Travel – Page 29 – Fergy's Rambles.

First stop on the journey.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is where the fun really starts.

I do hope you have come upon this page by way of the introduction I spent two weeks constructing and which represented the first entries on this brand new website which I have started in spite of a serious case of technical incompetence. Here it is. After those twin disasters I took this rather drastic step as I have had two commercial travel sites (Virtual Tourist and Travbuddy) closed down on me in just over a year and I do not want to achieve a terrible hat-trick so I am going it alone.

The site is predominantly travel themed and this represents my first actual travel blog referring to a wonderful trip I took to Lundy Island and other parts of Devon in the beautiful Southwest of England back in 2013. I have several reasons for choosing this as my start point and I shall explain my thinking here. Continue reading “First stop on the journey.”

Looping the Loop – London LOOP 1.

Hello again, dear readers and welcome to another series of posts about a little (actually fairly large) project I undertook some years ago (I started it in May 2013) in walking a 150+ mile designated Long Distance Footpath (LDP) and at no point of which was I more than 15 miles from my own front door. Clever stuff, eh?

I am writing all this in April 2020 when I am, like all other Britons and about half the developed world, effectively under house arrest as a result of the apocalyptic CoVid-19 virus which is decimating the planet in a pandemic of Bibilcal proportions. It is like something out of a sci-fi novel but the sad truth is that it is actually happening.

I have some notes available as I shall explain in a moment, all my images and more than usual time on my hands as I cannot go anywhere. This is a project I have wanted to add to my site here for some time and now seems like the perfect opportunity. If you are reading this as the epidemic is still raging and want a little light relief or if you are reading this years from now and we haven’t all been wiped out, thank you and I’d like to invite you to come for a walk with me. No need to get your boots, you can do it all from the comfort of your chair. Let’s go.
Continue reading “Looping the Loop – London LOOP 1.”

Malta to UK and some final thoughts.

Well, it had to happen and Sunday 10th March 2013 came around with me not feeling too bad despite the excellent hospitality I had been shown in Dick’s Bar and the perhaps foolish ordering of a full bottle of Maltese red wine (see previous entry for full details). I really do not know why I do such things. I rose, checked the weather which was not too bad then showered and packed which was a matter of about five minutes. It is my proud boast that it has never taken me more than 40 minutes to pack for any trip and that was for a month trekking in Nepal. I cannot comprehend why people start packing a week before they depart. Continue reading “Malta to UK and some final thoughts.”

Last day in St. Julian and Sliema.

Saturday the 9th of March and my penultimate day i.e. last full potential sightseeing day on Malta before flying home on the Sunday and so what to do? Go and visit one more of the many sites I still had not managed to visit. Maybe make a flying visit to Gozo which I still had not reached despite best intentions but they do say the road to Hell is paved with them. Six years after the event I rely on looking at my daily images to piece together my day but in this case the honest truth of the matter is that I have no idea according to them as my first image is timed at 2253! Continue reading “Last day in St. Julian and Sliema.”

Fort Rinella and a very Big Gun.

Armstrong 100 ton gun, Fort Rinella, Malta. — Look at the size of this monstrosity – 100 tons to be precise

The morning of the 8th of March came around with decent weather which was a blessing and I realised I only had a couple of days left with plenty left still to see so the decision was what. I had been impressed with the way the Wirt Artna organisation had gone about their business at the other sites run by them which I had visited namely the Lascaris War Rooms and the Malta at War Museum in Birgu, both of which are fully reported in earlier posts in this sequence so I decided to head to Fort Rinella Fort Rinella in Kalkara. Continue reading “Fort Rinella and a very Big Gun.”

Day trip to Birgu.

After the washout the day before I was really hoping for some better weather on the 7th March as I only had three full days left and there was still so much to do. Whilst there were various places in the mix, the weather looked pretty good and so I decided on Birgu as it combines two of my great loves which are military history and specifically the Crusading Knights. Continue reading “Day trip to Birgu.”

Winter sun washout.

March weather in Malta!

If you look at the image which heads up this post then I really need say little more but I know you really would not expect that to happen and nor is it. Continue reading “Winter sun washout.”

Another great day out.

The 6th of March came around and I cannot say it was exactly fair but at least it wasn’t raining and so another day out and about seemed called for. Somehow or another time had crept up on me and I realised that I had only a few days left on the island and still had much to see. Continue reading “Another great day out.”

Fast forward a day or two.

Hello again and, as always a very brief word of explanation. This entry, should you have alighted on it by accident, is one of a series so I suggest you scroll back to the 13th February where the whole thing starts and it may all make a little sense but then again it may not!

If you have been reading through you will know that the last entry here in my Malta travelogue was back on the 26th February 2013 and this one is all the way forward to the 4th of March so I should clear that one up first. The weather, which had been so poor for so many days thus far just set in nasty and it would have been no pleasure to go anywhere so I had a few days of sitting in Dick’s Bar as usual, eating lovely home made food (pictured as always) trying to catch up on my internet writing with varying amounts of success and that was about it really. Continue reading “Fast forward a day or two.”