This Ordinary Life

I have been cycling in London for over 7 years now. With one crash under my belt and numerous near misses, I consider myself a veteran.

I've always considered the cycle infrastructure more than inferior to on the Continent. If you have ever been to Amsterdam, most German cities and most of Switzerland, you could have helped but notice cycle lanes everywhere. They really put a lot of thought into how to get people on bicycles safely.

Boris Johnson has finally unveiled Transport for London's concept for London. This consists of 12 new Cycle Highways that will serve to transport people from up to 15km from the centre in quickly and safely. Given that there is little or no infrastructure in place at present and a May 2010 deadline for the first 2 Cycle Highways (Wimbledon to Bank and Barking to Tower), I will wait with baited breath to see how they do it.

Sadly, I imagine it will be a token effort more than anything and given the fact that motorcycles already feel that they can use cycle paths since they were allowed to use bus lanes (introduced early 2009 and "no" they are not allowed to also use cycle lanes), it will be interesting to see what they do.

If you'd like to find out more about what could by a London Cycle Revolution, here's a link to the press release and the conceptual cycle map...

Posted by this ordinary life at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have just come back from a trip to a place above and beyond the realm of normal holidays. About 6 months ago, my girlfriend suggested that we travel to Uganda to try and catch a glimpse of some gorillas. At first, I was quite apprehensive. The holiday had all the makings of a nightmare, Africa and a package holiday. Only a year before I travelled to South Africa for a friends wedding. The wedding was in Johannesburg and it scared the living daylights out of me. A city ruled by fear where people don’t stop at stop lights after dark, children are kidnapped without ransom in mind and barbed wire is replaced by electrified fences. The rest of the country (with exception of the wine regions) all had the scent of fear in the air (Despite this, I do think that the country has some amazing things to offer, so don't let me put you off!). When I came back I decided that I’d prefer to try some other places before heading back to Africa.

However, my girlfriend is the adventurous type and therefore I decided to throw two sheets to the wind and go. We booked a tour through Guerba Intrepid that would see us sharing a safari truck with up to 21 other people for two weeks of touring and camping.

When we arrived, it turned out there were only 7 of us and the country was more than amazing. The source of the White Nile, cold bottle of Nile beer and more animals than you can shake a stick at all made it a memorable experience. No only did I see gorillas, but we also saw hippos (they came right up to our tents to graze), lions (these again were in our camps), elephants (one even charged our truck), warthogs (they were always running away) and chimpanzees. It was more than I could ever have wished for.

Of course, the country has it’s problems. In the late 1980’s around 30% of the population was HIV positive. Now this is down around 6% supposedly down to great management of the disease, but I wonder how much of this is down to people dying and isn't being helped by the US's supposed demand that any support for combating AIDS has to focus on abstinance and not contraception. Furthermore, the legacy of Amin and years of financial mismanagement have deeply scarred the country. Roads that were once straight and smooth could now be classified as off-road and infrastructure is in many places crumbling almost to the point of disuse.

However, overall Uganda gets my recommendation of the perfect country to get an introduction to Africa. The people are friendly, the animals wild and the scenery breathtaking.

Posted by this ordinary life at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The company that invited me to give the lecture put me up in the Gellert Hotel and Spa. Now the last time I stayed here (early 2008) we had a room not renovated since the Communist 50's. This coupled with the terrible bout of Delhi-belly suffered by my girlfriend made for a stay memorable mostly for the wrong reasons. The only saving grace was the free use of their fabulous spa available to all who stay in the hotel (don't get conned into paying extra for this when booking!).

However, this time I stayed in one of the newly renovated rooms. Ah, what a difference this made! The balcony looked onto the river, the room was fresh opulence and the bathroom a delight. The iPass-enabled Wi-fi worked great and the bed comfortable making this a great place to saty for business or a romantic weekend. I even had the opportunity to soak my bones in the spa, which is lovely as ever (albeit the naked fat old men do give the place another throwback Communist edge).

I give the Gellert Hotel and Spa:

5/5 for the Room
4/5 for the Breakfast
4/5 for the Location
5/5 for the Facilities
3/5 for Value (I didn't pay, so I can't rate this!)

4/5 Overall

The only things that let the place down is the noise from the newly opened disco across the river that shakes the windows well into the night and the tired hot section of the breakfast buffet.

None of this should put you off staying here as it has a great location and really is a piece of Budapest's history. I'll definitely try to stay here the next time I come to Budapest (that is, if I can afford it!).

Posted by this ordinary life at 6:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A bit late, but here is my summary of the 2008 L'étape du Tour Mondovélo : Pau / Hautacam...

