Author Archives: dipidydoo
Who Do We Think We Are
I blame Michael Portillo. The man has spent years traversing Britain by train, hunting out the quirky and obscure on our behalf. Our second “Portillo” was a visit to Barters Bookshop, in the old Alnwick railway station. One of the walls has a list of all the Alnwick railway workers, and there are several Dodds […]
Hadrians Wall
Hadrian’s Wall. It was hard to believe we’d been in Northumberland for five days, and still hadn’t seen it. We’d seen signs a-plenty, but were yet to lay eyes on the actual Wall. That all changed today, as we drove west. There are stone walls absolutely everywhere here, but The Wall is easy to spot. […]
Trains, Ferries, Tilting Bridges, and Vampire Rabbits
After three days of our own version of Escape to the Country, we decided it was time to have a look at the City. Our accommodation host had advised us, wisely, to drive to a Park & Ride and take the metro train, rather than do battle with the traffic and the one way streets. […]
Bavarian O Tour – The Maps
Here are hi res versions of the maps from the Bavarian O-Tour. Best seen by saving images in order to view details. Day 1 – Bamberg. Long distance forest. I only did controls 9-11, as I rolled my ankle the day before. Day 2 – Stussenbach. Middle distance. Beautiful pine forest with scattered rock. This […]
Border Country
It was Sunday morning, and time for our first ever UK orienteering event. The local club, Newcastle and Tyneside Orienteers (NATO), were staging an urban race in Killingworth, which is an outer suburb of Newcastle. It was very relaxed, with a “choose your own start time and course”. We felt that we’d done our share […]
Across the Country to Carlisle
With a forecast of heavy cloud, showers and a fresh breeze, we turned the itinerary on its head and decided to pursue indoor activities. So it was off to Carlisle, which is on the other side of the country, but only about 75 minutes’ drive away. First stop was the Solway Aviation Museum, which was […]
Roamin’ Amongst the Romans
It’s amazing what 11 hours solid sleep will do to revive you, followed by a leisurely breakfast, a lazy morning, and a lunch of bacon and fresh farm eggs. You may guess that we were not very energetic this morning. We both needed some time out. My ankle no longer looked like an ostrich egg, […]
Germany to England
Transit days are never fun. My watch, Ian’s phone, and the neighbouring church bells, all told us it was 5am and time to get up. We embarked on a major repack, wondering how we’d accumulated so much food! We ate mounds of cornflakes for breakfast, and sloshed down lemonade for morning tea. It was a […]
A Proper Castle and a Big Brick Tower
We farewelled our Schloss in the morning, but before long we were headed to another castle – Burg Trausnitz, which is perched on a hill above the city of Landshut, and which was the venue for the final day of the Bavarian O Tour. We’d been promised orienteering in and around the castle and on […]
Running Around Regensburg
It was just a short hop to Regensburg for the fourth race, as we resumed our orienteering program. We had a 900 metre walk to the start. Normally this is a chore, but today we headed off through wooded parkland beside the river, then past colourful houses, a fountain in a platz, under an arch, […]
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