There seems to be some doubt as to how many countries there are in the world but most lists seem to be around 193 to 197, this list has 197. Quite a few of the countries we have been to were pre digital age therefore there are no pictures available. 1 Afghanistan 2 Albania 3 [...]
Following Tommi's visit, Gabbi and Massi decided to come across with Ami and Imogen. A busy couple of days...... No sooner had Gabbi and Massi got out of the car and it was off to the pool and Pirates Adventure where Massi found quite a bit of treasure. Gabbi, Lynn and Imogen enjoyed the pool, [...]
Our nephew decided to come across for a few days in between his holidays, days out with friends and the beginning of the football/rugby training sessions. Busy life eh! He's only 13 but managed to book the train from Newcastle to Carlisle then onto Oxenholm where we collected him. The first day we went out [...]
Nathan decided to visit us for a week whilst his Mam and sister were in Italy and his dad was busy with the harvest. Although he only travelled from Berwick I think he was struggling with jet lag as he didn’t manage to get out of bed until 11.00 – and that was only because [...]
Wasdale is a very hard place to get to even if you are in the Lakes as you need to head out west and then around the perimeter of the National park before entering the valley. Possibly because of its inaccessibility and its natural beauty it is a very special place that is the home [...]
Paul completed all of the Wainrights with various friends but this time around would like to do them with Ruby! Ruby seems quite keen on exploring new hills but we have to hold her back sometimes as she is too enthusiastic. There are 214 Wainrights and Ruby has her first foot on the ladder to [...]
Cathedral Cave is in Little Langdale just near Wetherlam and is a cavern that is left from a slate mine. It is only accessible via a tunnel. You access the tunnel from a path just south of the Three Shires Pub, this then opens into the main chamber which has a great column in the [...]
Today we went to see an exhibition of old Steam Engines at Flookbrough thinking there may be a couple on show but it was a massive gathering of steam engines, classic cars, classic motor bikes - infact anything that was old. There were also some people exhibiting some very weird collections - see the pictures [...]
Our nephew Nathan decided to have a weekend in the Lakes with us. He was in the middle of his radiotherapy, still had some medical lines inserted into his chest, had a clinic at 4.00pm on the friday and needed to be back at school by 8.45am on the monday morning. Despite this we did [...]
The Lakes are billed as the adventure capital of the UK and there is something on virtually every day and a lot of these things are free. To begin with the very name suggests lakes where you can fish, canoe, kayak, go canyoning, you are also surrounded by the fells and you can go walking [...]
We also now have a new addition to the family, a working cocker spaniel called Ruby. She loves the Lake District, probably more than Jesmond due to the freedom she has there. Paul is spending quite a bit of time training her so that hopefully she will be able to accompany him shooting when the [...]
We don't have any long distance travels booked for the foreseeable future as we have had something of a change in our personal circumstances, no we haven't gone bankrupt, got divorced or even developed a fear of flying. We have bought a second home across in the Lake District and intend spending as much time [...]
Although both of us have travelled quite a lot in Italy over the years, neither of us have been to Tuscany. So courtesy of Jet 2 we flew directly to Pisa, picked up a car and drove to San Gimignano where we had a lovely apartment and from here visited Pisa, Sienna, Florence, etc. Below [...]
The Dales Way is an 84-mile (135 km) Long Distance Footpath in Northern England, from (south east to north west) Ilkley, West Yorkshire to Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria. The Dales Way passes through two National Parks: the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Lake District National Park. The first half of the walk follows the River Wharfe upstream to the main watershed of northern England at Ribblehead. The second half follows several river valleys [...]
When we went to pick up our hire car they tried to give us a Camaro Convertible saying it was better than a Mustang, but Paul put his foot down and demanded a Mustang. If you're going to go topless in the USA it has to be a Mustang plus Bruce Springsteen stole the gal [...]
Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world, according to the United Nations, with 87 killings per 100,000, while San Pedro Sula is the world's most murderous city which was confirmed to us by an American who's friends father had been abducted, held to ransom and then murdered only a little while before we [...]
We decided to give Tikal a miss as some travellers we met en-route said it was a bit like a theme park and instead headed for Copan in Honduras. This was good for us as ultimately we were heading for Roatan via San Pedro Sula. After paying our $3 entrance visa fee we crossed the [...]
We decided not to stay another night in Atitlan but headed on to Antigua, smart move! Antigua is a picture perfect little town with lovely bars restaurants and bars. Whats more it is surrounded by massive volcanoes one of which is currently belching smoke! During the first night there was a tremor from the volcano [...]
A major feature of life in Latin America is the markets and over the course of this trip we have visited one or two, here are some pics of the people and the markets. The most famous of all the markets around this area is Cicicastenaga and is apparently the biggest in Central America. From [...]
A short flight from Managua and we were in Guatemala City. We had a driver arranged to meet us at the airport. He was busy getting his shoes shined as he'd driven through the night from Honduras to meet us so we had to call at his house first to pick up his clean laundry [...]
