Independent Travel Notes

New Sails

November 23, 2023

A month after my last post here and an email arrived from Kenna at Sanders Sails to let me know that the sails I ordered for Paloma in September were ready for collection…

My sailing friend Steve offered to skipper for me in Paloma on a sea trial in mid-September. Unfortunately our first attempt at getting the sails set didn’t come to much, both the mainsail and the jib were too big for the mast track. But while waiting for new sails to be made up, I’ve suffered another setback…

Paloma Mast Refitted

August 24, 2023

Today there was a slot available at the boat lift at Shamrock Quay for Paloma to have her mast restepped. It was removed two years ago and stored on a mast rack at Seatons Marina until I loaded it onto the trailer when I purchased the boat in July. Other than being checked over the mast had been sitting on the rack ever since. The restepping was cancelled during the boat’s transition from trailer to berth two weeks ago when we ran into some snags, which Cameron and Glyn at VMG Rigging have been working through for me.

Thanks Margaretha!

August 19, 2008

I would also like to say a big thank-you to Margaretha Danbolt Simons and John Hart for an unforgettable stay at Margaretha’s summerhouse in Stavern…

On My Way Home!

August 19, 2008

Just time to write a quick note to say I’m on a big container ship in Brevik waiting for it to slip its lines and sail to Immingham in the UK, which it should reach on 20 August at 0200 - then I join the family in Cornwall for the last part of the summer holiday by the beach

Time to Reflect ...

August 13, 2008

I have been in Strömstad in Sweden for several days. This pleasant seaside spa town is famous for enjoying more sunshine than anywhere else in Sweden. It’s some 135 km from Oslo, and makes a popular day trip destination for the Weegies. They can catch the Color Line ferry from Sandefjord which docks here to buy all of the expensive things at home much more cheaply abroad.

A Ride Along the Klarälvsbanan

August 8, 2008

Another unexpected and rewarding discovery this week has been the Klarälvsbanan, a fifty-five mile (90km) asphalt-surfaced cycle route from Hagfors to Karlstad that follows the line of an old railway track. It’s flat, tree-lined, and very pleasant to cycle along as it broadly follows the course of the river.

Someone else on a bicycle!

August 5, 2008

This is a rare event, considering the number of miles clocked up here in Sweden. After days and days of riding in isolation from Stockholm along the Sverigeleden I meet another cyclist, heading in the opposite direction!

The rain caught up with me

August 3, 2008

After two weeks of browning my knees in the scorching Swedish sunshine, I’m now back in my rain gear again.

I’m trying to ride towards Arvika to find out about opportunities for a canoe holiday there next year, but the rain is falling in sheets today, so I am going to make a short 40km dash from Borlänge, where I have stayed overnight in the luxurious but very reasonably priced First Hotel, to the youth hostel at Grangärde at the top of Lake Väsman to the west.

Jo and Beamer At Nordkapp

July 30, 2008

I am delighted to discover that my Troms cycling companion Johanna and her faithful bicycle Beamer made it to the North Cape, completing 10,000 kms or more on the road since leaving Munich at the start of the year. She emailed me today. The weather seems to have been pretty much the same for her as it was for me!

Rest day near Avista

July 28, 2008

Despite a lot of rumbling thunder yesterday afternoon, I am now edging into the second week of lovely cycling here with blue skies, melting tarmac on the road, and gentle breezes - no rain yet.

Yes, I should splurge on a T-shirt or two… rather than wearing the Icebreaker wool top, although this is surprisingly comfortable to ride in in the 30° heat.

An unexpected visit to the summerhouse of Linnaeus

July 25, 2008

Today I stumbled upon the summerhouse of Carl Linnaeus,the man who invented the taxonomy system we use for the plant and animal kingdoms. I discovered that he was also something of an ecologist, perhaps the earliest one to go into print.

Summer days in Stockholm

July 23, 2008

I was up early taking photos in the deserted old town district of Stockholm at 07:30. This worked out very well, because I was at the door for the extraordinary Vasa Museum an hour later, just as it opened, to beat the crowds.

Arrived in Stockholm

July 22, 2008

Every time I change planes at Oslo Gardemoen I seem to run into a delay with the transfer that sees me sprinting from one end of the airport to the other, and in the 15 years of doing this I’ve learnt that even if the airline thinks that you can get through the transfer in just an hour, it rarely works out like that. This time I knew it was going to be extra tight because the flight from Bodø was very late in leaving for its trip to the capital with me onboard.

Leaving Stamsund and the Lofoten Islands for Sweden

July 20, 2008

I have finally reached the end of the Norwegian leg of my cycle ride from Bergen to Nordkapp and around Senja and the Vesterålen islands and the time has come to pack my bags for the next leg of my trip. This involves two of the long distance Sverigeleden cycle routes that join Stockholm to Strömstad on the west coast of Sweden, and a final ferry trip across to Sandefjord and a bit more cycling to Stavern in Norway where I plan to close out my summer trip in about one month’s time.

Impressions: Sweden by bike in 2008

July 12, 2008

If you are looking for something different in your next cycletour in Europe, Sweden is a strong contender for combining endless opportunities for wild camping with well-signed cycle routes and a good mix of historical buildings and pastoral scenery. The only downside is that as you go further North from Dalarna the preponderance of forests and hills can make things monotonous. I really enjoyed pedalling around Dalarna and Varmland and Uppland though and traffic was never a problem!

First Day in Western Australia

May 8, 1993

Mileage on Odometer after NZ: 2684.7

We arrived in Perth on an “Ear New Zealand” flight from Auckland in a venerable Boeing 767 at 22:00 - an hour or so later than planned; to us it was 02:00 Auckland time. A fine, warm, moonlit night. The signage at Perth Airport reminded us both of home and Heathrow Airport but it couldn’t have been more different. We were the only flight to arrive that late and customs and immigration formalities were minimal. There was no damage to the boxed bikes or searching questions beyond being asked where we were staying that night; we answered with the address of popular Backpacker hostel but we were expecting to hide somewhere close to the runway in our tent instead.

Edge Cases

January 2, 1970

This post from the original Github repository retained for having a high usefulness score even if unrelated to the rest of the site :-) Some edge cases and cautionary examples on using Markdown for writing content using this theme. In particular, list syntax can really knot things up.

Tufte-style Jekyll blog

January 1, 1970

The Tufte Jekyll theme is an attempt to create a website design with the look and feel of Edward Tufte’s books and handouts. Tufte’s style is known for its extensive use of sidenotes, tight integration of graphics with text, and well-set typography.

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