Travels of a Navigator, 4th Class: Our Industrial Past

Today, normal service is resumed, navigation-wise - and this time, it probably is my fault. The weather has taken a turn for the decidedly soggy, so we plot a route to Blaenavon, the World Heritage Town, containing an old ironworks and Big Pit coal mine.

Travels of a Navigator, 4th Class: Climb Every Mountain

Today there are absolutely no navigational problems! I get us exactly where we want to be - finding the road northwards towards Hay on Wye without a single hitch. The fact that the road, shown as a thin white line on the map, turns out to be a single track, between high hedges and with very few passing places, is really not my fault!

Travels of a Navigator, 4th Class: Not My Fault (Again)

Today we decide to start the holiday with a gentle walk - a couple of miles along the river to visit a waterfall just outside Glynneath, which is some twenty miles away from our hotel. We start off well: finding the required B road, making our way through a chicane barely inches wider then the car; crossing the weak bridge and driving through the village of Llangynidr at the other side.

Travels of a Navigator, 4th Class: Setting Off

Our trip to Wales is booked as the antidote to the two months of preparation and ten days of mayhem that was Chudfest. We've timed it precisely: giving ourselves a week to return all the borrowed cool boxes, crockery and bits of equipment; count all the money; and recover our sleep. I've written a ToDo list - and it's all finished bar a couple of items postponed until after the trip. We're good to go!

A Broad Abroad: From Everglades to Baseball

A whistle blew and the train trembled into movement. My home for the next twenty-eight hours comprised facing seats that slid towards each other to form a flat bed and a tiny, boxed-in commode with fold-down sink above. Compact — and all mine.

Got My Mojo Back...

One of the gifts I inherited from my father is the ability to sleep well. I am lucky enough to be able to fall asleep anywhere, any time: in hotel rooms, on planes, on Russian overnight trains; in the taxi between my hotel and the next factory to be audited; in theatres or cinemas where the warm, dark environment is just so tempting; in cold empty marquees; or in front of the TV - my husband will attest to the number of programmes I have snoozed through after settling down eagerly to watch them in the 'sleeping chair' as he calls my wonderfully comfortable recliner in our lounge.

Elizabeth Chats With...Tina Burton

This month's visitor was the first guest on my monthly interview slot back in October 2013. She's a fellow Devonian writer, although we met online long before we got together in person. Her second novel The Love Shack is published on 28th July, and she's popped back for another chat. This month, I'm delighted to be chatting (again) to Tina K Burton.

I've Not Been Around Recently...

For the second time in less than a month, I've missed my regular blog posting this Monday. Once is excusable; twice is getting to be a habit! So I thought I'd better say a word about what's kept me from writing for the past few weeks.