Edinburgh appears to be edging towards a minority SNP-Green coalition running the city after Scottish Labour bosses made clear they would block a continuation of the SNP-Labour partnership which has been in power for the past five years.
Sources said the Capital's Labour group leader Cammy Day had been in talks with Scottish party headquarters about the possibility of renewing the SNP-Labour coalition, but it was made clear such a move would be vetoed.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said ahead of last week's elections he did not want formal council coalitions between Labour and other parties, especially the Tories or SNP. But it is understood Councillor Day was keen to see if there could be some flexibility. However, a source said: “The message he got back was No.”
The SNP won 19 seats at the election, Labour 13, the Lib Dems 12, Greens 10 and Tories nine.
Other potential combinations which have been floated include a Labour, Lib Dem, Green coalition, which would add up to a majority or a Labour-Lib Dem minority coalition, but it has not been clear whether such arrangements would also fall foul of Labour’s coalition ban.
If there's no chance of a Lab/LD coalition that doesn't bode well for Starmer as PM 2024. (Or, more likely, early 2025.)
Agreed. If SLab can’t even work with their best pals the SLDs then there is no hope for them. With nearly every Scottish council being NOC it would exclude SLab from every administration except West Dunbartonshire.
Ironic really considering that Labour's policy for Scotland was to rely on eternal Slab-SLD coalitions. Hence the Holyrood and, IIRC, local gmt voting systems.
The close personal friendships between Donald Dewar, Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, George Robertson et al and Menzies Campbell, Charlie Kennedy, David Steel, Malcolm Bruce et al is now ancient history. Those guys worked as a proper team. I’m sure that Anas and Alex do talk to each other, but I find it very hard to believe that they are chums outwith the office.
It's still an odd decision by Slab. NOC, as others have said, is almsot inevitable. You don't get to demonstrate your power to fix things. Okay, so they don't get contaminated by the Tories, or by the SNP, but the LDs?
And what was Mr Sarwar doing being so relaxed about the Aberdeen cooncillors who went all Labour going on junior Tory and got suspended, if he now comes out with this? Come to think of it, does anyone know what is happening in Aberdeen re the Slab-Tory alliance?
The Labour/Conservative coalition looks like it’s history.
Aberdeen election result
SNP 20 councillors (+1) Lab 11 (+2) Con 8 (-3) LD 4 (nc) Ind 2 (nc)
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
Which part of "control our borders" included "zero border checks" ?
Brexit is a shitshow, and will remain so long after those who voted for it are dead.
“Control our borders” including having “zero border checks” is by definition controlling our borders.
We control whether we check or don’t. Not a complicated concept.
You control your front door - you can choose to lock it or leave the door swinging open - whatever option you choose based on what’s best for your family - you are controlling it - your neighbour isn’t.
This is true enough. However, I am pretty sure that "wide open with no checks" was neither what the Vote Leave campaign were proposing nor what leave voters believed they would get.
If we choose to maintain the same control of our borders (none) but suffer greatly from the other side controlling their border (goods and people) then what have we gained? Brexit was supposed to make people's lived experience better, not worse.
Vote Leave and Boris Johnson specifically proposed shedding the EU's protectionism.
We're doing exactly that in dropping the EU's checks with non-EU produce, where its not necessary. Something we couldn't do as EU members. This is exactly what I voted for and what swung me from Remain to Leave.
Vote Leave to create 300,000 British jobs May 12, 2016 In the last few years, the EU has sought to complete five key trade deals, with the USA, Japan, ASEAN, India and Mercosur. Because of protectionism in other European countries, the EU has failed to get a trade deal with any of these countries. When we Vote Leave we will be able to do trade deals with all of these countries much more quickly. According to the EU’s own figures this will create 284,000 new jobs in the UK. Commenting, Boris Johnson said:
'If we Vote Leave we will be able to forge bold new trade deals with growing economies around the world. These are deals that the EU has tried and failed to achieve due to protectionist forces in Europe.
‘After we liberate ourselves from the shackles of Brussels we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs right across the UK.
‘Predictably the gloomsters want to do down Britain - they claim we are not strong enough to stand on our own two feet. What total tosh. There is a huge world of opportunity and prosperity out there if we take this opportunity to take back control.’
Oh do stop it. Brexit was pointless. There are no upsides unless you are Boris Johnson, Boris Johnson's band of hopeless-cases-who-wouldn't-be-appointed-by-anyone-else, and a few hedge funds. I know you don't want to accept you were gulled, but you were.
We all now have to live with it, but trying to invent "benefits of Brexit" is about as absurd as Putin trying to invent benefits from his invasion.
Oh give over.
We already have a trade deal agreed with the country I grew up in. That didn't exist pre-Brexit and wasn't possible as an EU member. That is a real benefit, right there.
Its certainly a benefit to New Zealand! Or will be in a decade when it comes into effect. Less of a benefit for British farmers though, which is who the government claimed to be helping by quitting the (massively flawed) CAP.
Bart doesn't like farmers or anyone else that isn't like him (a very small clique), so he doesn't care.
You're kind of right actually.
Why should I like farmers? Or anyone else I don't know, whether they're like me or not?
I neither like nor dislike farmers, I am entirely agnostic to them and everyone else I don't know. If farmers do well then great, good for them. If they don't, then that's OK too, let them get out of business and let a more productive farmer use the land or find an alternative use for the land instead.
I don't care about farmers any more than I would have cared about miners had I not been a baby when that was happening. We needed coal for electricity for three decades after the miners lost their jobs - did you care about them enough to think we should have prevented the closure of the mines?
You prove my point; you are like a stereotype of an extreme left winger; completely devoid of empathy for anyone, unless you feel that they are a bit like you. You are in favour of all sorts of privilege unless they are privileges you can't access yourself. Pretty sad outlook on life really.
I have empathy for others, I just don't cherrypick farmers (or any other self-interested group) over others.
Were we wrong to let the mines close in the 80s?
Was it wrong to let British Leyland ultimately fail?
Was it wrong to allow the Luddites not to succeed in blocking new technology that put them out of work?
I don't believe in Ludditism. I believe that chaotic evolution and the free market allows the best for all in the long run - and that support should be offered as a safety net for those who struggle as opposed to a way of life or "picking winners".
Lol. You will soon be bleating about house prices or some other thing that "is not fair", and how the state should intervene on your behalf to redress the balance. Good post though, almost made you sound pseudo-intellectual, even though it was all bollox that will change with the wind no doubt.
My objection is to the state interfering in the market preventing people building homes.
I extend my belief in the free market to land. Anyone should be able to use their own land for whatever they choose, including constructing homes, if they prefer that, within reason.
I don't want the state interfering getting into construction or anything else. I want deregulation and the state to get out of the way.
You want something that you think might benefit you personally. Pure and simple.
No, I'm consistent. I don't believe the state should be telling us how to run our lives, or the economy.
If someone wants a home, they should be able to build one, wherever they want if the land is theirs.
If someone wants to sleep with a consenting adult, they should be able to do so, so long as both consent.
Etc etc - its not the state's business what adults do with their own property or their own lives.
Thankfully for the rest of us we are happy to delegate a certain amount of freedom so that our next door neighbour on one side doesn't decide it is their right to build a glue factory next to our garden and the neighbour on the other side set up a 24 hour brothel with outdoor music venue.
There are reasons why your simplistic views tend to be regarded as a bit silly.
I'd have no objection to a 24 hour brothel opening near me, so long as everyone there is a consenting adult, but there are noise pollution regulations regarding outdoor music which are regulated by the Environmental Health Agency. I've never proposed getting rid of anti-pollution regulations.
So long as the brothel, or the glue factory, aren't polluting absolutely holding back development is a bad thing. If they are polluting, then special zoning and regulations for polluting industries makes a lot of sense.
If your residential next door neighbour is a twat who makes a lot of outdoor noise 24/7 they'll swiftly get visited by the Police or similar because the noise pollution rules apply to all including residential neighbours too.
