Last year I went to Wareham, hired a rowing boat and rowed up and down the river for an hour. There’s something about rowing. Something of a long-gone world, carefree days with just yourself, a boat and the splash of the oars. Of course, I’m not an experienced or good rower and my carefree hour … More Canoeing is good for the soul
I used to be more active than I’ve been in recent years. I have (had?) a friend who occasionally introduces me as “a keen hillwalker”, which I don’t think was accurate even in my most regular walking days. But I’d realised how inactive I’d become and so in 2019 I signed up to twelve monthly … More My exercise routine: 500km in 2020 challenge
Today I’m taking a break from travel and I’m going to show you how to make a mask. I made a few earlier in the year. There were some experiments that fitted nobody and then I got a shape that fitted me with elastic around my head so I made myself a couple which prompted … More How to make a mask
Last week, I finished my Dartmoor blog back at the car at Haytor, after a 10.13km round walk taking in Smallacombe Rocks, Becka Brook, Greator, Hound Tor and Saddle Tor, which is where I should have started. So let’s go back to the campsite. I mentioned that it was steep and it was basic. It … More Dartmoor: a warm, windy walking weekend (part 2)
I went to Dartmoor last weekend. I’d expected half the country to be joining me on my drive westwards on a hot September Friday but it seemed there was more traffic heading east and definitely a lot more caravans. Had Devon and Cornwall kicked out all the holidaymakers? I’d set off reasonably early in the … More Dartmoor: a warm windy walking weekend (part 1)
One thing that a lot of people like to do on holiday is go to the pool and that’s a bit difficult at the moment. However, if you’re staycationing in Dorset or Wiltshire (the border between the two pretty much runs through the north of the town), salvation is at hand in the form of … More Dorset Staycation: Shaftesbury Oasis review
In 2017, I decided I could save some luggage space and maybe some money by, instead of hiring a car and taking a tent, hiring a campervan. I knew approximately what it was going to look like before I picked it up but people at home didn’t and my grandmother was adamant – told my … More Upgrading from a tent to a campervan
Since I’m not travelling at the moment, I’ve been catching up on documenting previous travels – in the form of travel scrapbooks. I’ve done them sporadically over the years (my earliest is the school French exchange in 1998 and it was of course the educational part of the “holiday abroad with your friends when you’re … More Travel scrapbooking part 1: 10 things to take
I’ve been writing some Iceland blogs lately and I’m also trying to write an uncooperative and recalcitrant Iceland Book. That means I’ve had my little Icelandic reference library out. It’s not quite what you would find in a real library but I find it handy and I thought it might be useful to you to … More My Icelandic reference library
I notice that a lot of people on the internet have two things. YouTubers with a hugely successful profitable Instagram. Bloggers who start a YouTube channel or a podcast. Instagrammers who create makeup pallets. And some people have multiple things – they call them revenue streams if they’re managing to make a living out of them – … More I’m writing a book: the difficult second album (and 11 things people don’t know about publishing a book)
I Am A Polar Bear 