I would describe my earliest memories as ‘dirty & free’, as in the type of dirt that makes your Mum embarrassed because it may reflect on parenting techniques. My sister had a collection of caterpillars that she carried around in her pockets and forgot to tell Mum about when Mum did the washing. I think my brother could safely say that he always wanted to be a farmer … [Read more...]
Dakar Rally – A View From the Inside
Descriptions of this year’s Dakar Rally in the media, once it had finished, ranged from ‘Brutal. Punishing. Exhausting. Back-breaking. Insane’ (Top Gear); … the jaw-dropping beauty and brutality of the most prestigious off-road rally on the planet. (Red Bull) The Longest and Hardest Rally in the World (Red Bull) For me – I don’t get to see much of the action … [Read more...]
Travel Out Takes – Inexplicable & Unexpected
There are the bizarre travel experiences and these are more often than not when you don’t speak the language and you have no idea what is going on. So much more comfortable to deal with these situations when you are in a group, when you are by yourself it can be a bit of a nightmare. Photo credits to Phoebe Thomas, http://www.loumessugo.com Like the time I was with two … [Read more...]
Book Review: Full Tilt by Dervla Murphy
If anyone ever asks you to drive three donkeys and a foal for twenty four miles through the Karakoram Mountains, be very firm and refuse to do so … This is the advice given by Dervla Murphy in her book ‘Full Tilt’, written in 1965. The book is a record of her journey by bicycle cross country basically from Ireland to India. On the way she went through what was then … [Read more...]
Las Islas Juan Fernandez – a great travel adventure
Asked to write about my greatest adventure. Hmmm. There’ve been a few and so I decided to narrow it down to adventures for which I have access to photos, and having said that I have to apologise for the quality of these images – they are scanned from photos which I thought at the time extremely top notch. The destination is Las Islas Juan Fernandez, and the reason I call … [Read more...]