This has been the pinnacle of my cycling career thus far. The Ronde de Flanders was tough, but this was tougher. The Ronde was longer, but this was shorter... but much more strenuous... whew, almost ruined my pinnacle argument. Overall, it was a great event and I look forward to next year already.

Having only ridden my first Alpine pass, the Col de l'Aubisque, only 2 days before the big event, I was nervous. We had already had one bike totalled due to a totally unnecessary crash (dear riders, please always be very clear if you are going across or turning off at a round-about. This error cost a friend some of the hair off his head from worry and EUR2,000. Although, he did manage to claim it back as "failure" of the frame) and i felt horrifically under prepared. The Pyrannes are beautiful and impressive, but the day before the big ride it started to rain. Pretty much everything ridden in the rain is far from beautiful and going down Alpine passes in the rain is downright suicidal.

The morning of the ride was frantic with us getting up at 4:30 and riding the 10kms to the start in the dark with no lights. It was eerie to start with just the four of us in a pack and then gradually gaining in numbers until there was a veritable deluge of riders all congregating on the start. Some 7,000 riders were separated into 5 pens. For some strange reason all the French were at the front, leaving the rear to all us foreigners. We should have know that this holiest of amateur cycling events would be ruled by the French. Of course, they do have the Tour de France...

Right from the start I was separated from my friends. For the next 3 hours i focus on putting everything I had learned into practice. Drafting became an obsessions and I focused to keep my heart rate around 150 bpm. The first incline was surprisingly easy. Perhaps that was because it was so congested that we all had to dismount and walk up the 300m to the top? After that, it was a relatively straight forward run to the holy Lourdes (66.5km into the ride).

This was the point where things started to get a bit more challenging as for the next 40kms we would be climbing up the Col du Tourmalet (2115m). I don't know why the climb was officially only 20kms long, because I know for a fact that I climbed for 40! This was an ever slower battle of wit versus exhaustion. The top 15km or so had signs that indicated how many kilometres from the top you were and the average gradient of the next kilometre. Now the average gradient can be very misleading as I found as a half kilometre of flat means double the average for the second half. Nonetheless I ground onward and upward. It was to my delight to see other riders on their £2,000+ bikes walking and being overtaken by the lowly Focus Variado.

The Variado really impressed me going up the Tourmalet. I had been training on an 11-23 Cassette and swapped this for a 12-27 for the ride. Although I was in the lowest gear, I still had enough power to keep moving myself up the mountains. The bike held up well under the strain as did my backside after purchasing a new white Fizik Arone Saddle (the best seat I have ever ridden on!).

With the climb behind me, all I had to do was decend for almost 30kms before reaching the base of the Hautacam. Now decending is supposed to be adrenaline pumping fun that makes the climbing all worth while. However, in the rain it is a torture where you feel that you might crash at any moment and grip so hard your hands begin to cramp and get a "funny bone" zapping sensation. I almost worked harder decending the Tourmalet than climbing it. Thank god I'd downed so many of those French honey flavour energy gels, which basicly counteracted my pain with a sugar rush.

At the bottom of the Hautacam (1520m), I only had 13kms to go. However, what I didn't realise is that it would take me almost 90 minutes to make this climb. It was shorter and steeper than the Tourmalet. My legs ached and the 14/15% gradient with around 4kms to go almost got the better of me. Again where others failed and had to walk, the Variado didn't let me down and faithful led me to the top. For those of you that are Tour de France fans, this is the same mountain where Lance Armstrong fought and won a famous battle against Jan Ulrich in 2003.

With 500m to go to the finish line (169kms achieved!) I was so pumped that I even managed to sprint. Sadly. the riders had all spread so far out by this point that I only managed to overtake one rider. He was much slimmer than me and on a much more expensive bicycle, so it did make me smile... a lot!

My total time was 8 hours, 40 minutes and 16 seconds. Almost exactly twice the time it would take Leonardo Piepoli to ride it some 8 days later...

All in all, it was an amazing event... one that has enable me to join the ranks of those to have climbed some of the greatest passes in Alps. Let's see how I go next year... believe me I won't epilate my legs again, because the hairs still haven't fully grown back! By the way, I did that to raise money for charity...

Ah, yes, and next year I hope to be riding on a Focus Cayo. Watch this space... and there's still plenty of life in the Variado ahead of that...

Posted by this ordinary life at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Work has led me back to Budapest for two nights at the now lovely Gellert Hotel and Spa (but it's still a blast to the Communist past!). I've come down to give a lecture to some executives and had planned to catch up with a friend for dinner. The short of it is they bailed on me, but the long of it is the local eatery that I found instead.

The Kisvigado Vendeglo (1113 Bp. Villanyi ut 34) is a local pub that will guarantee to fill your belly and make you feel like you're a local. I had the Wiener Schitzel with Mash and washed it down with a 0.5L of Gosser Beer. Total bill was 2700 Forint (ca. £9). Great food and great value.

