The Big Blog
The Circle of Oaks
At some point around 1840, or just before, someone planted a ring of some 14 pedunculate or “English” oaks around a spring in the Adelaide hills at what is now known as Gumeracha. A name thought to be derived from Umer-acha, a word used by the local Peramangk...
15 June 2020
The Deity of the Desert
Cradled in the arms of the disappearing giantRecent rains in north eastern Australia have given some relief for the starved grazers and the graziers. The tributaries in the catchment of the Darling River have been flowing, birds have begun to sing again and...
31 March 2020
Love and lust under the Kissing Tree
It's hard to imagine anything more wonderful than a "Kissing Tree", especially during the present viral pandemic. This glorious Moreton Bay Fig tree planted in the 1890's stands today at the top end of Perth's Murray Street. Its great branches span across...
19 March 2020
The Mail Bag tree
This venerable brown stringybark (Eucalyptus baxteri) tree was once the local post office!When diggers were working the Blackwood Gully goldfield in the 1880's in South Australia, the mail to and from the prospectors was left in a bag hanging on a hook on...
31 October 2019
Fleeting moments
The sun perked up as we crossed the Tay Road Bridge in DundeeThe weather hasn't been too kind over the past month, actually it's been pretty drizzerable with rain falling everywhere we have been every day. The few exceptions being a couple of days on the Isle...
6 September 2019
The words unsaid
The master, John McGuinness on the run down Bray Hill.Our trip was organised to coincide with the Isle of Man Classic TT, on the world's most famous motor racing circuit. On the first day of racing we took our spectator point from advice given in the race...
3 September 2019
Combestone tor, wind, the dart and moor
Above: into the unknown, Combestone farmOn top of a hill sit a great pile of rocks, belligerent, defying gale force winds and driving rain, at least for the moment. A few metres downslope a track winds its way slowly down the hill and onto a little shoulder...
11 August 2019
The last postcards from Spain
Serendipity strikes again.Zaragoza, always good to seek out the town belltower for a good perspective.Freedom of expression, Zaragoza.The stone houses of Aragon, Ainsa.It's a new baby!The future is hereWell that's it from Spain, we're off to catch the ferry...
3 August 2019
Opening Andorra's Box
A view in the French Pyrenees, flipping from Spain to Andorra to France and back to Spain happens quickly with a twist of the wrist.The record breaking summer heat of 35-40 degrees C has curtailed our riding somewhat and kept up the afternoon siestas. After...
27 July 2019
A Daliance in Catalunya
We left Narbonne and headed south along the foothills of the Pyrenees, the wind was atrocious, blowing a gale one second then stopping then blowing again and swirling around . Even though we weigh just over 400kg on the road, we were being tossed about like...
22 July 2019