When we were in Costa Rica the volcano called Chaparrastique erupted for the first time in 37 years. This is right next to the town of San Miguel and the route that we would have taken to cross the sea from Nicaragua to El Salvador. Click here to read CNN news about it Click [...]
After a very bumpy ride from Monteverde in Costa Rica, we got onto the longest road in the world, the Pan American Highway - the 2nd time for us in 3 months as we drove along it in California, but here it was called the Pacific Coast Highway. It was bliss to be on a [...]
The drive in from San Jose was 6+ hours so we booked a plane transfer to La Fortuna/Arenal as we did not fancy a long transfer again. So north west to La Fortuna and the hot springs. On the flight, which was on a tiny prop plane, we saw an inverted double rainbow which was [...]
Our first port of call in Costa Rica was San Jose. We stayed in a beautiful finca/coffee plantation with lovely views over the Central Valley. Finca Rosa Blanca is a really quirky place and our room was fabulous. We did the coffee plantation tour so what we now don't know about coffee we could write [...]
Panama is obviously famous for its canal but is a lovely green country with beautiful beaches and rain forests also. The old city of Panama is being restored and is very atmospheric. But the main reason we visited was to see the canal and indeed transit it, which we did on Xmas day. [...]
After an overnight in Miami we arrived in Turks and Caicos Islands to be met by the mayhem that is called immigration! After an hour waiting we were through and on our way from the airport passing roads named Power Street (the road that led to the Power Station), Airport Road (the [...]
We flew into Miami then off to Turks and Caicos to relax and do a spot of diving, hopefully seeing some big sea life. Then off to Panama with a trip through the canal before heading north to Costa Rica. We then went to Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala before Belize and finally onto [...]
We arrived in San Fran with all national monuments closed due to the federal government shut down, which meant not only that we could not go to Alcatraz, the Golden Gate museum but even public toilets in these areas were shut too. But hey, it also meant there was no one available to charge a [...]
For us this started after San Simeon and this is where you get the really dramatic coastline. We headed past the colony of elephant seals, but only saw juveniles as the mature males were all at sea. What we did see, however, was a stand off between 3 squirrels and a bull snake that was [...]
We started off this leg of the trip up the coast by staying in Malibu, home to the stars - what a place, our RV park was right on the coast with a lovely view for the sunset. We got a site that looked ok but then found another that was absolutely fantastic, the views [...]
The Joshua Tree NP is stunning but again nature was causing problems with some roads washed out and campsites shut due to flooding. All the trails in the east were shut as the floods had uncovered ancient Indian relics but more worryingly arsenic and mercury mine spoils! Consequently there was a bit of a scrabble [...]
After leaving Death Valley we encountered a sand storm so just decided to keep heading south towards the Joshua Tree NP to try and outrun it!. So after a long day we arrived at Yucca Valley to catch up on emails etc as nothing works in Death Valley. Right next to here is a place [...]
Despite Death Valley having had flash floods we were assured by a Cal Trans road-worker that the main roads were open so we headed in! The place we booked to stay looked like a car park! So we by-passed it and headed up north towards Scotty's Castle where we found a great camp site, Mesquite [...]
We left Yosemite and headed east across the Tioga Pass which had only just re-opened following the forest fires. We stayed next to Mono Lake and awoke the next morning to discover that the Tioga Pass had been shut that very evening due to heavy snowfall - we were so lucky as this would have [...]
Before we got to Yosemite we looked on their reservations website and realised there was only one place left in the valley available for 3 consecutive days, so we booked it. What a place! right next to the river with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountain. We couldn't believe how lucky we were! We [...]
This is the area south of Sacramento which played host to the gold rush many years ago and is full of sleepy old pioneer towns. Our first night in this area was on a park owned by the local casino which was well manicured to say the least. Everyone in the USA takes [...]
First long drive of the trip to Tahoe and what a drive. At one point crossing through the Sierras we reached over 7,000', well higher than anywhere in the UK! A loop around Lake Tahoe is roughly 60 miles and takes an awful long time but is more than worth it for the beautiful views. [...]
Napa Valley, just north of San Fran, is the home to wine making in California. Our first couple of nights were on a site surrounded by some of the best motorhomes in the world called Prevost. Out of a total of appx 30 pitches, 6 were occupied by these [...]
This is our road trip around the central part of California in a motor home! See if you can spot our van in the pics! Here's a clue - look for Lynn! We had no accommodation booked and generally just either turned up or booked it via the internet in the case of Yosemite. [...]
Chitwan is the national park situated some 200km south of Kathmandu and is home to to appx 125 Royal Bengal Tigers and over 500 rhinoceros. We went there on safari for a couple of nights at the end of our trip as much for a rest but also in the hope [...]
Unfortunately when we were in Nepal we were unable to get a visa for Tibet as the UK are currently banned from Tibet. Apparently a young monk from Holland self immolated in protest about the Chinese occupation of Tibet and was aided by some other people one of whom was from the UK and [...]
This is a small village set on a hill in Nepal en route from Pokhara to Chitwan. It is a car free zone and is a little bit like stepping back in time. The village has a real laid back feel and is popular with hippies and back packers. We stayed [...]