It was simple, pleasant and filled with locals. The walk was quite pleasant too as it's about 10 minutes on foot from the Gellert.

I give the place:

4/5 for Food
4/5 for Ambiance
5/5 for Localness
5/5 for Value

4.5/5 Overall

Well, now I'm sitting in my boxers on my balcony at the Gellert enjoying the lovely view of the Danube (mius some construction and the traffic) and the use of the hotel's iPass-enabled Wi-fi. Better get back to my Beer and Muller Rice (I'm carb-loading for the F3 Orca Triathlon at Windsor on Sunday!). Sadly, I leave tomorrow morning for London... but not before I get a couple of hours in the famous Gelert Spa!

Posted by this ordinary life at 7:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, another trip is brewing and after the fabulous time I had the last time I went, I've decided to go again. However, this time I decided not to do it on my own and take a friend. Believe me, I don't want to be brimming with commentary and not have anyone to share it with... Plus, despite all the people it does get lonely on the road.

The trip starts back in Delhi... this time I am a bit older and wiser. I won't be staying at argubly the worst value for money = (0 service + 0 comfort + 0 cleanliness)/ Bloody expensive = the Airport Hotel next to Delhi Airport. Won't make that mistake again, no this time we're staying at the best youth hostel in town next to the Bazaar. Let's see what the airport pick-up is like and then we'll quickly know what to expect.

After a day or so in Delhi, we're headed over to Aggra to see the big and little (yes, Dad) Taj Mahal. A good friend has already warned me of the tourist throng that awaits us, but I still think seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise is something you have to do as a right of passage. I'll have the camera with me, so watch out for some quality shots!

After the Taj, it's off to Jaipur, the city of pink sandstone. The pictures look amazing and there is some serious hiking to be done. I've been told that you can ride elephants while you're there and assuming that I don't end up like those endless YouTube clips, it should be fun.

The second half of the trip leaves the North far behind and leads us to Kerala. After landing in Cochin, we'll make our way by rail, road and houseboat down through the state to Kovalam and the beaches in the South. There we'll have a few days in the sun before flying to Mumbai for a day... so much for finishing the trip relaxed... although hopefully the hotel will provide some buffer from the craziness that is that city.

All in all, 16 days of Indian delight... I've packed my camera, swim suit and plenty of Immodium. What could possibly go wrong? We'll see soon enough as India is always full of surprises...

Posted by this ordinary life at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah, to be young... Well, a weekend in Frankfurt showed me that my own real-life sitcom friends and I can still keep up with those born the same year as the 1988 Seoul Olympics!

Frankfurt and I have a long history. It was my gateway into Germany as a boy of 16 when I first moved across from the USA as an exchange student. Over the years I have made numerous visits, but the last one was almost 6 years ago. So when I had the chance to do a bit of reconnaissance of the German market for work, I jumped at the chance. I have a friend who recently moved to Frankfurt for work, so in my usual style, I combined work with play to make a weekend of it.

Two of my uncle's (well, they're actually my second cousins) live in Frankfurt as well as another good friend of mine, so Friday night was designated "reunion night" complete with family and friends. The venue was "Zum Gemalten Haus", a very famous and well-known ebbelwoi (a.k.a cider) stube in Sachsenhausen. They serve cider in large 3 litre earthenware jugs accompanied by even larger plates of boiled meat. The haspel (boiled pork knuckle) wasn't anything special and actually gave me a temporary bout of digestive meat overload syndrome, but the ebbelwoi, Handkaese mit Music (a fermented cheese served with onions and buttered bread) and Rote Groetze (fruits of the forest compote with vanilla sauce) more than compensated. A few more people joined us including another mate from London and we had a whale of a time. In the usual style, my one uncle rounded up the meal by berating me for crimes against society (well, not really just for being disorganised in his eyes for using email to communicate). He's always done that and it was good to see that some things never change.

Well, after we left there we went to another local neighbourhood bar where we coined a new phrase "something-bedurftig", which means that something has something else necessary (e.g. Trinkbeduerftig means needing to get your drink on), before catching a taxi with some randoms we picked up (one of which happens to work for the same company as my mate!) and headed to a club called "King Kamehameha". This is a very cool club with a pool (very dangerous). Well, we partied it up to 3:30am at which point the lights went on and we were forced to go home. Enroute we managed to find the only open Doner Kebab place and shut it down at 4am. This did include my mate ruining a perfectly good doner with too many chilli flakes that surprisingly didn't seem to haunt him the next morning. Stomach of steel, I think!

