It was a 5:00 a.m. start this morning to catch the first train from Ollantaytambo, an Inca-Rail service to Machu Picchu. Boarding was very different from anything we have experienced. We were led traditionally dressed musicians and dancers from the Booking Hall down the street to the railway station and the awaiting train. The journey …
We are in the Sacred Valley, a 42km long fertile area formed by the Vilcanota and Urubamba Rivers flowing from the watershed above Lake Titicaca to the Amazon. Along the valley we saw crops of maize, alfalfa and potatoes all grown here because of the alluvium but in Inca times they were known as ‘a …
Today was a getting there day – a flight to Cusco. The collection by our taxi from the hotel was easy until quickly everything stopped. There was a road closure without warning, then some 30 minutes later on the coastal highway we quickly arrived to the edge of the airport. Here nothing moved. Eventually someone …
We spent the morning touring the Centro Historico where the remains of colonial era buildings, churches and Art Deco buildings are at every corner. The churches are packed with ornate guilded altars with amazing carvings in mahogany covered with gold leaf and other timbers which have the appearance of rock. Nearby is the Museo Larco …
We departed Manchester on time at 05:55 on our flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. It was interesting because we have never flown on the new Airbus 220. Arriving early we had a leisurely transfer to our Lima flight on a Boeing 777-300 extended range which enabled us to fly the 6,515 miles nonstop. …
Can you guess where we are heading? Click to see a clue. As we have to travel light and will be in remote areas we will only post text when we can and then add photographs at a later stage so keep returning to these pages for updates.
Fog delayed our arrival a little on Tuesday and consequently we rescheduled our flight to London for Thursday, which meant additional days in Halifax. We are now at home after a journey of around 17,000 miles.
We are currently crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence which was found for Europeans by John Cabot of Bristol. He was a Portuguese navigator but given an English name by the Bristol nobility because his voyages were an ‘inside job’ to seek the fish that the Basques were already catching. This was in 1497 and …
Another fog-bound morning, because we are heading south and in the Humber Estuary. We were arriving in Corner Brook. Found by James Cook in 1767, this settlement is now one of the largest in Atlantic Canada and Newfoundland. In 1943 Churchill and Lord Mountbattan and Geoffrey Pyke, a scientist, had a plan to build massive …
It was a fog-bound morning with rain and then more rain when we arrived at Red Bay, Labrador. However, the historical and archaeological evidence of whaling made this walk ‘across the end of the earth’ worthwhile! Named Baie Rouge by the French in the 17th century, Red Bay is a natural harbour that was used …