By and large, I’m a solo traveller and I think it’s time I started emphasising that a bit more.
Back in the days when I could solo travel, I gravitated towards Iceland, Scandinavia and the Arctic, with occasional visits to places like the Baltic states and eastern Europe but you’ll find plenty of Paris and Switzerland and western Europe here too. Actually, my non-Wessex UK travels are here as well, so come with me to Scotland, London and a few other places around my own country.
Yes, I know fire hydrants might be an odd thing to decide to do a photoset on but Reykjavik has one idiosyncrasy that I love. It has red and yellow fire hydrants scattered around the entire city and it seems to be a national pastime to draw faces on them. And I can’t resist taking… More Photoset: Reykjavik fire hydrants
Back in 2009, I flew off to Carlisle for a few days – and when I say “flew”, I mean that I took the train. It’s quite a long way from Dorset (seven hours!) and even longer back because it was a Sunday and our beloved planned engineering works meant I had to make three… More A few days in Carlisle
I’m sorry if you’ve seen this post before but I know no one reads the older posts, which is why I’m taking the opportunity to re-write one per month. This is my favourite travel story ever and I really want to tell it to everyone. This is my Great Train Adventure. It was late October… More The Great Train Adventure
Back in September, on the back of a bad summer at work and an issue at Guides, I ran off for a short weekend in Manchester and Liverpool. I took the direct train from Southampton – and it kind of astonishes me that there’s a direct train to Manchester from Southampton – first thing on… More Manchester
The boat is already waiting for me as I scurry down North Greenwich Pier on the coldest day of the entire winter. It’s been gritted but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to slip and that might cost me the boat. In fact, when I look up from making sure my feet are in the right… More Superspy hijinks on the Thames Clippers
At eight o’clock in the morning, having packed up my tent and hauled it across the campsite, I was on a bus. By one o’clock, with an hour’s detour to walk up a canyon formed in Iceland’s most productive eruption in history, I was at Landmannalaugar, an oasis and campsite in the Highlands. The plan… More Landmannalaugar circular walk
A week and a half ago, I was told by a friend of mine – under the influence of a whole bottle plus two glasses of wine – that because I’m not afraid of going out and going travelling on my own, I am “the ultimate feminist”. Apart from the fact that there are so… More Travel & the Accidental Feminist
Back in August 2014, I went on an adults-only county Guide trip to Switzerland. A lot of international trips go to Switzerland because it’s where Our Chalet is, one of the four WAGGGS World Centres – more exciting than merely going to London but cheaper and easier than going to Mexico or India. We drove… More Switzerland 2014: Our Chalet
I’m not a horse rider. I know which end bites and which end kicks and that’s about the limit of my horse knowledge. But horse riding is one of the most popular activities you can in Iceland, so I thought I’d give it a go. And having given it a go, I gave it three… More Riding an Icelandic horse
I wanted to do this as a video but I just can’t talk to a camera. I pressed the button and sat and stared at it and pulled faces and couldn’t speak. I’m a writer, not a talker, so I’m writing it instead. Let me add that I am in no way qualified to discuss whether… More What is Katla doing and should I be worried?