Half-way through November already, where does the time go? In my case it’s gone very quickly here at Bigland Towers. After our Whitby wandering I’ve spent the past couple of days in the office, which has been no bad thing as the weather has been crap. Most of Monday was spent enveloped in fog, so sitting in my office blogging and picture editing was hardly a hardship. I didn’t even make it out to get my usual 5 mile walk in. Today was very much the same only with the addition of torrential rain. Combined with leaf-fall and Calderdale Council having neglected to clean any drains around here for years the roads turned into streams. So, when I got stir-crazy it was a case of donning the full waterproofs (including gaiters) to venture down to Sowerby Bridge to drop post off and pick up some food shopping.
That apart I’ve had a productive couple of days. There’s been some utter rubbish written about High Speed 2 by two of the usual suspects (Andrew Gilligan and Simon Jenkins) so it’s been great to have time to blog about their nonsense. I’ve also managed to (almost) clear the backlog of picture editing. All the images from my trip to Innotrans in Germany back in September are now on my Zenfolio website. You can find the Dutch railway ones here and the travel images here whilst the German rail ones are here.
Tomorrow I’m venturing out as I’m representing Community Rail Network at a little event to commemorate Paul Abell, the former Editor of Today’s Railways UK and fellow Community Rail Awards judge who passed away suddenly last year. I’d known Paul for several years as one of the small band of railway Journalists who would often meet up on press trips. Then Paul joined me as a Community Rail Awards judge. The pair of us would help judge the shortlist for the Photographic competition. Paul was always a pleasure to work with and never got ruffled by anything. I don’t ever remember him saying anything stronger than ‘Oh – heck!’- despite his service in the Royal Navy and many years as a teacher! No doubt I’ll post some pictures from what transpires tomorrow.
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, which is taken from my last batch of pictures from Berlin. This looks innocuous, unless you know the history. Here’s the Teufelsberg (Devil’s mountain in English) seen in September 2022 from the roof of one of the halls at the Messe.
Those ‘golf balls’ are part of an abandoned American spybase which was built to listen in on the Russians. It lasted until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. The hill it’s standing on? That’s man-made. Rising to over 80 meters it’s constructed from the rubble of West Berlin left after the second world war. All the ruined building were cleared and the remains brought here to construct the hill.
It’s a sobering and very visible reminder of the war.
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It’s late and I’m running out of time to post so I’ll restrict myself to pictures. Today we walked part of the Cleveland Way from Whitby to Robin Hood’s Bay. It’s only 6.5 miles, but it’s quite a challenging walk as it’s undulating with quite a few drops and climbs. Even so, it’s worth it because it offers some superb views of the coast. Here’s a few pictures from the trip.
The entrance to Whitby harbour seen from the cliffs by the Abbey.Saltwick Nab seen from the Cleveland way. Shipwreck by Black NabFishing boat dropping lobster/crab pots.Whitby lighthouse is still owned by Trinity House but the site incorporates holiday lets. The beach at Robin Hoods bay, looking South.Cliffs North of Robin Hoods bay in late afternoon light.
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After a leisurely morning packing and sorting out a few chores before loading up the car to head off to Whitby. It being Friday we were pleasantly surprised by the traffic levels on the ‘cobbled motorway’ (aka the M62) and M1. It was only when we came off onto the A64 skirting to the South of York that it went ‘Pete Tong’ due to a crash. Right now we’re trapped in slow moving traffic approaching the hold-up and have been for the past 25 mins.
15:30.
Made it!
21:30.
Time to relax and put our feet up for the evening. We’ve had a great first day here in Whitby. Well, once we managed to get here anyway. To be honest, we were only about half an hour late. Thankfully, the accident on the A64 wasn’t that serious, it was just time consuming. On the bright side (literally) the weather was far better than was forecast. We had a lovely run across the North Yorkshire moors with the sun breaking through the waning clouds so when we crested the final hill before Whitby we were greeted by the sight of the town basking in sunshine. 10 minutes later we were checking into our hotel up on the North promenade overlooking the beach. We were keen to explore so as soon as we’d settled in we went out to explore. My God – it was windy! No wonder the clouds didn’t hang around long! That said, the weather’s also incredibly mild and as soon as we dropped down to the harbour the wind disappeared. The town looked gorgeous in the late afternoon sunlight making it an ideal time to be out with the camera. Neither of us have been back to Whitby since (we reckon) 2014 so it was great to explore the narrow backstreets and discover places neither of us remember visiting before. The town was busy, but not overbearingly so the way it can be at the height of the summer, which made our perambulations that more pleasant. We did take a break to try a couple of the pubs, one of which was the ‘Little Angel’, a friendly little real ale pub with a great selection of beers.
