If anybody's interested, i haven't been doing anything worth rscording recently so I have been concentrating on some other things. However, Pam and I are heading for Madeira a week today for a week and I hope to be able to contribute usefully again when I get back.
Dec 23, 2006 12:00 AMReflections on bus time-tables in Lazio
This is intended to be amusing rather than savage and I certainly wouldn't want to imply that Italian timetables are worse than our own.
Quite quickly I found true familiarity with the timetables and thought an entry would mean either that
1. The bus would leave at that time [rare but possible] or
2. The bus wouldn't leave before that time [but maybe considerably later]
Before I left Cerveteri I learned two more possibilities:
3. The bus wouldn't leave after that time but might [and did] leave before it, leaving me stranded.
4. The bus was a myth; it ismply never arrived and passengers had to wait an hour fot the next.
Surely that had to exhaust the possibilities - but no!
At Lido Central station in Ostia there was absolutely nohting to suggest the existence of a bus to the airport at Fiumincino to anyone who didn't already know of its existence. If you asked, you were told [with great confidence] that they run every 20 minutes. After much, much longer than that the third of three buses depositing only told us the bus should appear 'within' 20 minues. 25 minutes laret still I resorted to a private taxi. So
5. Keep it a closely guarded secret!
Dec 08, 2006 12:00 AMForthcoming trip to Lazio
A combination of cheap flights and reasonable flight times will see me fly to Rome on Sunday.
I've been to Rome twice and don't feel up for a city break at the moment so I shall try to see several spots in Lazio. I'm starting with a trip to Tivoli. Then I shall go and see whether there are any Etruscans left in Tarquinia or Cerveteri - OK, I do know!
I also hope to see Viterbo and possibly Anagni. I shall be right disappointed if it doesn't cause me to be a bit more active here.
Sep 07, 2006 12:00 AMA week in Cornwall
Just returned from a week in the far west of Cornwall. We stayed with a friend in a cottage which she has recently bought with her brother, in the area where they grew up.
This is at Saint Just. There are several places with this name in Cornwall and this one is Saint Just in Penwith. Unlike St Just in Roseland, you would never find it on a chocale box or jigsaw. It's no worse for that as it really feels like an authentic English village - though only the best of chocalates could merit a picture of the other St Just on their lid.
It's just inland from Cape Cornwall, which, since it is neither the most southerly [Lizard] nor the most south-westerly [Land's End] point in England, is allowed to cling onto its innate beauty.
The photo shows Cape Cornwall from near St Just village. Please don't bother telling me if some of the pictures seem to suggest mist. I'm fully aware that, except for one day, we had a lot of mist but our hostess was great at chasing visibility.
Jun 28, 2006 12:00 AMBlackwell - Arts and Crafts House
We went with a friend by car to the Lake District to look at two specific places. This was the first.
Blackwell was a house built to the design of Baillie Scott, an architct of the Arts and Crafts movement, at the very end of the 19th century for the head of the Holt brewing company [still selling real ale in Manchester area.]
Unfortunately The first world war ended its use as a dwelling house and later it needed significant restoration.
The furniture was not that originally in the house but bought in to reflect the styles of the movement.
A good use of poor weather in the Lakes - but it would be a shame to miss the views!
http://www.blackwell.org.uk/history.shtml The upstairs is OK too although I can't find it on the website!
Jun 28, 2006 12:00 AMHolehird Gardens
After visiting Blackwell we made for these gardens, recommended by a neighbour. It is a place of outstanding beauty and has two features of particular note.
1. Entry and parking are FREE though donations are requested.
2. EVERYTHING is done by volunteers.
Almost incredibly there is scarcely a weed to be seen in the large area and the gardens make the site for three national collections - including the astilbe shown. They have well over 200 varieties and were all due to be in flower two weeks later.
May 31, 2006 12:00 AMItalian trip in retrospect
Well, we have been back since Friday. The itinerary worked except for one occasion when we missed our connection when a train was late. This was only once in a fortnight of pretty intensive travel and I shan't be joining in any sneering at Italian trains. Anyone living in England can't look down on the rail systems of other European countries anyway, unless blind to our own manifold defects.
None of the hotels were bad - but I shall cover them in more detail in travel tips. I shall also give some advice on planning a public transport holiday in Italy under General Travel advice.
I shall be doing some reports but, as I am not sure yet whether Modena [put the stress on the first syllable if you want to avoid problems of communication] will be included so I have used a photo of part of its lovely Romanesque cathedral here.
May 03, 2006 12:00 AMTime flies
but will it beat the Canada geese? last year I watched geese nesting for some time, only to leave my camera at home when I could have taken a perfect close-up of the whole family with the goslings being tiny yellow balls of fluff.
I only saw them once later, swimming on the larger mill pond on the other side of the path. I suspect the goslings were murdered - I have to admit they are a pest to local farmers.
However the question this year is will they have goslings before I go to Italy on 12 May?
If not - next year perhaps. I think they choose the same place each year to an inch!
May 02, 2006 12:00 AMPreparations for Italy
This time I'm setting out the planing in advance and I'll do reports on how it pans out.
Why Italy? Pam hasn't been to Italy since 1976 and I've only been on the mainland once since. Also friends in L'Áquila invited us to stay.
That wouldn't fit a package and we were pleased to do our own planning this year after our group trip to Peru last year. So where? Abruzzo obviously but why not take the train from the north and see a bit more? Enter the jet2.com schedule of flights. A constraint was heat - neither of us fancied summer so May was the latest possible. Flights between Pisa and Manchester don't start until 24 May but that makes the two days following really cheap for the return flight [£2 + taxes.]
Outwards Leeds to Milan seemed the best bet and we have a son within reasonable reach of the airport for our early flight.
So it's out to Milan and train to Modena for the night - then 2 nights at Trevi in Umbria. From there we shall make for hte National Park of Abruzzo and stay at three different places before making for L'Áquila. Finally we shall have two nights in Spello and two in Lucca. I've double checked all the bus and train times - at least Abruzzo doesn't keep its bus services a closely guarded secret - and booked accommodation in VERY limited Italian - but I shall have my fingers well and truly crossed.
