Breakfast

This photo was taken a fortnight ago outside La Cuadrona bar in the village of La Hermida, Cantabria. It represents a moment of breakfast bliss. Firstly, note the two large cafés con leche. The coffee served in Spanish bars is almost always excellent (these certainly were) and is uniformly cheap (1.10 euro up to1.40 for […]

Silent Sunday 19/08/2012

Sport

I was never very sporty at school. Small and studious, it was clear from an early age that I was never going to make it to the Olympics. Although I did attend a Maths Olympiad in University College Dublin when I was 15. Not quite the same levels of excitement. The first (and only) time […]

Silent Sunday 01/07/2012

Going Home the Long Way Round

We spent last weekend camping and climbing in Santa Gadea and on Monday we slowly wound our way back home, taking advantage of the opportunity to explore a little of the neighbouring province of Burgos on the way. We had been told that there was a world-class crag in the area that had yet to […]

A Very British Seaside Holiday

If I’m honest, we’d never have chosen Southsea as a holiday destination. Although it’s on the coast, it’s the heavily populated south coast of England and there isn’t even any surf; which is just plain frustrating. There’s no climbing nearby either. But last week wasn’t supposed to be a holiday, it was all about spending […]

Sailing Santander to Portsmouth

I’ve always been a fan of ferry journeys. Some of my earliest memories are from the Sealink Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire crossing via which we made our yearly pilgrimages to Ireland from the UK. Running riot in the lounges with newly-made friends, walking our border collie on the blustery deck, laughing at the adults staggering […]

Teverga and the Senda del Oso

The weekend before last was our first trip away in our motorhome for a long time. So long in fact that when we turned the key in the ignition on the Saturday night the battery failed to turn over. All packed up and nowhere to go. We duly dismounted, clutching our bedding and toothbrushes, put […]

Travelling with Babies and Small Children

I’ve just been reading a great blog by some expectant parents who are clearly sick of receiving unsolicited ‘wisdom’ from jaded been-there-before parents whose primary message seems to be that their life is now over. It’s prompted me to share some of my own experiences as the mother of a two year old and the […]