fes And A Scuffle

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Onward to Fes... And A Scuffle ! I'm sitting here, at this moment, drinking tea..... a nice cup of tea ! I'm English  and its what we do! On a fateful morning, many moons ago, we decide that we had to move on. And it was over a cup of sweet tea that we made our plans. We'd already spent several days languishing in Ouezzane....the people were wonderful and we'd been enjoying the food immensely... but our feet were itching and wanderlust was driving us onwards.  Our next destination was to be the medieval fortress city of Fes. You may ask why ? My simple answer is because its there and we wanted to see the place that gave its name to what is, a rather odd hat with a tassle. So off we went. The public bus was once again our main means of transport. Hiking across the mountains was not an option in those days. There was too much risk attached to it. Hitchhiking was 'improbable' because of the lack of roads with vehicles on them. So once again it was to be a beaten up

A Skateboard Shock And A Goat

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A Skateboard Shock And A Goat Leaving Ceuta on the north coast of Morocco and well into our 3rd month on the road, we had decided to carry on South. Rumours had reached us of a virtual border war between Algeria and Morocco and it was felt by us that prudence was the better part of valour. Our original intent was to go west but south it was to be. We were headed to a place called Ouezzane and this meant crossing the mountains. Once again filling our canteens with clean water and after devouring our muesli, a staple of ours so far, that was coming to an end now, we headed towards a tatty and really forlorn bus station in the middle of the town. After some hasty negotiations we had discovered that the next bus headed out was actually headed in our direction....and it was leaving. We ran, shouted and waved, all of which helped attract the attention of the driver, who looked at us with incredulity...remember.. this was before the days of mass tourism to Morocco, and we must've been qui

A Little Bit 'Tipsy'

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A Little Bit 'Tipsy' And A Bowl Of Muesli After arriving in France, Le Havre to be exact, Jamie and I headed towards a major road intersection and put out our thumbs, as well as our 'Afrique' sign.  It was a hot day and it was lucky that we had filled up our water on the ferry crossing, because it was to be a long wait...... it may have had something to do with our Union flag rucksacks ! I really don't understand the animosity between France and the UK. Anyway, we'd just finished our muesli lunch (great dried food for when you're on the road), and a car pulled up. He was headed towards Brittany and offered us a lift. This was to be my first excursion to Brittany ( I live here at the moment), and it was to be a good one. We drove for hours, and its always a long trip when there are two languages being spoken and neither party can really understand the other. However, we eventually arrived on the SW coast, near to Quimper, a city I've grown to love. Our dr

Afrique

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Afrique ! I’ve been asked to write a little more about my 'escape' from the British Isles, that took place many years ago. As I previously mentioned, I was a 17 year old who needed to get away from the 'woes' of my life. I had decided to embark on a backpacking and hitchhiking trip, across Europe and into North Africa. Now remember, this was in the days before mass tourism, and we were going to a place that was having trouble of its own. North Africa, namely, Morocco, and Algeria were in the throes of Civil wars, that we knew little about....but more on that in another blog. My friend and I (he is also a Rick Steves guide now) had agreed to meet on the outskirts of Bath, our hometown. It was a wet and very windy evening. It was also dark. We laughed at each other as we stood there with our military style backpacks and gear, our wind cheaters on and a bedraggled piece of cardboard in my hands. That piece of cardboard was our secret weapon ! On it was written the one word

My Itchy Feet

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My Itchy Feet I was 17 years of age when I first realised that travel was life changing.  Until then I had taken the family vacations to camp sites and holiday camps all over Britain. I had enjoyed traveling to farms, cider presses, and mountain trails with my grandfather in his caravan. I’d spent 6 weeks every year in London with my grandparents. and I always learnt from my vacations and the people around me...   but life changing... No ! At the age of 17....nearly 18, I had already lost both of my parents and a sister, in very close succession. I’d fallen in and out of love... as you do at that age. ..and my spirits were low. My best friend asked me if I’d like to go on a bit of a trip with him. I asked him ‘where to ?’ He said that it was going to actually be a big trip ! I agreed to his plan and we got prepared to hitchhike across Europe and into North Africa !…a trip that was scheduled to last 6 months.! Our preparation involved cutting up 4/5 sheets of cardb

Saxon Shore Forts

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Saxon Shore Forts If you’ve ever toured around the coast of England, you may well have discovered one or two, strange Roman oddities, called Saxon Shore Forts. Indeed, you may even have come across one or two along the coast of Northern Europe. Portchester Fortress During the middle of the 3rd century, Rome deemed it necessary to set up a separate strategic command, in order to control and protect trade through the English Channel. As the Empire proceeded to collapse, the shore forts created along England’s coasts were separated and out under its own command known as, ‘The Count of the Saxon Shore’. Just the name, should give you a clue as to why these formidable fortresses were built. Being coastal, they were essentially military ports AND garrisons. However, as we have very few mentions of these places from Roman sources, their use is somewhat clouded. Were they fortresses which protected against Saxon incursion or were they built on territories already settled by t

Observing

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Observing . Walking around Carnac yesterday, filming some video for my ‘stones’ tour, we came across some beautiful places. In amongst the grasses, and the stones, was a tree trunk... just an ordinary tree trunk.. I’ve walked past It before and ignored it, but my wife, Toni, yelled out and asked me to stop walking as she took this gorgeous photo...   I’ll never walk past that tree again. She captured the moment and I was able to understand my surroundings a little more thanks to her photo. Travel is a career for me, and sometimes I feel like I’m becoming jaded or tired of it. The constant packing and unpacking, always having to look ahead and motivate others to enjoy and understand what it is they are looking at, can be exhausting. Yes, there is always the reward of seeing their eyes light up ( I’m an ‘eyes’ person), as they realise or learn something new...  but sometimes, I just want to be in the moment myself.  The second photo, was one such moment. I had been busy, filming

