The lime tree is buzzing with bees. They're busy collecting the pollen from the hundreds of fragrant creamy flowers which cover it. It's a soporific sound as I nod off over my book. There's a heatwave across the middle of Europe and we're sitting in a metal box in the middle of it. I'm exaggerating … Continue reading Burgundy and Champagne July 2015

I'm sitting in what must be one of the smallest campsites I've ever been to. Swimming in the pool is like taking a dip in someone's back garden. It's very pleasant though, with very few people and it's in the heart of the Morvan, which in turn is in the middle of Burgundy, which itself … Continue reading Hello from France July 2015

I was lying here dozing away to my podcast of 'War and Peace'; opening my eyes I gazed out on the snowy wastes of Mother Russia. It took a number of seconds for my addled brain to remember that I was not in 19th century Russia but 21st century Spain as the landscape had me … Continue reading Vests, hats, gloves, scarves and bed socks……February 2015

I'm writing this early as we will start our long drive home tomorrow and I don't know when we will next have Internet access. We could certainly get to Santander in a few days but we have decided to take the little white roads on the map and head back slowly, admiring parts of Spain … Continue reading Late January 2015 Valencia etc

Here I am back in Spain! The weather is beautiful and sunny by day but by night, the temperatures drop to a little above freezing. Since we are essentially in a metal box on wheels, the nights are cold but before you feel too sorry for me (!) I hasten to add that the van … Continue reading Back again! January 2015

This time I really am surrounded by parrots: hundreds of brightly coloured parakeets squawking and swooping in the trees overhead at this site on the coast near Malaga. We fly home tomorrow, so it's mundane stuff from here on in. I'll send this now while I'm still online. We visited the caves at Nerja which … Continue reading End of trip December 2014

I'm writing this in what feels like a cage full of parrots. It is in fact a Spanish campsite, in the Alpajurras mountains south of Granada, filling up with happy Spaniards, overjoyed at the prospect of a long holiday weekend. It's Constitution Day on Saturday and Immaculate Conception Day on Monday. IC Day refers to … Continue reading Southern Spain December 2014

So here we are at the end of our first week away, perched on a hillside near Ronda with the air temperature rapidly cooling, now that the sun has gone down. We're travelling with friends and it's been a very different experience. The best thing about travelling with others is having other people to talk … Continue reading En route to southern Spain December 2014