The Ironman circus is finally packing up. Yesterday Puerto del Carmen was full of road closures, nervous relatives clutching cowbells and frighteningly fit people wheeling bicycles worth more than a Ford Fiesta. Today the temporary pavilions are starting to be dismantled piece by piece and all the bikes have disappeared. Presumably they are now being … Continue reading A Day at the Beach
Tag: travelogue
Puerto del Carmen
Madam isn’t up to the beach today, so we have a short walk after breakfast before heading down to the hotel pool. We are just getting comfortable when there's a loud crack from the other side of the pool as an extremely large man lowers himself onto a sun bed. The front end gives way … Continue reading Puerto del Carmen
Lanzarote
I am lying on a sun-bed and a stray oleander petal drifts past my foot. Someone jumps in the pool and I am briefly splashed. Tall, skinny palm trees tower over the pool. A single cypress with a knobbly trunk stands guard at the hotel entrance. The sky is a clear, pale blue. There is … Continue reading Lanzarote
Gibraltar
“I want to see the monkeys,” Madam tells me one morning. We are still in Málaga, and I don’t even know if it has a zoo, or indeed any wild animals larger than a pigeon with attitude. “No, not in a zoo. In Gibraltar.” Gibraltar and I have something of a history. That sounds like … Continue reading Gibraltar
Malaga Too
At the base of the Alcazaba fortress sits the remains of a Roman theatre, which is impressive not only for its age but for the fact that everyone managed to lose it for several centuries. Built during the reign of Augustus, it was used for public performances until the 3rd century, then buried, forgotten, and … Continue reading Malaga Too
Las Palmas
‘I don't want to go on camel rides, do you?’ asks Madam. ‘Umm,’ I reply, ‘I remember donkey rides on the beach, but not camels, my sweet.’ ‘I don’t want to visit the crocodile park, do you?’ ‘Crocodiles? No, I'm fairly certain there aren't any crocodiles in Eastbourne. It would have been in the paper … Continue reading Las Palmas
A Week in Tenerife
The skies are leaden, there is a fine drizzle. A northerly wind, which the weatherman describes as blustery, blows a fine rain horizontally. He says, with masterful understatement, that it will feel a little chilly today. Spring seems late this year. No daffodils, to me the first sign of spring, are showing. I recently bought … Continue reading A Week in Tenerife
Buckfast Abbey, Dartmoor and the Pilgrim Steps
A visit to Buckfast Abbey, the wilds of Dartmoor and the Mayflower Pilgrims Steps at Plymouth. We left Exmouth soon after 10am and headed towards Dartmoor. When we planned this trip we would travel along the south coast stopping wherever we fancied in seaside towns. Realising that we had seen enough fishing harbours and sandy beaches for the … Continue reading Buckfast Abbey, Dartmoor and the Pilgrim Steps
Charmouth to Exmouth and Jurassic Coast Fossil Hunting
Charmouth to Exmouth on our West Country road trip. Hunting for fossils along the Jurassic Coast and a trip to Lyme Regis. We headed to the Charmouth Heritage Centre and had a polite look round at the locally found fossils on display. The centre was set up in 1985 to encourage safe and sustainable collecting … Continue reading Charmouth to Exmouth and Jurassic Coast Fossil Hunting
Weymouth
A visit to Weymouth, England, via Lulworth. Memories of a Weymouth B&B, checking the pier and Weymouth beach. We headed from Durdle Door towards Weymouth through the village of Lulworth which has more pretty thatched cottages on one street than you would have thought possible. I wanted to stop and take pictures but the roads were … Continue reading Weymouth
Travels With Madam 