We left the house about 1130 on the Friday – only about half an hour late, which isn’t bad for us at all – but it took us about an hour and a half to get as far as the other side of Ilkley (including stops at the petrol station, Halfords and Booths in Ilkley for sweeties). We were using Autoroute with a GPS thingy and it suggested going along the M62 onto the M6 to get into Cumbria but we preferred the idea of going the more direct route on the A65 instead – much more interesting with cracking scenery and just a bit slower.
Continue reading

Between me going to Paris with mum and John going to Amsterdam on an elongated work thing, John and I hadn’t been away together since Venice so we decided that we’d have a weekend away together in June. Which, of course, with our combined laziness, became the end of July instead.

The initial plan was to explore Hadrian’s Wall and stay somewhere in Northumbria but I couldn’t find anywhere to stay that really grabbed me, so I started looking along the coast to the west of Gretna, just over the border in Scotland. Eventually, I found the Baron’s Craig hotel, just near the village of Rockcliffe and since it sounded ok, I booked us in for two nights.

• Friday 22nd July 2005
• Saturday 23rd July 2005
• Sunday 24th July 2005

(A full photo gallery will follow at some point)

– written up September 2005

We started off Sunday with breakfast at a street cafe called Le Beauville on the Champs Elysees. We had bread, toast, croissants and juice, plus the best hot chocolate in the world ever (and I’m not exaggerating).

After that, we walked down Av. George V to Pont de l’Alma and over the bridge to the Tour Eiffel. We took a long way around to get out of the (already quite warm) sun and approached the tower through Champs du Mars. We took lots of photos from a distance then sat underneath it and took some more. It was too busy to actually go up though which was a shame.
Continue reading

We were set to depart from Manchester airport on the 0630 direct Air France to Paris Charles de Gaulle so we had to get up at 0330! Given I had only arrived in Southport at about 2130 the night before, and it was well past 2300 before we got to bed, we were a little sleepy.

Thankfully though, the check-in and the flight were problem free – no delays, no turbulence and Mum barely even noticed take off. Really, it was a dream flight for a first flight in 30 years…

We arrived about 0900 local time and collected our bags. Then we had to wait for a No2 Air France bus to take us into the city. Several appeared but either didn’t take any passengers or were full already. Eventually one turned up and we trundled down the Peripherique into the centre. We were dropped off at the Arc de Triomphe and from there, it was just a short walk to the hotel – it would have been even shorter if we had sussed out the short-cuts that we knew by the end of our stay.
Continue reading

I had been promising to take Mum on a weekend away, involving a plane, for ages. She hasn’t flown since the days when planes were held up by sheer hope and sticky tape (the early 1970s) so we thought it would be good if I showed her the airport ropes so she would be more confident about taking Dad away on a winter sun thing at some point.

Anyway, after many false starts and then a very near abortion at the last minute, we finally set out for Paris very early one Saturday morning…

• Saturday 30th April 2005
• Sunday 1st May 2005
• Monday 2nd May 2005 (coming soon)

– written up August 2005

We checked out of the hotel about 1000 and went over to Covent Garden for some breakfast. I just went for my usual croissant option but John went for sticky maple syruppy waffles instead.

When he came down from his sugar rush, we got the tube over to South Kensington to go to the Natural History and Science museums – the reason we had planned the trip to London in the first place.
Continue reading