Dawn suggested we eat at the Magpie, which she’s heard was a cut above your average sit-down fish and chip shop. It was a brilliant choice. The food was excellent. Despite not having booked we managed to get a table on the top floor of the building which overlooks the harbour. We opted to share a starter, so I picked the battered Calamari, which was superb. served with a spicy dip it was melt in the mouth gorgeous! For our mains we both chose the same dish – local scampi in a basket (with chips). The portions were huge. The pair of us were defeated by the chips although I managed to consume all my scampi (washed down by a bottle of Farmers Blonde Ale). Dee had a cuppa to compliment her meal. The whole bill came to £42 which seemed pretty good for what we had – fresh, delicious seafood…
Here’s a few more photos to end the day…
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Sorry for the latest hiatus in blogging. This one’s been due to scribbling for a living as I needed to complete round Britain trilogy for RAIL magazine. The last one was finished today so now I’m free to concentrate on other matters, such as writing for pleasure and travelling. I’ve various project in the pipeline for November which should keep you entertained as there’ll be plenty to write about, starting tomorrow. It’s our wedding anniversary on Saturday so I’ve booked us a couple of nights away in Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. It’s relatively easy to get to from West Yorkshire, which is an advantage. Plus, the weather’s meant to be good, continuing the run of unseasonably mild weather we’ve been having throughout the month. Our plan is to spend our time walking and exploring the coast as well as indulging in some of the local seafood. I’m not a great fan of fish and chips but I may have to indulge as they’re one of the things Whitby’s famous for, so it would be rude not to! I’m sure all the walking we’re planning will work off any calorific excesses!
I’ve enjoyed writing up my trip for RAIL (the first part of which is in newsagents now) but it’s always a bit of a struggle fitting seven days into 12,000 words spread over three articles. It’s not that it’s difficult to write – far from it – it’s choosing what to mention and what to leave out. Truth be told, after a week travelling around the UK by rail I always have enough material to write a book. I always end up with bulging notebooks. Maybe, one day, when I ‘retire’ (ha!) I’ll have time to expand on the original articles using all the material I never had space for. They’d certainly make for some interesting blogs as I’ve been travelling the network ever since 2004, so you can imagine the changes I’ve seen. Sadly, I suspect that will never happen. I’ve enough to try and write about with the present day, but we’ll see…
Right now it’s time to come back to the present and leave you with a picture of the day. My ambition was to get all my old slides scanned by the end of this year, but that’s turned out to be a forlorn hope. I’ve still a couple of 1000 left to do, along with many scans that I haven’t yet edited. Here’s one. This was taken in Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu, Southern India in February 1998. The village is an amazing place as its full of stonemasons who make the most amazing statues. Carving has a long history here, and the 5 Rathas are a testament to that. Cut out of solid granite, these figurines and temples were made between 690–725 CE. This one’s the Bhima Ratha.
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It’s very much a short blog from me today as the old adage ‘nothing to report’ springs to mind. Unless you count cutting back and tidying up the garden ready for winter and filling a few bags with leaves! Admittedly, I find that very therapeutic. I enjoy gardening as it reconnects me with more elemental forces which are very different to what I do for a living. There’s also the satisfaction of being able to see a positive change, unlike (say) clearing your email inbox. Today was a good day to be outdoors. It may have been wet at times but here in the Pennines it’s also surprisingly mild for the time of year – which is great when you consider the escalating costs of fuel bills at the moment.