In what ways are planning rules any more anti-libertarian than the rules you have just suggested? Keep the planning laws, by all means reform, but no planning is about as silly as removing the restrictions you just mentioned. Good attempt though "Bart", but nil points for debate!
Because rules on pollution are about protecting others from the harm of pollution and setting standards that anyone can operate by, so long as they don't pollute.
Restrictions in order to inflate certain people's assets and take away the rights of others to act, even if they're not harming others, is not the same thing.
As you've said, you don't want housing assets to fall in value. That's just protectionism and market rigging - let the free market determine the fair free value of housing, the state shouldn't be involved in price gouging.
There are potential benefits of house prices falling. From a selfish point of view, that could be good for me, I could buy more property, but I wouldn't wish for it. It would be a disaster for many families that might find themselves in negative equity, and maybe be victims of repossession. But you wouldn't care about them. For people like you they are just a statistic as long as you are not one of the stats yourself. Having seen it happen to people in the 80s and 90s, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, even on an opinionated selfish oaf like yourself.
65% of households are homeowners. Another 20% want to be.
1. For those who aren't planning to move and have paid off their mortgage it makes little difference. 2. Those with a manageable mortgage and looking to upsize benefit from lower prices. 3. Potential first time buyers gain from lower prices. 4. Those who have a maxed out mortgage lose out from lower prices. 5. Those with multiple properties lose out.
Group 1 is quite large. It would be surprising if groups 2 and 3 are not bigger than group 4. Group 5 deserve no sympathy if prices fall.
You might want to sell the benefits to those that were repossessed back in the day when it happened before.
A large part of Group 5 does not lose, because they are often in group 1. They may use the situation to buy more property.
The ideal situation would be house price stagnation, allowing salaries to catch up. House price collapse causes major disruption and stimulates recession. It is why successive governments desperately try to avoid it.
Successive governments avoid it because older people own homes, are addicted to house price inflation, and are by far the most consistent at actually turning out to vote.
To some extent true, but also of concern was that the people who got burned last time were middle income families. But as Bart thinks, hey fuck 'em, let the market decide.
We must be approaching a point though where high house prices hurt more people than a drop in house prices would hurt?
Possibly, but any government that was seen to enact policies that caused repossessions would be out of office quicker than they could say free market.
And that is part of the problem.
Yes, high house prices are a drag on the whole economy; The House Price Theory of Everything (Bad) is pretty compelling.
No, we can't carry on like this.
But doing the right thing for the hive will be politically suicidal, and will wipe some people out completely. Mostly youngish homeowners with hefty mortgages, who aren't really to blame for this. And that ought to give us all pause for thought.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Indeed. And a certain Lowry loved Wick and came back again and again to paint it.
I've never had a problem with Wick before now, and I've quietly been a little dismayed at Leon's trolling of it. But I hate Lowry more than anything, so fuck Wick. May its dreary walls crumble and a Biblican wave wash the crumbs away.
I thought it was horrible but I may have been influenced by a local Sheriff who seemed to be of the view that firing a shotgun at the man who had been carrying on with his wife was the least he deserved and certainly not the basis for any court order.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Indeed. And a certain Lowry loved Wick and came back again and again to paint it.
I've never had a problem with Wick before now, and I've quietly been a little dismayed at Leon's trolling of it. But I hate Lowry more than anything, so fuck Wick. May its dreary walls crumble and a Biblican wave wash the crumbs away.
A trip from Inverness to the Far North used to be a very pleasurable experience when the train was a set of Mark 1 coaches with a Class 37 on the front.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I've got good money that says it's not a cheque that will ever need to be cashed. There is literally nobody interested in territorial expansion into Sweden
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
Lol, hacks turning on each other now. They know all the newsrooms were partying like it was 1999 when the pubs were shut, and there were vague whispers of it at the time.
Been struggling with my success rate on Quordle, so I got together a standard first 4 words covering 20 separate letters and that has been helping. (I don't necessarily have to use all 4).
I'll leave it at that, and let anyone interested imagine or come up with 4 such five letter words if they fancy.
I generally start Wordle with 'Early' and Quordle with 'Early, Pitch, Mound'. That covers the vowels and generally enough to get me going.
My 4 seed words are stage, drown, flick and humpy. I started from quick brown fox and adapted from there.
If anyone can manage 5 x 5 letter words covering 25 letters (not that it'd be an especially good Quordle strategy), if that is even possible, I'd be rather impressed.
I hope nobody was stupid enough to buy into the whole Terra Luna ecosystem....
Was laughing at them earlier when it was $.70, then it crashed again to $.30
And LUNA has gone from over $100 to $1...
I wouldn't be surprised if we ultimately find that somebody has exploited the flawed system in some way, as the whole peg thing is supposed to be algorithmically controlled.
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
Lol, hacks turning on each other now. They know all the newsrooms were partying like it was 1999, and there were vague whispers of it at the time.
This was widely assumed to be the case with the press joining some of the Downing Street booze-ups, too. They'll need a new term for it - lunchtime o'boozegate, as private eye used to call it.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
Which part of "control our borders" included "zero border checks" ?
Brexit is a shitshow, and will remain so long after those who voted for it are dead.
“Control our borders” including having “zero border checks” is by definition controlling our borders.
We control whether we check or don’t. Not a complicated concept.
You control your front door - you can choose to lock it or leave the door swinging open - whatever option you choose based on what’s best for your family - you are controlling it - your neighbour isn’t.
This is true enough. However, I am pretty sure that "wide open with no checks" was neither what the Vote Leave campaign were proposing nor what leave voters believed they would get.
If we choose to maintain the same control of our borders (none) but suffer greatly from the other side controlling their border (goods and people) then what have we gained? Brexit was supposed to make people's lived experience better, not worse.
Vote Leave and Boris Johnson specifically proposed shedding the EU's protectionism.
We're doing exactly that in dropping the EU's checks with non-EU produce, where its not necessary. Something we couldn't do as EU members. This is exactly what I voted for and what swung me from Remain to Leave.
Vote Leave to create 300,000 British jobs May 12, 2016 In the last few years, the EU has sought to complete five key trade deals, with the USA, Japan, ASEAN, India and Mercosur. Because of protectionism in other European countries, the EU has failed to get a trade deal with any of these countries. When we Vote Leave we will be able to do trade deals with all of these countries much more quickly. According to the EU’s own figures this will create 284,000 new jobs in the UK. Commenting, Boris Johnson said:
'If we Vote Leave we will be able to forge bold new trade deals with growing economies around the world. These are deals that the EU has tried and failed to achieve due to protectionist forces in Europe.
‘After we liberate ourselves from the shackles of Brussels we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs right across the UK.
‘Predictably the gloomsters want to do down Britain - they claim we are not strong enough to stand on our own two feet. What total tosh. There is a huge world of opportunity and prosperity out there if we take this opportunity to take back control.’
Oh do stop it. Brexit was pointless. There are no upsides unless you are Boris Johnson, Boris Johnson's band of hopeless-cases-who-wouldn't-be-appointed-by-anyone-else, and a few hedge funds. I know you don't want to accept you were gulled, but you were.
We all now have to live with it, but trying to invent "benefits of Brexit" is about as absurd as Putin trying to invent benefits from his invasion.
Oh give over.
We already have a trade deal agreed with the country I grew up in. That didn't exist pre-Brexit and wasn't possible as an EU member. That is a real benefit, right there.
Its certainly a benefit to New Zealand! Or will be in a decade when it comes into effect. Less of a benefit for British farmers though, which is who the government claimed to be helping by quitting the (massively flawed) CAP.
Bart doesn't like farmers or anyone else that isn't like him (a very small clique), so he doesn't care.
You're kind of right actually.
Why should I like farmers? Or anyone else I don't know, whether they're like me or not?
I neither like nor dislike farmers, I am entirely agnostic to them and everyone else I don't know. If farmers do well then great, good for them. If they don't, then that's OK too, let them get out of business and let a more productive farmer use the land or find an alternative use for the land instead.
I don't care about farmers any more than I would have cared about miners had I not been a baby when that was happening. We needed coal for electricity for three decades after the miners lost their jobs - did you care about them enough to think we should have prevented the closure of the mines?
