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Crete: The Western End
We’re sure lots of travellers do this, but we have a tendency to give nicknames to bars and cafes rather than call them by their real name. This nickname may be governed by the location (bus bar or corner bar) or by what we ate or drank (fish bar or aperol bar) or something we saw or heard there (dog bar, tree bar, reggae bar). So we begin our last evening on Serifos at Ugly Woman Bar, gazing out over the evening waters and wishing we were staying longer. But events outside of our control have brought about a rethink and we are off to a new destination. Our journey…
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Ramsgate Tunnels
In these last few days as we allow ourselves to get excited about our prospects of making it to Greece, we enjoy trips to a couple more destinations in England, both of them slightly out of the ordinary. The first of these is Ramsgate Tunnels. The port of Ramsgate, less than 20 miles from our home in Kent, has a rich maritime and wartime history including being, as we have posted before, part of the amazing “little ships” story from WW2. Tucked around the corner from the harbour, hidden now by the new hotel and apartment complex currently under construction which will further enhance the quickly developing seafront, lie the…
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Harbouring Dreams
As we lose ourselves in reminiscing about previous trips and places visited, 2021 is just starting to take shape and our hopes of resuming our travels are increasing considerably. Our thoughts until recently were that if we make no travel plans until we have each received our dual vaccinations, then we may just be in a position to travel from around the end of July. Developments this week have given further encouragement. I received my first vaccination on Tuesday, Michaela’s is due on Monday, and both of us have appointments for the second dose before the end of May, meaning that allowing the 3-week clearance period after the vaccine would…
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Kanchanaburi and Relative History
The gravestone above sits amongst thousands of others in the War cemetery at Kanchanaburi, site of the infamous Death Railway of World War 2, but this one resonates with us. This modest headstone is the memorial to Phil’s Dad’s cousin Roland, who, like so many other young men, died a dreadful death here at the hands of the Japanese during construction of the Thai-Burma railway. He must have suffered unimaginable torment. We have come to Kanchanaburi purely to pay our respects to our family member, some 76 years after his death. We find the whole experience of visiting this headstone surprisingly emotional, given that this was someone who died more…
