After much agonizing over deserting an elderly parent for the so-called festivities, Francine and I finally bit the bullet and accepted a Christmas and New Year house-and-dog-sitting assignment in Spain. I booked the flights, departing on 19th December and returning…
Author: Franco
An Early Bath
Having arrived in sunshine last Friday lunchtime and having spent the following four days in sunny, if slightly windy conditions, today dawned with a grey overcast. The noticeable easterly wind was still with us and and has seemed to be…
Posted in 2013 Norfolk 2
Changed Expectations
The Norfolk Broads is a network of waterways based upon three main rivers: the Yare flowing mainly east-west between Norwich and Great Yarmouth, the Bure to the north and the Waveney to the south. I’m somewhat familiar with the first…
Posted in 2013 Norfolk 2
Cold Vegetables
Lazy for me, that is. It was somewhat less lazy for my friend of many years, recently retired [congratulations], who rode his motorcycle up from Suffolk to visit me during my stay in Norfolk. I spent a casual morning on…
Posted in 2013 Norfolk 2
Who Needs Nature Reserves?
Another beautiful day dawned and, after Guillaume and I arose in an unhurried fashion, I pedalled off into Ludham to the local shop to secure a few more cans of beer and some nibbles during their Sunday morning opening hours.…
Posted in 2013 Norfolk 2
Back to Aldferfen
My favourite spot from our first trip to Norfolk, back in June this year, was undoubtedly Alderfen. I had hoped that I would arrive and be installed in time to revisit it yesterday afternoon but that was not to be.…
Posted in 2013 Norfolk 2 Tagged with: dragonflies, England, Norfolk. nature, odonata, travel, wildlife
Back to Norfolk
For a few years following my father’s retirement, my parents lived in Norfolk. They moved to the strangely named village, historically two villages, of Repps with Bastwick, as seen on the modern road sign, or, as can still be seen…
Posted in 2013 Norfolk 2
Tuscany Retrospective: Chianti
For the second of our two back-to-back walking tours in Tuscany, we were off to the Chianti wine region. Our first tour leader, Ben, drove us back to Pisa airport, along with our companions that were flying out, to meet…
Posted in 2013 Italy
Tuscany Retrospective: The Garfagnana
An Italian “gn” is like a Spanish “ñ” [enya]; so, this is pronounced “Garfanyana”. Francine likes to be somewhere special for her birthday. That was particularly true this year, it being a special birthday. Enough said! After a little effort…
Posted in 2013 Italy
Spanish Correction
I’m a good one for this: when I’m fortunate enough to bump into a new dragonfly species, I concentrate most framing and focusing whilst tending glibly to assume that any similar looking dragonfly in my viewfinder is another one of…
Posted in 2013 France and Spain
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