You prove my point; you are like a stereotype of an extreme left winger; completely devoid of empathy for anyone, unless you feel that they are a bit like you. You are in favour of all sorts of privilege unless they are privileges you can't access yourself. Pretty sad outlook on life really.
I have empathy for others, I just don't cherrypick farmers (or any other self-interested group) over others.
Were we wrong to let the mines close in the 80s?
Was it wrong to let British Leyland ultimately fail?
Was it wrong to allow the Luddites not to succeed in blocking new technology that put them out of work?
I don't believe in Ludditism. I believe that chaotic evolution and the free market allows the best for all in the long run - and that support should be offered as a safety net for those who struggle as opposed to a way of life or "picking winners".
Lol. You will soon be bleating about house prices or some other thing that "is not fair", and how the state should intervene on your behalf to redress the balance. Good post though, almost made you sound pseudo-intellectual, even though it was all bollox that will change with the wind no doubt.
My objection is to the state interfering in the market preventing people building homes.
I extend my belief in the free market to land. Anyone should be able to use their own land for whatever they choose, including constructing homes, if they prefer that, within reason.
I don't want the state interfering getting into construction or anything else. I want deregulation and the state to get out of the way.
You want something that you think might benefit you personally. Pure and simple.
No, I'm consistent. I don't believe the state should be telling us how to run our lives, or the economy.
If someone wants a home, they should be able to build one, wherever they want if the land is theirs.
If someone wants to sleep with a consenting adult, they should be able to do so, so long as both consent.
Etc etc - its not the state's business what adults do with their own property or their own lives.
Thankfully for the rest of us we are happy to delegate a certain amount of freedom so that our next door neighbour on one side doesn't decide it is their right to build a glue factory next to our garden and the neighbour on the other side set up a 24 hour brothel with outdoor music venue.
There are reasons why your simplistic views tend to be regarded as a bit silly.
I'd have no objection to a 24 hour brothel opening near me, so long as everyone there is a consenting adult, but there are noise pollution regulations regarding outdoor music which are regulated by the Environmental Health Agency. I've never proposed getting rid of anti-pollution regulations.
So long as the brothel, or the glue factory, aren't polluting absolutely holding back development is a bad thing. If they are polluting, then special zoning and regulations for polluting industries makes a lot of sense.
If your residential next door neighbour is a twat who makes a lot of outdoor noise 24/7 they'll swiftly get visited by the Police or similar because the noise pollution rules apply to all including residential neighbours too.
In what ways are planning rules any more anti-libertarian than the rules you have just suggested? Keep the planning laws, by all means reform, but no planning is about as silly as removing the restrictions you just mentioned. Good attempt though "Bart", but nil points for debate!
Because rules on pollution are about protecting others from the harm of pollution and setting standards that anyone can operate by, so long as they don't pollute.
Restrictions in order to inflate certain people's assets and take away the rights of others to act, even if they're not harming others, is not the same thing.
As you've said, you don't want housing assets to fall in value. That's just protectionism and market rigging - let the free market determine the fair free value of housing, the state shouldn't be involved in price gouging.
There are potential benefits of house prices falling. From a selfish point of view, that could be good for me, I could buy more property, but I wouldn't wish for it. It would be a disaster for many families that might find themselves in negative equity, and maybe be victims of repossession. But you wouldn't care about them. For people like you they are just a statistic as long as you are not one of the stats yourself. Having seen it happen to people in the 80s and 90s, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, even on an opinionated selfish oaf like yourself.
65% of households are homeowners. Another 20% want to be.
1. For those who aren't planning to move and have paid off their mortgage it makes little difference. 2. Those with a manageable mortgage and looking to upsize benefit from lower prices. 3. Potential first time buyers gain from lower prices. 4. Those who have a maxed out mortgage lose out from lower prices. 5. Those with multiple properties lose out.
Group 1 is quite large. It would be surprising if groups 2 and 3 are not bigger than group 4. Group 5 deserve no sympathy if prices fall.
You might want to sell the benefits to those that were repossessed back in the day when it happened before.
A large part of Group 5 does not lose, because they are often in group 1. They may use the situation to buy more property.
The ideal situation would be house price stagnation, allowing salaries to catch up. House price collapse causes major disruption and stimulates recession. It is why successive governments desperately try to avoid it.
Successive governments avoid it because older people own homes, are addicted to house price inflation, and are by far the most consistent at actually turning out to vote.
To some extent true, but also of concern was that the people who got burned last time were middle income families. But as Bart thinks, hey fuck 'em, let the market decide.
We must be approaching a point though where high house prices hurt more people than a drop in house prices would hurt?
Possibly, but any government that was seen to enact policies that caused repossessions would be out of office quicker than they could say free market.
And that is part of the problem.
Yes, high house prices are a drag on the whole economy; The House Price Theory of Everything (Bad) is pretty compelling.
No, we can't carry on like this.
But doing the right thing for the hive will be politically suicidal, and will wipe some people out completely. Mostly youngish homeowners with hefty mortgages, who aren't really to blame for this. And that ought to give us all pause for thought.
Showing my ignorance here, but isn't negative equity only an issue if you want to move house?
Also means you potentially get shafted at end of fixed rate term. The fixed-rate lender has only committed to let you continue the mortgage on their variable rate (nt sure whether there are constraints on how high that can be, but unlikely to be maret's most competitive). If you want to switch mortgage (e.g. to another fix, better variable from another lender) then you need your new lender to loan you enough to pay off the previous mortgage. New lender will go to max 95%(?) of house value. So if your house is worth less then previous mortgage then you're out of options unless you can plug the shortfall yourself, so you're stuck on your original lender's variable rate.
I hope nobody was stupid enough to buy into the whole Terra Luna ecosystem....
Was laughing at them earlier when it was $.70, then it crashed again to $.30
And LUNA has gone from over $100 to $1...
I wouldn't be surprised if we ultimately find that somebody has exploited the flawed system in some way, as the whole peg thing is supposed to be algorithmically controlled.
There are those saying that is exactly what happened - similar to George Soros causing a run on the pound
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
Lol, hacks turning on each other now. They know all the newsrooms were partying like it was 1999 when the pubs were shut, and there were vague whispers of it at the time.
What sticks the most is it is pretty obvious they were, but at the same time would challenge the government over the most ridicilious "what ifs" about the rules...can I drive 3.98 miles to be my local park to walk the dog for 1.1hrs, because I am finding your wording of all the rules very confusing (rather than helping to transit the general message of don't gather together indoors). Its as bad as Boris going no socialising, no getting together in the sun for a BBQ this bank holiday, right gang lets head to the garden for a glass of vino and some nibbles.
I've got good money that says it's not a cheque that will ever need to be cashed. There is literally nobody interested in territorial expansion into Sweden
Nonsense. IKEA is important to the UK way of life now.
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
Lol, hacks turning on each other now. They know all the newsrooms were partying like it was 1999 when the pubs were shut, and there were vague whispers of it at the time.
Party culture throughout. All the parties at all the parties alongside all the media. But not Integritron. He's not like the other boys. He said so and everything.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
I love the Fens - and think it's a much-unappreciated landscape. One of my favourite walks is the twelve miles from Waterbeach (just north of Cambridge) to Ely, with Ely Cathedral slowing growing on the hill in front of you. The Ship of the Fens.
Then again, I've got many happy memories of that path, and memories can form fondness.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
Norfolk gets more interesting the further north you go. Becomes quite wild and soulful. Brilliant seafood as well
Suffolk is STUNNING if you want lush pastoral beauty. Constable chose well. Also amazing medieval villages with enormous churches funded by the wool trade
Still wouldn’t put either in my top 100 world landscapes. The criteria are rigorous
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I've got good money that says it's not a cheque that will ever need to be cashed. There is literally nobody interested in territorial expansion into Sweden
Nonsense. IKEA is important to the UK way of life now.
We should offer an IKEA pact with Sweden. Send them a box of body parts and tell them to build an army out of it 'There's 250 right hands and no left!'
