Places we like - good places to visit

Andy's parents live in Woodbridge, Suffolk and every New Year we go to visit them. We really must go later in the year because in January so many places are closed. However, the bright winter sun makes a deserted Shingle Street a dramatic place and there are few crowds at Sutton Hoo.

At New Year 2007 Liz was recovering from her knee injury, and taking advantage of the mild weather we spent most of our time walking. See the pictures in the Gallery.

At Easter 2006 (April 15th-22nd) Tony, Louise and Liz spent a week in Northumberland. Liz had been to Hexham once before and Tony had been to Craster, which by coincidence was where we were staying again. Louise complained that holidays should be in Spain or France or better still Florida (!) but in the end we persuaded her she wanted to see Alnwick Castle where the first two Harry Potter films were made. Tony wanted to walk to Lindisfarne and Liz just wanted a holiday. Northumberland is an excellent place for a holiday. Plenty to do and plenty to see, and I would say beaches that can't be beaten anywhere in the world, but for most of the year, it may not be the place for sun bathers. Click pictures to the right for slide shows of some of the places listed below.

Highlights of our week:

• Hadrian's Wall and Houseteads Roman Fort (Vercovicium) the best preserved Roman fort along the wall.

• The beach between Seahouses and Bamburgh. The first day we were there the wind was very strong. You can see the low level sand storm sweeping across the beach in the picture top right.

• Running along the coast from Craster past Dunstanburgh Castle, back round the golf course and through Dunstan Square in the early evening in glorious spring sunlight. It made a very pleasant place for training.

• Boat trip around the Farne Islands. Louise was impressed by how close she could get to the birds, and she had never seen so many seals. Click the bird on the right to see them too.

• Visit to Alnwick Gardens (Louise found the tour around the poison garden the most interesting) and Castle where the real history was more exciting than the tales of film making magical adventures. See some of our pictures.

The biggest disappointment was that we didn't get to walk the Pilgrim's Way to Lindisfarne, but we did visit the island

See the kid's holiday archive

In 1999 we went to Croatia selecting a quiet isalnd, Kolocep, just off the Dalmation coast a few miles from Dubrovnik. We chose the island because it was free from traffic and safe for the kids. They loved playing on the beach, but were less keen on the early starts we needed for travelling to the mainland for adventures further afield.  Dubrovnik, which before the war had been a crowed holiday resort, was pleasantly lively but the crowds had not returned. We didn't have to queue to walk the city walls or jostle for position to take good photographs.More pictures to come but in the meantime, see the kid's holiday archive

See the kid's holiday archive

If you like swimming then there is nothing to beat swimming in fresh water. One of the best places I've ever swum was in Lake Powel in the US. Salty sea water and chlorinated swimming pools are definitely a poor second best. In 1998 when the kids were still young Andy and I decided we would like a mountain and lake holiday. Italy took our fancy but our very good travel agent suggested Slovenia. More relaxing with the kids, less expensive and just as good. She sent us of to Bled and it was wonderful. A fresh water lake with thermal springs, a public swimming area with safety facilities and much more including the Postojna Caves and the white horses of Lipica

This section is still being developed.

In the mean time click on the image of Machu Pichu to see a slide show of Cuzco and its environs and of Machu Pichu.

Click on the image to see slide show of some of the animals of the Galapagos together with shots of the scenery, the guides and our fellow holiday makers

To New Delhi
Sikandra Mausoleum
Agra
The Taj Mahal
Small Town and the Slow Train
The Train Journey
By Bus from Mazafarpur

From Mazafarpur, Liz travelled to Nepal where she explored parts of the Kathmandu valley for a week before returning to Patna and continuing her journey around Northern India.
Patna
Varinassi - the Ganges
Varinassi - illness strikes
Amritsar - the Golden Temple (1)
Amritsar - the Golden Temple (2)