Walking Amongst The Stones

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Walking Amongst The Standing Stones Of Brittany in Western France Sorry for not blogging anything yesterday, but I was on a mission to create a short video.... nearly an hour long,... a video tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Carnac, in Western France. I set out early, as it’s an hours drive from here, and beating the traffic, I arrived at the exhibition centre in Carnac at about 9.00am. Not knowing anything about virtual tours or videoing for Facebook and YouTube, I had to learn on the spot.  Trust me when I say that it was a big learning curve. As I loved to do, I extolled the virtues of standing stones, gave some background and history about them and began piecing together what little we know about them. The first video, there will be three, will air on Saturday morning and will be available through my Facebook feeds, so tune in to watch. However, I must first of all put out my disclaimers....   the audio isn’t good.... it’s OK,.. just not studio quality.

English Landscape Gardens

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English Landscape Gardens. Because I’ve created a new Cotswolds small group tour, that will include a couple of very special gardens, I thought that I should write a little piece on England’s gardens....landscape gardens in particular. Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit some great gardens scattered all over  the British Isles, and I have to say that the Brits are justifiably proud of this aspect of their culture. The predecessors of the landscape garden in England were the great parks created by people such as Sir John Vanbrugh (1664–1726) and Nicholas Hawksmoor at Castle Howard (1699–1712), Blenheim Palace (1705–1722), and the Claremont Landscape Garden at Claremont House (1715–1727). These parks featured vast lawns, woods, and pieces of architecture, such as the classical mausoleum designed by Hawksmoor at Castle Howard. At the center of the composition was the house, behind which were formal and symmetrical gardens in the style of the garden Ã  la f

Scotland Is A Part Of The United Kingdom !

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Scotland Is A Part Of The United Kingdom ! ....it really is ! But how did this come to pass ? First of all, let’s not forget that James 6th of Scotland became James 1st of England.... yes, a Scottish King became king of England which led to the Stewart dynasty ruling for decades. Scotland was a land inhabited by warring families and wracked by political intrigue. However it certainly wasn’t any different than any other kingdom in Europe. It certainly became a whole lot more powerful, with one of its own families in the throne at Westminster. So, how did Scotland become a part of what we now call the United Kingdom and Great Britain.? There are probably many different reasons but I’m going to focus on the race for overseas territories, and the fact that even though James came to power in England, the two realms were never properly unified under him. In 1603, James VI, King of Scots inherited the thrones of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland in the Unio

My North Wales- Snowdonia Tour

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My North Wales- Snowdonia Tour Wales is a land that continually surprises me. I’ve been heading up there with my small group tours for several years, and I always eagerly anticipate it. The land and seascape is rugged, it’s unforgiving, and yet it’s welcoming. I have developed a 10 day tour that is based in one boutique style hotel in a splendid Victorian seaside town called Llandudno. It’s a perfect base for striking out into the mountains or reaching into the heart of Anglesey. The whole tour came about after a discussion on a hilltop with local legend, tv personality, author and farmer, Gareth Wyn Jones ( he’s also a friend of mine).i wanted to do a regular bus tour of Wales, but also spend time with him and his family, absorbing his culture, lifestyle and Welshness. He wanted to show off his farm, his knowledge and his generosity to more curious people. The discussion turned into a lengthy Welsh whiskey ‘session’, and the tour idea had taken route. Welsh history,

Creating Tours On A Woodland Walk

Creativity is a strange thing.  Office work can sometimes be tedious, particularly for an active tour guide. You know how it is... sometimes you’ve gotta get up and leave the office behind in order to make a little space in your mind for creativity to creep back in. I need creativity when I’m dreaming of a new tour itinerary. This may sound mundane to you, but to me a new itinerary is a new Christmas present that an intrepid traveller can unwrap. It’s a dream being fulfilled or an experience that will be gained and remembered for life....it’s a very special thing. I’m a tour guide with a passion for giving these things to people, but I need to create them first. The process starts with a simple question....    ‘where do I want to go next’ ? The next question is, ‘how do I want to do it’? And the final question is, ‘how long will I need to explore this place’ ? With those things resolved, I then need to imagine what I’ll do from the moment I meet my small group of tour members,

Afootinfrance - 2014 Personal Guide and Escorted Tour Season in France

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Afootinfrance - 2014 Personal Guide and Escorted Tour Season in France ! Afootinfrance - 2014 Personal Guide and Escorted Tour Season in France We are offering these destinations for our personal and escorted guided tours during the 2013 travel and tour season in France. Your travel party (family friends etc) have a choice of the following destinations in France.  Prices quoted are in US dollars and are for 1 person per day. They include pick up from your hotel, personal English speaking escort and chauffeur, who will also be your tour guide, liquid refreshments all day, fuel, tolls, insurance, and taxes. On these destinations within France we can provide a fully chaffeured and escorted tour package, that can be for a single day or for a week. Plan your itinerary and contact us for your travel needs, whilst in France. Our personal tour guides will do the rest. Brittany and Normandy - With the aid of your own personal tour guide, Vis