Discovering Hidden York
I had half a day to spare in York and decided to set myself the challenge of seeing something new. A tall order, perhaps, as this is a city I have been visiting regularly over the last 40 years. But I was determined to try, and managed to discover a “Hidden York”...
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The Antonine Wall, Britain’s Other Roman Wall
You may be familiar with Hadrian’s Wall, the 73-mile defensive structure that the Romans built across the north of England in AD 122. But did you know that they built a second line of defence – the Antonine Wall – across Scotland a few years later? I set out to find...
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In Search of the Callanish Standing Stones
I had been wanting to visit the famous Callanish Standing Stones, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, for a long time. I finally got my chance last summer, during a road trip around Scotland. The stones were everything I had expected, but I was unprepared for...
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Walking Beside the Orange Trees at the Alcazar of Córdoba
The gardens at the Alcazar of Córdoba may be smaller than those of rival palaces in Seville and Granada, but they are still impressive. Even in the rain. We had walked through Córdoba’s UNESCO listed historic centre, from the magnificent La Mezquita to the little...
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La Mezquita, Córdoba: the Mosque that Became a Cathedral
The cavernous space of La Mezquita in Córdoba makes me think of Russian dolls. Standing right in the middle of the 8th century mosque is a perfectly formed Renaissance cathedral. What is more, the mosque grew out of an earlier Visigoth church, which was itself built...
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Going Solo: A Woman’s Journey on the Camino de Santiago
This is a guest post from Rebecca Brown of Rough Draft. Here she talks about her experiences hiking the Camino de Santiago (something I really want to do myself). Although her article focuses on solo female hiking, there are plenty of tips here for anyone who wants to...
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