Greece – the cradle of Democracy – and so much more!

Two thousand five hundred years ago the concept of ‘Democracy ‘ first appeared in the philosophical thought of Greek philosophers in the city-state of Athens. The word comes from demos, “common people” and kratos, “strength” and given all empires of the time were either tyrannies or dictatorships it was seen as something quite revolutionary.

When walking around the ruins of the Parthenon and Acropolis it is hard to imagine that something many countries take for granted today was principally seeded in this place 500 years BC.

The Acropolis sits proudly way above the narrow and bustling streets of Athens

The City of Athens’ skyline is dominated by the Acropolis

Three days before it departed Valletta, we booked a short cruise on the P&O ship Oceana from Valletta in Malta, and back to Malta via Pireaus (Athens), Heraklion, Rhodos (within sight of Turkey) and Souda Bay in Crete. It provided us with a beautiful insight into some of Greece’s perhaps less touristy islands, out of the hot summer season and where tourists are fewer. Malta, one of our favourite destinations during our 9 months away, will receive it’s own dedicated blog.

Here is a collection of images taken while walking around Crete’s capital Heraklion, Chania (Souda Bay) and Rhodos. Most noticeable are the stunning colours and textures of Crete and Rhodos which I have tried to capture in these images. We hope you enjoy them……

Nicky doing her favourite thing – markets!

As we departed Crete a storm bypassed us and mother nature threw up a beautiful spectacle of light and power

Next……Malta, one of our favourite destinations. This tiny archipelago in the Mediterranean has for centuries punched well above its weight and therefore deserves a blog all of its own.

England – From Enigma to Roses, Colleges and Palaces. So much to see and do in and around the capital.

The famous English writer and poet Samuel Johnson once said ” When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.” Although said over two hundred years ago when London was very different to what it is today, the underlying intent of the quote still stands. London is one of those great cities, maybe the greatest city, that simply has just about everything. It is almost impossible to get bored there.

We have spent a lot of time based in St Albans, a 30 minute train ride north from central London which has given us the opportunity to see a few parts of London other than popular tourist spots. London provides so much, you just never get to see it all. It keeps on giving and surprising wherever you are. In addition the towns and cities outside the capital which, thanks to the excellent but pricey public transport system, are within easy reach.

Here is a collage of places in and around London including Greenwich, Cambridge, Bletchley Park, views from the south bank of the River Thames, Kensington Palace, the Globe Theatre, Knole Park near Sevenoaks, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Anglesey Abbey in Cambridgeshire.

Early evening light reflects on London’s ‘new’ skyline. The view from Southbank and the distinctive ‘Walkie Talkie’

The Household Cavalry at Changing of the Guard

Kensington Palace, home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and many others

A 30 minute boat trip downstream on the River Thames is the Maritime Museum and old Royal Naval College at Greenwich as well as the Observatory and Greenwich park and village is really worth a day out.

Cambridge is reachable in an hour from central London and this famous university town has some of the most beautiful architecture in England. The colleges are sometimes open to the public and punt rides on the River Cam are the way to go for the real Cambridge experience. The streets around the university colleges are full of interesting and quirky shops, restaurants, pubs and cafes.

Not far from Cambridge is Anglesey Abbey, an inspiration of the then 30 year old Lord Fairhaven to recreate a manor house from a run-down country house. Wanting to inspire and surprise visitors, he created a spectacular garden with planting for all seasons and a ‘cosy’ house in which to entertain. Life revolved around horse racing and shooting, and guests enjoyed 1930s luxury. Standing on 114 acres, it is now owned and cared for by the National Trust and has a working flour mill where traditional breads and cookies are made in the original ovens for guests to sample. And I assure you they are absolutely delicious!

The Jacobean Mansion and park in Sevenoaks, Kent is a 45min train journey from central London. Knole Park is a 360 hectare park with a manor house, also managed by the National Trust. Its grounds are situated in the Kent Downs and are of significant biological and scientific interest.

And to finish off, ever wondered where the Imitation Game was filmed?