I’ve been over mailonline twice, it must be there somewhere 🤷♀️ Isn’t this the week Starmer gets hounded everywhere “are you going to resign if you get a FPN you fucking hypocrite?”
What’s going on? Do you think the police would investigate a missing Beergate?
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
Its also seasonal isn't it? if you avoid June to the end of September you should be OK.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
I met a man from Skye on holiday last year. He was interesting and entertaining on the concept they have there of 'going on the randan'. Seemingly it's quasi-acceptable to go on a days-long bender maybe once or twice a year and absent yourself from workplace and loved ones. "Where's Fraser?" you might hear at work. "Gone on the randan. What is it, Tuesday? I expect we'll see him Thursday." With mobile phones the ability to be absolutely missing has waned a little, but not gone entirely.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
Norfolk gets more interesting the further north you go. Becomes quite wild and soulful. Brilliant seafood as well
Suffolk is STUNNING if you want lush pastoral beauty. Constable chose well. Also amazing medieval villages with enormous churches funded by the wool trade
Still wouldn’t put either in my top 100 world landscapes. The criteria are rigorous
The glacial advance stopped at the Cromer Holt morainic ridge in the last ice age so the character of the northern third of my beautiful county is very different, yes
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Indeed. And a certain Lowry loved Wick and came back again and again to paint it.
You force me to link this once again
“I’d rather risk beheading by Taliban than live in Wick”
That was, actually, not about Wick per se but the lack of Afghans there already. It is not a large place, any more than you would find many Camdenites in a small rural centre up the Panjshir Valley.
As for you yourself: Quot homines tot sententiae: suus cuique mos.
My older daughter and I now have an excellent private joke. Whenever we encounter something awful or terrible or dire we look at each other and say “but at least we’re not in…. Wick”
It's odd, but the thought of living in Camden fills me with agitated horror! Still, full credit to you for making it up there.
Wick does manage to make John O Groats vaguely tolerable. Which it isn’t, really
Beyond the marshes the Far North of Scotland is indeed terrific. Better the further west you go
It’s majestic in any weather - except maybe intense mist when you can’t see anything - but if you catch a bright blue summer’s day it is epic. Britain does not have many world class landscapes - the beauty is usually quieter - but that’s one of them
Trying to think of others.
Hebrides throughout
Cornwall arguably has two: west penwith. Then the UNESCO listed tinning areas.
Dorset at its intricate hilly best down to Lyme?
The Lakes I guess
Herefordshire hard by the Welsh border maybe? But I might be biased. Grew up in Herefordshire
After that, hmmm
Dartmouth round to Start Point, round to Prawle and then further west to the views across to Salcombe aren't exactly shabby.....
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I was in Denmark camping as a child a few times on family holidays. I don't remember midges being a problem at all.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Indeed. And a certain Lowry loved Wick and came back again and again to paint it.
You force me to link this once again
“I’d rather risk beheading by Taliban than live in Wick”
That was, actually, not about Wick per se but the lack of Afghans there already. It is not a large place, any more than you would find many Camdenites in a small rural centre up the Panjshir Valley.
As for you yourself: Quot homines tot sententiae: suus cuique mos.
My older daughter and I now have an excellent private joke. Whenever we encounter something awful or terrible or dire we look at each other and say “but at least we’re not in…. Wick”
It's odd, but the thought of living in Camden fills me with agitated horror! Still, full credit to you for making it up there.
Wick does manage to make John O Groats vaguely tolerable. Which it isn’t, really
Beyond the marshes the Far North of Scotland is indeed terrific. Better the further west you go
It’s majestic in any weather - except maybe intense mist when you can’t see anything - but if you catch a bright blue summer’s day it is epic. Britain does not have many world class landscapes - the beauty is usually quieter - but that’s one of them
Trying to think of others.
Hebrides throughout
Cornwall arguably has two: west penwith. Then the UNESCO listed tinning areas.
Dorset at its intricate hilly best down to Lyme?
The Lakes I guess
Herefordshire hard by the Welsh border maybe? But I might be biased. Grew up in Herefordshire
After that, hmmm
Dartmouth round to Start Point, round to Prawle and then further west to the views across to Salcombe aren't exactly shabby.....
A very nice part of the British isles indeed. Hence the property prices in salcombe.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I was in Denmark camping as a child a few times on family holidays. I don't remember midges being a problem at all.
I went walking in the Mountains of Mourne a few years ago and there were a fair few there on damp days.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
I met a man from Skye on holiday last year. He was interesting and entertaining on the concept they have there of 'going on the randan'. Seemingly it's quasi-acceptable to go on a days-long bender maybe once or twice a year and absent yourself from workplace and loved ones. "Where's Fraser?" you might hear at work. "Gone on the randan. What is it, Tuesday? I expect we'll see him Thursday." With mobile phones the ability to be absolutely missing has waned a little, but not gone entirely.
That’s fascinating
Echoes the Aussie aborigine practise of “walkabout”, perhaps
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
A good friend of mine just had a week as a Sheriff in Orkney. Absolutely loved it, especially Scara Brae. I have never made it that far but it is definitely on my bucket list. I have a proof in Lerwick in the summer which I am kinda hoping won't settle...
Shetland's very different scenically, but also well worth seeing. You should get a sense of it from the airport at Sumburgh up to Lerwick, anyway.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
I love the Fens - and think it's a much-unappreciated landscape. One of my favourite walks is the twelve miles from Waterbeach (just north of Cambridge) to Ely, with Ely Cathedral slowing growing on the hill in front of you. The Ship of the Fens.
Then again, I've got many happy memories of that path, and memories can form fondness.
"Hill" is generous but I completely agree with you!
Well Trump is coming back to Tweetverse and he is box office. As a comparison surely Man City shares rose when they made their star signing yesterday?
Earring Hagland? My other half follows footy more than me, and she wanted Arsenal to sign him.
I’m going to watch the Arsenal game with her tomorrow, I haven’t watched the last couple with her because it’s hard watching your partner go through such trauma and anguish, and unable to help them, apart from saying oh dear, there’s always next season. 😆
The really big games tonight, just down the way in York
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
I love the Fens - and think it's a much-unappreciated landscape. One of my favourite walks is the twelve miles from Waterbeach (just north of Cambridge) to Ely, with Ely Cathedral slowing growing on the hill in front of you. The Ship of the Fens.
Then again, I've got many happy memories of that path, and memories can form fondness.
"Hill" is generous but I completely agree with you!
Ely is one of the great cathedrals of the world. I once saw it surrounded by fenland mist. It really was a ship floating on a ghost of a sea. I think that phenomenon is quite common? Unreal
Britain arguably has better churches and cathedrals per square mile than anywhere on earth
In England at least you are seldom more than 20 Minutes drive from an amazing example
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
I met a man from Skye on holiday last year. He was interesting and entertaining on the concept they have there of 'going on the randan'. Seemingly it's quasi-acceptable to go on a days-long bender maybe once or twice a year and absent yourself from workplace and loved ones. "Where's Fraser?" you might hear at work. "Gone on the randan. What is it, Tuesday? I expect we'll see him Thursday." With mobile phones the ability to be absolutely missing has waned a little, but not gone entirely.
That’s fascinating
Echoes the Aussie aborigine practise of “walkabout”, perhaps
I used to do that occasionally when I was younger, before I had commitments. I called it; "Going ballistic". I'd just let people know I'm okay and go on a walk for a few days, on one occasion from my front door. Wild camping in fields whilst I cleared my head.
One of Mrs J's best friends did the same a few months after the birth of her first child. Her hubby wasn't being helpful, and she was missing her work, so she dropped the baby off with his parents and disappeared for a week. Whereas I chose to go walking, she went to the beach.
The result? A husband who was ordered by his parents to do more at home.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
The difficulty is the balance between things to do, and "things to do". If "moderately active" and great scenery is the goal, can I recommend a trip up to the Black Isle - loads of great walks but not mountains. And you can have a stop-off in e.g. Edinburgh on the way up and back, and do "City things" (museums, galleries, etc.) for a change in pace.
