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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Picturesque with a capital P

Jeannie, Richard and I set off early (well, reasonably early – well, that is, reasonably early for us – well, that is, well before lunchtime) for Bruges. Bruges is a marvellously historic town, full of historic buildings, museums, churches and packed to the brim with character. We drove out of central Brussels, stopping for petrol  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Drizzled upon in Brussels

Monday: time for some continental drifting. I had planned a trip into Belgium and Holland. Originally I’d planned to go to France too, but during the first few slightly homesick and lonely days of the holiday I’d decided that spending a few days in a country where I didn’t speak the lingo, and where I  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Hamley’s and The Croydon Mongolians

I’d arranged to meet Merlin at Oxford Circus tube station to do some shopping. Now, for those of you who’ve never been to Oxford Circus, it’s a very crowded place, day or night, seven days a week. Like many places in central London, a large proportion of the human race finds themselves there, arsehole to  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

No fixed abode, Cricklewood

It was late by the time my Uncle Hew and I got up – somewhere around 10. At least, late by my usual standards. My boss wouldn’t be too impressed if I waltzed into work at 11am, but thankfully on this occasion I was many thousands of miles away from work, on holiday. After breakfast  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Roaming around London

The train from Inverness pulled into London just a few minutes late, depositing me at Euston Station. It was 8am, and the place was buzzing with commuters. I managed to manoeuvre myself and my backpack through the station without hitting too many people and found the Left Luggage counter, where, following the tradition, I left  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Further into the Highlands

My mission for Thursday was to get from Inverness to Plockton and back in time for the 20:30 overnight sleeper train to London. Why Plockton? Two words: Hamish Macbeth. If these two words mean nothing to you, then perhaps the following thirty-nine words might help: Hamish Macbeth is a TV comedy/drama series starring Robert Carlyle  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Into the Highlands

After packing my pack, I strode purposefully out of the hostel and down the street to Edinburgh’s Haymarket station. Okay, so “strode purposefully” is probably an unfairly muscular-sounding description. But “staggered” wouldn’t be fair either. It was probably something between the two. Perhaps just “walked”. Anyway, I boarded the 09:44 train bound for Inverness, some  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

More and more of Edinburgh

According to my Tour Of Bits Of Scotland Masterplan, I had a full day to explore Edinburgh. The first stop after breakfast was Edinburgh Castle. I walked back the way I’d come the night before (did I mention I passed a street called Spittal Street?), gazing up at the castle as I approached. The castle  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Scotland, here I come

It’d been ages since I’d spent a night in a YHA bed, and it was surprisingly comfortable. I awoke not particularly bright, and not particularly early, and prepared for the day, chatting with my room mates and rummaging around in my backpack trying to find things. Then I showered in a cupboard-like shower – wearing,  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ????????????????????

Travelling north

It was Sunday morning, and time to say goodbye to my grandparents. We did the customary photo-taking in the garden – it’s compulsory for everyone who visits to come home with a picture of themselves plus Grandad and Gran standing in front of the house. Then we drove to Bognor Regis station so I could  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ???????????????????? Travel

Relaxing in Bognor

Saturday arrived, and with it the chance of some time with my uncle Kevin, his wife Liz (does that make her my Aunt-in-law or something?) and my cousins Sarah and Luke. Kevin was actually working in the morning, poor soul, but I headed over to their house in Bognor Regis in the Grandad-Fiat-o-mobile early for  ... [More]

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Europe 1998 ???????????????????? Travel

Behold! The Castle Arrrrrrrrrrrundel

On Friday morning we headed for Littlehampton, a town not far from my grandparents house. My grandad has an orange Disabled thingy for his car, which allows him to park it apparently virtually anywhere, with the possible exception of the Buckingham Palace lawn on top of a Corgi. On this occasion he parked in a  ... [More]