Apr 19
In the early morning sunlight we watched as the boat pulled away from the shore, leaving Ireland in our wake. As the coastline slowly faded and disappeared we turned to look ahead. Wales would be first, we knew, then England and France. After that we had no plan – we’d just have to see where the road took us. So far, so good. Read more
Without any fanfare, she drove away from the house. The sky was grey and sleet was falling at an acute angle, spurred on by an intensely cold wind. I watched from the warmth of our conservatory as she rounded the corner and disappeared from view, Arūnas smiling and waving from the wheel. That’s it – she’s gone. Read more
Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on why you prefer one thing over another – a place, a product, even people. Research has shown that when asked to explain our preferences we often unconsciously make stuff up. I love that idea. Perhaps it’s a kind of natural defence mechanism, to prevent us from looking weak or foolish in front of the rest of the herd. I digress… Read more
Somehow, in the chaos that was the last few weeks (which I will tell you about anon), I completely forgot to tell you that one of my photos won Photo of the Year at the recent BlogHer annual conference. I was completely blown away when I heard the news. Who, me? (Looks over shoulder for the “real” photographer.) I won the “Nature Big and Small” category with a photo taken on Mont Blanc last summer. Read more
The picturesque village of Roquefort in southern France, home to one of my favourite cheeses, is surrounded by the most stunning rocky mountains. I was very happy to see that the villagers had left decent gaps between buildings on the main street so that the view was not totally obscured. Read more
The Monument aux Mort (War Memorial) in Marseille, France. The inscription reads “Aux Heros de l’Armée d’Orient et des Terres Lointaines” – “For the Heros from the (French) Army of the East and from Distant Lands”. About 36,000 of these memorials were erected around France shortly after World War 1. This one opened on April 24th 1927. Read more
A 5,000 km road-trip from Lithuania to Ireland and back in 10 days is pretty tough going. Especially when you’re living, eating and sleeping in a Ford Galaxy. But it was necessary. Having left Ireland in May with just summer clothes and the bear minimum of possessions, we needed a trip home to collect some winter woollies and other belongings. Read more
Sometimes dreams really do come true. This time last year I was sitting in an office feeling exhausted and dejected, despite having just completed a major project. There was little or no thanks, no recognition of the tremendous effort required by all involved to complete the project on time. Instead, there was criticism and blame. The focus was on the 5% that was not complete rather than on the 95% that was fully complete and performing well above all expectations. Something was clear to me – I was in the wrong place. Read more
Open roads, rugged mountains, wandering long-horned cows, winding river valleys, terraced vineyards, sparkling seas, ice lakes, snowy peaks, colourful markets, majestic cities – these are just some of the sights we encountered on our recent tour of Europe. Read more
It’s hard to imagine anything tasty resulting from a piece of mouldy bread. But the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, a small village in Southern France, have managed to turn mouldy bread into France’s second most popular cheese thanks to some ingenuity and some 160 million year old cracks in the earth. Read more
I’ve always loved Port. It reminds me of Christmas, of overindulgence on Stilton and crackers, of spicy pudding and squabbles over Monopoly. Sherry, too, reminds me of Christmas. Someone would invariably give us a bottle of Bristol Cream, which would sit in the cupboard until some elderly neighbour came to visit and fancied a sip of the overly sweet syrup. Brandy (generally cognac) was always considered a luxury and was saved for very special occasions, sometimes mixed with a drop of port for added exorbitance. Read more
Tapas bars are ubiquitous in Spain. A bit like the “chipper” back in Ireland, even the smallest towns and villages seem to have at least one tapas bar. Not only that, but they tend to be good quality. While some are undoubtedly better than others, I did not encounter a single tapa that I didn’t enjoy on my recent trip through Spain. From San Sebastian to Santiago and Seville to Antequera, all of our investigations met with positive results. Read more
After 76 days on the road we’ve decided to take a short break from our travels. Much as we’ve been enjoying ourselves, we have a few wrinkles we need to iron out to ensure we get the most from our experience. Read more
We returned to La Posada the following morning for an enormous breakfast, full of Lucy’s homemade Andalucían delights, before setting off with Angel to an organic pig farm nearby. The farm is set in a huge oak forest (known as a “dehesa”) and has goats, ducks, geese and chickens as well as over one hundred black Iberian pigs. Read more
Sometimes things work out much better than you’d hoped. Having driven for miles through areas of both Portugal and Spain that are home to the famous black Iberian pig, I wondered if we would ever get a glimpse of these wonderful animals. I’ve dreamed of someday owning an Iberian pig farm in Andalucía and really wanted to experience them in their natural habitat. Alas, they proved elusive. Read more
My Food Odyssey 