My Blogs including travel logs and sketches

 This is the return leg from Reculver back along what was once the Wantsum channel to Sandwich. My previous picture of Reculver didn't really show the two towers, so I have included it here.  There is a car park on the other side of the church , and an A15 sign that points to Herne bay further along the coast. I didn't want to go to Herne bay, so I followed the road from The King Ethelbert pub, Reculver Lane. Most of the A15 is pretty easy to follow, but this is the one bit that isn't. The A15 joins Reculver Lane at Brook Lane (1st on the left ), but it is easy to miss, I did, and ended up going the long way round through Sarr.  I know it's the correct route though because I have also cycled it from the other direction, going clockwise through Minster. There are no sign posts, not even a road sign, just a warning about a weight restricted  bridge. This lane runs alongside the River Wantsum ( which joins the Stour ), until it meets A299, where there is a reasonable cy...

 The Viking trail is a cycle route of 32 miles that starts from Sandwich, Kent to Reculver, then back through Minster to Sandwich. It should really be called the Thanet trail because it circles the ancient island of Thanet. During Roman times there was a sea passage between Sandwich and Reculver called the Wantsum channel. So Thanet was completely cut off from the mainland. It's a beautiful ride along the cliffs of north Kent.  I started from Deal,  6 miles away, which is a nice little cycle ride in itself, along the beach to the Ancient Highway, A1 ,which passes , Cinques Ports, Princes, and the Royal St George's golf courses. A river runs through it This is the cycle path along the river Stour just before  Sandwich car park. The Viking trail, A15 , starts at the bridge over the river Stour, see below: Signposted to Ramsgate, the road goes past the old Pfizer buildings. There is a reasonable cycle track , but I prefer to use the road, it isn't very busy. After a cou...

  Hammamet 2026 3rd May 2026. Sunday. We booked 12 days in Tunisia, a little town called Hammamet, south of Tunis, on the Mediterranean. The flight only took 2 hours 45 mins from Gatwick to Enfidha airport. Passport control was relatively easy, they logged where we were staying though. There was a luggage and body scan before leaving the airport. No indication what it was for. We had arranged a transit and we had no problems finding our bus. It's 56km to Hammamet and most of it is motorway. The terrain was arid, flat scrub land and olive trees. It was only 40 mins to town, but the driver got lost and we ended up going round the town 3 times. The journey ended up taking 1 and a half hours. We were the last to be dropped off at the Golden Tulip hotel, right by the beach. It was still relatively early, 18.00, plenty of time for a drink before a meal. But there was a problem.   "Sorry sir, but we are full up. We've arranged for you to stay at another hotel. " "Wh...

  Another trip to Agadir, and accidental discovery of an amazing beach Agadir beach 10/01/26 Back to the Village for the 4th time. It has been freezing all week. North and west suffered most. Glad to get out of it. 10 days in Morocco for a bit of sun , hopefully. But there were no trains to Gatwick! Luckily we managed to book a last minute cab. We were booked on British Airways flight 12.55. We don't usually book BA. When you book it doesn't say that the seats are extra. £50 , and those are the cheapest ! BA do not issue boarding passes until the day before. When we tried to check in, my bag was rejected. We had to find someone to book it in manually. We had a sight seeing tour round Gatwick on the bus. The reason - there was a problem with our designated plane. We had to use a " spare " one parked at the end at of the airport. I don't know how long it had been parked up, but it sounded pretty ropey when it fired up, like a washing machine that had seen better day...

  My cartoon sketches on current political affairs 27/4/26 A gunman storms the White House at a dinner with Trump in attendance just before Charles and Camilla due for a state visit 11/3/26 Trump says "We've won the war." Then Iran blows up a major oil storage facility in Kuwait and sets fire to 3 cargo ships and an oil tanker 5/03 HMS Dragon delayed from sailing to help defend air base in Cyprus which cam under attack. Equipped with wrong type of missle 2/03/26 Starmer gives permission for American planes to fly from UK bases for defense purposes only after Israel and America invade Iran  15/02/26 Starmer announces that he is sending a task force to patrol N Atlantic because of the perceived Russian threat. 09/02/26 McSweeney and Allen quit as row over Mandelson's appointment as ambassador grows 01/02/26 More revelations about about ex Prince Andrew Windsor and his association with Epstein 26/01/26 Labour's National Exec Committee, controlled by Starmer, block Bu...