Life's about experiences. These are mine.
Last full day in Plymouth and the weather turned to rain overnight. We knew that it was predicted to be drizzly this morning and wet after lunch and so we planned accordingly. We left the hotel and got a bus away from town to the coast where we caught the ferry for a short journey …
Continue reading “Plymouth, England – Day Three – Edgecumbe and The Box”
After yesterday’s drizzle is was good to wake up to sunshine. This was good news as we were going to be venturing away from the city today on a visit to the National Trust property Saltram. Having said just a couple of days ago that one of the reasons I liked Reading Buses was because …
Continue reading “Plymouth, England – Day Two – Saltram & Smeaton”
When we told people that we had booked a short break to Plymouth the typical reaction was “Why?” The reason was that we wanted to go somewhere we hadn’t been before and we could reach by direct train from Reading. Plymouth ticked both those boxes. However, as we walked the short distance from the station …
Of the many things I like about Reading the bus service is right up there. There’s a clean, modern fleet with good coverage, an excellent app and they generally run to schedule. It’s interesting that Reading Buses is one of the few buses services that has remained in public ownership being still wholly owned by …
For various reasons we’d delayed doing this next stage of the Thames Path but today we were good to go so it was a bit disappointing to wake to the news that the train we were due to get had been cancelled. No problem we thought, we’ll just get the next one. I checked and …
Continue reading “Thames Path – Day Eight – Windsor to Maidenhead”
Over the years I have been to many a church or catherderal and can appreciate their beauty even if I don’t agree with their usage being a devout athiest. So, when I saw online pictures of a grand Hindu temple in London I added it to my list of places I wanted to visit. When …
Continue reading “BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (Neasden Temple)”
If you live in the town you will know that over the years Reading has played host to many an important person. It is the burial place of a king, King Henry I, the prison of a poet, Oscar Wilde, and the school of an author, Jane Austen. Only it turns out that Austin was …
While driving through the Oxfordshire countryside on the way to Grey’s Court the other day I spotted a sign advertising the forthcoming Stoke Row Steam Rally. Helen was away that weekend so it seemed an ideal opportunity to give it a visit. On arriving at a very large field in the middle of nowhere I …
Below the pavements of Central London is a network of tunnels and ducting so large that I’m amazed that the city doesn’t sink into them. In 2017 it was estimated that there were 4 million km of networks and telecommunications lines underneath London. Slightly worrying is that at that point there was no central record …
For the first time last year, Reading’s Economy and Destination Agency (REDA) (I know it’s a stupid name and they should have stuck to the much more snappy Reading (UK) but I digress) ran the first Reading Walks Festival. It was a great success with many of the walks being sold out quickly so it …