Author Archives: Martin

Nothing to do with ships of the desert, the Camel is a river in Cornwall alongside which a railway line once ran, before being “axed” by Dr Richard Beeching in the nineteen-sixties. Dr Beeching unintentionally created many miles of cycle … Continue reading →

The Pier to Pier Way is a new 13-mile cycle route linking Weston-super-Mare and Clevedon. After years of campaigning and negotiating with landowners it has been completed at last. We cycled it, despite an annoying creak from Sal’s bike (later … Continue reading →

A few days away in a village cottage in Dorset, with Miles, Flora, Esme and Mabel the dog. And the next addition to the family who, fortunately, was happy to stay where he/she belongs for the time being. We spent … Continue reading →

We met Hannah and Harry with their friend Lizzy at The Cottage pub. Bristol Harbour was looking good for the annual boat festival.

Rob has been working on a project to decorate a sea defence wall on the Avon estuary, under the M5 motorway bridge. It is adjacent to the Lamplighter’s Marsh nature reserve, known locally as “the yellow brick road”.

Our annual few weeks in Europe is a little further east than recent years, meandering between France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland. We spent most time in Provence, in the southern French Alps. Once the early start from home, the race … Continue reading →

Usual splendid vantage point from Wendy and Graham’s dockside duplex.

After rebuilding the last of our garden terraces (replacing the original, now rotting, wooden posts) we left some rubble in an old Ikea bag (top right) which was quickly snapped up by a family of slow worms. It’s like a … Continue reading →

Having lived, as a teenager, in Southend-on-Sea, Barry Island, west of Cardiff, holds few surprises. I had forgotten, though, what a nice beach Barry has. Yes, probably better than Southend! Very many dogs, having a lovely day out with the … Continue reading →