The actual place where the ‘Code Breakers’ of Bletchley Park incredibly cracked the code and “shortened WWII by two to four years” is open to the public. A few minutes outside Milton Keynes this extraordinary establishment is a must see if you want to understand the mystery of Enigma.

We hope you enjoyed this collection of places we’ve had the privilege of visiting over the past few months. More to follow later………………

England – Enticing Teesdale in County Durham

In our search for more beautiful hiking trails, a last minute decision to join friends for a few days took us up to the east side of the Pennines in County Durham, northern England. We booked into a small cottage, part of larger farmhouse buildings, outside the small market town of Middleton-in-Teesdale.

Teesdale is the second largest designated “area of outstanding natural beauty” in England and Wales and falls within the North Pennines region. The local climate has been recently defined as “Sub Arctic” and snow has been known to have laid into June. But our trip to this gorgeous part of the country at the end of August gave us no indication of this.

As with Devon and Dartmoor we hiked different areas of Teesdale each day and discovered some real areas of outstanding natural beauty and villages.

Teesdale is well known for its waterfalls ‘High Force’ and ‘Low Force’ as well as the ‘Cauldron Snout’ which are formed from the igneous dolerite steps found in the Pennines and Cumbria regions of England

The ‘tea-like’ colour of the water is caused by tannin

The River Tees calmly winds its way through the valley

To complete the area of outstanding natural beauty, Teesdale was awash with wild flowers and butterflies, especially the Peacock which was quite prolific.

England – Dramatic Devon: Misty Moors, Rainforests and Rugged Coast

Dartmoor National Park is a vast moorland in the county of Devon, in southwest England. This 1000km2 area of natural beauty, part of the Dartmoor National Park, rises up 2000 ft above the lush green Devon landscape of fields and hedgerows into a craggy landscape where Dartmoor ponies roam. Defined by forests, rivers, wetlands and tors (rock formations), it is a hiker’s paradise with trails winding through valleys with abandoned medieval farmhouses, neolithic tombs and Bronze Age stone circles. The area is dotted with dog and people-friendly pubs in quaint villages where you can stop off for a well earned pint and lunch after a good walk.

We rented a beautiful cottage outside Okehampton, a small town on the northern outskirts of Dartmoor with our friends Kate & Rob and their other walking companions, giant Schnauzers Rafa and Jamie. We hiked different trails over the moor each day. The moor often has weather patterns of its own and due to its height can often be quite misty giving the moor an eerie and mysterious atmosphere.

Tors, as these exposed granite formations are known, are typical of high points and are scattered over the moor. The lush green Devon countryside stretches out to the sea in the distance.

In contrast to the high parts, the river valleys on the edge of the moor are filled with lush, damp rain forests having an almost surreal tropical feel about them.

Devon also has some of the most dramatic and beautiful coastline in the British Isles. We explored an area around the cliff tops above Hartland Point, which has gobbled up dozens of ships over the centuries.

North Devon’s rugged coastline near Harland Point

Dartmoor, because of its height above see level compared to the surrounding countryside can dish up its fair share of wet and grey weather. Despite this, it has an allure of mystery and the hike across the moors with poor visibility was still an adventure.

There are an estimated 250,000 km of public footpaths in Great Britain which enables one to explore virtually every corner of the region. They cross private and farm land and wind their way through towns and cities across the kingdom.

The Ashes – a cricket tour with a difference

About 18 months ago our indomitable “over 50’s” skipper Clive of East Doncaster Cricket Club fame in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, had the idea of attending the Ashes and combining this with our own actual cricket tour of England.

For the benefit of readers of this blog who do not know what “the Ashes” are…….do such people actually exist?….. anyhow, the Ashes is a series of cricket test matches played between England and Australia. First played in 1882, the Ashes are contested every two years alternatively in Australia and England. It is one of sport’s most famous rivalries with the standings at Australia 33 wins, England 32 wins and six series drawn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes

Our biggest challenge was to recruit eleven able bodied players who would survive the 24 hour flight, negotiate riots in Hong Kong en route and be fit enough to play cricket against in season English clubs. Clive managed to secure two games, one in north London and the second in the Cotswolds.

