Antwerp - Zeeland

14th – 16th July 2007 Antwerp - Zeeland

To see photos, click on this link...http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/14th16thAntwerp

We left the rowers, runners and cyclists to it and moved on towards Antwerp, along the typical Belgian flat, dead straight and concrete roads (all with cycle routes, of course). Antwerp’s highly complex road system did for my navigation skills – and that was with Autoroute and gps!

We spent 2 free nights on an enormous cobbled carpark, on the waterfront (River Schelde) in the middle of Antwerp – yet more fab views of water and land activities - large container ships, jet skis, very giggly people smoking joints, couples getting close to doing whatever. Rick’s greatest entertainment stemmed from discovering a hotspot accessible from the van – oh joy! - although the varying signal strength occasionally meant sticking the laptop out of the roof window!

We found a super pedestrian tunnel, with cycle lifts, under the river, 0.5 km long, built in 1933 (when was the Greenwich one constructed?) and cycled into Antwerp centre – yet more impressive medieval Flemish buildings. We also discovered the Eurogames - we should have realised the pink logo was significant…..the gay games was certainly well attended; the city was bustling with life, music, entertainment. Great atmosphere. By now, it was 36 deg C.

We visited the Diamond Museum; although flashy, information was rather random and disappointing. The impressive station building (see picture) overlooks a busy square. Although not quite up to Sheaf Square standards, it did include the Zoo entrance, with camel landmark sculpture and life-size driftwood elephants!

Left Antwerp in amazing thunder and lightening and drove to Zeeland in southern Holland. We found ourselves in the Dutch Costa, with huge, beautiful sandy beaches, campsites everywhere in lovely scenery and a superb network of cycle routes. Hot and sunny - who would believe British weather is just over the way? (I keep hearing about rain on the radio, just before I hear the Archers!).

We cycled round Vrouenpolder (an inland lake that once was the sea) and admired the fascinating feats of engineering, from water drainage, to wind turbines and dams, to a sliding road on a lock-gate and the tidal barrage.

On to Rotterdam next…..

Black Forest to Munich

9th - 13th August 2007 - East to Munich

More photos at: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/findthebinghams/MunichAndBavariaBlog

We've travelled through some beautiful Bavarian countryside and via some rather picturesque motorways, stopping off to admire scenery and the Zeppelin Museum at Lake Constance. We finally arrived at Munich. Founded in 1158, it’s clearly had time to develop into the bustling, lively city it now is – there’s so much going on here, museums, parks e.g Englisher Garten (see pic), galleries, the odd beer hall or two…. We saw the temporary buildings going up for the Oktoberfest - a huge steel and timber estate built for 16 days - and could only boggle at the thought of the quantities of beer and people and rubbish ……

Rick was really in his element in the Deutches Museum, reputedly the largest science and technology museum in the world; we could only to a bit of it in 7 hours. He enjoyed the high tension lab (see big spark opposite), just as he remembered from when he was a lad 40 years ago, and the lightning exhibition was suitably loud and impressive. We saw endless wonders, including the Wright brothers first aeroplane and a U1 sub. I also found a giant motor neuron cell, (below) and thought of sticking pins in to it, to get my own back…

I had my first experience of a German Beer Keller – at the 400 year old Hofbrauhaus – well, you have it to do…. It actually caters for a staggering 2300 people. We had a great time – litres of beer, an oompah band, men in leather lederhosen, sausages and sauerkraut – what more could you want? To complete the picture, it was Saturday night, it was raining and Bayern Munich had just won. All I can say is that after 1.5 litres of nice beer, it’s all very entertaining. Even getting lost cycling back to the van seemed funny at the time. Aren't tram tracks tricky on a bike!


We seem to have the knack of finding ‘pink’ celebrations. This time, it was a music and beer festival in Munich Altstadt , with an excellent live band, (some clad in only pink or blue very tight-fitting shorts and balaclavas) doing their thing in the pouring rain. They and their audience of umbrellas were having a great time.

Our waterpump gave up on us, so we stopped at a Hymer place to replace it – at the wonderfully –named Suzlemoos. It’s almost as good a name as where we now are – Dinkelsbuhl. This is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany, with its 4 towers and walls intact, still protecting its beautiful timber-framed houses. However, not all is ancient - we’re actually staying in a field, with a wifi connection....... After exploring the surrounding villages we'll be off to Berlin for another City Break.