Having filled a few bags with garden waste and dead leaves I retreated to the office to research some more travel options for the future. Christ on a bike – flights are getting expensive! Admittedly, I’d have much preferred to travel overland, but the part of the world I want to get to (Thailand) has been cut off to all but the bravest (or mad) overland travellers for a long time. OK, I possibly *could* still do it if I wanted to cross Iran from Turkey, but as I don’t have the luxury of unlimited time and that country’s going through a period of huge civil unrest that might eventually see the overthrow of a theocracy ’tis probably not the best time for a Brit to be there! Oh, then there’s Myanmar. So, flights it is then. Eventually…
Of course, today in the UK it’s ‘Bonfire night’ – or ‘Guy Fawkes night‘. The day we celebrate when a bunch of Catholics tried (and failed) to blow up the House of Parliament. Right now, I suspect quite a few people had wished they’d succeeded! As I kid, I loved bonfire night. I came from a big family, and we’d always have a big party in the back garden that involved loads of fireworks, food and drink. Admittedly, at that tender age all I was interested in was the fireworks and my mum’s home-made treacle-toffee. The adults had other entertainments! But, they’re great memories. Alright, there was one year in the 1960s when a party was invaded by some local youths and the police turned up as there was an allegation of a stabbing, which was a bit traumatic when you’re about 6 but hey ho. It’s funny, I’ve only thought about that after decades as I started typing this. I really must remember to ask my elder brothers about it. It’s one of those family stories (and we have a lot) I’ve never really nailed down.
OK digression over. I went out for an evening wander so that I could look over the valley and watch other people’s fireworks as they lit up the valley. Maybe Yorkshire’s rubbing off on me after all these years and I’ve become too tight to buy my own! It was lovely sitting up on the side of the valley and watching a mix of displays and private garden parties light up the skies whilst the gunpowder fog with its distinctive smells drifted across the valley.
Now I’m back in the office quaffing LA beer and realising there’s only one possible picture for today. I know many animals struggle with bonfire night, just as they do with thunderstorms. My mum and our pet dog ‘Dori’ were the same. Both used to be reduced to shaking wrecks by a thunderstorm, so much so that when one happened my mum would get a Valium tablet and cut it in half. She’s take one half and give the other half to the dog! Sorry – I’m digressing again. Right, my point was, not *every* animal I know is frightened of fireworks. Our aged and late lamented moggie (Jet) was one of them. He was inquisitive rather than frightened of fireworks. But the winner goes to this particular dog that I encountered in Tangalle in Sri Lanka back in December 2003. This dog actually tried to eat fireworks!
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It’s a short(ish) blog from me today as the day’s been rather a mixed one. It started out well enough, the weather was gorgeous with wall-to-wall sunshine and clear blue skies, so – after completing several chores and putting other stuff on the backburner I decided to venture out into the valley in the hope of getting some shots of trains amongst the glorious autumnal colours in the woodlands around Todmorden. Only my cunning plan was thwarted by geography. The Pennines are notorious for micro-climates. We can have great weather here in the Calder Valley only for it to be bucketing down next door in the Colne valley. It’s the same if you move just a few miles along the valleys too – as I found when I caught the train. By the time I arrived in Tod’ there were clouds as black as the ace of spades appearing from the North-West. It even started raining. To my surprise I found that staff had salted the station platforms, which didn’t fill me with much hope about the weather. What did they know I didn’t? As I’d planned to be stuck up a hillside for an hour or two, I decided ‘bugger this for a game of soldiers’ and turned tail back to Hebden Bridge, where I stopped to change trains and at least get a couple of shots in the can before catching a service into Halifax – where the weather was back to full sun!
Admitting defeat I wandered home, where I’ve spent the day catching up on work and looking at flight options for a trip to South-East Asia. The prices I’ve been quoted for the time I was thinking of going are painful as they’re in four figures – far more than pre-Covid prices, so it looks like I’m going to have to work out a plan B and alter my dates – and maybe destination. More research is certainly needed.
