Quirky Traveller's Tales

Whether you’re headed to Nicaragua, Nepal, Namibia, or just up the road to Northumbria, your trip will inevitably be busy. but in between shrines, safaris and scuba diving (presumably not in Northumbria…), it’s important to keep your safety in mind.  So plan ahead, and stick to these top tips for safe travel, and you’ll be [...]

Italy has its iconic, must-see sites that are sure to feature on many peoples’ bucket lists. St Mark’s Square and the canals of Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Rome’s Trevi Fountain and the Vatican, the rolling hills of Tuscany… I could go on. However, all these breathtaking icons of Italian tourism have literally hundreds [...]

On St George’s Day, April 23rd, I spent a magical time photographing Lake District daffodils, exploring an evocative old house that Wordsworth used to live in and discovering that sheep may safely graze in Dora’s Field. Spring is the perfect time of year to visit one of Britain’s favourite destinations. Here’s what I did over [...]

With his hands clutching his long, flowing coat tightly around him, Sir William Hillary (1771-1841) stands high above Douglas Harbour, ready to face everything the weather can throw at him.  As founder of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution he was well aware of the changeable  meteorological temperament of his home, the Isle of Man.  The [...]

Ernest Hemingway wrote, “Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bull-fighters.” In the same spirit, I believe that as life goes by so fast there are only a few moments that you really live to the max. Walking the Camino de Santiago, as opposed to bullfighting which is not for me, was [...]

‘Is it not strange, this madness that has gripped us?’ asks Cornelius. ‘What madness?’ asks the painter. ‘Have you surrendered to the passion yet?’ The painter pauses. ‘It depends what passion you are talking about.’ ‘This speculation on tulip bulbs …. Great fortunes have been made and lost. These new hybrids that they have been [...]