It surely has to be Skye
Mountains: the Cuillins, some of the most impressive in Europe, despite their small size
Highland cattle: everywhere
Awesomeness: lochs and forests and sea and the old man of Storr
Castles: Dunvegan! (And others)
I took my older daughter there when she was about 8 and she adored it
We had good weather tho…
That is a very good call.
That said, next on my list is to take the 8yo to Orkney as soon as I can find some time. (On which neolithic note, I'm just about to have another quick potter round the BM Stonehenge exhibition.)
I did the Orkneys with my same older daughter (now 15) last summer. It was fab. But we stayed in john o groats so we could also tour the mainland
It’s a cliche but that drive around the top of Scotland is truly amazing (again we got lucky with the weather)
John o groats itself is so hideous it’s funny. Likewise Wick and the flow country. But that makes it quite a cheap place to stay….
The Flow Country has a beauty that only a Philistine would not recognise. Generally not full of tourists and journalists too.
Really? I think it is one of the dullest parts of Scotland, if not the UK. There are excellent reasons why it has really few visitors and it is a hell of a long way from anywhere. If you like your isolation really profound then fair enough but for your average 7 year old...
Agreed re the marshlands proper. But the Old Red Sandstone tablelands of Caithness as a whole plus Orkney are actually much better than many realise - as Leon discovered, his views on harling apart. The area's entire gestalt is so unique to itself.
It is a little like something I heard said of the East Anglian Fens: It is easy to appreciate hills and mountains, but you have to be a real connoisseur to love the fens.
Only seen a bit there, but was very impressed - memorablest bit was the cabbage field inside Burgh Castle roman fortress and the view from it.
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
I love the Fens - and think it's a much-unappreciated landscape. One of my favourite walks is the twelve miles from Waterbeach (just north of Cambridge) to Ely, with Ely Cathedral slowing growing on the hill in front of you. The Ship of the Fens.
Then again, I've got many happy memories of that path, and memories can form fondness.
"Hill" is generous but I completely agree with you!
But do you prefer the west or east side of the river?
On Wes Streeting, he's nearly as old as Tony Blair was when he became leader of the Labour Party, yet it doesn't feel like that. I'm not sure if it hurts his chances, but he just doesn't come across as a "proper grown up" who might be about to become Leader of the Opposition.
Fair point, but when you have a proven mendacious incompetent clown as actual Prime Minister, the Overton Window for proper grown upness has widened somewhat.
At the risk of causing a previous discussion to, er, brew up again: we've just bought a Gaggia Cadorna bean to cup machine. Far superior to the old Nespresso we had.
Been struggling with my success rate on Quordle, so I got together a standard first 4 words covering 20 separate letters and that has been helping. (I don't necessarily have to use all 4).
I'll leave it at that, and let anyone interested imagine or come up with 4 such five letter words if they fancy.
I generally start Wordle with 'Early' and Quordle with 'Early, Pitch, Mound'. That covers the vowels and generally enough to get me going.
My 4 seed words are stage, drown, flick and humpy. I started from quick brown fox and adapted from there.
If anyone can manage 5 x 5 letter words covering 25 letters (not that it'd be an especially good Quordle strategy), if that is even possible, I'd be rather impressed.
"Fjord cwm-bank glyphs vext quiz" - an imaginary headline in a Welsh paper, might be a starting point.
Well Trump is coming back to Tweetverse and he is box office. As a comparison surely Man City shares rose when they made their star signing yesterday?
Earring Hagland? My other half follows footy more than me, and she wanted Arsenal to sign him.
I’m going to watch the Arsenal game with her tomorrow, I haven’t watched the last couple with her because it’s hard watching your partner go through such trauma and anguish, and unable to help them, apart from saying oh dear, there’s always next season. 😆
The really big games tonight, just down the way in York
Good luck! For me, the big game is at Edgeley Park, Stockport. A win and a draw from the last two games needed to return to the Football League. Making rather heavy weather of the run in...
The Express leads with welcome news for families suffering cost of living crisis.
Many other papers lead on government back tracking on what Boris promised.
Is coordinating government messaging really as difficult as they are making it look?
Are you not reading BigG. 's dispatched. Boris is having a great day signing international treaties with non-NATO partners. He has just tweaked Putin's nose and said "nuke us if you dare Vlad"!
Boris has his own hard hat and hi-viz coat, so he'll be fine...
...although if Putin is keeping up with the NI Protocol he might just be thinking, "Boris Johnson and international treaties? Pah!"
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I know exactly what you mean but you can always escape to the many marvellous parks
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
Been struggling with my success rate on Quordle, so I got together a standard first 4 words covering 20 separate letters and that has been helping. (I don't necessarily have to use all 4).
I'll leave it at that, and let anyone interested imagine or come up with 4 such five letter words if they fancy.
I generally start Wordle with 'Early' and Quordle with 'Early, Pitch, Mound'. That covers the vowels and generally enough to get me going.
My 4 seed words are stage, drown, flick and humpy. I started from quick brown fox and adapted from there.
If anyone can manage 5 x 5 letter words covering 25 letters (not that it'd be an especially good Quordle strategy), if that is even possible, I'd be rather impressed.
It's not possible, I tried this with the full word list and there is no combination of 25 different letters that can be split into five separate words.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I know exactly what you mean but you can always escape to the many marvellous parks
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
On days like that in London, best bet is to go swimming in one of the many formal and informal pools across the capital, and work in the evening. Central London is deeply unpleasant in a heatwave but no worse than New York or Paris, and those of us in know have our mitigation strategies.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
Shetland needs trees. Those rooves wouldn't fly away if there's a bank of trees acting as a windbreak. But where are all the trees?
At the risk of causing a previous discussion to, er, brew up again: we've just bought a Gaggia Cadorna bean to cup machine. Far superior to the old Nespresso we had.
After years of using (and cursing) cafetieres, MOKA pots, espresso machines etc, I'm back to a good old fashioned drip filter machine. The coffee is smooth and evenly strong. Can't be beaten IMO.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
On days like that in London, best bet is to go swimming in one of the many formal and informal pools across the capital, and work in the evening. Central London is deeply unpleasant in a heatwave but no worse than New York or Paris, and those of us in know have our mitigation strategies.
Yes. For me they are Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. Or, if it’s totally impossible (which is rare) a 40 minute train from Marylebone to Wendover. And suddenly you are in the wonderful Chilterns, and the red kites are wheeling overhead
Further to my post about Norwich North in the last thread, some info on Norwich South and Norfolk generally etc for your betting '24 consideration. The changes proposed to Norwich South are small but it loses a very green friendly ward to Norwich North and gains my growing up area of New and Old Costessey. New is a mix of LD, Lab and Con with limited green interest, Old is much more Con but with LD strength at times. Ultimately it makes a relatively strong green seat a harder prospect long term but short term nothing is shifting Clive Lewis anyway. The knock on is South Norfolk loses the closer than average Costessey wards and will be even safer Conservative. Of other closer or non tory seats of recent years, Great Yarmouth gains areas of North Norfolk very unfriendly to Labour making retaking it very hard. North Norfolk obviously swung hard from LDs with Lamb chop stood down but now also gains parts of Broadland friendly to conservatives making it a safer Tory seat. Conclusions- both Norwich seats should be Labour but I cannot see anything but Tory in the rural Norfolk seats. The LDs will fade away from North Norfolk and they will all be held by double digits a 97 style system shock absent
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
Shetland needs trees. Those rooves wouldn't fly away if there's a bank of trees acting as a windbreak. But where are all the trees?
In Orkney, it's the rooves that act as the windbreak. I remember only two woods in the whole archipelago - both centuries old.
This one, it's worse than a C of E school catchment in bird nesting season - I have never seen a wood so crowded
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
On days like that in London, best bet is to go swimming in one of the many formal and informal pools across the capital, and work in the evening. Central London is deeply unpleasant in a heatwave but no worse than New York or Paris, and those of us in know have our mitigation strategies.
