Travelogue

Youngsters (under about 70) may be puzzled by this subject. Also true of most of those over 70 but this was a genuine headline in my local paper (remember them) in the 1960s. This was around the time I and my pals began under-age drinking c1969 and this appeared in my local rag, avidly consumed by my parents and family every week, the Heswall and Neston News and Advertiser (now RIP). A friend of ours who was a couple of years older had a job there as an ace local reporter and

I did promise to continue my non-Brentford travelogue, but in fact, it will turn into another endeavour. A year or so ago, I had the idea of following (via a very scenic route) my friend Tom Levitt's lead in his book The Business of History, published last year. This was a kind of update of another book, written in 1925 by one William Beable called The Romance of Great Businesses. Beable selected 32 businesses on slightly eccentric criteria, and only 4 of them survived intact

I'm taking a week away this week. I wanted to do that straight after the election but it was too complicated then so I have followed my pattern last year: if you were watching, in January I planned to drive to John O'Groats but gave up at Inverness due to floods, snow and cowardice 😊. In the summer I visited a lot of new countries for me Sweden, Finland, the 3 Baltic republics and Poland. all alone in my car. I enjoy my own company (good job one person does) and I like drivi

I nearly gave up here, but I'm a determined type. The ruddy computer deleted all the purple prose I had written and then went odd. It...

Eventually. I had to go around what I suspect was the Warsaw M25 in the rush hour. Then about 5 more hours, nearly all motorway. Mostly 2...

I was a bit late starting and this was a relatively long drive. Trundled South through Lithuania but got a bit spooked by the signposts...

I had breakfast at my 5* hotel. What makes it 5* I don't know, though the room and the appearance of the place was good. But that aside...

My hotel did not offer any breakfast, or even a cup of coffee. There was a sachet of a special Nescafe which I decide to give a try. I...

When I woke this morning I wondered what to do today. My eccentric approach to being a tourist left me thinking I had 'done' Helsinki,...

Of course we all are. I listened to something about Ulaanbaatar which is apparently the coldest capital city in the world. Last winter it...

Well I know it's not called that and it is just a ferry ride across the Baltic Sea/Gulf of Bothnia. But I started life in Liverpool area...

This has day been I suppose the least exciting. No ferries, no Jersey cows, no borders. I decided to have brecker at the hotel. The meal...

Yes, another one. Got up early, but not as early as I planned. Most unusually I had been bright enough to book a flexible ticket and when...

Another Blog. I don't think Brenda from Bristol is a fan. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1381536228570146 Sorry, there is another one....

So got up at about 5am assuming I might forget something. Didn't ang got to Dover for 7.30 for a 10am ferry. Only place open was Costa...

I am off early next morning to Dover. I am aiming to visit 10 countries within the EU over the next couple of weeks, 6 of which I have...