1st November 2023 Hi, Our trip along the coastline of northern Spain heading west continued following our weekend in Santander. Monday 25th September We left Santander with the aim of spending our next night in Ribadesalla. This was only an hour and a quarter from Santander but we managed quite a few stops in between. Santillana del Mar is a short drive out of Santander. It is known as The Town of Three Lies, since it is neither a Saint (Santo), nor flat (ll...

25th October 2023 Hi, Like most people from my part of the world, I've been to Spain many times, mainly to the southern coastline or at least in the southern parts. I first visited Minorca, then Barcelona, and had a two week walking holiday in Andalucía. There was also a family trip to the Costa Blanca. However a road trip within more rural off-beat parts of Portugal a few years back had opened our eyes to the charm of less frequented rural parts of the ...

24th July 2023 Hi, On 10th July I headed up to the north of Scotland to spend a week on the croft with friends Norman Schouten (a former travelling companion - see Patagonia blogs 2012), wife Nem and family. The croft house is called Tordarroch, and is in Rogart, a beautiful part of Sutherland. Tordarroch means 'mound of the oak-wood' and an oak clad hill is just across the main road from the croft. This blog is just a brief note to introduce the photos of the...

15th June 2023 Hi, Sorry for the delay in publishing this blog for my trip to Tuscany last month. Even at my age life is full of surprises. I got a call at the start of February from The Travel Department to advise me that I had won a holiday to Tuscany in May, having entered a competition for said holiday on their website. Hard to refuse…… Thursday 11th May 2023 Accompanied by nephew Dave we left Glasgow at 0410 and in an hour reached Edinburg...

31st May 2023 Hi, This is just a brief note to accompany the photos taken at the marriage of Alex Macarie and Rachel Mary Macleod which I was kindly invited to attend. Instead of the usual distance travelling I walked the 1.3 miles from my flat to St Judes FP Church at Woodlands Road on what was billed as the hottest day of the year so far. The service was conducted by Rev Roderick Macleod, father of the bride who also gave her away. The reception was at Bocl...