The flights through Nepal and the surrounding countries must be some of the most scenic in the world, weather permitting!To get the best views you do have to be a little bit cute though!Generally speaking if you are flying between Nepal, Tibet, India and Bhutan you will find that the Himalayas are best viewed [...]
We were going to have a night in Kathmandu in Nepal en route from Bhutan to Pokhara but due to the pollution there we thought we would head straight through, great decision! Pokhara is so chilled out, you can understand why all the hippies used to come here from Kathmandu. We [...]
We drove from Pokharain Nepal to the start of the trek with the most stunning views of the snow-capped mountains. The weather was so clear that we could easily see the plumes of snow blowing off the higher mountains - over 8,000 metres. We started the trek, passing through mountain villages, [...]
Bhutan where the GNP is "happiness". Bhutan, known as the tiger kingdom but actually translates to “Edge of the Earth”, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, in South Asia located at the eastern end of the Himalayas, is one of 43 landlocked countries in the world, about half the size of the state of Indiana. [...]
The state borders Nepal to the west, China's Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and east, and Bhutan to the southeast. The Indian state of West Bengal lies to the south. With 607,688 inhabitants as of the 2011 census, Sikkim is the least populous state in India and the second-smallest state after Goa [...]
A short flight on Yeti air from Nepal and we were into India and the foothills of the Himalayas and off up the mountain road after we fixed the puncture! This is a pretty hairy road with steep drops and lots of vehicles crashed against the cliff face, quite obviously ones that had [...]
Just outside of Kathmandu but a world away in terms of noise etc. It's one of the nicer areas to visit and the air is generally cleaner! Bhaktapur is a really nice, quiet chilled place. We strolled through the narrow alleyways, had lunch in a restaurant with great views over Durbar Square, [...]
Kathmandu has changed since I was last here, it's dirtier, noisier and more polluted, but still you can get all your trekking gear for pennies. Best bet is to get outside and enjoy the surrounding areas and possibly stay for only 2 nights. Having said that we did see some fascinating [...]
Had a fantastic day out at Lingsfjord dog sledding then a lovely meal in a Lavu which is a traditional Sami tent. On the way back we saw a few reindeer but Santa Claus was nowhere to be seen!
The video below is what we saw set to music Apparently there is no need to go to the Arctic - you can see them in Scotland and Northern England The Northern Lights - Aurora Borealis We went to Arctic Norway (which is [...]
Rottnest Island is an easy ferry ride from Perth or Fremantle. From Fremantle it’s only 25 minutes, but if you do it from Perth, you get a bonus cruise on the Swan River.
The Pinnacles tour is north of Perth and so vastly different from the Margaret River area. The desert scapes are stunning and we just loved the wildness. Pinnacles Tour
Margaret River Tour
The Pinnacles and Margaret River tours are a great introduction to the stunning coastal vistas, vineyards and fabulous food that WA has to offer. Bad Piper
Desert Awakenings
Kata Tjuta
Pics from Helicopter flight over Ayers Rock and The Olgas. Helicopter Flight.
Pioneer Outback Barbeque Pioneer Outback Barbeque [tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIylQiOd9jI&feature=youtu.be[/tube] Pioneer Outback Barbeque
I know that these are iconic landmarks but that is no excuse for the amount of pictures we took. We'll edit them later! Harbour Bridge View
Kangaroos in the wild
Blue Mountains - highlights Cultural
Indigenous Street Music Shark Spotting from Helicopter
Duckbilled Platypus Koalas Kangaroos Wallabies
Noosa Riverside
Fraser Island Hummer Tour
Snorkelling Lessons! Whitehaven Express Snorkelling
Illusion - snorkelling with turtles Day Dream Island Big Mama Sailing
Aussie drive-through Aussie bird in trouble Wallabies
NUFC v Bordeaux The french life style is meant to be good for your health! Following NUFC is certainly not especially when KLM cancel your return flights from France whilst you are still sitting in Newcastle airport ready to depart for France!
Compilation Video - this was an overview of the diving apart from whale sharks and mantas! Whale Shark time - we saw the first one on the first dive there and the second sighting was actually the same one a few [...]
Etosha Day 1 This was towards the end of our trip and although Namibia isn't just about game viewing we certainly did a fair bit on our way through the country. However we certainly saved the best for last. We chose to stay just outside the south gate of the park to begin with [...]
Ecuador 2011 Cuenca Devils Nose Railway Avenue des Volcanoes Quito [...]
A week long trip to both Moscow and St Petersburg
Atacama Desert Lake District Patagonia Torres Del Paine
Siem Reap in Cambodia
Here are some pics from the Thistlegorm - probably taken with £10,000 worth of camera equipment....
The Seven Ancient Wonders were: Great Pyramid of Giza Hanging Gardens of Babylon Statue of Zeus at Olympia Temple of Artemis at Ephesus Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Colossus of Rhodes Lighthouse of Alexandria The Seven New Wonders are: Great Wall of China Petra Christ the Redeemer Machu Picchu Chichen Itza Colosseum Taj Mahal The Seven Natural [...]