In November 2021, a man was severely injured in an accident in a cave in south Wales. The subsequent rescue involved around 300 people and took 54 hours. It made national news. It made international news. I wrote a blog post about the complexity of the cave and why it took so long. And now BBC… More The Rescue: 54 Hours Under the Ground
Welcome to the second edition of Travel Library this Blogmas and today I’m reading Cathedrals of the Flesh by Alexia Brue. No, it’s not strictly a book about cold places but it is a book about hot baths and while none of them are in Iceland… well, there’s your link. Cold place, hot water. This is a book… More Travel Library: Cathedrals of the Flesh
As you can tell from the title, I did indeed go ringoing – or to put it another way, I slid down a hill on a big rubber ring! It’s here in Blogmas because it’s a snowsport. You’ve probably realised by now that Blogmas around here is more winter-themed and snow-themed than Christmas-themed. I did… More I went ringoing!
Back in the summer, I had a beautiful spa evening but even while I was enjoying it, I was thinking how much more I’d enjoy it in the winter, when it was dark and cold. So I picked an evening when it would be wintery, when it wasn’t half term or Christmas or Valentine’s Day… More A winter spa evening
This is a two-in-one: it’s a Useful Travel Items but it’s also a Things I Made For Travel. It’s the mini passport bag, aka the bee bag, aka “I made a bag!”. My mum had a bag. Little sage-green thing with flowers on, very small. In theory it’s two open-topped pouches sewn back to back… More Useful Travel Items: the mini passport bag
Kiruna, in northern Sweden, is one of the oddest places and I have no idea why I haven’t written about it sooner. In theory, it’s one of these places that just lights up with tourism in the winter. It’s just up the road from the famous ICEHOTEL (which from now on I’ll be spelling in… More Kiruna in the snow
Bournemouth at Christmas – ok, it doesn’t compare with some of the big markets which is why you won’t see it in lists of “best Christmas markets in Europe 2022!!!” but it’s still good fun. It starts down on the pier and stretches all the way through the gardens and up to the Square. So,… More Christmas in Bournemouth
A mainstay of Christmas TV is the Christmas Special, which is often part clipshow and part hilarious outtakes. So today’s post is my own outtakes, the mistakes I’ve made when travelling. There are two very obvious ones that come to mind: the Great Train Adventure (Romania edition) and the Great Train Adventure (Helsinki edition). I’ve… More Outtakes; or mistakes I’ve made when travelling
I can’t quite believe I’ve never reviewed this book before when it’s the reason I wrote my own book. Land of the Midnight Sun: My Arctic Adventures (affiliate link to bookshop.org) is a TV tie-in book by Alexander Armstrong to accompany his three-part ITV series which took him from Norway to Sweden, up to Svalbard… More Travel Library: Land of the Midnight Sun by Alexander Armstrong
What’s this? A Friday post? But the polar bear posts Mondays and Thursdays! Well, I’m doing Blogmas so there’s a winter/Christmas/ice/outdoors post every day until Christmas Eve. I’m going a bit old-school lifestyle blog today. This is a day in my life – and specifically, it’s a day in my life in winter. Now, finding… More A winter day in my life