Category: Travel

Timanfaya National Park – first published 21 October 2013

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Lanzarote, and another day of lazing on the beach. It was a holiday after all, even if I was beginning to feel slightly under exercised and over fed. There was the occasional stroll down to the marina with coffee in Nud d’Naplun. While we were there we sampled the delights of the frozen yogurt shop next door. I’m not sure if the yogurt was low fat or not and the toppings most certainly were not but it served as lunch so I guess it didn’t matter too much. Continue reading Timanfaya National Park – first published 21 October 2013

Jameos Del Agua, the eighth wonder of the world – first published 20 October 2013

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Sunday is meant to be a day of rest. The morning after our car hire adventure in Lanzarote happened to be a Sunday so we put our blue towels on some likely looking sun beds on the way to breakfast. When in Rome… or, in this case, when in Lanzarote, do as the Germans do. We found a nice spot with a view over the pool, a little bridge, sunlight sparkling on the ripples and the pond behind us with trickling water. Heavenly. Continue reading Jameos Del Agua, the eighth wonder of the world – first published 20 October 2013

Cueva De Los Verdes an underground adventure – First published 19 October 2013

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While we lazed by the pool on our second day in Lanzarote we consulted  our Lanzarote guide book. Two places jumped out at us, Jameos del Agua and Cueva de Los Verdes, both of which were very close to each other. The problem being they weren’t all that close to us. According to our map both were around twelve miles away, walking distance, just, but not in the Lanzarote heat and not with the huge possibility of getting lost. Continue reading Cueva De Los Verdes an underground adventure – First published 19 October 2013

a little walk along the beach – first published 18 October 2013

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Part of being on holiday is relaxing and the second day of our 2013 Lanzarote adventure was a chill out day. After breakfast we wandered round the pool looking for some sun beds that hadn’t already been nabbed by the early morning towel brigade. It was going to be a lazy day. Continue reading a little walk along the beach – first published 18 October 2013

César Manrique’s amazing house – first published 17 October 2013

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One of the things that had drawn me to Lanzarote of all the Canary Islands was Arrecife born artist César Manrique. For many years I’d admired his work and been fascinated by the influence he’d had on the island of Lanzarote. It was he who lobbied to ensure development and tourism did not spoil his beautiful homeland and, because of him, there are no high rise hotels on the island. Our first visit of the holiday would be to his home at at Tahíche, Teguise, which was also the scene of his death in a car accident in 1992. Continue reading César Manrique’s amazing house – first published 17 October 2013

Avoiding the marathon

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After a light lunch and a rest Commando declared he felt up to a little more gentle walking and suggested we have a look at the canals. This sounded a lot more like it as far as I was concerned, although I knew he wouldn’t be anywhere near up to the walk I had originally planned, so off we went. Continue reading Avoiding the marathon

Goodbye England hello Costa Teguise – First published 16 October 2013

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Early in 2013, in a spirit of optimism, Commando had booked a holiday in the Canary Islands, a place neither of us had visited. Now the time had come my world was crashing around my ears at home, with my job crawling slowly to an end and the future looking very shaky. A holiday was the last thing I thought I needed but probably exactly the right thing to stop me falling into a deep dark pit of depression. Continue reading Goodbye England hello Costa Teguise – First published 16 October 2013

Not running a marathon

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10 April 2016

Marathon morning dawned and it wasn’t quite the day either of us had expected. We were both awake early but Commando didn’t want to go down to breakfast until he was sure all the other marathon runners had left the hotel so we sat in our room watching rubbish on TV. Still it was better than watching excited runners getting ready. That would have been more than Commando could bear. Continue reading Not running a marathon

Canals and bad news

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9 April 2016

As I stood at the side of the canal watching a barge slowly make its way under the railway bridge I smiled. What a relief. Commando’s ankle was feeling ok, if not perfect, and the marathon was back on. All those months of training hadn’t been wasted, even if he was unlikely to get a PB. All my walk planning hadn’t been wasted either and I was looking forward to exploring the canals further. Suddenly the day felt better and I began to really enjoy the walk, although it was half over. Continue reading Canals and bad news

Castle hunting in Manchester

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9 April 2016

Despite my misgivings about flying on small planes it wasn’t too bad once we were in the air. In fact we had seats right next to the engine nascelle on the port side of the plane so Commando was able to admire his handwork throughout the flight. Thankfully the little door that opens to let the landing gear out, also built by Commando, did open and we landead safely. By the time we’d walked to the train station, caught a train and got to our hotel it was late afternoon. A bit of unpacking, some freshening up and a refamiliaristional walk around Deansgate was about as much as we had time for before we had to find somewhere to eat. At least it wasn’t raining and Commando’s ankle was feeling pretty good. It looked as if the marathon might be on after all, even if a PB was a bit of a stretch. Continue reading Castle hunting in Manchester