Every year, between Christmas and New Year, my friend Tom and I go on an adventure to the beach. I guess the beach isn’t a rule but it always has been the beach. This year we went to Charmouth. If you watched Broadchurch, Broadchurch itself is everywhere from Bridport to Lyme Regis, so Charmouth is part … More Fossil hunting in Charmouth: Tom & Julie’s Annual Adventure
This feels like such a lazy post to start a well-intentioned year. First and foremost, I want my blog views to keep increasing. I’m seeing people on Twitter saying “I want [x] monthly views and [y] monthly visitors” and I’d be screaming in excitement if I got 10% of that but – I have more readers … More My plans for 2018
I told you about this earlier in the year but now it’s finished & published and you can buy it if you want (please do – it’s good, I promise!) It’s called Minus Twelve: An Arctic Adventure and it’s the story of my journey from Helsinki to Rovaniemi, to Kiruna, to Narvik, Harstad, up to … More I wrote a book!!
I sat down this week and had a look at my travel statistics for 2017. 46 nights away from home 18Â different beds 4Â nights under canvas 5 nights in a campervan 7Â countries 5Â sovereign states (as permitted by Pointless) 4 different currencies spent 5Â overnight trips to London 5 day/evening trips to London 3 visits to the London … More 2017 in travel
I’ve been away six times this year – which isn’t bad for someone who’s working full time in two jobs, running three youth groups and has written a book this year (more on that later in the month). So December’s photoset is pictures from each trip, looking back at where I’ve been in 2017. Tromsø, … More Photoset: my 2017 travels
I like travelling. I like, in theory, scrapbooking. But when I look at other people’s pages, I just can’t figure out where they get the time, the embellishments and the imagination. I have an over-huge 12×12 scrapbook downstairs with a page, or occasional double-page spread, on interesting places I’ve been but they’re so so plain. I’ve … More Simple travel scrapbooking
A week after I wrote a vague, floaty post about having no specific goals or sights to see in RÄ«ga, here I am telling you ten things to see! 1) City Park & Bastion Hill City Park is a bit of tree-lined greenery just at the north-east limit of the Old Town. It’s peaceful, it’s … More 10 things to see in RÄ«ga
This is the last of the Year Abroad stories – I’ve more or less reached the end of what I can remember well enough to write about. But I saved this one for the winter because it’s seasonally appropriate and it’s one of my favourite memories of my year learning French in western Switzerland. I … More Shrieking on the slopes at Chaumont
I really enjoyed Latvia – more than a couple of other trips I’ve done this year & yet, apart from the Krimulda post (I found Latvian Silent Hill!) I freeze over every time I try to write about it. Why? I don’t know. Specifically, I’m trying to tell you about RÄ«ga Old Town. It’s a … More I can’t write about Latvia
It’s December now so it’s past time to be thinking about winter trips – to Lapland, to the Arctic, to the cold and the snow and the Northern Lights. I like cold places and cold trips and I’ve made a little list of things you might want to take with you. 1) A hat with … More 10 Things to Take to the Arctic
I Am A Polar Bear 