I was out of the Grand Hotel, Kiama by 7 am, partly to get out of the Grand Hotel, Kiama, but mainly to get across the mountains without too many SUVs, caravans, freight trucks and motor bikes piling up behind me, wondering why I’m not negotiating the sharp bends at two or three times the speed limit.
After my night at Lake Wallaga, I crossed over to the ocean side of the road to do the cliff walk.
It had been a long time since I’d tackled a road trip of any length, but with family responsibilities now sorted and Melbourne’s weather getting me down, it was time I set out again.
I’d never explored New South Wales’ south-east coast. Every time I’d decided on it, something had got in the way. This time I’d nail it. In September, I headed out.
Continue reading “NSW South-East Coast to the Murray – Part 1”
A couple of months ago, after the passing of my dear Dad at the grand old age of 100, I headed out for some R & R, choosing the Grampians.
Three hours north-west of Melbourne, the Grampians is a series of rugged sandstone mountain ranges and forests. It’s one of Victoria’s most popular holiday destinations for camping, climbing, scenic drives and bushwalking.
With Christmas over, not to mention 2020, it was time to start exploring again. I headed north of Melbourne to the old gold-mining town of Castlemaine.
Continue reading “Old Gold-mining Town of Castlemaine”I’ve been seeing photos of artwork on wheat silos for ages and decided it was time I saw the real thing, and so I headed for Benalla in Victoria’s north-east, and to the three little towns of Goorambat, Devenish and St. James.
I had decided that after my week in Cornwall I would head back to London via Canterbury. Penzance to Canterbury by train is a seven hour trip so I wanted to break it up somewhere along the way. I chose Chichester, mainly because of its famous theatre.
It was my fault, even after all the trains and buses I’d used in the last fortnight, that I still thought I would get on a train at Penzance and get off, relaxed and rested, at Chichester. Actually it took over six hours and three different trains.
One of my very favourite authors is Susan Howatch. Susan wrote a series of novels based around the Church of England and its clergy, and having lived and studied in Salisbury, set the stories there, calling it Starbridge.
I had discovered while researching my trip to the UK that just 14 miles out of Cambridge was Ely, famous for its cathedral, and where Oliver Cromwell lived for ten years of his life.
The bus took an hour and a quarter to get there, the consequence of stopping at every local bus stop along the way but I had a good look at the suburbs of Cambridge and the surrounding countryside, and watched the locals coming and going, noticing the change in their accents the further away from Cambridge we got.
On my second day in Oxford, I was wandering alongside the old city wall when I came upon a set of heavy wooden doors, a smaller door cut out and open, the same as mine at Balliol College. It seemed an odd place for them, surrounded by nothing but high stone walls, and I had to investigate where they could lead. Peering through, I saw a pointed arch, framing an emerald green lawn, turretted buildings rising behind. A sign said Welcome to New College.
Planning to the Nth 