Category: History
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TAIWAN DIARY 2024 – TAIPEI
DAY ONE – 18th APRIL 2024 Taiwan is often in the news these days. Usually because of the ongoing friction with China, but recently also due to the magnitude 7.4 earthquake that hit the city of Hualien on 3rd April 2024. This was Taiwan’s strongest earthquake for twenty-five years and, when I first heard…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 113
Saturday 9th March 2024 HARDLEY TO HILL TOP (BEAULIEU) I set off early today and catch the bus back to where I left off yesterday, stepping off into a light rain shower. Fortunately it doesn’t last long, but the day remains cold, cloudy and windy, apart from a few sunny spells. I won’t…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 112
Friday 8th March 2024 WARSASH TO HARDLEY After camping for five nights it felt luxurious to sleep in an actual bed and not have to walk across a field to have a shower. The guesthouse is lovely – nice and quiet, very clean, and not far from the trains, buses and city centre. …
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 110
Wednesday 6th March 2024 PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR TO WARSASH With the sky clearing overnight, the temperature has dropped again and I wake up early to another frosty morning. This time even the zip on my tent has frozen solid and I’m trapped inside. Eventually I manage to work it open enough to create a small…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 109
Tuesday 5th March 2024 HAYLING FERRY TO PORTSMOUTH HARBOUR Today my luck runs out with the weather and I wake up to a showery morning. I wait for a break in the rain before walking back to the ferry and crossing back over to Portsmouth, arriving on the coast again at a bleak-looking Eastney…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 104
Wednesday 6th September 2023 CHICHESTER Today is something of a rest day while I do a bit of sight-seeing around Chichester. What I am most keen to see are the remains of Fishbourne Roman Palace. Chichester was known as Noviomagus Reginorum to the Romans and was an important staging post immediately following the invasion…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 103
Tuesday 5th September 2023 EAST WITTERING TO BOSHAM Today will be another long day, even longer than yesterday in fact. The route meanders up and down the channels of a large estuary, rather than straight along the coast, so it’s difficult to estimate its length by glancing at the map. Fortunately I don’t get…
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HIKING THE RIDGEWAY – day 3 of 6
COURT HILL TO GORING 3rd July 2023 There was no cooked breakfast available at Court Hill hostel in the morning, but the manager had kindly left me a few things to eat – cereal and milk, bread for toast, apples, bananas and tea bags. Today’s walk passed through Oxfordshire and Berkshire, before crossing…
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HIKING THE RIDGEWAY – day 2 of 6
LIDDINGTON HILLFORT TO COURT HILL 2nd July 2023 I got up at 6am to a completely dry tent, thanks to a good breeze blowing up all night from the valley below. The town of Swindon looked a lot better from up here than it did the day before when I got off the train…
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HIKING THE RIDGEWAY – day 1 of 6
INTRODUCTION The Ridgeway is said to be Britain’s oldest road. In use for at least 5000 years, it forms part of an ancient trading route from Wales and the English West Country to East Anglia. These trackways developed naturally as ancient travellers made their way across the drier, higher ground. Initially a series of…
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WALKING TO SLOVAKIA
VIENNA AND BRATISLAVA – part 2 of 2 Day Four – 20th May 2023 This morning it’s hot and sunny as I catch a train to Marchegg, a small town near the Slovakian border but still in Austria. The journey takes less than an hour across flat arable land and from the window I…
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GIPPING VALLEY RIVER PATH
29th April 2023 STOWMARKET TO IPSWICH The sun is shining and it’s a perfect spring day for another local walk. This time it’s a one-day meander through beautiful countryside in the county of Suffolk. ‘Meander’ is exactly the right word for it as well, as this walk follows the twisting course of the River…
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PATHFINDER LONG DISTANCE WALK
The Pathfinder Long Distance Walk is a 46 mile (74km) circular hiking trail in Cambridgeshire. Sandwiched between Cambridge and Huntingdon, it passes through mostly arable land, crosses the River Great Ouse twice, and visits many attractive villages, often with amusing names like Pidley and Yelling. The walk was designed to celebrate the Royal Air…
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THE WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD – Book Review
“The weirdest bird’s-nesting expedition that has ever been or ever will be.” Apsley Cherry-Garrard The “worst journey” referred to in the title was a kind of side trip to Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated 1910-1913 voyage to the South Pole aboard the Terra Nova. Published in 1922, it was written by the wonderfully named…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 95
Sunday 13th November 2022 I check out of the hotel and have my backpack with me again. This is another sightseeing day – Pevensey Castle this time, site of William the Conqueror’s landing in England. I flash my English Heritage card and take the audio tour. A little bit Roman, a little bit Norman,…
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BRITISH COAST WALK – DAY 94
Saturday 12th November 2022 I’m not doing any walking today. I’ve factored in a couple of sightseeing days over the weekend. This is one of the reasons this coast walk is taking so many years – lots of faffing around when I should be walking. Today I’ll visit the Battle of Hastings site. Earlier…