Interspersed with our cricket we were to spend a day at the Ashes, starting with the Home of Cricket – Lords and a day at Headingley near Leeds, all combined with touring the villages, towns and countryside and of course as you do, frequenting the plethora of pubs.

Some accompanied by wives, eleven partially able bodied, out of season cricketers made their way to Blighty, many stepping on English soil for the first time. It promised to be some adventure and if I might be so bold to say, England did not disappoint.

Our hotel in London near Paddington for 3 days

Some of the “able bodied 11” before the Lords test

Some of our number were caught out in Hong Kong for 48 hours with the closure of the airport due to the demos and only arrived the evening before our first match. I think a few of us were quietly glad the heavens opened and the game was washed out completely.

The next day was the day we were looking forward to the most. The second day of the second test match – at Lords, a first for most of us, was a terrific experience! It has a special atmosphere and distinct style unlike any other. Lords is a cricket ground, not a sports stadium. It has an intimacy of its own you get from being close to the action and with people who are mostly there because they love cricket and know the game. And you may take your picnic hamper with a bottle of champers into the ground and drink it out of real glass flutes.

After Lords it was off to the Cotswolds for a game against Frocester Cricket Club. Frocester is a small village in the south west part of the Costwolds not far from Stroud and a stone’s throw from the Severn estuary. The extremely hospitable members and partners of FCC hosted us for the day and put on the mother of all afternoon tea. I think I ate seven scones with jam and cream, or maybe it was six!

The EDCC International Representative XI
from Left to Right: Marto, Davo, Wixy, Pommie, Mick, Stevo, Deano, Bourkie, Whitey, B1, Cougar

We were fairly well beaten by a very good Frocester side which had a few ex county and England over 50 players amongst them but in usual EDCC style, we gave a good account of ourselves and most importantly savoured the occasion. Played in great spirit with wonderful hospitality, this will go down as something we’ll treasure for a long time.

We also managed to see a bit of the Cotswolds:

Then it was a fairly long drive up to Yorkshire and The Dales for a couple of days’ sightseeing. Clive managed to find a superb pub, the Red Lion Hotel with accommodation, great food and ales right in the middle of the Dales in charming Burnsall.

The beautiful city of York was less than an hour away and the walking trails across the Dales were quite spectacular. So many pictures were taken by everyone in this beautiful part of Yorkshire. Here are a few from us:

The Yorkshire Dales with the heather starting to bloom

Our last day on tour took us to Headingley near Leeds. It was quite different to Lords – more of a festival atmosphere with the Barmy Army in full cry all day and a crowd more akin to a football match than test cricket. We were told by the locals that Headingley had the best atmosphere of all English grounds. Play was delayed by a few hours due to light rain but got underway around lunchtime. We saw a lot of cricket in the afternoon so we had our day’s entertainment. The next day we took the long drive back down to Reading to drop off the mini buses and everyone went their own way, some back to Australia, others on to different holiday destinations. A reunion dinner will be arranged as there are stories to be retold……..

And so ended a remarkable 11 days with a terrific bunch of guys and girls who I reckon all had a really great time. It all went so well thanks to some really hard prep work by our skipper Clive, generous support from Deano and everyone getting on so well. We saw some beautiful places, met some great people and the local hospitality to the Aussies was second to none. What more could you wish for?

Where next Clive???

England – Postcard Perfect – The enchanting Cotswolds

In an area of central south west England, a three hour drive from London, close to the beautiful city of Oxford and in easy reach of Bath, Stratford on Avon and Birmingham, you can find a piece of idyllic English style and tranquillity.

The Cotswolds, designated an ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’, is a 2000 sq km area of rolling hills and exquisite golden Cotswold stone villages, small towns and stately homes. Predominantly a rural landscape, the area is defined by a bedrock of Jurassic limestone, quarried for centuries for the villages and towns in the area, some dating back to the 15th century. It attracts visitors from all over the world and boasts over 4000km of public footpaths and bridleways and 6400km of historic stone walls.

