Britain’s hardest working industrial river was never the Thames, Humber or Severn, but the little-known Wandle. It is by no means the longest or most difficult river to follow, with its short 14 mile course between south London and Wandsworth making an excellent day’s walk. It is by no means… Continue reading
Instead of a 20 kilogram backpack I had a mostly empty bag weighing little more than the notebook and novel I had inside it. Despite living in a country where it was impossible to be further than 72 miles from the coast at any point in time, it had taken… Continue reading
Every year the magazine National Geographic Traveller (UK) launches a travel writing competition. Entrants were asked to submit a 300-word entry on their most inspirational travel experience. Last October I entered. Yesterday I discovered I was a runner-up, with my submission published on page 161 of the May/June edition. You… Continue reading
For many years one of the easiest ways to see a vintage bus in action was to visit the Triton fountain roundabout at City Gate Square outside Malta’s capital, Valetta. Models not used anywhere else on Earth were still providing routine services around the island and used the roundabout as… Continue reading
A quick background shot on television of Sydney Harbour Bridge reminded me of watching silent black and white footage on the building of the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle’s Discovery Museum a few years before (the gift shop doing a roaring trade in ‘coal from Newcastle’). Newcastle is a Roman city… Continue reading
Freetown’s Lungi International Airport lies some distance from the capital, separated from it by the mouth of the Sierra Leone River, so one of the first things air passengers have to do on landing is decide whether to take the helicopter, hovercraft, ferry or pirogues across to Aberdeen or Government… Continue reading
Something needed to be done. 50 years ago Britain’s publicly financed rail network lost £104 million. If that doesn’t sound too awful then consider that it today’s money it accounts for £1.9 billion; 36% of the Department of Transport’s current annual budget. Income had not covered costs for almost a… Continue reading
Airships were the future once. In an era before mass air travel (or transit, as it increasingly feels) airships provided an alternate means of travelling long distances in the comfort and style more expected of ocean liners. With good weather conditions an airship could hit 80 miles an hour. They… Continue reading
This blog is a chance to relive what I was up to 6 months ago this week during the Encircle Africa expedition. My joy of having reached Cape Town – the halfway point on the exact half-year anniversary of leaving London – was tempered by the knowledge I had to… Continue reading
Two hundred years ago this week when Scottish missionary, African explorer and Victorian hero David Livingstone was born public transport was still in its infancy. The London Underground system – the world’s first – was still 50 years into the future; the steam engine had been invented only a few… Continue reading
