2013: The Year That Was...

Don't pretend like you don't love reading these posts on how people's lives have panned out over the past year. I can't help but read them myself, so instead of ingesting everyone else's highs and lows over the last twelve months, I thought I'd write out a few of my own. 2013; The Year That Was... Snowy (high) Well-documented on here and much-mentioned everywhere else, I packed in my job and did a ski season last November. I spent 6 months in...

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Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby.

I think people have forgotten what The Great British Bake Off once was. I cannot believe the lengths people are going to to make this light-hearted baking show something it's not. I'm not saying GBBO should be sugar coated, but some 'fans' are ruining the whole experience, like hemp in a tea loaf, and focusing on Ruby Tandoh personally is a dangerous and wrong outcome for what used to be an innocent programme. Paul 4 Ruby 4eva First and foremost,...

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Euphoria Girls. Why it's wrong that a naive and innocent performance makes us cringe.

Last night I sat in my pyjamas, bought a curry from Tesco and watched the X Factor. My Saturday nights are sorted for the next four months. I have found myself thinking about Euphoria Girls. A lot. The group of 16-17 year old girls who gave such a sickeningly 'happy' rendition of something horribly old fashioned that was only memorable because of the unconventionality of their performance. The slightly naive, over-the-top, smiley-smiley, 'we just...

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Top Tips you should read before embarking on a European road trip

1. Use a Travelex Euro/Multi-currency cash passport. This card doesn't charge you for cash withdrawals, the commission is low, the website is reliable and it's quick and easy to top-up any amount of your choice over the internet. Way better than getting charged by your UK bank every single time you get out a wad of cash. You can also use it for internet transactions. 2. Shop at Lidl. Carrefour, Super U and E.Leclerc's are cheap but Lidl is much...

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Sospel to Vallerauges: gorges, castles and McDonalds.

From Sospel we stayed in the mountains and on to Entrevaux, a little fortified town situated beside a rapid river. We camped beside a lovely lake which was popular with families using paddleboards, canoes and floats. Pete decided to borrow a child's canoe that was resting on the edge of the water, and when he came back he returned to three young boys with their arms folded and bottom lips stuck out. Oops. We found another wild swimming spot beneath...

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Into the French Alps and beyond

Vive le France!  We avoided Monaco (I think we might drive through it on the way back) and head up into the mountains. We found some reasonably priced Camping Municipale in the village of Sospel which was a little gem. Manoeuvring the van through Les Grande Tour des Alpes to get there was a bit travel-sick-inducing but the scenery was like nothing I'd seen before. Jaw-dropping rock formations with visible chunky layers pressed together and...

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Cinque Terre: an adventure in itself...

Our campsite was called 'Mare Monti' which made me think of a cheerful Italian horse every time we passed through the gates which was nice. Full to the brim but still quiet and friendly.  The railway line wasn't far, and so we set off for the furthest town 'Riomaggiore' paying a slightly extortionate single fare. When we arrived we were greeted with multiple ATTENZIONE signs and locked gates. Hmph. Many of the paths were closed. After purchasing...

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Falling in love with Florence and pronouncing things incorrectly

We stayed a week with Pete's family: aunty is an artist, uncle is a photographer, and their son is a piano extraordinaire. In a house on a hill overlooking Florence, we had an incredible time having good food, drink, and absorbing the deliciousness of Florence city. Every morning we awoke to Leo (Pete's cousin) playing a Chopin piece in preparation for his exam in the autumn. A lovely way to be gently woken up, until it got to the more dramatic...

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Near-death experiences along the Amalfi coast lead us to beautiful Bolsena

Pete wanted to drive the Amalfi coast. About halfway along I don’t think he wanted to drive the Amalfi coast. Windy, twisty, narrow roads complete with copious mental Italian drivers made us hold our breath more than once. As the van is British, I sit on the left side which means I spent a few hours leaning as far over to the right as possible. The view was absolutely stunning but was sometimes difficult to enjoy, being on corner-watching duty. Just...

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Sassy Matera, Paestum, and a visit to Decathlon

Lonely Planet guided us inland and suggested visiting the World Heritage site of Matera to see its sassi – cave dwellings. The van was getting pretty sandy so we gave it a sweep and left the lido and the glares behind. Hooray! Matera is cool. The landscape was completely different: slow-rolling golden hills interrupted by MASSIVE GORGES. The town is set upon two of them, and up until the 1950s half the population lived in caves carved into the...

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Staresville

Have you ever felt that everyone is looking at you, but really you’re just being paranoid? How about when everyone is actually looking at you, all the time, constantly staring? Because that is what we found as we stopped at the Torre Canne lido. It was a Sunday and the place was heaving with Italians enjoying their weekend. We were part of their fun, it seemed. I was intimidated by a group of young girls who were no more than 10 years old who stood...

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Daytime-mosi-infested-creepy-place + Ferry Fun

The next camp stop I will call ‘daytime-mosi-infested-creepy-place’, which is located nearby Patra. But first I will mention the 51 degree heat of Olympia which we thought would be a good cultural fun-stop en route. We managed a 2 minute walk down to the entrance of the site but had to return to the air-con for fear of our vital organs MELTING. Literally. Later, we parked up at daytime-mosi-infested-creepy-place and sighed a big sigh: it was...

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