The plentiful and dog friendly pubs serve excellent local ales and the quality regional produce is widely used in the local cuisine. It is without doubt one of our favourite destinations! These images of a just a small part of the Cotswolds might explain why……..

We can recommend the excellent Crown & Trumpet pub in Broadway

View from the top near the Broadway tower, the 2nd highest point in the Cotswolds

The renowned Cotswold Way offers hikers beautiful landscapes and quaint villages stretching from Chipping Camden in the north to Bath, 160km away in the south.

Next blog – a cricket tour with a difference…….

England – Heavy metal, noise and the smell of avgas at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT)

In the heart of the beautiful Cotswolds three hours west of London lies RAF Fairford, an airbase currently leased to the US Air Force with a long and distinguished history.

It was the base used to launch B52 strikes against Saddam Hussein’s invading forces during the first Gulf War in 1991 and again during Operation Allied Force in 1999. It was also used as an airfield to launch gliders into Normandy on D-Day 1944 and for the RAF to lift British troops for Operation Market Garden during WWII.

In July each year, under the auspices of the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust, Fairford puts on the largest military air show in the world – over 3 days of total, unadulterated, beautifully noisy, intoxicatingly smelly, heavy metal!

Nearly 250 aircraft from over 35 different air arms from 25 countries descend into Fairford on the days before the show. Each day fans are thrilled by 9 hours each day of non-stop spectacular flying by the world’s best pilots, not to mention the dozens of other attractions. The static display is sometimes 1500m long and you really need days to see it all! It is the ultimate spectacle, for even those who are not aircraft nuts would not walk away impressed with the entertainment, the organisational efficiency, the 2000 volunteers and the sheer professionalism of everyone involved.

The local favourite, the RAF’s Red Arrows display team is world renowned as probably the finest precision formation flying team and to celebrate British Airways’ 100th year, took part in a flypast with a retro painted BOAC Boeing 747-400. Unfortunately both camera batteries ran flat when the ‘Reds’ returned for their display later in the day.

Another huge favourite and regular visitor to the Tattoo is the Frecce Tricolori flying the venerable MB339, the Italian Air Force’s display team. they produce an inspiring display of flamboyance and skill to show off the Italian aircraft industry and its pilots.

The Harrier ‘jump jet’ is an aircraft spanning six decades of service with numerous air arms with many versions and upgrades over its long life as a versatile front line weapons platform. Crowds are always happy to see it demonstrate its VTOL/STOL characteristics and the Spanish Navy obliged by sending two of its EAV-8B Harrier II to the Air Tattoo.

The Spanish Navy’s Harrier GR7

It would be too much to describe all the participants in one blog so here is a collage of some of those displays:

USAAF F16 Fighting Falcon
Swiss Air Force FA 18
US Marines MV22 Osprey
RAF Shorts Tucano
RAF Typhoon GR4
USAAF F16
Swiss Air Force FA 18
RAF Typhoon
RAF Typhoons from Coningsby in Lincolnshire
USAAF F15 Strike Eagles from RAF Lakenheath in Norfolk
A Dutch Air Force F16

The Ukrainian Air Force SU27 gave its usual inspiring loud and smoky display

The RAF’s latest addition to its squadron strength is the potent Lockheed Martin F35 Lightning II deployed to 617 ‘Dambusters’ squadron at Marham, Suffolk

RAF F35 Lightning II demonstrating V/STOL

The Belgian Air Forces F16 Fighting Falcon display is a highlight of the show

Alenia Aermacchi M346
Apache
Patrouille France
F16s in D-Day 75 commemoration markings
The Airbus A400 M never fails to impress

The static park is huge. Here is just a sample of the hardware on display:

Superbly adorned German Typhoon
Danish F16

RAF A330 Voyager in flight refuelling tanker

As a finale the Red Arrows and their French counterparts, Patrouille France performed a flypast in ‘Concorde’ formation

Proceeds of RIAT go to the RAF Charitable Trust which supports a wide range of projects and initiatives benefiting RAF serving personnel (both regulars and reserves), cadets and other young people. And as with all British events tea and cake is always not far away.