We finally made it home around 4:30am where I was forced to engage in some seriously challenging mechanical feats which resulted in me sleeping on an uninflated air mattress on the floor. My mate had already bagged the couch and was snoring away… ah, bless…

Saturday was a late start (11:30). My one mate had lost his voice, my cough was getting persistently worse and we realised that getting changed in my mate's living room meant that we were on display for all the morning walkers and joggers for the world to see. We watched a 30 Rock and Flight of the Commodores omni-bus and then headed out for a bit of city-seeing. First place we went was the local brothel where you can stand between a woman’s legs and get your picture taken (see photo). With heart's racing from seeing a brothel from the outside (we'll all strapping young lads, thank-you!), we wandered around town before heading home to get ready
for the evening's activities, a sub-25's house party at my other mate's flat.

Now you know you are getting old when people comment about being half your age. Luckily, everyone was of legal age so this couldn't happen to me, but it did to one of the other "older" guys there. Shock-horror! We then proceeded to drink copious amounts of a strong beer (7.5%) which was the German equivalent of Special Brew. However, without losing our dignity, we managed to drink the youngin's under the table, make up lyrics to every song under the moon and last until 4am again. We even managed to make a quick stop in BB's (a very late night bar) which was full of drunken tuxedos and ball dresses.

It was another late start on Sunday, but this time we did manage to get out for breakfast. We went to Wegners, a wickedly trendly cafe. This allowed us to round out our visit eating Strammer Max and River Shrimp with mash.

It was great to see how our mate is getting on in Frankfurt. Between his stunning riverside apartment in the Deutschherrenufer area, great bars/clubs/cafes/restarants, a killer skyline and some really nice people, we think he's got a pretty good thing going. It wasn't my first trip to Franfurt and hopefully it won't be too long until I get back there again.

Frankfurt is definitely Besuchbedurftig!

Posted by this ordinary life at 8:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here I am sitting at Heatrow airport, BlackBerry in hand, 5 days pre-growth beard on my face and I am about to board the plane. I am particularly excited about flying Virgin and by using SeatGuru.com, I think I have an excellent seat. Movies, food and some G&Ts will all help me pass the next 8 hours.

The last hours of preparation were somewhat frantic, but I am proud to say that I only forgot the following:

- Sunglasses (couldn't find them)
- Insurance details (yes, at least I have valid insurance)
- Confirmations of my Air Deccan internal flights (I hope to get copies emailed to my BlackBerry)
- belt for my trekking trousers (I thought having your underwear show out of your trousers looked much cooler)
- rolls of toilet paper (what was I thinking when I forgot this?!?)
- a wadge of Ruppees (I sure hope they take credit cards over there!)

All in all, 13.2kgs are in the rucksack including some very cool and techie gear (e.g. Sprung walking poles, goretex hiking boots and waterproof gloves). Carry-on is full of travel documents, electronics and light reading consisting of the Rough Guide to India (which I haven't even started to read yet), Collapse - Why societies choose to succeed of fail (there are going to be some long days in the mountains) and the Economist (I don't want to complete forget what's happening in the world.

I fly out tonight and arrive in Delhi tomorrow morning. Once I get through immigration and the like I'll check into my hotel and then take a taxi tour of Delhi, get some dinner and the get a good night's sleep as my flight to Leh leaves Delhi at 05:20, meaning a very early start.

I'll let you know how I get on...

Posted by this ordinary life at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here I am sitting at Heatrow airport, BlackBerry in hand, 5 days pre-growth beard on my face and I am about to board the plane. I am particularly excited about flying Virgin and by using SeatGuru.com, I think I have an excellent seat. Movies, food and some G&Ts will all help me pass the next 8 hours.

The last hours of preparation were somewhat frantic, but I am proud to say that I only forgot the following:

- Sunglasses (couldn't find them)
- Insurance details (yes, at least I have valid insurance)
- Confirmations of my Air Deccan internal flights (I hope to get copies emailed to my BlackBerry)
- belt for my trekking trousers (I thought having your underwear show out of your trousers looked much cooler)
- rolls of toilet paper (what was I thinking when I forgot this?!?)
- a wadge of Ruppees (I sure hope they take credit cards over there!)

All in all, 13.2kgs are in the rucksack including some very cool and techie gear (e.g. Sprung walking poles, goretex hiking boots and waterproof gloves). Carry-on is full of travel documents, electronics and light reading consisting of the Rough Guide to India (which I haven't even started to read yet), Collapse - Why societies choose to succeed of fail (there are going to be some long days in the mountains) and the Economist (I don't want to complete forget what's happening in the world.

I fly out tonight and arrive in Delhi tomorrow morning. Once I get through immigration and the like I'll check into my hotel and then take a taxi tour of Delhi, get some dinner and the get a good night's sleep as my flight to Leh leaves Delhi at 05:20, meaning a very early start.

