France Byways · 30 September 2023
The little train (le p’tit train) of the Baie de Somme runs from Cayeux on the Atlantic coast of Picardy to St Valery sur Somme, and then on round the bay to Le Crotoy. Cayeux is near the extensive shingle beaches of le Hourdel, a tiny hamlet at the mouth of the Somme. It has a little harbour overlooking the mud flats of the Somme estuary which create a maze of channels at low tide.
England · 24 August 2023
Robin Hood, [pictured] if he existed, led a revolt against injustice and taxes by the ruler (Sheriff) of Nottingham in the middle ages. In the 18th century some of its workers were Luddites who smashed up new factory machinery to protect their jobs
Baltic Countries · 18 August 2023
Estonia has a high-income, advanced economy and is a democratic unitary parliamentary republic, administratively subdivided into 15 maakond or counties on the Eastern edge of the Baltic Sea. With a population of about 1.4 million, it is one of the smallest members of the European Union and of NATO. Estonian is its indigenous and official language and is the first language of most of its population. The country has been inhabited since at least 9,000 BCE and only adopted Christianity in the 13th...
Baltic Countries · 30 June 2023
The Curonian Spit, a Lithuanian National park, lies across the Danė River from the city of Klaipeda on the South-west coast of Lithuania. Access to the Lithuanian end of the Spit is by a short ferry ride from Klaipeda. There is no bridge and no access to the Russian end of the Spit (see below centre beyond the walkers).
Baltic Countries · 20 June 2023
First conquered by the Teutonic Knights in the 14th century as part of a crusade to Christianise the country, by the 15th century Lithuania was a semi-autonomous grand Duchy within the Kingdom of Poland. After the partitions of Poland in 1795, the area was annexed by Russia. After World War I, the area became part of the restored Republic of Poland. The area was soon annexed by the Soviet Union, then by Nazi Germany during Operation Barbarossa, and did not finally regain its independence until...
Finland · 08 June 2023
FINLAND WHERE AND WHAT Finland has two official languages, Finnish and Swedish, the latter reflecting how the Northern Crusades for Christianity in the late 12th and early 13th centuries led to Sweden colonising some Finnish coastal areas, before taking over the whole of Finland in the 13th century. In 1809, after the Finnish war between Sweden and Russia, Finland was given to Russia and became a semi-autonomous Grandd Duchy under its rule. In the 19th century, Finnish nationalism emerged...
France Byways · 12 January 2023
Site Dijon’s first settlement was in Neolithic times. Later it became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road between Lyon and Paris. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon became a place of tremendous wealth and power, one of the great European centres of art, learning, and science. Dijon is situated where two small rivers converge: the Suzon and the Ouche. Located at the northern end of the main Burgundy...
England · 18 November 2021
It is wonderful when some of the family come round for Christmas – but that does not happen every year as they mostly live far away and have to travel to see other members of their families.
Scotland · 08 October 2021
Arriving in Orkney After crossing the Pentland Firth from Scrabster, on the northern most tip of mainland Scotland, near Thurso and John O’ Groats, we passed a huge rock, known as the Old Man of Hoy, among the cliffs of the isle of Hoy, one of the islands of the Orkney archipelago, which protects the port of Stromness from Atlantic storms.
Belgium · 07 January 2021
We set off by train from London on Eurostar [1] to Brussels, where we changed on to a very comfortable two storey local express that took us directly to Bruges (https://www.visitbruges.be/discover). We arrived in the mist at the railway station but decided to walk to our hotel, the Bourgoensch Hof, [2] http://hotel-bourgoensch-hof.hotel-in-bruges.com/en/ This was on Wollestraat right beside one of the main canals in the middle of Bruges old town [3] in sight of the Belfry. The 83 metres high...