The Costa Brava area of Spain runs pretty much from the French border to Barcelona and is well known by the resorts of places such as Blanes, Lloret de Mar, Tossa de Mar and Roses. We chose not to stay at any of those 'famous places' but plumped for a place called Sant Feliu de Guixols (or SFG). We had no idea what to expect at SFG, but having looked on Google Maps, and having done a bit of research it didn't seem like the place to get an English breakfast or pa...

This long weekend trip to Spain was possible because Heather had the [mis]fortune of having to work a number of additional hours in Swindon that resulted in us being able to tag three days onto a weekend . . . . so we had nearly a week away! Having done some research the best location we could find in terms of maximising the time away from the UK was Girona in Spain. There was a late flight out on a Friday evening from Birmingham and an early evening flight back...

Our good friends Tim and Georgie invited us to join then for the weekend at the Forest Holidays complex at Coleford in the Forest of Dean close to the English/Welsh border. Arriving in the wooded park that makes up the site we were pleased to see a rather smart three bedroom wooden cabin complete with all mod cons and a hot-tub. The site also had a shop, bar/restaurant (called the Forest Lodge) and was close to many walking trails that could be accessed without ...

Looking back on my records the last time that I visted Northern Ireland was 2012 and then that was only Belfast city centre having travelled by train from Dublin with the 'cheeky boys', the previous trips in 2007 and 2010 with Heather saw us travelling a little further afield as we had a car. This trip with my mum was to be her first ever trip to Northern Ireland and fortunately we really did luck into some smashing weather to enjoy not only the coastal areas bu...

The journey to Batumi on the Georgian Black Sea coast took about five hours from the capital city Tbilisi. The train was a very modern double deck multiple unit built by Swiss manufacturer Stadler. Our first class journey cost just under £15.00 each and it was nice way to end our 'coast to coast' journey by rail. The railway station in Batumi is however around 5 km from the centre of town and you need to take a taxi to reach the centre or good walking shoes. Ou...