Bohinj Bistreca, in the Triglav National Park in the Julian Alps, is 500m above sea level in a flat-bottomed valley in the middle of mountains. If you were dropped here in your sleep you would think you were trapped within steep walls, some thickly forested with the dark green points of pine trees, some – […]
I Feel Love
Slovenia markets itself on the basis that the word love is within its name. It’s entirely appropriate – there’s a lot to love here. Mountains that tower over you, rivers that tumble from them into canyons and fall over cliffs to land in deep pools below, lakes that reflect the bluest of skies. Not to […]
On The Edge
Drive south out of Sheffield on the A625 and there’s a point, just as you leave behind the buildings, when the road swings and your vision is filled with hills ahead of you. At this time of year they are glorious with the pink and purple of heather and the bright green of bracken. Behind, […]
Dam It.
Three dams, three reservoirs, one cycle track, sixteen miles. We’ve done about a hundred yards before rain splatters my sunglasses. Damn it! But we aren’t daunted. The forecast said 2% chance of showers and my calculations make that less than a couple of minutes so it should soon pass. Should… The two upper dams, Howden […]
An Old Banger!
Our drive north is uneventful, always a good sign on England’s motorways, especially when part of the journey is on the M25. A big change since we lived here is that most of the motorways have sacrificed the emergency stopping hard shoulder for another driving lane. These multi-lane highways are always a bit of a […]
Across the Channel
At the Eurotunnel terminal I find it strange to hear so many English voices, automatically saying oui, s’il vous plait and merci. The attendant on the train speaks to us in French, switching to English when she overhears our conversation – I realise she’s presumed us French because of the car. The border guard asks: […]
Au Revoir France
France has been good to us. It’s presented us with beautiful days, albeit some hotter than we’d like, it’s provided amazing sights for our eyes, gorgeous food for our bellies. We’ve seen nothing more than a few drops of rain; we’ve exercised our bodies with its paths and cycleways and our minds with its chateaux, […]
Cathedrals and Canyons
We arrive to stay with friends in Caplongue, a tiny village near the slightly larger village of Arvieu, both in the lovely Aveyron département of France, as the heat rises. It’s in the middle of farming country, not on the large scale we saw nearer Paris, but greener with tree lined fields and animals, especially […]
Menu Du Jour
These blog posts are like buses – none for ages and then a few together! Unless you’re waiting for a bus in Wellington, that is, when you wait for ages then… nothing. Petit Dejeuner – Saint-Cirq-Lapopie Another day, another incredibly pretty narrow-streeted village clinging impossibly to a hillside. There are strict rules around what you […]
In the Dordogne
Walking in the Dordogne is not as easy as we’d thought. There are many distractions and detour options – cafes, ancient monuments, more chateaux – it is hotter than we could have imagined, and the route is not always obvious. We expected heat but France is experiencing a particularly good summer – fine if we […]
Tracy Annenberg 