Yes. For me they are Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. Or, if it’s totally impossible (which is rare) a 40 minute train from Marylebone to Wendover. And suddenly you are in the wonderful Chilterns, and the red kites are wheeling overhead
Check out Sonning, Goring, Nettlebed for good forest walks. Redwood forests are great in the summer heat.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
Shetland needs trees. Those rooves wouldn't fly away if there's a bank of trees acting as a windbreak. But where are all the trees?
TBF the locals have started community planting, BTW. And there are a few older plantations. But I imagine in the more sheltered areas.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
On days like that in London, best bet is to go swimming in one of the many formal and informal pools across the capital, and work in the evening. Central London is deeply unpleasant in a heatwave but no worse than New York or Paris, and those of us in know have our mitigation strategies.
Yes. For me they are Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. Or, if it’s totally impossible (which is rare) a 40 minute train from Marylebone to Wendover. And suddenly you are in the wonderful Chilterns, and the red kites are wheeling overhead
Check out Sonning, Goring, Nettlebed for good forest walks. Redwood forests are great in the summer heat.
I love the Surrey hills. So close to london. Not how one imagines Surrey at all. And yes they have that special piney scent in the heat. Only place I’ve seen a smooth snake.
They are just harder to access from north london whereas I can be striding the Chilterns in literally an hour after leaving my front door - cab to Marylebone, the Chilterns line….
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
Went to Skye in July 2019, stayed in a home-stay near the northwestern tip. Noticed a few midges in the evening, nothing too serious. Only regret was passing Kyle of Lochalsh station TWICE on the drive to/from Inverness and not catching the train!
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
Shetland needs trees. Those rooves wouldn't fly away if there's a bank of trees acting as a windbreak. But where are all the trees?
I always assumed these placed didn't have trees because they couldn't support them. I assumed the same for Iceland, but apparently we chopped them all down.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I know exactly what you mean but you can always escape to the many marvellous parks
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
In all seriousness that sounds very like Seasonal Affective Disorder or SADs which my daughter suffers from. She needs winter sun as well or she becomes seriously ill. A blue ultraviolet light is supposed to help.
The Express leads with welcome news for families suffering cost of living crisis.
Many other papers lead on government back tracking on what Boris promised.
Is coordinating government messaging really as difficult as they are making it look?
Are you not reading BigG. 's dispatched. Boris is having a great day signing international treaties with non-NATO partners. He has just tweaked Putin's nose and said "nuke us if you dare Vlad"!
Boris has his own hard hat and hi-viz coat, so he'll be fine...
...although if Putin is keeping up with the NI Protocol he might just be thinking, "Boris Johnson and international treaties? Pah!"
If Putin nuked us, Johnson would of course send a Trident nuclear missile to nuke Moscow.
In any case a UK Sweden mutual defence treaty is not yet the same as Sweden joining NATO
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
Went to Skye in July 2019, stayed in a home-stay near the northwestern tip. Noticed a few midges in the evening, nothing too serious. Only regret was passing Kyle of Lochalsh station TWICE on the drive to/from Inverness and not catching the train!
You have surely done Inverness-Kyle, Sunil? Almost as good as Mallaig-Ft William
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I know exactly what you mean but you can always escape to the many marvellous parks
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
In all seriousness that sounds very like Seasonal Affective Disorder or SADs which my daughter suffers from. She needs winter sun as well or she becomes seriously ill. A blue ultraviolet light is supposed to help.
Oh, I’m sure I have SAD. It’s a real thing.
I bought one of those lamps in lockdown 3. If it helped it was marginal
The only “cure” is actual warm sunshine. Or heroin
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
Went to Skye in July 2019, stayed in a home-stay near the northwestern tip. Noticed a few midges in the evening, nothing too serious. Only regret was passing Kyle of Lochalsh station TWICE on the drive to/from Inverness and not catching the train!
You have surely done Inverness-Kyle, Sunil? Almost as good as Mallaig-Ft William
I did Glasgow to Mallaig AND Oban a couple of months later, also did Aberdeen to Inverness in early March 2020. And then...
Well Trump is coming back to Tweetverse and he is box office. As a comparison surely Man City shares rose when they made their star signing yesterday?
Earring Hagland? My other half follows footy more than me, and she wanted Arsenal to sign him.
I’m going to watch the Arsenal game with her tomorrow, I haven’t watched the last couple with her because it’s hard watching your partner go through such trauma and anguish, and unable to help them, apart from saying oh dear, there’s always next season. 😆
The really big games tonight, just down the way in York
I had to ban my wife from watching football with me. She gets upset when I get upset, not understanding that 10 minutes after the final whistle I'll be just fine and looking forward to the next game...
Been struggling with my success rate on Quordle, so I got together a standard first 4 words covering 20 separate letters and that has been helping. (I don't necessarily have to use all 4).
I'll leave it at that, and let anyone interested imagine or come up with 4 such five letter words if they fancy.
I generally start Wordle with 'Early' and Quordle with 'Early, Pitch, Mound'. That covers the vowels and generally enough to get me going.
My 4 seed words are stage, drown, flick and humpy. I started from quick brown fox and adapted from there.
If anyone can manage 5 x 5 letter words covering 25 letters (not that it'd be an especially good Quordle strategy), if that is even possible, I'd be rather impressed.
"Fjord cwm-bank glyphs vext quiz" - an imaginary headline in a Welsh paper, might be a starting point.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
On days like that in London, best bet is to go swimming in one of the many formal and informal pools across the capital, and work in the evening. Central London is deeply unpleasant in a heatwave but no worse than New York or Paris, and those of us in know have our mitigation strategies.
Yes. For me they are Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. Or, if it’s totally impossible (which is rare) a 40 minute train from Marylebone to Wendover. And suddenly you are in the wonderful Chilterns, and the red kites are wheeling overhead
Check out Sonning, Goring, Nettlebed for good forest walks. Redwood forests are great in the summer heat.
I love the Surrey hills. So close to london. Not how one imagines Surrey at all. And yes they have that special piney scent in the heat. Only place I’ve seen a smooth snake.
They are just harder to access from north london whereas I can be striding the Chilterns in literally an hour after leaving my front door - cab to Marylebone, the Chilterns line….
Cab to Victoria. 40min train to BoxHill and Westhumble.
Better still, train to Amberley. South Downs > Surrey Hills > Chilterns.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
Went to Skye in July 2019, stayed in a home-stay near the northwestern tip. Noticed a few midges in the evening, nothing too serious. Only regret was passing Kyle of Lochalsh station TWICE on the drive to/from Inverness and not catching the train!
You have surely done Inverness-Kyle, Sunil? Almost as good as Mallaig-Ft William
The road is incredible. Once overtook 7 cars and two caravans in a Fabia in one go.
Well Trump is coming back to Tweetverse and he is box office. As a comparison surely Man City shares rose when they made their star signing yesterday?
Earring Hagland? My other half follows footy more than me, and she wanted Arsenal to sign him.
I’m going to watch the Arsenal game with her tomorrow, I haven’t watched the last couple with her because it’s hard watching your partner go through such trauma and anguish, and unable to help them, apart from saying oh dear, there’s always next season. 😆
The really big games tonight, just down the way in York
I had to ban my wife from watching football with me. She gets upset when I get upset, not understanding that 10 minutes after the final whistle I'll be just fine and looking forward to the next game...
Lucky you - my mood is damaged for a couple of days afterwards.
Well Trump is coming back to Tweetverse and he is box office. As a comparison surely Man City shares rose when they made their star signing yesterday?
Earring Hagland? My other half follows footy more than me, and she wanted Arsenal to sign him.
I’m going to watch the Arsenal game with her tomorrow, I haven’t watched the last couple with her because it’s hard watching your partner go through such trauma and anguish, and unable to help them, apart from saying oh dear, there’s always next season. 😆
The really big games tonight, just down the way in York
Good luck! For me, the big game is at Edgeley Park, Stockport. A win and a draw from the last two games needed to return to the Football League. Making rather heavy weather of the run in...
