Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Planes, trains and blogging

Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006

With my usual luck, I received notification from SAS yesterday that I have reached the next tier in their EuroBonus scheme just as I embark on a month long engagement in London. That said, given that I rarely use a check-in desk, the benefits of silver level will be mostly lost on me.

Instead of flying high, I’m joining the rat race for the hour long commute each day from Southampton to Waterloo. This morning we had the pleasure of the company of South-West Trains management. For some reason they didn’t linger long in the buffet car where I was shoe-horned in. It might have had something to do with the passengers forced to sit on the floor.

When I do have space to get out a laptop (and particularly on the odd occasions on the route when my 3G card is working) then I’m actually getting some useful work done. Oh, and writing the occasional blog entry!

Uncle Tom Cobley and All

Monday, September 25th, 2006

200Headed south in to Dartmoor this morning as we were due to visit relatives on the coast for lunch. Only had time for a quick walk up Rippon Tor and along to Hay Tor via Saddle Tor. I can never convince myself that Dartmoor would be a good place for long walks anyway. It is too open and flat and you must be able to see the entire day’s route from the off. Having never made it there before, persuaded Christine that we should quickly nip in to Widecombe-in-the-Moor. I think “twee” summed it up pretty well. Difficult to beat 10p for half an hour’s parking though!

In search of King Arthur

Sunday, September 24th, 2006

194Bade farewell to Porthtowan today and set off north up the coast. First stop was Bedruthan Steps which descend the cliff face to a picturesque beach. The tide was on the way out and I have to confess to a certain childish delight in being the first to clamber over the rocks and make footsteps in the pristine sand of the next bay. Sadly the nearby National Trust tea shop only takes cash so we had to wait until Padstow for lunch.

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Lost apostrophe at end of land

Saturday, September 23rd, 2006

191We drove down to Land’s End today with Ian and Sarah. Parked at Sennen Cove and walked over the cliff tops to the hotel. Having just finished reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves it was disappointing to see that the tourist sign read “Lands End”! Avoided most of the theme park rubbish although the old trawler on display proved quite interesting.

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The Eden Project

Friday, September 22nd, 2006

197Today we headed over to the Eden Project, meeting up with the rest of my family who are on holiday in Dorset. We started by touring around the outdoor exhibits. Undoubtedly Autumn is not the right time of year to visit these as the flowers were mostly past their best and many of the beds had already been cleared. I could have been tempted to try the overhead zip-wire (not sure how this is meant to be educational) although it later turned out this costs an extra £10!

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Surfing with Gordon

Thursday, September 21st, 2006

182We’re down visiting my brother in law and his girlfriend who’ve recently moved to the small village of Porthtowan, midway between St Ives and Newquay on the north Cornwall coast. We were due a surfing lesson but Hurricane Gordon, although out in the mid-Atlantic, was still making 12ft waves here. This didn’t deter Ian though (perhaps due to an earlier blow to the head from a surfboard?!) and after investigating various beaches up the coast as far as Holywell Bay he settled on St Agnes. (Note that the black blob on the beach in the photo is a prone surfer not a seal! The black blobs in the sky are a result of me not cleaning dust off the camera sensor!)

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Leisure time in Linköping

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

170I’ve had the pleasure of spending the past week in the city of Linköping in southern Sweden. I flew out via Copenhagen, transferring to a Skyways aircraft for the final hour’s journey to the tiny local airport. This is owned by SAAB whose adjacent aircraft factory, opened in 1937, is undoubtedly what propelled (if you’ll excuse the pun) Linköping to become Sweden’s fifth largest city.

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Bus delays at Heathrow

Friday, September 1st, 2006

My return flight from Zurich landed bang on time despite delays going through security. Unfortunately a shortage of bus drivers then meant that I then had to wait half an hour whilst a single bus repeatedly made the fifteen minute round-trip to the Terminal 4 building!