During the weeks leading up to our visit to Morocco, I experienced the usual dilemma that precedes all of our travels. To be better prepared for the journey ahead, do I immerse myself in learning about the country, its culture, what to see, what to do? Or should the forces of chance and luck and…
If someone ever decided to devise a course to acquaint the unsuspecting visitor with the general chaos and sensory overload of the Moroccan Medina experience, they will be wasting their time. It is available – for free – every day in Essaouira (pronounced: Essa-weera). The first-time guest to Morocco will not have the frame of…
I think it’s fair to say that you don’t often see your soon-to-be vacation home in one of the Microsoft Bing daily wallpaper photos. The image was achingly beautiful. A recently-departed sun continued to cast a magical light on the scene, painting the horizon with thin layers of golden stripes. Three small white boats, resting…
I had never felt more relaxed while watching England play football. Born just two days after its one and only global triumph, 55 years have taught me to expect the worst. It has become a kind of self-preservation technique. However great the anticipation, there was always a Polish goalkeeper, a divine hand, or any number…
Due to a road collapse and a landslide, the Quilotoa Loop is currently subject to a significant and perilous detour just north of Lago Quilotoa – and is completely blocked to traffic north of Chugchilán. Road Collapse near Lago Quilotoa Approximately 1km north of Lago Quilotoa the first road closure has a detour that, after…
Under the partial shade of a tree there sat an old plastic garden chair. Many years ago, the yellowish chair had probably been white and, more likely than not, each of its legs had connected to the ground in a reassuringly simultaneous and sturdy manner. On this day, those properties were lost to time. The…
I have travelled this road thousands of times. I know all of its many and varied potholes, simultaneously acknowledging their growth and avoiding contact with them in the manner of a disinterested parent. I know the intersection where the traffic always slows to a crawl and where, fifty yards later, it accelerates again as…
I hadn’t seen you for a long time. I suspect we both knew that this first encounter after such a long break was going to be a little awkward. Looking back on it now, and even though we’ve known each other for decades, it was naïve to think we would just be able to slip…
Two journeys, separated by 25 years. Architecture, separated by 19 centuries. Both iconic.
A journey through the sublime to the absolutely terrifying – and all points in between – was the story of ten days in Peru. Nick Orchard | 24th April 2020
Apparently. the theme of our passage through the Panama Canal was … “Don’t look behind you!” But the view from the bow had its advantages … Nick Orchard | 23rd April 2020
This is the first of what may become a series of short posts – occasionally just photographs – that recall a world that still exists beyond the window of a locked down room. Although currently beyond reach, there is endless inspiration to be found in the memories of wandering on a foreign strand … —…
If you’re going to paint lines on the road, make them fun!
This was going to be a travel story. And then the world changed. Leafing through the pages of my journal, the varied memories of last summer’s self-directed tour through seven European countries jumped from the pages; vivid and distinct again, as if each event had happened this morning. The lines of often illegible scrawl and…
I’ve been teaching myself Spanish for a few years now. It was always something I wanted to learn, but my natural tendency towards procrastination had stopped me from actually doing anything about it. In fact, had it not been for the urgent need to find an alternative entertainment to the excruciating radio advertising jingles that…
Journeys And 