Vic-sur-Aisne History Walk
Wednesday 05 June 2024
On 12th September 1914 the first Battle of the Marne had just come to an end. The Germans were forced to retreat northwards and cross the river Aisne. Its banks are dominated by high plateaus topped by underground quarries, called “creutes”.
Pamukkale and Hierapolis
Sunday 30 January 2022
Our hotel was directly opposite the lower, southern entrance to the Travertines of Pamukkale, but the hotel owner advised us to get a taxi to the eastern gate. Visitors have to remove their shoes and socks to walk in the thermal pools, so if you enter and exit via the southern entrance, you need to remove your shoes and socks twice. At the time, this made perfect sense to us, although we decided to walk to the eastern entrance rather than get a taxi.
Selçuk Ephesus
Friday 28 January 2022
Afew miles outside of Selçuk is the ancient city of Ephesus. One of the largest Roman archaeological sites in the eastern Mediterranean. Visitors can walk up Harbor street from the old harbour to the Great Theatre and try to imagine a twenty-four thousand capacity crowd sitting on the marble seats entertained by performers on the stage.
Selçuk - Temple of Artemis
Thursday 27 January 2022
After we visited the Basilica Of Saint John, I popped into a Tourist Information office to see if it would be possible to walk to Ephesus from Selçuk. After much discussion with the staff about why we would want to do such a bizarre thing as walk, the nice man in the information office took out a tourist map and drew the best route to walk there on the map.
Selçuk - Basilica Of Saint John
Wednesday 26 January 2022
We caught the morning train to Selçuk, arriving around 12:30 pm. When we stepped down from the train, the first thing we noticed was the remains of a Byzantine Aqueduct crossing the square in front of the station and an old fortress overlooking the town from a nearby hill.
Çanakkale to Izmir
Tuesday 25 January 2022
I wanted to go to Bergama. I really wanted to go to Bergama to see the ancient city of Pergamon. I spent an hour going back and forth between the bus companies in Çanakkale but only had limited success. Two of the companies would drop us off a the Bergama Bus Station on their way to Izmir, but none of them would pick us up from Bergama a few days later from the same bus station. They all just said it was not possible.
Istanbul to Çanakkale
Sunday 23 January 2022
Today was a travel day. We needed to get a Taxi to the Greater Istanbul Bus Station (Esenler Otogarı) and then buy a ticket for Çanakkale. It had snowed again overnight, this time more heavily, and we didn’t think the Taxis would be able to get down the steep, narrow and now icy streets. That meant we had to walk up them to the main road, which we did slowly and carefully.
The Abandoned Village of Imber
Sunday 02 January 2022
I vaguely recall hearing about a village on Salisbury Plain that the MoD had cleared during the Second World War. For no reason that I can remember, I thought that the village was left ‘as it was’ and to the forces of nature and time.
Porto to São Pedro da Afurada
Tuesday 26 October 2021
There are numerous travel guides and blogs out there that will tell you, in more detail than I care to do here, about the history and traditions of the picturesque “undefeated” City of Porto. It is a beautiful city and well worth a visit if you ever get the chance. This blog post is simply a record of our walk from Porto to the small fishing village of São Pedro da Afurada located on the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the Douro River.
Brightlingsea Circular
Sunday 02 May 2021
We could see across the River Colne to Brightlingsea on a previous walk around Mersea and were intrigued by our companions’ lack of enthusiasm for the town. We thought we would go and check it out with a bit of a walk around Brightlingsea Marsh National Nature Reserve.
Monsal Trail – Millers Dale – Tideswell Dale
Sunday 04 October 2020
After the thorough soaking we received yesterday we expected nothing less than the same today. Heavy rain had fallen during the night, but by morning the clouds had lifted, and there were signs of hope. We did our best to dry the few items left that could be dried and gave up on the rest.
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Wednesday 05 June 2024
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Tuesday 01 February 2022 -
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Sunday 30 January 2022
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Thursday 27 January 2022
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Wednesday 26 January 2022
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Tuesday 26 October 2021
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Sunday 02 May 2021
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Sunday 04 October 2020