England – Flying Legends at Duxford. The Holy Grail.

There are reasons we came to England in July. Firstly it’s too hot and crowded in southern Europe, secondly the EU’s generosity in allowing Nicky to spend time there is fast running out, and lastly – it’s Air Show season!! And no one does air shows quite like the British!

For an aviation enthusiast, which Simon is unashamedly one, the annual Flying Legends airshow at the Imperial War Museum’s Duxford airfield is “the Holy Grail”. The sight and sound of a 12 Spitfire “scramble” together on a grass airstrip to start the show gives one goosebumps! There is no other show quite like it.

In the middle of each English summer 60 or so “Warbirds” and their crews and pilots come together for a festival of aeronautical nostalgia. Like minded enthusiasts from every corner of the globe flock to this historically significant airfield in gently the rolling hills of Cambridgeshire.

Most of these aircraft are restorations of 70+ year old machines, many of which saw active service in WW2 and before. They are priceless pieces of flying history. While in their heyday 19 and 20 year old pilots took them into battle with little training, today they are flown by dedicated and professional pilots not much younger in many cases than the machines themselves.

In keeping with an era when colour photography was still years away Simon decided to present all images in black and white. The extensive cloud cover during the morning of the second day made photography quite challenging but added to the mood of some images. We hope even if you are not an aeroplane tragic, you enjoy these images of these exquisite machines.

Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVIII

Douglas C47 Skytrain / DC 3 Dakota

Grumman Bearcat

P51D Mustang

De Havilland DH9
Hawker Sea Fury
Vought Corsair
Grumman Wildcat (Martlet)
Curtiss P40 Warhawk
P47 Thunderbolt
P51 Mustang

From L-R Bristol Blenheim, Westland Lysander and 2 x Spitfire MkIs

Me 109 ‘Buchon’

Boeing B17G

Spitfire MkI, one of 3 used in the movie ‘Dunkirk’
Consolidated PBY Catalina

Boeing B17G Sally B, star of the film ‘The Memphis Belle’

The Lysander was used to drop spies into enemy territory
Also a star of ‘Dunkirk’ the Blenheim MkI, the only flying Blenheim in the world

The Americans called it the C47 Skytrain, the British, the DC3 Dakota

Probably unique to Flying Legends, the ‘Balbo’ is performed when most of the performing aircraft do one last flyby before peeling off to land and taxi past an ever appreciative audience so privileged to see and hear such extraordinary machines.

The ‘Balbo’

The ‘Balbo’ was a common term in the late 1930s and early 1940s to describe any large formation of aircraft. It was named after the Italian facist flying ace Italo Balbo who led a series of large aircraft formations in record breaking flights to promote Italian aviation in the 1930’s

Deutschland – Beautiful Bayern (Bavaria)

After the drive from Solferino we spent one night in Strasbourg, France before our onward train journey courtesy of Deutschebahn via Stuttgart to Munich in Germany. The heat we experienced in Italy followed us to eastern France, close to 40 degrees and no air conditioning to be seen (also on the DB train to Munich!). We had a walk around the attractive city of Strasbourg, the formal seat of the European Parliament and the main city in the Alsace region. Next day we commenced the long and hot journey by rail to Munich for a weeks’ stay in Bayern (Bavaria).

Bayern was to comprise of a trip down memory lane with a short stay in the lakeside town of Prien am Chiemsee in southern Bavaria near Rosenheim. Simon spent 3 months here in 1986 at a language school learning German. The school house is still there but has expanded and moved to another town nearby. While in this part of Bayern, we spent a day walking around Mozart’s birthplace of Salzburg just over the border in Austria.

