This is my second visit to Germany this year. I spent two weeks in Hanau in March and one whole month in October. The second time round I had a camera in working order! Visiting Europe in autumn is a colorful experience. For a few weeks in October, green trees and shrubs in the middle of towns turn bright yellow, red and brown. The leaves slowly fall like snow on the pavements. I enjoy shuffling my feet through the heaps of colorful leaves and seeing them dance in a shuffle-shuffle sound. HANAU on the river Main in Germany is a great [View Full Entry]

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My trip to Deutschland (Germany) in March 2008 started very much like my trip to Great Britain the year before, on a mad urge to escape! I had been lending my car to my son who was using it to take his little family around. Being isolated in the village they needed it badly. But so did I. One day I said I was leaving, going to visit some friends in Germany, driving there with... my car. I left my place in France on 20 March at 6am to be precise and arrived at my friend's door in Germany in Hanau [View Full Entry]

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This time last year, July 2007, I wrote my post about Stoke-on-Trent on this Travel Blog and left the whole story of my trip from France to Scotland hanging there. One whole year later now, July 2008, I've decided to finally finish off that story... never despair! From Stoke, after visiting the Pottery Museum, the Wedgwood factory shop and after taking a photo of the last old kiln standing, I headed south with a plan to overnight in Barnstaple on the Atlantic coast of Devon. Why Barnstaple? While in Carlisle for a week waiting for a bank transfer, I had surfed [View Full Entry]

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Here's the follow up of my trip to Great Britain in March and April 2007... I got stuck in Carlisle on the north west coast of England for a week. My idea was to visit potters driving along the way throughout Britain. I left Carlisle on Friday around 4pm with cash pounds and pens in my pocket heading south to a place known for its ceramic industry. John, the expat friend with a house in the village where I live in France, had explained to me that Stoke-on-Trent was actually a conglomerate of several towns. He had scribbled in my michelin [View Full Entry]

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In March when I decided to take a trip to Great Britain I asked my (British) bank in Paris to take out cash in sterling currency. They couldn't do that. I took European currency (euros) trusting to be able to change it into pounds and pence without problem. In Rugby I changed some of my euros but the exchange rate was not in my favour and I felt ripped off. When I realised I would need more money than I had first planned to spend, I thought it wouldn't be a problem to withdraw cash from any agency of my [View Full Entry]

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After visiting Scotland for a week and driving down through the Cheviot Hills and along the Roman wall, I eventually ended up in Carlisle to overnight. The plan was to spend time driving slowly down south visiting potters in the area. The main idea was to make my own pottery studio known to some British potters and entice them to come and visit me. As usual... the plan didn't work. First of all I needed more money sent to me from my bank in France. As I had arrived on a Friday night in Carlisle it meant waiting for the [View Full Entry]

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As I was saying, it was frustrating not to be able to stop anywhere by the side of the road. I managed to pull up once or twice to take a photo of the stunning scenery. No matter where you are on the planet the sight of nature is always special. In Europe nature has been kept like a garden for thousands of years. The landscape isn't 'wild'. I enjoyed seeing the stone walls dividing the paddocks on rolling green hills. Each of these stones has been looked for and placed neatly one after the other for miles. I wondered [View Full Entry]

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Untitled Frankie PERUSSAULT It took 1 day from St Civran (sain seevran) in the centre of France to Amiens (ahmien) in the north, 1 day from Amiens to Rugby in the centre of England and 1 day from Rugby to Edinburgh in Scotland. On the 4th morning at 8.30 on the carpark of the Dakota hotel at the south end of the Forth Bridge, in the crisp and fresh air of Scotland, John boarded his car to drive back to Rugby and said: "you'll be allright"... as I was boarding mine and heading my own way into Scotland. I was [View Full Entry]

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After spending 2 nights and one whole day in Burntisland, county Fife, Scotland, I drove south to Edinburgh on the Friday morning 23 March. My plan was to drive down to Newcastle via the Cheviot Hills through Northumberland by the highway A68. South of the Firth bridge which is free of toll charge when travelling from north to south, I followed signs for Edinburgh. Getting on the ring road I expected to see signs for Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I didn't see any and even turned off the ring road into the city without realising it. After a lot of driving in circles [View Full Entry]

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As I'm writing this in May from memory about a trip in March, I have to get my dates right. I left my place by car in the centre of France on Monday 19 June to overnight in Amiens, France. Then Rugby, England, on Tuesday night, Edinburgh, Scotland, on Wednesday night. It means I arrived in Burntisland, Scotland, on Thursday night 22 March. The Bed and Breakfast I pulled in front of was indeed very nice. See: www.gruinardguesthouse.co.uk Tired but happy I put my feet up sipping a nice cup of tea with biscuits in my confortable bedroom. I opened [View Full Entry]

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