-
Quepos And Manuel Antonio
A few random and unconnected facts. One: At the last official survey, there are 932 species of bird in Costa Rica – that’s more than the whole of the USA and Canada put together, pretty impressive for such a small country! Two: Since we began travelling together in 2011, we’ve kept a record of every place outside GB where we’ve stayed at least one night; Quepos is number 144 and the first one ever that starts in the letter “Q”. Three: This place puts the “rain” in “rainforest”. Wow, when it rains here, it really means business, we can honestly say that in all our travels we have never seen…
-
Birds & Paradise: Our First 24 Hours in Quepos
“Ahhh I see”, he says as we explain our travel philosophies, “so you’re just a couple of retired travel bums like me”. Oh, we like that. So much so that had we thought of it ourselves, we may well have been the “retired travel bums” instead of the “hungry travellers”! Like our good friends Terrie and Charles, this guy (sorry bud, we didn’t catch your name) is from Oregon, but spends a lot of time in Costa Rica and he gushes heaps of useful advice as we sip yet another cup of fabulous local coffee. Sometimes you just meet the right people. As we hang around in the busy and…
-
Nesting Season Is Here Again
Along the stretch of coast between our home in Herne Bay and Birchington to the east, lies a sand/mud cliff rising almost vertically at the back of the beach. At this time of year, as reliable as clockwork, something happens here which makes this walk a little bit special. The colony of sand martins arrive here at the completion of their intercontinental migration, returning to their customary nesting holes in the sandy cliff. Nesting season from start to finish sees much activity, and from the nesting function itself through to so the frenzy of feeding feed the hatchlings. That time is here, and Michaela caught some of the action on…
-
The Camel Trail: Bicycles, Birds And Beeching
One of the things we find difficult in Cornwall is turning our backs on the magnificent coastline and heading inland, but because our two breaks here will give us a total of 24 Cornwall days in April and May, we feel we can justify one walk away from the sea along the Camel Trail. The Camel Trail is a walking/cycling route following the river upstream from Padstow to Wadebridge, then on through Bodmin to its final point at Wenfordbridge, though today we only walk the 12-mile round trip to Wadebridge and back, by far the trail’s most popular section. The route is more of a favourite with cyclists than with…
-
Plitvice Reflections
By the time we reach our last night in Mukinje, we are 8 days into our tour of Croatia: over those 8 days we have walked, according to Fitbit, a total of 73.19 miles, an average of 9.15 miles per day. Michaela captured some impressive wildlife shots along the way:-
-
Potholes and Waterfalls: Koh Lanta By Road
The best and most commonly used way of getting around this island is by moped, but if like us you don’t ride then there are tuk tuks and backs of trucks, but it’s around 300-350 baht each way to cross the island, so hiring a small car for 24 hours at 1200 baht is a decent option. A grocery store near our home in Klong Nin has hire cars available; there’s no insurance forms to complete, you can’t pay by card (cash only), they don’t even check driving licences. They take no deposit, but instead hold my passport hostage until we return the car. Husband is slightly moody as he…
-
Tales From The Land Of Smiles
Amusing Encounters of the Travelling Kind In these early weeks of our trip, the character of the people of Thailand is already one of the undoubted highlights. So friendly, always ready to smile, calm, peaceful and considerate, you just can’t imagine any of them ever losing their temper. And several of them seem to fall into the “joker” category. One such is a guy working at our residence. His name (not sure of the spelling) is Pass. We can’t help but imagine him on Mastermind…. “And we welcome our first contender. Your name is?” “Pass”. Pass is a real joker. On our first day, I placed my arm next to…