Purely down to Sarcevic and Collar both having foolish red cards. The midfield hasn't been right since. Both playing tonight, though, I would expect.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
Went to Skye in July 2019, stayed in a home-stay near the northwestern tip. Noticed a few midges in the evening, nothing too serious. Only regret was passing Kyle of Lochalsh station TWICE on the drive to/from Inverness and not catching the train!
You have surely done Inverness-Kyle, Sunil? Almost as good as Mallaig-Ft William
One for Sunil - tdhough the ride might not last long. (Been there, to see the alpine flora, serpentinite gravel, birds, and so on.)
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I know exactly what you mean but you can always escape to the many marvellous parks
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
In all seriousness that sounds very like Seasonal Affective Disorder or SADs which my daughter suffers from. She needs winter sun as well or she becomes seriously ill. A blue ultraviolet light is supposed to help.
Oh, I’m sure I have SAD. It’s a real thing.
I bought one of those lamps in lockdown 3. If it helped it was marginal
The only “cure” is actual warm sunshine. Or heroin
A comment I've made elsewhere on that.
You can now get lightbulbs with different, or even tunable via Alexa or Google Assistant, colour temperatures.
If your doc tells you that you need 2700K or 6500K to help alleviate SAD, you can now fit that to a room or even your whole house easily.
Argument yesterday on here was interesting. Brexit making it difficult to retire to Spain or Portugal. I can understand the concerns amongst Expats but I also feel that the working poor were shafted by free movement. The Blair government and Cameron one could have made proper changes to iron some of the quirks out by making changes to housing in multi occupancies by charging the individual council tax rather than the landlord this would have stopped five or six people living in a room which was an unfair advantage in the jobs market.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
Shetland needs trees. Those rooves wouldn't fly away if there's a bank of trees acting as a windbreak. But where are all the trees?
In Orkney, it's the rooves that act as the windbreak. I remember only two woods in the whole archipelago - both centuries old.
This one, it's worse than a C of E school catchment in bird nesting season - I have never seen a wood so crowded
Are there plans to increase that (would seen to be a good idea), given wider programmes, or has someone in authority decided that being windswept is the essential heritage character of the place?
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
On days like that in London, best bet is to go swimming in one of the many formal and informal pools across the capital, and work in the evening. Central London is deeply unpleasant in a heatwave but no worse than New York or Paris, and those of us in know have our mitigation strategies.
Yes. For me they are Hampstead Heath or Richmond Park. Or, if it’s totally impossible (which is rare) a 40 minute train from Marylebone to Wendover. And suddenly you are in the wonderful Chilterns, and the red kites are wheeling overhead
Check out Sonning, Goring, Nettlebed for good forest walks. Redwood forests are great in the summer heat.
I love the Surrey hills. So close to london. Not how one imagines Surrey at all. And yes they have that special piney scent in the heat. Only place I’ve seen a smooth snake.
They are just harder to access from north london whereas I can be striding the Chilterns in literally an hour after leaving my front door - cab to Marylebone, the Chilterns line….
Cab to Victoria. 40min train to BoxHill and Westhumble.
Better still, train to Amberley. South Downs > Surrey Hills > Chilterns.
Thameslink will take you from St Pancras to many destinations south of the river.
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
Went to Skye in July 2019, stayed in a home-stay near the northwestern tip. Noticed a few midges in the evening, nothing too serious. Only regret was passing Kyle of Lochalsh station TWICE on the drive to/from Inverness and not catching the train!
You have surely done Inverness-Kyle, Sunil? Almost as good as Mallaig-Ft William
I did Glasgow to Mallaig AND Oban a couple of months later, also did Aberdeen to Inverness in early March 2020. And then...
And then... the pandemic!
I did Fife to Kyle as a birthday treat with my dad when I was a kid, which included Aberdeen-Inverness as well as spending the night in Inverness Station... I have a great dad!
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
In my view, London is at its worst under a high pressure system in summer. The choking heat, the grime that greases everything. I can take London when it's cool or when the wind blows, but those hot, still days you want to get out to a riverside pub upwind of all the cars. Marlow. Wokingham. Oxford.
I know exactly what you mean but you can always escape to the many marvellous parks
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
In all seriousness that sounds very like Seasonal Affective Disorder or SADs which my daughter suffers from. She needs winter sun as well or she becomes seriously ill. A blue ultraviolet light is supposed to help.
Oh, I’m sure I have SAD. It’s a real thing.
I bought one of those lamps in lockdown 3. If it helped it was marginal
The only “cure” is actual warm sunshine. Or heroin
A comment I've made elsewhere on that.
You can now get lightbulbs with different, or even tunable via Alexa or Google Assistant, colour temperatures.
If your doc tells you that you need 2700K or 6500K to help alleviate SAD, you can now fit that to a room or even your whole house easily.
I don’t think they work. And boy I tried. Maybe they help a bit?
My life immeasurably improved when I became rich enough and self-aware enough to simply fly away to the sun in the UK winter. Until then I’d just suffered hideous gloom and wondered why
I am happier in warm sunny climes. I’ve been blissfully content these last three weeks in the Deep South/Turkey. And I’ve travelled enough to know this is not a “holiday” effect
I'm going to ask a totally OT travel advice question because everyone would rather talk about coffee machines and a very personal argument I'm not really following or basically anything except Andy Burnham.
I've got a week free in Europe in September, Berlin at one end and Amsterdam at the other and just need to hang out somewhere in between. I'll mostly be working instead of running around committing tourism but I want somewhere that's just an interesting place to be for a week or so, preferably a single flight up to 3/4 hours long from both Berlin and Amsterdam and a few hours travel max from the airport (train or rentacar or whatever). UK/France/Belgium/Holland/Germany are out because I've been to them too much before. Somewhere that's kind of a bargain because it's a little bit out-of-season is also good.
Where to go?
Bled (Slovenia) if you like chilling by a lake and/or a bit of walking - easy to get out of the main touristy bit, even on foot. Cheap transfer from Ljubljana.
Aeolian islands, but likely too much faff to get to - don't know whether there are diect flights to Sicily, but you still have to cross Sicily and then get a boat.
Edit: And second? Love and peaceful thoughts to all
How recent is the Slovenia tip? Cos tourism there just exploded 2016-18
Personally I am going riding in Sicily for a week in June and then want to spend a week there with a car. If I want to start in Syracuse and end up at Palermo do PBers recommend driving round the bottom, round the top or across the middle? bearing in mind I will have seen a bit of the interior (Madonie to Etna) from my horse.
On a similar question, by youngest daughter has recently got a real bee in her bonnet about going to Scotland. She wants to see a mountain and a castle and a Highland Cow. Which is all very nice, but she is only seven and too small for munro bagging or too much history all in one go. Still, I'd like to take her (and her sisters, 10 and 12, and my wife) to Scotland in October. Somewhere with things to do for moderately active pre-teen girls, and somewhere where they can take in the scale of the place and be suitably awestruck. Any thoughts?
I would suggest Glencoe. It has an excellent castle, the hidden valley is not too strenuous a walk and the countryside is probably the best in the UK (if you like mountains). The visitor centre is quite good too.
And if you stay at Kingshouse, she can have the best experience of Scottish midges!
(I think they've renovated the Kingshouse Hotel in the last few years; anyone know if it's lost its (ahem) character?
When I have been over there in recent years I have stayed at the Isles of Glencoe hotel which is good and has a brilliant location. When I was much younger and into hillwalking we once camped out in the glen in late summer. I am not sure what the bastards ate before I came along.
What is it with Scotland and midges? I’ve been to Denmark, Sweden, Ireland etc in summer and not really experienced anything similar yet they share latitud and climate (or maybe I just got lucky)
If you want a truly shocking insect experience Siberia in summer is up there, or the tsetse flies of Kafue, Zambia. Special
I always hear people talking about the midge problem, but honestly in all my travels to the west coast I have NEVER experienced it. I don't know what you are all eating, but you're all obviously much sweeter than me.
I used to say the same. And I’ve been to the Hebrides many many times
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
What a shame, since Skye is a beautiful place. The issue I have with it is the sheer number of tourists. The opposite problem: not lonely enough.