To cheer myself up I trotted along to our local pub to join friends and partake in the Friday evening quiz. It’s not a formal quiz, it’s just a few of us getting together to answer questions from the quizzes published in the ‘Pub Paper’ but it keeps us amused. This month I’m ‘on the wagon’ as I’ve decided to give my liver a holiday (and lose a few pounds) – so I couldn’t even drown my sorrows. Instead, I was quaffing the alcohol-free ‘Erdinger’ beer, which isn’t bad taste wise, meaning you don’t feel you’re missing out in the way you would if you were nursing a Coke. Now I’m back at home. After knocking up a Prawn Noodle stir-fry for the pair of us I’m now sat in the office sipping Brewdog’s low-alcohol version of their ‘Punk IPA’, which is one of the better LA beers. I I prefer their Nanny State but you can’t get it in any of our local supermarkets, so I have to stock up. Ah well, 4 days down and only 26 more to go. My liver better be bloody grateful…
Right, on to the picture of the day. But what to choose? I know! One of today’s shots from the picturesque Hebden Bridge station.
Here’s the first of the CAF built 3 car diesel units (195101) arriving at Hebden Bridge station on its way to Leeds via Halifax and Bradford Interchange. It’s a little gem of a station as it retains so many of its old Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway features, even though that company ceased to exist in 1923!
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I’m on the last leg of my trip home after what’s turned out to be a fun-filled day – although it didn’t initially feel like that when my alarm went off at 06:30!
However, as I made my weary way from my friends flat to Clapham Junction station, I was treated to one of those spectacular sunrises that literally brightens your day. Sadly, I didn’t have time to grab more than a camera phone shot from the station as I had an appointment to keep. Making my way across central London via the ‘tube’ I pitched up at Marylebone station for the short train trip out to West Ruislip, the location of today’s press event. HS2 Ltd are launching two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) from a site adjacent to the railway. The TBMs will spend the next 2 years tunnelling South to bore 5 miles of tunnels. The first machine (Sushila) was launched a couple of weeks ago and is already 70 meters underground. We were here to see the launch of the second machine, named ‘Caroline’. I’ll blog about this in detail later, but for now, here’s a few pictures from the event.
Looking down on ‘Caroline’ (nearest the camera) and ‘Sushila’, who’s already 70 meters into her journey. Behind the fence in the background id the Chiltern railway line to Birmingham. The HS2 site is rail connected as the tunnel lining segments will be brought in by train from a factory at the Isle of Grain in Kent.Suited and booted for the job. Not a bad way to spend my birthday as very few people get to see the inside of a TBM.Here’swhat’s behind me. The tail of ‘Caroline’ with a ring of 7 tunnel segments already loaded.Inside ‘Caroline’ just behind the cutting head. A ring is already in place and the TBM’s pistons are pushing the machine forward off them. The machine in the foreground is a rotating drum that picks up the individual 8 tonne segments and puts them in place once the individual rams blocking the way are retracted. Each ring is 2 meters wide and consists of 7 segments.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It’s been a long day with lots going on but I’m now on LNER’s 19:45 from Leeds to Kings Cross to stay with a friend overnight ready for an early start to a job in the capital tomorrow morning. I’d have left earlier but I had an important appointment over in the Colne valley which I didn’t want to miss, so I didn’t leave Huddersfield until after 19:00.
Even so, I’ve had a productive day at home, scribbling for a living as well as sorting out some of the huge backlog of pictures I have from Germany and Greece. Dawn’s been just as busy, working from home and getting back up to speed with Community Rail Network business. The pair of us are still getting used to be back and in a familiar routine without letting it take over our lives in the way it did before we went on holiday, although that’s easier said than done!
Heading town to London this time of night at this time of week means the trains are fairly empty. That said, it can still be stressful. I had a 15 minute connection at Leeds but as Trans-Pennine Express aren’t exactly paragons of punctuality you do have that thought that you might end up being seriously delayed at the back of your mind. As it was, the Hull service I was catching from Huddersfield was only a couple of minutes late, although it lost more time stuck outside Leeds waiting for a late-running LNER service from London – which turned out to be the train I was catching! So, my connection at Leeds was assured – as was a late departure.
91127 being readied to push its train to London Kings Cross
The set in question was a rake of Mk4 coaches pushed by Inter-City liveried 91127. As it’s a fairly uiet train (just not according to the reservation system) I’ve easily bagged a table in the quiet coach behind the loco to set up my mobile office. That said, we’re now speeding South from Doncaster and the ride is ‘lively’ to say the least. My ‘spull chucker’ is having to work overtime correcting the number of missed keystrokes.