Thailand And Other Places East of Grinstead

17th to 19th February 2016 - To Bangkok

As usual we have let our blogging lapse at the beginning of our trip, so we are now 10 days into our stay in Thailand, which will shortly become an expedition into Malaysia, then Singapore, finishing up with a cruise to Shanghai before flying back to the UK.

Travelling out to Thailand was fairly mundane until we started our run of  Upgrade Luck, The first win was a very welcome upgrade to Business Class with Emirates from midnight Dubai to midday Bangkok.  After being handed replacement boarding passes, which just said "Business" we were still uncertain about the upgrade until Rosi was shepherded into an A380 reclining upholstered bathtub with built in free minibar and iPad. Ever modest she then asked for a glass of orange juice (by then I was on my second glass of champagne and still looking for my own bathtub).

We all need upgrades

Bangkok is a high tech shambles, terrible congestion, throat tickling pollution, but lots of smiles and very welcoming,.. even to the extent of upgrading our hotel room to a suite.
We had two full days to explore... nowhere near long enough but we managed a long tailed boat tour of the River and Canals, a tour round a few of the more important temples, including my favorite, the Reclining Buddah and a tour of the Royal Park, where Rosi got a strident whistling from the Park Policeman for having the cheek to lie down on a bench for a kip.

Rush hour in Bangkok 

 Exploring the canals was interesting, although one can spend a lot of time in the locks waiting for another half a dozen long tailed boats to fill the chamber.  And one's attention is mostly drawn by the ramshackle huts that are gradually sinking into the alluvium only a little faster than the rest of Bangkok.

Overhead Truss supporting segmental arch

  The flood defences I saw are poorly maintained and set to fail, so, although all their new transport systems are being constructed 20 metres up in the air on vast glued segmental arches  Bangkok is the last place I'd want to invest in. At least the roads will be useful in rescuing people from the flooded City.





Travelling was easiest on the MRT underground with a three day pass costing just £4.60,  but I had to try the Skytrain, which is also out of reach of the floodwaters,   unfortunately it was so packed at rush hour I couldn't see out.

Travelling to Ayatthuya, about 50 miles North was even cheaper at about 50 pence, although we did go third class, which meant my seat wasn't fixed down and kept threatening to deposit my neighbour on the floor every time I fidgeted. At least the ceiling fan worked.  At your seat food and drink service is excellent, in fact the constant attention from the vendors threatened to block the aisles all the way there.  If you want ice cream you have to lean out of the window at stations and waft a 10baht coin about (20 pence a scoop, and delicious).


More here soon...

Blog 7 18th to 29th July Alaskan Cruise and Seattle

Blog 7 18^th to 29^th July Alaskan Cruise and Seattle

Many thanks to all the Jacksons for putting us up again, and then kindly taking us to the cruise ship. We had a fabulous 7 weeks (and 3500 miles) in their van and we really appreciate everything they did for us – thank you!

We still weren’t sure about the idea of a cruise – but we are now! Alaska has such a stunning coast, most comfortably viewed from the 9^th floor of a ginormous floating luxury hotel, with a glass in hand, sitting on your personal balcony….

The ship itself was amazing, 2850 passengers and 1500 crew, 315m long and  37m wide, with 19 decks –we got lost several times. It even has a real lawn on the top deck! Rick took a ‘behind-the-scenes’ tour starting with the Captain welcoming me on to the Flying Bridge which even has a window in the floor so he can position the boat accurately against the pier.  Then on to the mooring deck, crew quarters and engine control room, where the huge diesel electric generators power the ship, including both 20 megawatt Azipods that propel the ship in any direction.  The Quartermaster took us around five of the huge warehouses containing enough food and drink to satisfy  4000 crew and cruisers for two weeks.

Top Deck Lawn

We sailed up the Tracy Arm fjord in glorious sun (at 6.00 am), through beautiful clear water and ‘burgerbits’, towards the South Sawyer Glacier. What a sight! We were surrounded by true wilderness, hundreds of acres of it, with steep towering mountains that plunge into the fjord. This was as spectacular as it gets – just stunning. We just stood and watched in awe for 2 hours.