Strasbourg

Salzburg

Prien sits on the banks of the Chiemsee, a beautiful lake with the Chiemgau mountains in the background

In addition a place Simon often tried to visit but was always closed due to the wrong season is the Kehlsteinhaus near Berchtesgaden. The Kehlsteinhaus or “Eagles Nest” as it is also known was a house used exclusively by the Nazi heirarchy as a meeting place for high ranking officials. It was commissioned by Martin Bormann for Adolf Hitler and completed in 13 months costing 150 million Euros in today’s money. From a military history interest point of view it is quite disappointing in that not many of the original buildings remain having been partially destroyed by the allies. The history of the place is covered briefly with very little valuable information for the historically inquisitive. It is now a tourist attraction and the restaurant atop the Kehstein offers superb views over the Obersalzberg. Beautiful scenic walks in the area, both easy and challenging, are plentiful.

The Kehlsteinhaus
The Obersalzburg
View of the Koenigsee from the Kehlsteinhaus

Views over Berchtesgadener Land

One of the many tunnels
The Italian marble fire place rumoured to have been a gift from Mussolini

Alpine flowers

The Koenigsee

And finally to end off our mainland Europe trip for the meantime, some walks around the Fränkischeschweiz in the Bamberg – Nuernberg area with friends from Simon’s old Siemens’ days in Johannesburg.

Next stop – England………..as it’s Air Show season!!

Italy – A short visit to Lake Garda and Solferino

A good day’s drive from Annecy in France brought us to an old school friend of Simon. They go back some years to primary and high school in Kent, England, but it is their time together flying gliders with 2158 Squadron RAF Air Cadets in the early 70’s that gives them this bond, despite years of lost contact, was picked up again very quickly during this stay.

Just a few miles south of Lake Garda, our friends have created a beautiful home in a neat complex overlooking orchards and vineyards in the small town of Solferino.

This was our first real trip to Italy, previously only having made fleeting stops at the compulsory and crowded tourist destinations of Rome, Napoli and Positano. A week in this lovely part of Italy would give us much more of a taste of the country, being shown around by ‘locals’ and as we found out increase our knowledge of a place we confessed to knowing nothing about.

Solferino has an important place in Italian, European and world history. The battle of Solferino 160 years ago, a decisive engagement in the second Italian war of independence, was the last major battle in history where each army was under the personal command of its monarch – Napoleon III of France and Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia fought against Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria. The battle involved some 300,000 troops and so bad was the carnage, after the battle the Swiss writer Henri Durant set about the process that resulted in the founding of the Geneva Convention and the International Red Cross.

Our week there was influenced by temperatures close to 40 degrees restricting our time outdoors. We tended to hibernate during the heat of the day – which happened to be nearly all day – chat about the ‘good old days’, sample some superb Italian home cooking and our newly found all time favourite white wine Lugana, grown in this region of Italy – plus of course all in very good company!

We did get out despite the heat and toured the beautiful shores of Lake Garda. Here is a selection of images from our week in this exceptional part of northern Italy.

Beautiful Sirmione on the tip of a peninsular at the southern most point of Lake Garda

Salo

Shade was sought everywhere

Lake Garda

Lake Garda

After this stay we had a bit of a drive in front of us. Our rental car was due back in Strasbourg, France by midday. An early start at 05h00 hoping to beat the Milan traffic and take advantage of the seemingly “relaxed” speed limits on Italian roads. However it was not to be – an accident on the Autostrada just outside Milan had us held up for an hour. In true Italian style we all went for a walk on the freeway, chatted to the people in the car next to us, patted the dogs as if it were a regular occurrence. Fortunately we soon got going and managed to catch up on time a bit. Our route took us through Switzerland (here we needed a Vignette for using the highways) and everybody – yes everybody drove way below the speed limit. I thought I was in Perth, Australia again! After two months in France, Italy and Germany this crawling along a perfectly good Autobahn wasn’t doing us any good at all. Once back in Germany it got better and we arrived in Strasbourg, just over the border with France, about 30 minutes late only to find no one was at the Hertz office. We could have dropped the car off anytime!!

Our next stop off is in Germany again for another catch up with friends, some hiking in Bavaria before leaving the Schengen customs zone for a while.