I think she and her husband made the classic mistake
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
We had a near-midsummer holiday on Shetland, all over the place (including meeting up with my colleague who is a native). Okay, almost light all day and most of the night, but in winter? You'd need a hobby like building those model ships with about five million miniature blocks to be rove.
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
Shetland needs trees. Those rooves wouldn't fly away if there's a bank of trees acting as a windbreak. But where are all the trees?
what abomination of a word is "rooves", it should be roofs.
Comments
Aberdeen election result
SNP 20 councillors (+1)
Lab 11 (+2)
Con 8 (-3)
LD 4 (nc)
Ind 2 (nc)
23 needed for majority
These days on a Sprinter? Not much fun.
"This will annoy the right people."
Say what you like about Boris and the UK they are stepping up to the needs of the Baltic nations and Ukraine
If anyone can manage 5 x 5 letter words covering 25 letters (not that it'd be an especially good Quordle strategy), if that is even possible, I'd be rather impressed.
I wouldn't be surprised if we ultimately find that somebody has exploited the flawed system in some way, as the whole peg thing is supposed to be algorithmically controlled.
Many other papers lead on government back tracking on what Boris promised.
Is coordinating government messaging really as difficult as they are making it look?
Then one day they spotted me. They’ve never let me go since. Strange
I once met an Englishwoman living in a beautiful house in an amazing location on Skye (near dunvegan). She had a full on midge cope cage
She absolutely hated Skye. The loneliness, the darkness, the drizzle, the people turning to sodomy in the winter out of sheer boredom. And the midges. Lord, she hated the midges
One of the most unhappy people I’ve ever met. It really matters - where you live
I'm mjuch more familiar with the Somerset Levels. Love them.
https://twitter.com/OnChainWizard/status/1524123935570382851?t=hyq51c5K7xsMPOHJZuw-Ug&s=19
It is a deal solely between the UK and Sweden to come to each others aid if their militaries were attacked
But not Integritron. He's not like the other boys. He said so and everything.
Then again, I've got many happy memories of that path, and memories can form fondness.
Suffolk is STUNNING if you want lush pastoral beauty. Constable chose well. Also amazing medieval villages with enormous churches funded by the wool trade
Still wouldn’t put either in my top 100 world landscapes. The criteria are rigorous
Things that are currently down 34% Year To Date:
Bitcoin
Tesla
Things that are up Year To Date:
Twitter
'There's 250 right hands and no left!'
With mobile phones the ability to be absolutely missing has waned a little, but not gone entirely.
There's an algorithm and everything.
BUY THE DIP!!!!!1!!!!one!!!!
(*) Not a guarantee
Went there for a summer holiday, hit nice weather, fell in love with the beauty - checked property prices (as they were) - and thought Yes! Perfect place to retire!! Sold their southern English home etc
He still loved it. She loathed it with a vengeance as I say. She’s probably killed him by now
Never ever move somewhere without experiencing it at its WORST - not best
I’ve done a winter week on Skye. Nothing could induce me to move there permanently, despite the amazingness. Of course many would say the same about london…
Not world 100 tho
To be fair, all tech stocks doing badly - Netflix down 75% from it's November 2021 peak.
Echoes the Aussie aborigine practise of “walkabout”, perhaps
I’m going to watch the Arsenal game with her tomorrow, I haven’t watched the last couple with her because it’s hard watching your partner go through such trauma and anguish, and unable to help them, apart from saying oh dear, there’s always next season. 😆
The really big games tonight, just down the way in York
Britain arguably has better churches and cathedrals per square mile than anywhere on earth
In England at least you are seldom more than 20
Minutes drive from an amazing example
One of Mrs J's best friends did the same a few months after the birth of her first child. Her hubby wasn't being helpful, and she was missing her work, so she dropped the baby off with his parents and disappeared for a week. Whereas I chose to go walking, she went to the beach.
The result? A husband who was ordered by his parents to do more at home.
SNP: 35.7%
Lab: 25.7%
Con: 15.4%
Grn: 9.4%
LD: 7.8%
Ind: 3.4%
Alb: 1.7%
SFP: 0.4%
Oth: 0.6%
⚠️These wards are not nationally representative, amounting to 25.7% of votes cast.
https://twitter.com/BallotBoxScot/status/1524364744433483778
Fascinating to see how competitive Dundee was. All the parties standing everywhere.
might be a starting point.
Boris has his own hard hat and hi-viz coat, so he'll be fine...
...although if Putin is keeping up with the NI Protocol he might just be thinking, "Boris Johnson and international treaties? Pah!"
For me it is at its worst from mid January to late February
The darkness. The sense that winter will never end. The damp spiteful cold as you walk home from the pub. A night bus coughs fumes. The litter blows in a frigid wind and the junkies shout in their desperation
This is probably why I have fled london and the UK in winter for the last 15 years without fail. Apart from lockdown 3 - when I nearly killed myself
And this was a little after the disastrous storm-stranding of the Braer, whose wreck was still there in the bat to the west. I remember walking down the southern headland parallel to Sumburgh Head and noting the houses spaced out along the road. Every single one had a great sector of its roof in completely new tiles. I was thinking, what's it like in the mostly dark in winter, having your roof ripped off and being sprayed with a mix of sea water and crude oil?
The changes proposed to Norwich South are small but it loses a very green friendly ward to Norwich North and gains my growing up area of New and Old Costessey. New is a mix of LD, Lab and Con with limited green interest, Old is much more Con but with LD strength at times. Ultimately it makes a relatively strong green seat a harder prospect long term but short term nothing is shifting Clive Lewis anyway. The knock on is South Norfolk loses the closer than average Costessey wards and will be even safer Conservative.
Of other closer or non tory seats of recent years, Great Yarmouth gains areas of North Norfolk very unfriendly to Labour making retaking it very hard.
North Norfolk obviously swung hard from LDs with Lamb chop stood down but now also gains parts of Broadland friendly to conservatives making it a safer Tory seat.
Conclusions- both Norwich seats should be Labour but I cannot see anything but Tory in the rural Norfolk seats. The LDs will fade away from North Norfolk and they will all be held by double digits a 97 style system shock absent
This one, it's worse than a C of E school catchment in bird nesting season - I have never seen a wood so crowded
https://www.google.com/maps/@58.9809191,-2.9588292,3a,90y,203.63h,94.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sal7U_oZWCSGecfrja0QthA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
And this one sort of tapers down to a hedge height at the edges
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Castle#/media/File:Balfour_castle_shapinsay.jpg
Yet both are centuries old mature forests.
https://www.shetlandamenity.org/woodlands (some other useful info for putative visitors)
They are just harder to access from north london whereas I can be striding the Chilterns in literally an hour after leaving my front door - cab to Marylebone, the Chilterns line….
In any case a UK Sweden mutual defence treaty is not yet the same as Sweden joining NATO
I bought one of those lamps in lockdown 3. If it helped it was marginal
The only “cure” is actual warm sunshine. Or heroin
And then... the pandemic!
FJORD
VIBEX
WALTZ
GYMPS
Better still, train to Amberley. South Downs > Surrey Hills > Chilterns.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Shetland_railway,_Baltasound_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1857374.jpg
You can now get lightbulbs with different, or even tunable via Alexa or Google Assistant, colour temperatures.
If your doc tells you that you need 2700K or 6500K to help alleviate SAD, you can now fit that to a room or even your whole house easily.
Think all the key points have been covered. I'd just add that ferries make a holiday, perhaps Mallaig to one of the small isles?
Glencoe, Oban, Colonsay/Tiree
Ben Nevis (via Carn Mor Dearg), Mallaig, Rum/Knoydart
Soft spot for the Cairngorms if you fancy forests and rivers.
My life immeasurably improved when I became rich enough and self-aware enough to simply fly away to the sun in the UK winter. Until then I’d just suffered hideous gloom and wondered why
I am happier in warm sunny climes. I’ve been blissfully content these last three weeks in the Deep South/Turkey. And I’ve travelled enough to know this is not a “holiday” effect
I guess I have to retire somewhere like this