South Sawyer Glacier

In Juneau (State capital, pop 33,000), we had an absolutely brilliant tour in a boat, landing out right by 13 Humpback whales, feeding together by creating a  bubble net, in which to trap the fish. There are only 2 places in the world where they do this collectively, and we saw them do it 5 times! It was a pretty emotional sight. We could clearly see the baleen as they closed their great mouths to catch krill (and the odd seagull).

Our tour continued with an abundance of wildlife -  100s of Bald Eagles were standing in the stream, just picking out chump salmon that had just started to head up the streams to spawn.  A young black bear wandered about 2 metres below us while a porcupine snoozed in a nearby tree.

In Skagway, we took the White Pass and Yukon Railway 27 miles up to an elevation of 873metres. It was a really scenic route up steep gradients and cliff-hanging turns, over original wooden bridges with unparalleled views across the Chilkat Range, reaching meadows, lakes and streams at the top. It was built in 1898 in the wake of the Klondike Gold Rush, as an easier way for prospectors to reach the mine area, other than using the dangerous trails.

We waddled off the ship after having eaten much more rich food than our camping tummies had been used to and made our way to Downtown Seattle for three nights in the Hilton for a substantial reduction in luxury.

Seattle felt great, especially as we had hot sun, not (as we were told) the usual rain…Pikes Place Market was fun, bustling, retro and exciting. We also found the first ever Starbucks (so named after Captain Ahab’s Chief Mate, apparently – why?).  Our visit was well timed, coinciding with the Grand Torchlight Procession of the month-long Seafair Festival.

The futuristic Space Needle is Seattle’s grand icon. Built in 1962, along with the monorail, for their World Fair. the panoramic view from the top swept across the city from sea to mountains, encompassing the ubiquitous Google and Amazon corporate developments which are taking over the north bay area.

Chilhuly Glass Ceiling

We were captivated by the colours, size and forms of the exciting glass artwork in Chihuly Gardens and Glass, built to celebrate the creativity of Dale Chihuly  http://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/ . We returned to see it all in the dark, with its clever lighting effects.

Our last morning was spent on a Boeing Tour at Everett.  This is where 747s, 777s and 787 Dreamliners are assembled from parts brought in by road, rail and Dreamlifters (a bulging 747) on huge production lines in the biggest enclosed space in the world.  43,000 people work at the plant and can cause massive traffic jams at going-home time.

At the nearby Future of Flight exhibition, we practiced flying in the cockpit of a 777, looking as though we knew what we were doing. A few hours later we flew home in one, but were disappointed nobody asked us to help out.

We’re now home in Sheffield, exhausted and jet-lagged, but it was all worth it as we’ve had such an exceptional eight weeks in a fascinating part of the world.   We’ll be back!

Masses more photos at : 
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6041952838827621489
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6040963326438328753
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6042246406719447457
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https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6042273287827998641
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6042273967384871201

To the Rockies

Blog 6   6^th – 13^th July. To The Rockies

Sea to Sky Highway in murky mist!

Don’t miss the spectacular Sea to Sky Highway we were told! But we did… we couldn’t see a thing from the coastal road, as we climbed out of Vancouver in the rain and fog.

However the next day, it was completely different as we approached Mount Robson, the tallest ‘Rocky’ at 12972ft, had briefly lost it’s cloudy shroud and looked magnificent as contrails streamed away from it’s sharp ridge. 

ice glacier mohican?

Full of enthusiasm, we hiked up to Lower Joffre Lake, a mere 500metres…how beautiful!  Then we were told the Middle Joffre Lake was even better, so we trekked a further 6km, all up a notional track requiring energetic clambering over rockfalls and rootladders.  Arriving at Middle Joffre Lake we found yet another fabulous vista.  Then….Upper Joffre Lake was only 1.5km further, (but a climb of 1200ft!) so, completely knackered but unable to resist another level of awesomeness, we carried on climbing up an unmade track. Over the last boulder – wow! the afternoon sun shone on the intense turquoise milky lake at the foot of a crusty glacier with an ice tower mohican. It was surrounded by craggy peaks and dammed by moraine boulders. We just sat there, in wonderment (and wondered how we were going to get down again).

thrilled but exhausted

I thought I had an idea of the Rockies – but nothing can really prepare you for actually seeing them – the size, the shapes, the colours, the contours. The first sighting of Mount Robson was so overwhelming, that I very nearly cried.

