The first thing I saw in Ilfracombe was Verity, a 66 foot high bronze warrior woman holding an enormous sword above her head and a set of scales behind her back. Truth and justice, you see. But Verity is entirely naked, heavily pregnant and flayed down her whole right half, exposing muscle and flesh and … More Ilfracombe & a large pregnant lady
There were a lot of contenders for the L-spot in this series but I’d already written about most of them, like Landmannalaugar, the Laugavegur trail and Laki so I thought I’d go for one of Iceland’s best-known Vikings, Leifur Eiriksson. You may know him better as Leif Ericson or Lucky Leif. He was an explorer … More The A-Z of Iceland: L for Leifur Eiriksson
Following the Notre Dame fire, my trip to Winchester and to the Sistine Chapel, the next stop on my “before it burns down” tour was Salisbury Cathedral. I mean, if it’s worth coming all the way from Moscow to see, it’s worth coming from Wessex to see. Easily done because my car spent eight hours … More Before It Burns Down: Visiting Salisbury Cathedral
I may have given the impression in my previous two posts on my short trip to Rome that I don’t particularly care for the Eternal City. Is that true? Kind of. I’ve never really been interested in Rome. Italy doesn’t really work for, it’s too hot and I’ve never felt any desire to shunt it … More Rome – what I thought of the other places
I went to Rome specifically to see the Sistine Chapel and having accomplished that, I didn’t really have much interest in the rest of Rome. But the Colosseum was only two stops up from my villa on the metro, or half a dozen tram stops so I thought I’d pop up and see it. What … More The colossal Colosseum by rain and night
The K has come round very quickly and other contenders for this letter included the Krafla power station, the imminent eruption of Katla and the explosion crater Kerið before settling on the Kjölur route. There are a handful of roads running across Iceland’s Interior, also known sometimes as its Highlands. It’s a very wild area, … More The A-Z of Iceland: The Kjölur route
Most people don’t start the Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman machine with Long Way Down. It’s a sequel to their 2004 motorcycle adventure around the world, Long Way Round, where they rode from London to New York via Siberia and Mongola. That was a big deal and a big adventure and I don’t think Long … More Travel Library: Long Way Down by Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman
At the weekend, I went to Rome. I booked the flights on the morning of April 16th – that’s the morning after the Notre Dame fire, because that Monday evening I realised that those huge historic permanent monuments that are part of our very existence are not as permanent as I thought. The Sistine Chapel … More On the Ceiling: I went to the Sistine Chapel
If the dream is to travel the world and make a living out of travel blogging and writing, then I guess the medium-term dream is to travel the world working remotely in reasonably reliable employment. Obviously that’s not the dream for everyone. I’m not at all sure that’s even the dream for me but all … More The truth about remote working
What do Icelanders wear? Knitted Icelandic jumpers with a pretty ring pattern around the neck! These things, these traditional Icelandic jumpers, are called lopapeysas, known for short as the lopi (although strictly speaking, lopi is just the wool). It’s oh-so-traditional, dating back to somewhere around the early-to-mid 20th century. That’s less than one hundred years. … More The A-Z of Iceland: J is for jumpers
I Am A Polar Bear 