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Retired and Restless.scot

Exploring Scotland, Europe and the World

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Category: Europe

July 2022: First Time in Cornwall: Part 3

22 March 2023 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

St Michael’s Mount Friday brought another solo day trip by train and also the achievement of another item ticked off on my personal ‘bucket list’. I visited Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy

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July 2022: First Time in Cornwall: Part 2

17 February 2023 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Falmouth (Town) As is clear from its name, Falmouth is situated at the mouth of the River Fal. It is the second-largest town in Cornwall, both it and larger St

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July 2022: First Time in Cornwall: Part 1

30 January 2023 RandR.scot England, Europe, UK

Introduction & Arrival Until summer 2022, Cornwall was perhaps the single most spectacular ‘oversight’ in my personal travel history within the UK. (Others still remaining include SW Wales, the Moray

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July 2022: Two-Centre Sweden: 2. Stockholm

6 January 2023 RandR.scot Europe, Sweden

Journey and Arrival Our rail transfer between Sweden’s second city and its capital took just over three hours. City Hall – Gamla Stan The following day, having arrived at City

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July 2022: Two-Centre Sweden: 1. Gothenburg

28 December 2022 RandR.scot Europe, Sweden

Journey and Arrival Our journey from London to Gothenburg had originally been booked as a short hop in British Airways’ Club Europe cabin. When the airline subsequently cancelled our flight,

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Thailand Contrasts (2022): Days 18-19: Modern Art & Homeward Bound

23 December 2022 RandR.scot Asia, Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Europe, Featured Flight, Scotland, Thailand, UK

Bangkok’s MOCA Our final day in Thailand began with the familiar routine of hotel breakfast and showers, followed by the last packing of the trip. The main sightseeing objective today

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Thailand Contrasts (2022): Days 6-7: An interlude in Leiden, then onwards to Phuket

7 November 2022 RandR.scot Asia, Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Europe, Featured Flight, Netherlands, Thailand

Leiden Yes, Day 6 and I was still in the Netherlands – but on track to travel this evening! I had my usual Hampton breakfast before showering, packing and checking

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Thailand Contrasts (2022): Days 3-5: Last few hours in Amsterdam … or so I thought!

7 November 2022 RandR.scot Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Europe, Netherlands

The reason why I’m treating this as a block of three days will become clear soon enough. Today started out well enough and initially ran as planned. After checking out

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Thailand Contrasts (2022): Day 2: A full day in Amsterdam

7 November 2022 RandR.scot Big Trip, Europe, Netherlands

Breakfast, which was included in my hotel deal, consisted of typical continental fare, with the occasional nod to UK tastes that I largely avoided! After eating and showering, I caught

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Thailand Contrasts (2022): Day 1: Getting started with a North Sea hop

7 November 2022 RandR.scot Big Trip, Big Trip Diary Entry, Europe, Netherlands, Scotland, UK

It was the most unassuming of starts to an intercontinental trip: a short hop to Amsterdam in Economy. Regular readers will know that this is not necessarily unusual for me.

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Thailand Contrasts (2022): Introduction

6 November 2022 RandR.scot Asia, Big Trip, Big Trip Intro, Europe, Netherlands, Thailand

Although the Covid-19 pandemic certainly wasn’t over, 2022 finally brought a significant recovery in long-haul travel. Bruce and I envisaged one joint-venture extended trip this year, based on Thailand. The

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May 2022: Walking in the Pentland Hills: 2. Harlaw and Threipmuir Reservoirs

20 October 2022 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

My second venture into the Pentland Hills took place just over four weeks later. This time my walk was circular, starting and ending at the Balerno terminus of Lothian Buses

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April 2022: Walking in the Pentland Hills: 1. Torduff and Clubbiedean Reservoirs

18 October 2022 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

This introductory walk – perhaps surprisingly, my first venture into the Pentlands – began at Torphin bus terminus and ended at Currie Kirk. The former was reached at the time

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April 2022: Edinburgh: Silverknowes to Cramond Brig

14 October 2022 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

This post illustrates a picturesque walk in North Edinburgh from Silverknowes Golf Course to Cramond Village, then along the right bank of the River Almond to Cramond Brig.

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April 2022: Edinburgh: The Queen’s Gallery: Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace

13 October 2022 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

The Queen’s Gallery, Edinburgh is part of the Palace of Holyroodhouse complex. (Ticketing can be either combined or independent.) It is located at the corner of Horse Wynd and Abbey

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March 2022: Wonderful Copenhagen (Part 2)

26 September 2022 RandR.scot Denmark, Europe

This is the second of two posts about our March 2022 visit to the capital of Denmark, Copenhagen (Danish: København). Royal Palace and Marble Church Amalienborg (1760), home of the

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March 2022: Wonderful Copenhagen (Part 1)

30 August 2022 RandR.scot Denmark, Europe

Introduction The main part of the title is the name of a Danny Kaye hit from 1953 – that’s before my time, but I remember hearing the song as a

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March 2022: (City of) Stirling

22 August 2022 RandR.scot Europe, Scotland, UK

Introduction This post’s heading takes a slightly non-standard form as the name ‘Stirling’ applies to one of Scotland’s smaller cities and also to the much larger council area in which

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