I'll let you know how I get on...

Posted by this ordinary life at 9:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another flight back to London, another debacle... You'd think for some reason there's someone telling me not to come back.

So, how'd this trip back start, you ask?

We'll everything went like clockwork until I got on the plane. The run up was almost perfect. Train was quick and, although I forgot to stamp my ticket, which I now habitually buy, there was no conductor checking tickets (Whoohoo! Free trip!). Check in at the airport was quick and the whole haxe in my check-in luggage went undiscovered. Hugo Boss had a sale on underwear and my ipod was fully charged.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, stepping into a puddle of molten jello outside my gate should have warned me of things to come. So, take one flight from Moscow that was touching down in Dusseldorf to pick up passengers (i.e. Me) for London, the sub-European security standards of Moscow and one security person in Dusseldorf who overlooked the fact that the passengers transiting through Dusseldorf needed to get off an go through security and you get utter chaos.

Just at the point where the pilot's voice comes one to welcome you on board we heard the following:

"Greetings every one this is your capitain. I have just flown in from Moscow."

Good for you, I thought. I wouldn't mind visiting Moscow, but what does this have to do with this flight?

"Well, everything is ready for us to take-off, but we have a security issue."

Crap. Terrorists have found my haxe in the hold and are guiltily gorging themselves on it.

"We just arrived from Moscow... the sub-standard security spiel I just ran you through a moment ago... so the only choice the Federal Police have given is is to load everyone ontp buses take you all through security again and get you back on board as quickly as possible.

Wouldn't it make more sense just to take the Russians off the plane?

Anyway, 10 minutes later we arrive at the security checkpoint to go through security again, but instead of the standard once over we are subjected to a very thorough search. It's not like we were on a flight from Islamabad or Bagdahd where they forgot to do security checks, this is Dusseldorf, Germany, for Pete's sake!  After being frisked by a very butch woman, having someone comment on the bag of popcorn in my carry-on bag and fighting off a frictional chubby from the pat down, I was finally on my way back to the plane.

All in all this debacle cost me 45 minutes of my life and resulted in a good story to tell.. What awaits me on my next trip scheduled is anyone's guess...

Posted by this ordinary life at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I regularly travel for both work and pleasure. London is a great travel hub and you are spoilt for choice with 5 airports to choose from. As I live in West London, for my last work trip to Scotland I decided to travel from Heathrow. Work was paying and therefore I focused more on convenience than the cheapest deal...

I was running late and jumped into a cab to Paddington. Being a cyclist gives you excellent geographic knowledge of a city and, after about 30 seconds, I knew that the driver was taking me for a ride. Sadly, I didn't open my mouth until it was too late and we were stuck in traffic (lesson learnt: speak up for yourself or accept the consequences). Not only was my journey more expensive than it should have been (Black Cab drivers in London normally know all the shortcuts), it got me to the station later than expected and forced to take the Heathrow Express.

Now for those of you not from London, the Heathrow Express is a modern wonder for several reasons. Firstly, it cuts down the journey from the Paddington to Heathrow from 45-60 min to 15-20 min. Secondly, it is probably the most expensive rail trip you can find anywhere in the world at £15 ($30) per journey. This compares with about £5 to get from Manhattan to JFK, £4 to get from Central Chicago to O'hare, £3 for the Shanghai Maglev and £6 to get from Syndey to Kingsford Int'l Airport. You used to be able to use a discount code to buy cheaper tickets on-line, but they clamped down on this. Nonetheless it is worth checking the Net if any new ones arise.

Frugal Tip - Get on a First Class Carriage, pick up a copy of the FT and then walk through to Standard Class.

The rest of my flight followed in traditional fashion... there was an airplane traffic jam at the airport making us take off 30 minutes late, my meeting got moved from Glasgow to Edinburgh meaning I had to take a bus/train/walk for 2 extra hours and a good family friend who has been diagnosed with chronic cancer kept my spirits up with some great stories.

Actually, the return leg of this journey is where I discovered something positive about traveling to and from Heathrow, the Heathrow Connect. This is the second-class citizen means of getting to and from the airport, but you do it in no less style and for less than half the price of the Express. The trains leave the airport from the same place as the Express at half the frequency (every 30 min), but the funny thing is that they come into Paddington on a dark platform at the corner of the station. There's no signage and I think most people don't even realise it's there. All in all, it is a pleasant journey free of the annoying media barrage you are forced to endure on the Express, it's clean and there's always a seat.

The moral of the story is: When traveling to Heathrow, plan ahead and take the Heathrow Connect. It'll get you there quicker, more comfortably and cheaper than a cab, the Tube and the Express.

