Author Archives: slingsbybrowning

  We left Baume-les-Dames just after breakfast, and since it is such a small town, we did not experience our usual trauma of taking the wrong road. The route to Besançon is very straight-forward, and the traffic quite light. Getting along on the by-pass was quite easy, except for some deviations due to road works.Continue reading “Travel Blog September 4 to September 9, 2012”

I think I may be a bit out with my dates, but never mind, the actual happenings are for real! Our hotel in Baume-les-Dames is old, dating from the 16th century, and somewhat shabby, but is clean and comfortable. We have a ground-floor room which is great, because there is no lift, and the onlyContinue reading “Travel Blog, September 2 to September 4, 2012”

We spent our last night in Strasbourg, Ann to view a spectacular fireworks and laser light show on the river, and me to sit on the balcony with a glass of local wine whilst I finished the Strasbourg blog—which I hope you have read by now. Today (Wednesday) we said our farewells to Nicole andContinue reading “Travel Blog August 29 to September 3 2012”

August 27, and it is my birthday. It was great to get phone calls from Helen, Peej and Amy-Ann, and it did seem strange not celebrating with them. For a birthday treat, it was decided that we would not actually drive anywhere—for the first time since arriving in France,—so we took a tram into theContinue reading “Travel Blog August 27 to August 28, 2012”

In my last blog I made a couple of mistakes—which is unusual for me! The first is that I referred to a photo of the Museum of Occupation that I subsequently decided not to put in, but forgot to delete the reference to it, so sorry about that. The second was that I referred toContinue reading “Travel Blog August 24 to August 26, 2012”

  Today was a long day, occasioned by my mistake in booking the car for the wrong date, as explained in my last blog. We had to return the very small car to Cherbourg, and swap it for a larger one, which was, as beggars can’t be choosers and we had to take the onlyContinue reading “Travel Blog August 21 to 23, 2012”

I think I may have been a bit harsh on Portsmouth when I said in an earlier Blog that it had not a lot to recommend it. That opinion was formed early in the stay, and was based on what we saw as we entered the town and drove through some pretty ordinary residential andContinue reading “Travel Blog August 17 to August 19, 2012”

Travel Blog August 15 to August 16,   2012 The conference is over, and Rees Hall is all but deserted. Today (Wednesday 15) we took the hovercraft across the Solent to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. We just missed the number 4 bus for Osborne House, so had a coffee in Ryde, which wasContinue reading “Travel Blog August 15 to August 16 2012”

We arrived in Portsmouth after an uneventful trip, but ended up at the wrong campus! Still, we were put right by a groundsman there, who gave us good direction to Rees Hall. Our room in on the 6th floor, which is pretty well into the roof, but we have fantastic views across the Solent toContinue reading “Travel Blog 8. August 9 to August 15, 2012”

Here we are in Dover, with old friends who bear our family name, but to whom we are not related as far as we can tell. Coffee at the National Trust shop over- looking the harbour was very good, but the otherwise fantastic view was rather marred by the torrential rain which rendered the cross-channelContinue reading “Travel Blog 7. August 7 to August 9, 2012”