While I’m catching up on old trips, it seemed a good time to talk a bit about my October 2012 trip to Iceland. I don’t tend to go to Iceland in autumn; summer is infinitely better for camping my way around and winter is infinitely better for magical winter wonderland scenery and autumn in Iceland … More Iceland’s Golden Circle in autumn colours
I should have more to say about Tromsø itself but as I don’t, not really, I’m going to jump straight from How I spent 2 days in Trondheim in 2011 to seeing the Midnight Sun. Tromsø is a very pleasant city; it’s got a relatively spectacularly huge bridge linking the city on the island to … More I saw the Midnight Sun in Tromsø
I went to Norway for the first time in 2011 and to make the most of it, I had a couple of days in Trondheim before flying up to Tromsø for a couple of days. That pre-dates this blog but for the sake of completion, for the sake of filling in gaps in my Norway … More How I spent two days in Trondheim in 2011
Ok, full disclosure: I have never and probably will never master the art of packing light but I’m beginning to get the hang of what I need to take without staring wildly round the house like I’ve never been outside before. There are a few things that always, but always come with me. These are … More The 8 things I never travel without
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Northern Lights. To be honest, I don’t have a great track record. I was in Iceland in December 2024 and February 2023 but on one trip, it was too cloudy and I was too tired and I expected the hunt to be cancelled, and on the other, … More Tromsø seems to be a good place to see the Northern Lights
One thing that I “pack” whenever I go away is a watch. I don’t actually pack it, obviously, I strap it to my wrist, because it’s always but always useful to be able to know what the time is. I know watches are a lot less popular than they used to be, but I’ve worn … More My favourite travel watch is my 12-year-old self’s dream
I’m a member of an Iceland trip planning Facebook group and it’s starting to drive me into very strong opinions that I was completely neutral on a year ago. “You don’t even know what hiking is”, “no on has the ability to google anything anymore” and “you’re tourising in Iceland in June, you’re not climbing … More Why you’re wrong to like the Sky Lagoon over the Blue Lagoon
I had some big plans for 2026. Some of them didn’t work out, some have fallen by the wayside and some of them are happening right now! See, one of those plans was to launch both of my books into the world and today is my second book’s turn – Lava Land: On the Ring … More Lava Land is out!
The Girlguiding fun never ends (or perhaps I should say that the Region events team are gluttons for punishment) because this is my third Region residential event in a single month. A week ago we had 60 adults camping on the field at Dartmoor Zoo, two weeks before that we had Try Inspire Qualify and … More The Brownies had a sleepover at Longleat
Has anyone else ever been woken up in a tent by a lionness roaring at quarter past three in the morning? On Dartmoor? This was my second Girlguiding adult-only residential in September. Two weeks ago I was at Try Inspire Qualify and now I’m pitching my tiny yellow tent in the rain at a zoo! … More We snoozed at the zoo!