Posted by this ordinary life at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It strange that there is a certain point in your life when you swap roles with your parents, i.e.you become the responsible adult. I was privileged enough to have my parent visit from Germany and on the back of a very successful series of German television adaptations of Rosamunde Pilcher's novels, we decided a road trip to Cornwall was in order.

Although my parents are well traveled, they hadn't been to Cornwall. Having been there once already, I felt that my skills of navigation and an inane ability to stumble across memorable sights and experiences would be well placed as tour guide. I hired a car through Auto Europe, who scour various car companies to get you the best deal, which worked great on price, but required me to rent the car through my arch nemis, Hertz.

The experience began with me having to wait 2 hours to pick up the car. We had the car for a couple of extra days bofore the start of the Cornwall trip with the intention of doing some shopping and heading out to Ikea. However, in the end, it was only used to travel out to the Alwyne Castle in Highbury for a mate's birthday and picking up my parents.

Day 1 - London - Stonehenge - Exeter - Okehampton - Truro

With free parking running out at 8:30, we were on the road at 8:35. Conscious that it was a weekday with congestion charge we took a 90 minute tour of Northwest London before finally clearing the M25 on the pleasantly non-congested M3 toward Southampton. We then headed off onto the A303 taking us past our first sight of the trip, Stonehenge.

Stonehenge

Although I have seen Stonehenge more than half a dozen times, I do still get an eerie feeling every time I pass by it. In my case, it's always the scene from National Lampoon's European Vacation where Clark Griswald knocks them over with the car. As we were in a hurry, we decided to do Stonehenge "Germany-style" which involved holding the video camera over the fence and taking candid shots from outside the fenced enclosure. We had a good laugh about how many other people were like minded and we actually got some great shots of Stonehenge.

Exeter

Next we continued on to Exeter. Exeter is a bit of a hidden gem on the way to Cornwall. It has an excellent Norman cathedral and a riverside waterfront that is the perfect place to stop for lunch. We stopped one place to have some beer and pizza and although the pizza was delayed twice due to lost orders, we were able to recharge our batteries for the afternoon of driving ahead.

Okehampton

On this trip, I knew that if the was a harbour or castle to be seen, it would be safe to assume that my father would like to stop to at least get it on video. So on the fringes of the Dartford Moors, we followed an alluring brown sign indicating that there was a castle in Okehampton, a little village just off the A30. We rolled through the outskirts of town, then through the centre and finally almost out the other side without any view of said castle. However, a strategically placed question at the tourist office (I learned from my father that strategic questioning of the local population can be useful in finding local landmarks, which countered my previous conception that locals were always going to direct me in the opposite direction of the one that I want to go in out of principle - League of Ordinary Gentlemen style) led us straight into some woods, down a narrow lane and directly to the foot of a spectacular ruined castle that served as a hunting lodge a few hundred years ago. It is a English Heritage site worth visiting and has a great audio tour which demonstrated that life at the top of the food chain was a great place to be in 1550.

Truro

Having originally planned to continue from Okehampton to St Ives, we decided that it would be best to stop somewhere less distant for the night. Checking the map and then our trusty AA B&B guide, we decided that Truro would be a good spot to pitch camp. We phoned around a couple of B&Bs and were able to find one that had rooms at the inn, The Townhouse Rooms. In our case, these were in the “garden chalet” (which equated to a garden shed converted into 2 double bedrooms with a shared bath). My father took particular pleasure in the the 7 pull cords in the bathroom, where, in a manner similar to playing music on rope-pull church bells, you had to pull these in a unique combination to get hot water, turn the lights on and also the heater. The B&B gets a 6 out of 10 for functionality and quirkiness, although I wouldn’t stay in the Chalet again.

There wasn’t much to Truro despite its glorious tin-mining history with the exception of a great bistro, Bustophers, which served up one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. I had mussels with a Conish cider and cream sauce, my mother had a potent French onion soup with crisp organic baguette and my father had an excellent sea bass. Nice fresh ingredients and clean, distinct flavours together with a very pleasant ambiance made this a dining experience I will keep in fond memory. This place gets an 8 out of 10 for food, ambiance and value for money (£45 for 3 mains and drinks).

We retired to our rooms after a glass of white and some cheese in the garden content, well fed and looking forward to our foray to the coast the next day.

Day 2 - Truro - St Ives - Padstow - Launceston

St Ives

Having enjoyed the “serve yourself” buffet style breakfast with Nutela smothered crumpets (my parents were both dubious of the crumpets and left me with 3 to eat on my own), we set of to complete our journey to the sea. St Ives felt like Briton with the Pier and Pebble Beach replaced with a dry harbour (it was low tide) and highly trafficked promenade. Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice spot with some beautiful views, but it never ceases to amaze me the amount of pebbledash and asphalted pavements found in the UK. All it would take is a local tourism tax and some well placed investments (e.g. dressing up the various dumpsters strewn around the place, removing the asphalt from cobbled sidewalks and changing the iron pipe railings along the harbour with something more characterful) to turn this into a world-class seaside town.

