One of the biggest balloon festivals in Europe starts today and runs until Sunday 9th August 2009 in Bristol, set in the Ashton Court parkland on the edge of the city. The Balloon Fiesta is free to the public but if you want to see the balloons taking off you may have to be up [...]
When I was in Newquay on the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour, I met up with Ben Riding of Surfing is Therapy. Ben has been head beach lifeguard in Cornwall and Australia and has many years of surf coaching experience running surf camps in France and Morocco. Now along with Gemma Harris he runs Surfing [...]
I’m off to Dublin for four days in October. My accommodation host is the Arlington Hotel O’Connell Bridge, right in the centre of Dublin, who have suggested that I try my hand at pulling a pint of Guinness and take a lesson in Irish dancing. O’Connell Bridge, Dublin by mattbuck4950 Now I can start practising [...]
My accommodation for the Newquay stop of the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour was at the Pure Shores Boutique Lodge at the Fistral Beach end of Newquay. On arrival I found that there were only two bathrooms (albeit beautifully appointed, clean and with complimentary Dove toiletries) between four bedrooms, meaning that with the three other [...]
During the Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour I spent an afternoon in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham. The Jewellery Quarter still produces around 40% of UK jewellery output, with a flow of fresh talent from Europe’s largest School of Jewellery. I started my visit at the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, named by TripAdvisor as [...]
If you love running, Renato Losio of RunAbroad.com illustrates that you can find runs in Europe all year around. “From January to December, there are thousands of runs in Europe, from short rural races in Normandy to ultramarathons in the Alps. And you can enjoy most of them without being a fanatic athlete. Here is [...]
Nearly 300 km north of Stockholm you’ll run into Järvsö. Home to Järvzoo (website in Swedish). A zoo in Järvsö. See what they did there? Very creative. Despite the creative name, heading up that far north is no day trip. And if you do find yourself at the Järvzoo entrance (beautiful as it may be) [...]
During my Summer 09 UK Blogging Tour, I arranged to meet up with Nicky Getgood, author of Digbeth is Good, and Karen Strunks photographer and blogger, in the Digbeth area of Birmingham. Before Karen arrived, Nicky showed me some street art around Digbeth and did a video interview. After eating at The Old Crown, the [...]
Speaking of tiny countries – I was reminiscing about Liechtenstein last week – I think a lot of people might disregard Luxembourg as a good place for a holiday, but it’s really quite charming. In particular, the capital Luxembourg City is a great mix of old and new and has such a grand situation – [...]
Mark of Travel Wonders of the World describes three great escapes from Prague in his guest post. Prague is a favourite city rich in glorious well-preserved buildings, historic squares, moving Jewish quarter and superb, economical beer. To escape the crowds a little, there are a number of excellent day trips from the Czech capital. Kutna Hora [...]