Just as you think your brain has adjusted to the size and scale of the Rockies, you go round a bend, and there’s yet another mind-blowing view! 

The Icefields Parkway, from Jasper down to Banff, is the most stunning drive imaginable. The only other comparable icefield is in Siberia. We took the Jasper Sky Tram (50yrs old cable car) up 7500ft to Whistlers Mountain, then climbed up to the top (9000ft), for a stunning view of the world below, whilst  being in the midst of 360deg of rugged snow-covered peaks.  How special is that?

 The wild flowers were so beautiful and we saw a few marmots – they hibernate for 9 months of the year, and sit in the sun for the other 3. Sounds like they haven’t got past adolescence to me!

 

Thanks to Helen and Howard’s book, we did some fantastic trails up into the

these colossal mountains. Wilcox Pass gave us a challenging hike, but then spectacular views across Lake Louse and Athabasca Glacier, especially when comfortably seated in their colour coded lawn chairs with built in picnic table! 

An erratic?

165ft deep

Erosion has created some stunning canyons and chasms while ancient glaciers have arranged random boulders called erratics for more interesting photo opportunities.  Maligne Canyon was really impressive - a deep and narrow chasm (165ft) with torrents of water churning and bubbling below, then disappearing over thunderous waterfalls.

Athabasca Falls was pretty impressive too.

The many lakes, of course, are equally astounding –beautiful and picturesque set between soaring scree slopes and conifer covered crags . Medicine Lake was particularly interesting – it has no river outlet, and empties through 16km of caverns and crevices in the rock below it. We were really taken with the super reflections in Bow Lake.

Lake Louise was packed – traffic and tourists alike. When we did get to see it, we weren’t convinced it really lives up to its own hype. Yes, it has lovely colours and has the glacier above it, but the monstrous hotel village is a bit of an eyesore and we’d seen Upper Joffre Lake, much more stunning.

It would seems that bears are like no 22 buses. We’ve now seen 6 Black Bears (see video of

Black Bear Video Near Maligne Lake

one of them), and  2 Grizzlies, mum and baby, eating buffalo berries which were viewed from the Lake Louise ski chairlift. Brilliant! And our other treat was to spot this Scarface Pika, about the size of Grace’s chinchilla (but a bit more mangled – we think an eagle had a bit for lunch).

Grizzly Mum and Little One

Pika at Kicking Horse Lookout

We didn’t get to Banff, because of time, and also missed out on Head-Bashed-In-Cliff - you can guess what used to happen to Buffalo here! We did find Pot Hole Lane, one for Sheffield to adopt, possibly. Then there was Wrong Way Lane that we didn’t dare go down – or up. 

  

The National Park campgrounds have been in some wonderful locations, each pitch quite secluded, surrounded by trees. One, in Jasper, has to be shared with grazing elk, and has been this way for years. Actually, it seems elk are the most dangerous animal around, more so than bears, wolves and cougars – calving and rutting result in very aggressive and dangerous animals for a while, the rest of the time they look very friendly.  Last night we stopped in a National Forest campground which was free and still had a firepit grill, table and bench and toilets.  You had to pump your own water from the well and a bear was hanging around looking for a free lunch.

Not sure how Rick does it, but he happened on the Rocky Mountaineer pulling in to stations at both Jasper and Lake Louise  and two ‘random’ railside picnic stops have culminated in multiple roaring diesels and Canada Pacific trumpeting….I think it all started back at the Sacramento Railroad Museum.

Apparently we are in the midst of an unprecedented heat-wave, and it’s been dry for so long, there are dozens of fires in the NW Territories. Even our Icefields Parkway to Banff was closed for 24hrs for firefighting and poor visibility, with the smoke still much in evidence the next day.

  We can’t escape technology even in the Rockies and while we were in Maligne Canyon we spotted someone experimenting with his four engined video drone. However he was too wary of losing the control signal to allow it to descend into the deep canyon where the best pictures would have been.  And Rick is also coming home with a new Transformer Tablet…cheap from Walmart’s Techno Toy Department!

If the hat fits…….

We’re now back in America, heading for Olympia – then the Alaskan Cruise…..


More photos at:
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036352140303208177
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036351102825608177
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036351607535344193
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036350433641901041
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036349735465707393
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036349078378223313
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036348856450783649
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036348126526452193
https://plus.google.com/photos/112477145672617228065/albums/6036347679622174977