The depressing thing about travelling this time of night at this time of year is the whole trip is conducted in darkness. The bright side is that the weather’s still mild – and it’s not raining – well, until I’m working tomorrow, anyway!
Precisely what I’m doing and where tomorrow morning is embargoed, but what I can say is that it involves a rather exciting visit to an important High Speed 2 railway worksite. All will be revealed in the morning…
Right now I’m going to kick back on the train and enjoy the journey. Catch you later!
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
OK, I may have lied about the normal bit as I’ve no idea what normal is nowadays – especially in the UK as it seems to lurch from political farce to economic crises and back again – unless that’s the new normal? Having returned to the UK from Greece early Sunday morning the pair of us are still trying to find our feet after two glorious weeks on Rhodes, insulated from much of the madness that’s struck the UK of late. We made the conscious decision not to have a wifi connection in our hotel room so that we could largely detach ourselves from the world and social media, to enjoy reading and playing music instead of being glued to screens. That’s why you’ve seen few blogs from me.
It worked a charm and helped make the holiday – as it actually felt like one. Neither of us had been to Rhodes before although I know Greece well, having spent a lot of time there in a previous life. I really enjoy the country for a variety of reasons. Partly because of its history and geography but also for the friendliness of the people. Oh, the sunshine helps too. Enjoying October days where it’s wall to wall sunshine with temperatures in the high 20s does make a difference to one’s mood! Of course, nowhere is perfect and the one thing I was disappointed to see was the way roadside litter has become a problem. Most of it seems to be due to plastic, especially plastic discarded from vehicles. Roadsides are strewn with empty water bottles and cans. It seems people can’t bear to keep waste inside their precious cars until they can dispose of it properly.
That aside, we really enjoyed our time exploring Rhodes or just relaxing by the hotel pool. Normally my travels are more about exploring rather than ‘chillin’ but both of us felt the need to do just that. It’s made being back in the UK harder as now we’ve got to ramp up into ‘normal’ life – juggling lots of different balls (and feeling the pressure). There’s also the added strain of coping with the economic shambles that the UK’s become thanks to the present Government. I’m having to get used to empty supermarket shelves, expensive items and constant price rises again. Today I popped into the local Lidl in Sowerby Bridge to buy a few tinned goods and a couple of bottles of beer. Before I left the beers were £1.09 each. Today they were £1.29 – an 18.3% increase. I noticed the same swinging increases on some staples in Tesco yesterday. I dread to think what I’d find if I compared many 2019 supermarket prices to those of today. It’s painful. Add in the effect of the disastrous economic policies of the short-lived Truss government and many people are faced with a financial shitstorm – even those who would once have considered themselves ‘comfortable’. God help those closer to the breadline.
I’ve tried to steer clear of political comments recently, mainly because the stream of invective I could type about the dogmatic and opportunistic shit-show that passes for the Conservative party nowadays would probably get me banned from WordPress! The Johnson government was bad enough, but the Truss administration, dominated as it was by the ideological headbangers of the Taxpayers Alliance, Institute of Economic Affairs and the other rabid occupants of 55 Tufton St – along with the party within a party who calls themselves the European Research Group took ‘shitshow’ to another level. The irony was, these ‘free marketeers’ were so ideologically hopeless it was the real markets that saw through them and their mad plans, leading to the collapse of ‘Trussonomics’ and the further weaking of the UKs economic credibility which had already been damaged by their last ‘big idea’ (and big lie) – Brexit.
Let’s not be under any illusions. The root of our political and economic problems lie with Brexit because it was Brexit that normalised lying on a vast scale. The promised ‘sunny uplands’ of Brexit were always a mirage and always unachievable. So, it’s supporters had to lie about them – and have never stopped lying since. Now lying has become second nature to them. Admittedly, to some of them (yes, you Boris Johnson) lying was always second nature! The depressing thing is how so many of those who were lied to still believe in the lies, despite all the evidence that’s come to light since.