The Road to Padstow

Although the weather had been wet and rainy, our drive was accompanied by spectacular sunshine and puffy white clouds. We decided that we’d take coastal roads to get from St Ives to Padstow. This again involved asking locals for directions at a local tourist information. It as here that I almost blew a gasket due to some woman driver’s choice to box me in, which resulted in someone else pulling out and knocking over a third person’s scooter in a domino effect style. With directions in hand, we headed off to cruse the coastal roads where we enjoyed the views of white capped seas and kite surfers set back from a sand dune lined beach.

We took a little lunch break in a lay-by about half way to Padstow. Cheese, crackers and freshly squeezed orange juice (I actually made this at home before setting off and it hadn’t gone off) were passed around in abundance. It was nice it eat in the safety of the car as the wind howled outside.

We tried desperately to find a little harbour town I had visited two years previous, but after hitting the third dead end, single-track country lane, we gave up hope and b-lined our way to Padstow.

Padstow

The level of my mother’s excitement was reaching fever pitch as we neared Padstow as this is the location of Prideaux Place, the only filming locations in Cornwall that has been used on multiple occasions for Rosamunde Pilcher television adaptations. It has continuously been in the hands of the Prideux family since the 1500’s and only became open to the public after the cost of repairing a leaky roof was more than the family could financially bear. It is a beautiful, lived-in house that is worth a visit if you are in the neighbourhood.

From there we moved on to the village proper. I hear that Rick Stein is hated in Padstow due to the large number of over-priced eateries he owns there. It is a crazily busy place, particularly as it was half-term school vacations, making it highly unappealing. We did, however; get a couple of orders of cod and chips from Rick Stein’s fish and chip shop, where was arguably one of the best fish and chips I’ve ever had.

Launceston

In the waning rays of the afternoon sun, we made our way to Launceston, the former capital of Cornwall. It has since fallen on harder times and is in need of some tlc. We were running out of luck and had unsuccessfully tried 5 B&B’s without success. However, Mrs Robinson led us to Mrs Cressinger, who finally led us to a gem of a hotel, the Eagle House Hotel. Located in an auld bankers mansions looking onto the ruins of the Duke of Cornwall’s former seat, if you are looking for a room in the general vincinity, you must stay at the Eagle House.

My parent’s room was stunning with excellent period furniture and formidable bed (Room 3), although my room (Room 5) was a smoker’s room leaving a bit to be desired. The whole place has a bit of a Faulty Towers appeal and I was surprised not to hear at least one “Basel” floating through the air.

Day 3 – Launceston – Bickleigh Castle - Bath – Lacock – London

We rounded up our stay at the Eagle House will a huge English breakfast. Consisting of a fried egg, fried sausage, fried bacon, fried mushrooms, fried bread and fried tomato, it was fuel for a nuclear reactor. All it needed was a sprig of parsley to become a gourmet heart attack.

We left Launceston with the breakfast still heavy in our stomachs for the promises of the Roman Baths in Bath. We took the A30 for about half an hour and then opted to take a few of the country roads for a bit more scenery. My father has some problems navigating an we ended up on yet another narrow and windy country lane. My driving has greatly improved over the years (I taught myself how to drive a manual about 5 years ago and nearly gave my wife grey hair in the process), but I was sweating. At one point, I had to reverse about 300m as a milk tanker making collections in the area also needed to reverse to allow some oncoming traffic through. Those 7 miles were some of the most challenging I have had, but all three of us emerged smiling (although I think my mother’s knuckles were rather white).

Bickleigh Castle

Another brown sign which revealed a delightful piece of Devon history. We thought this to be another sight open to the public, but were mistaken it is now only a B&B and wedding venue. They were nice enough to let us have a wander of the grounds, which were very quaint. Again worth a visit or a stay if you are in the neighbourhood.

Bath

We made our way into Bath and after once again asking for directions found a nice parking spot near the Royal Cresent. In another Griswald moment, we actually passed a number of other sites such as the Circus and Jane Austin centre as we meandered our way through town finding somewhere to park. We opted out of the Baths as at £11, we felt it a bit steep to race through in the time we had to spare. In the end it was the Cathedral for my father and Pret sandwiches for my mother and I before it was back to the car and off to Lacock.

