Life's about experiences. These are mine.
Jet lag wasn’t too bad. I’m sure that it’s perfectly normal to be wide awake at 5 am! Still it did allow us to get out early and avoid the crowds. National Mall Today we’d earmarked to do the sights, which in Washington’s case are all centred around the National Mall. We started by heading …
Just as the weather begins to change at home, we are off to warmer climes. Back in 2019 we did a combined trip to New York and Washington but felt that we hadn’t spent long enough in the capital so vowed to come back. Now we are here for a week. Whenever we said to …
Something new for Heritage Open Days this year and arguably, something without any heritage— a trip up the newly opened ONE Station Hill building in Reading. Having done all the other things on offer and seeing that this offered the opportunity to look out onto the roof of Reading, we were keen to go. Missed …
Continue reading “ONE Station Hill, Heritage Open Days 2025”
We’ve not been able to do a leg of the path since late April. The reasons for this are twofold: firstly, it was very hot over the summer— too hot for us to want to walk; and secondly, I got plantar fasciitis in my right foot, making walking painful, so there has been quite a …
Continue reading “Thames Path – Day Fourteen – Cholsey to Shillingford”
Today is the last day of my 6th decade. Tomorrow I will be eligible for free prescriptions and a senior railcard. I don’t feel old enough to warrant those and other concessions but the grey hair tells me otherwise! While browsing the bookshops in Hay I came across these magazines from around the time I …
Continue reading “Wales 2025 – Day Five – Hay–on–Wye”
The final two stops on our Welsh tour today waking in the lovely Portmeirion and then travelling on to the bookish Hay–on–Wye. Portmeirion After all the hoi polloi paying day guests had left the village it became very, very quiet there and it was a pleasure to walk around the grounds. There were a couple …
Continue reading “Wales 2025 – Day Four – Portmeirion & Hay–on–Wye”
We moved on from Conwy today winding our way on towards our next top of the Italianate village of Portmeirion. Anglesey Our first stop was to be the island of Anglesey, where we had planned three stops, the first of which was the town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrn-drobwllan-tysiliogogo-goch, whose only claim to fame must be that it …
Continue reading “Wales 2025 – Day Three – Anglesey, Caernarfon & Portmeirion”
For our first full day in Wales we had decided to start at the nearby Bodnant Gardens, a National Trust property with extensive grounds. Bodnant Gardens We arrived just after opening, and there was hardly anyone there. Three hours later when we left, the car park was heaving, and there were plenty of people in …
Continue reading “Wales 2025 – Day Two – Bodnant Gardens & Llandudno”
We’ve talked about doing a Wales road trip for quite a while now and just never quite got round to it. Then when we were planning a few days away for my birthday, which may or may not be a big one, we decided now would be a great time to go, so here we …
A couple of years ago Reading Town Hall played host to an art work called Gaia by the artist Luke Jerram. Essentially this was a giant inflatable ball with an image of the Earth printed on it and suspended from the ceiling, slowly rotating to a soundtrack. I’m sure that Jerram wouldn’t describe it in …