It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2016. What can I say? It’s been a mixed year. Huge political shake ups, continuing civil wars, the Rio Olympics and Paralympics and Planet Earth II.
Personally, there have been sad times and happy times. I’ve had some great adventures and ticked off a couple of long held ambitions. Focusing on the positives, and in no particular order, here are my top 10 of 2016:
The only good thing, from my perspective, about our impending winter is that it gives me a chance to catch up on blog posts. Take our trip to the Quantock Hills for example. We visited in late summer, the August Bank Holiday weekend to be exact. Remembering the weekend we spent walking the hills, eating cream teas and searching for fossils cheers me up no end on a wet and grey November day.
Continue reading Four family walks in the Quantock Hills, Somerset
“Are we near the sea yet?” my son asked as we drove into the beach car park at Lepe Country Park. “Er, yes, look in front of you”. To be fair, the drive down hadn’t provided any of the tantalising sea glimpses that normally precede arrival at a beach. But now the Solent sparkled just a few metres away.
Bath’s Georgian architecture, honey coloured stone buildings and famous Roman remains are a magnet for tourists. But hordes of summer visitors are not my cup of tea. Fortunately the National Trust have created an escape route, the Bath Skyline Walk.
Continue reading Walking the Bath skyline with children, Somerset
Weston-super-Mare may not be the most fashionable or upmarket of resorts but whenever we visit we have a great day out. This time we did something a little different. The kids are too old for donkey rides and building sandcastles (sob) so we explored Uphill, a village on the outskirts of Weston-super-Mare.
Continue reading Exploring Uphill, the quiet end of Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
After our last backpack along the Lambourn Valley Way I was keen to attempt another overnight trip with the family. This time I was under strict instructions to make the walk shorter. Fortunately I had such a trip up my sleeve. A walk from Oxford along the Thames Path to a small campsite near Eynsham, returning by a different route the next day; a total of around 10 miles.
Continue reading Backpacking the Thames Path trail, Oxfordshire