Lacock

There are few more preserved villages in the UK. Lacock has managed to remain unmodernised on the surface, which has made it the filming location for innumerable period dramas. Throw a bit of dirt on the roads and bring in some horse and carriages and you can be whisked away to the 1700’s. Not to mention that Kings John’s Hunting Lodge does a mean Cream Tea. If you are a Harry Potter fan, Lacock is also home to Lacock Abbey that featured in the first two films.

London

A trip ending in London would never be the same without traffic. In our case, this involved a car crunching jam around Shepherds Bush Green. Most impressive was the fact that we made it through car unscathed and wits intact. We made it back to London only 45 minutes later then planned and in desperate need of a drink.

Summary

If you are planning a trip in the UK, Cornwall is a must. It combines all that is good in the UK (i.e. history, limited food and quirk) with stunning scenery. Rain or shine a road trip through Cornwall will one that will live on in fond memory.

Posted by this ordinary life at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Abbey Road in St Johns Wood is a gem of a cafe, The Fern House. It combines the quaintness of home with quirky decor and the coffees aren't to shabby either. The owner is an Iranian who grew up in France and loves to spend his spare time at antique actions. Once you know this, you can see that his has put a very personal touch on the place which makes it out of the ordinary.

The cafe has both outside and inside seating areas, both very comfortable and furnished with a collection of antique pieces purchased at auctions that somehow all work. Rather unique is the fact that if there is something that you particularly like, check the price tag or ask as everything (tables, chairs, decorations) is for sale.

The food is good, deli style, but nothing spectacular. The menu has some variety that would suit breakfast or lunch with sandwiches, soups, cakes and quiches. Its a shame that they appear to buy in most things rather than prepare the food themselves. Although the salad is always and unexciting base of iceberg lettuce, the presentation definitely has some flair. Today I had a mexican chicken sandwich with salad and my wife the quiche with potato salad, coleslaw and salad. Aside from shaking my bottle of drink with the lid partially open, this meal lived up to my previous experiences as quite unexciting but perfectly edible.

Personally, I will in future focus my visits on breakfast as their croissant are the butteriest, fluffiest you will have in a long time with excellent coffee providing the perfect companionship. Free newspapers, books and magazines as well as free Wi-fi make it an excellent place to spend an hour or two to relax. I correct myself that the atmosphere is so good that I wouldn't hesitate to stop for an afternoon coffee either. By the way they also serve wine or beer if you prefer.

I give The Fern House 5 stars for atmosphere, 3 stars for food and 4 stars for value for money. To make it perfect they would need to replace iceberg lettuce with mixed leaf, speed up the service a bit and give the food a more homemade feel. Even without these improvements, it is still arguably the best cafe in the Maida Vale/ St Johns Wood area.

Posted by this ordinary life at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During my trip to Croatia, we experience the full fury of the Croatian traffic court legal system. This was the result of an unfortunate traffic accident that resulted in my friend getting a one year driving ban (only in Croatia mind you) and a 2700 Kuna fine. Let's see if you still think this was just after I explain how it happended....

We had just left the airport and were taking our second turn out of the car hire parking lot. Now in Croatia, they don't believe in T junctions, instead they have Y junctions, which bring with it a number of complications. Firstly, to turn left you have to face almost directly into traffc and then cross the lane of oncoming traffic in the longest way possible, diagonally. Well, couple this with an obstruction requiring one to inch out quite far to see on-coming traffic an you have an accident waiting to happen.

Well, my friend was forced to do exactly this and in that moment of vulnerability was run into by a scooter ridden by a very fat man. Now given the fact that my friend was driving a red VW Polo and was stationary, you would have expected the scooter to have braked or at least swerved. However, this wasn't the case and the rider drove straight into the front fender of the car. The rider then proceeded to heave himself onto the windscreen and crack it before tumbling (in slow motion) to the ground.

Police and ambulance came to survey and address the scene. Blood was taken from the gentleman (we assumed he was drunk) and then after the passage of a far amount of time my friends statement was taken. He was required to be breathalised (came up 0.0) and then to appear before traffic court a few days later. A number of people at the scene corroborated my friends story that there was an obstruction and he was very cautious in his actions. Actually there were a large number of people milling about, surveying the scene and then philosophising about what happended in Croatian. We found this quite unnerving; however, the police officer at the scene was very touchy feely and kept patting my friend on the back as to console him.

During traffic court, none of the corroborating evidence was presented. Also the judge was in a vest and very casual. It appears that the driver of the scooter had neither drivers licence nor was the scooter registered. Not that my friend was told this until after the verdict. Actually, while my friend waited to be seen in court there were a number of other tourists who were also in court for traffic related incidents. A scam perhaps?

All I can say is that if you ever decide to travel to Croatia and rent a car, drive safely as neither the system nor the other drivers are working in your favour.

Posted by this ordinary life at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)