And now we have yet another Prime Minister
Having failed to get elected just a few weeks earlier, Rishi Sunak has managed to make the grade, but hardly down to his own talents. He owes his position to the utter uselessness of Truss and the fact that egotistical bag of custard known as Johnson was so arrogant, he thought he could just swan back in and MPs would rush to welcome him back. He failed, so he lied – as he always does – pretending he’d reached the 100 MP threshold and was stepping back for the ‘good of the country’. The other candidate (Mordant) never stood a chance as the right of the party couldn’t agree who to support. So, Sunak got the job. Only now his troubles are just beginning.
In recent years the Tory party has been taken over by entryists from the far-right, from UKIP and groups like Britain First and the BNP, all of whom signed up as members (and boasted about it too). Johnson exacerbated this by throwing out of the party many old ‘one nation’ Tories like Ken Clarke. This means there’s a significant number of Tory members who will never support Sunak for one simple reason – the colour of his skin. Oh, they try and dress it up by pretending it’s because he ‘betrayed’ their blond-haired boy Johnson, but they’re letting their mask slip on social media. Here’s an example.
This guy spent all day spamming Twitter with the same message. The ‘come back Farage’ bit rather gives the game away too…
Meanwhile, Sunak’s not helping himself by his wooden performances at the lectern, his empty slogans – or his choice of appointees. In his speech he talked of ‘compassion’ and ‘integrity’ but as I write this I find he’s reappointed Suella Braverman as Home Secretary – a woman who hasn’t an ounce of compassion and who was sacked only a few days ago for breaching the Ministerial Code! Another dud is Dominic Raab, the intellectual powerhouse who never appreciated the importance of Dover to UK trade! Christ on a bike – Labour must be clapping their hands in glee at this! The next set of opinion polls could prove to be very interesting indeed…
Right, let’s move on from politics as I can see I’m going to be returning to this shit-show more often in future as I need to let off steam before I explode…
Now we’re back my nose is against the grindstone once more. I’ve not been blogging as I’ve been scribbling for a living. Part 1 of my round Britain trip for RAIL magazine will be published on the 1st November. I finished writing part 2 today, and hope to have part 3 submitted next week. In the meantime I’ve other jobs planned. Tomorrow evening I’m back on the road and heading to London as I’ll be visiting a High Speed 2 construction site early on Thursday morning, so expect a couple of rolling blogs as part of my travels. I’m looking forward to being able to blog again, it’s a form of catharsis for me and I hope it’s entertaining (and even informative) for you, dear readers.
So, until tomorrow I’ll leave you with a picture from our Greek travels. Like many Greek towns and villages the wonderful medieval town of Rhodes has its fair share of feral cats, which often pop up in the strangest of places. Here’s one, pretending to be a Gargoyle!
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It’s 19:00 here in Greece and we’re packed, room vacated and sitting in the hotel bar having a last drink before the bus come to collect us and take us to the airport for out late flight back to the UK and political chaos.
Neither of us want to leave. We’ve had a lovely time savoring our last day. Having walked up into the village for coffee and chance to watch the world go by we wandered home for a few precious hours around the swimming pool, soaking up the sun. Despite the fact it’s almost the end of the season here the weather’s been absolutely stunning with wall-to-wall sunshine for almost the whole of our trip – bar 48 hours of storms which added a fun dimension. The holiday’s not all been relaxing. A couple of days ago we caught the local bus into Rhodes town and spent the day exploring the old city and Italian quarter. Both of us fell in love with the place and would love to spend a few nights staying in the old town to soak up the atmosphere.
Here’s a couple of pictures from the day.
I love the colours and textures of some of the abandoned buildings in the old town.If you like cats, Greece is the place for you. Towns are awash with waifs, strays and domesticated examples.Looking across the old town from the city walls, which are massive. In it’s day, Rhodrs was the most heavily fortified town in the whole of Christendem. Is fortifications still fell to siege tactics however.
It’s now 20:20 local time and we’re on the shuttle coach to the airport. The journey’s fine. Well, it. would be if it wasn’t for some of our fellow Brits who’re constantly whining about how ‘hot’ it is on the coach, so giving the driver endless grief. It’s not hot, but I suspect many of our fellow transportees spend most of their time flitting between one air-conditioned location to another. Me? I’m sat here in a Gilet and fleece, getting used to the idea that the temperature I’ll be encountering in Manchester will make this seem very pleasent indeed!
Paul Bigland 