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Mike Gerrard's BlogPosted by Mike Gerrard Browsing on Amazon the other day I found a book called "I Never Knew That About England". It's one of a series of books by Christopher Winn, with other titles covering London, Scotland, The English, Wales, Ireland, and The Irish. If they're all as entertaining as this one, I'll be reading them forever more. The England book is full of fascinating and unusual information about the 39 counties of England, arranged alphabetically from Bedfordshire to Yorkshire. Each chapter has only a short list of places covered, but they're the places about which the author has found out most of the fun facts he is obviously keen to share with the readers. Then each chapter ends with a page or two of short anecdotes about that particular county. About my own county of Lancashire I learn that it's the place where the first steak was dubbed "Sir Loin", the county where the Quakers movement was founded, and where the Spinning Mule and Spinning Jenny were invented, though the author misses the fact that the geographic centre of Great Britain is near a phone box at Dunsop Bridge, and he also (tut-tut) mis-spells the name of my home town! It's St Helens, not St Helen's. Among the stories in the book you'll discover where the first garden gnome in England appeared, where the first true aeroplane flight took place, and hear about England's first speeding ticket, where a policeman was able to catch up with the speeding car on his bicycle. "I Never Knew That About England" is the perfect book for trivia fans, and compilers of pub quizzes everywhere. It's published at £9.99 by the Ebury Press. You can also sign up for a newsletter at the official I Never Knew That website. *Posted by Mike Gerrard Not many people can get to call themselves Travel Writer of the Year, and it's time for me to have another go in the annual award competition from the British Guild of Travel Writers. I've never won it yet, but last year my wife Donna Dailey was runner-up, and collected her award and prize at the BGTW Awards Dinner at London's Savoy Hotel in November. I can't tell you how proud I was when she stepped up onto the stage, especially as some of the articles in the portfolio she submitted were written right here on her pages at Suite101. Yesterday I was Googling 'Travel Writer of the Year' to see what came up (OK, it was a distraction from actually writing anything), and was amazed to find a video of Donna receiving her award posted on YouTube. You can take a look at it here. The prize was generously donated by the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau, but sadly didn't include a trip out there (for two, of course!) We're both busy getting our entries together for this year's Travel Writer of the Year Award, and will be keeping our fingers crossed from now until November 9th, when the results will be announced at at the Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel in London.Posted by Mike Gerrard I was recently in Durham and as well as seeing the magnificent Cathedral, the famous Durham Miners' Gala and Crook Hall and Gardens in Durham itself, I also saw the wonderful Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland. Several of these attractions have got together and agreed some discount deals for visitors this summer, to help everyone who's facing up to the credit crunch. Some of the deals on offer include 2-for-1 admission to places including Auckland Castle, the Weardale Railway, the Tanfield Railway, Barnard Castle, the Bowes Mseum, Crook Hall and Gardens, Durham Castle, the Treasures of St Cuthbert at Durham Cathedral, Prince Bishop River Cruises, the Botanic Garden, the North of England Lead Mining Museum at Killhope, Durham's fabulous Oriental Museum, and several other attractions. There are other offers too, such as free admission for kids at Hall Hill Farm, shopping discounts, and 10% off selected bike rides with North of England Trike Tours. The full details are available on the Durham Tourism Partnership website by clicking this link, and you'll also be able to download the discount vouchers. Well done Durham, I say! * Read here all about the Durham Miners' Gala. *Posted by Mike Gerrard I've long wanted to see the Durham Miners' Gala. I grew up in St Helens in the north of England, which is best-known for glass-making. But there were collieries too, and with an uncle and a grandfather who both worked in the coal mines I've always been aware of the tough and dirty work that the miners do in the pits. Although we were a long way from Durham, their annual Miners' Gala was not just a physical get-together for the Durham miners, but was a spiritual gathering of miners from everywhere in Britain. Whether you lived in a mining town in Lancashire or Yorkshire, in south Wales or Scotland, you were there supporting the miners in Durham, as they celebrated the work they were proud of, and remembered their colleagues who had lost their lives. So to be in Durham last Saturday was a very special day for me. It's rare these days to see such a gathering of working men, especially as the last coal mine in Durham closed in the early 1990s. The miners who helped to build Britain will never be forgotten, though, and it was heartening to see so many young people in the brass bands, continuing the musical traditions, and to see the older men proudly marching. And if there was an occasional tear in my eye, it must have been caused by the wind blowing in off the River Wear. To read more about the Durham Miners' Gala, click here. *Posted by Mike Gerrard I've reviewed several London guidebooks, walking guides, guides to the best London pubs and bars, the best London restaurants, and even its movie locations and Beatles links. Here's a list of links, bringing them all together in one place: Beatles in London Walk Complete London Residents' Guide The Good Food Guide to London Historic London Shakespeare Walk Historic Riverside London Pub Walk Jack the Ripper Tour of London London's Best Bars and Pubs London Movie Location Guide Mini London Visitors' Guide Real City London Sherlock Holmes London Walk Walking Dickensian London Wallpaper City Guide to LondonPosted by Mike Gerrard England has three entries in the TripAdvisor top ten list, the same as Italy, but with the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland included as well, that makes the UK the best place in Europe for free attractions. I was delighted to see the list as I spent this morning writing about the Giant's Causeway for my next book, the Traveller's Atlas of Europe. It's published in February 2009 (order your copy today!) and is my personal choice of the 50 'must see' travel sights in Europe. I was fondly remembering my trip to the Giant's Causeway, and all along the fantastic North Antrim coast, so was pleased to see that the users and editors of TripAdvisor acknowledged what a great place it is – and that thanks to the National Trust who manage it, admission is still free (with donations always welcome, of course.) So here's that list in full, so you can debate whether you agree with the TripAdvisor choice. But I'm not arguing with their pat on the head for the UK:
Posted by Mike Gerrard I've unfortunately never stayed or played golf at the Celtic Manor Resort near Cardiff in Wales, the venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup. But I have been to a big function there, when a few hundred members of the Society of American Travel Writers attended their annual convention in Cardiff. I went along with other members of the British Guild of Travel Writers, having a rare chance to meet up with our American colleagues. We were all stunned by the quality of the Celtic Manor. It was stylish, and then some. The new Twenty Ten Ryder Cup course is the first golf course in history that has been custom-designed for this biennial tournament between Europe and the USA. The course, and its clubhouse, were opened on 28 May 2008 by the Right Honorable Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister for Wales, which shows how important this event is for the country. The Twenty Ten course and clubhouse cost about £16 million to build, and have been designed not only to challenge the golfers but also to appeal to the spectators. Steep hillside runs alongside the closing three holes, to allow the maximum number of spectators the best view of the final action. The course is a par 71, and half the holes have water hazards that are described as both picturesque and penalising. The new Ryder Cup course sounds amazing, and I know people attending the tournament will have a fabulous time. I'm a big fan of the city of Cardiff, and the beautiful area surrounding it. And of the Celtic Manor Resort. I must go and stay there sometime! Check out the Celtic Manor Resort website and see what I mean. Find out a little more about the Ryder Cup course and the Celtic Manor Resort by reading an earlier article. Click here.Posted by Mike Gerrard What's the best bed and breakfast in Britain? Impossible to say. But each year Britain's AA announces the winners of its B&B Awards and highlights some of the people giving outstanding service in guest accommodation in the UK. The winners this year are: London B&B of the Year San Domenico House, Chelsea Although the 16-room San Domenico started as a luxury B&B, these days's it's more like a boutique hotel in Chelsea, so not quite the average British b&b, and prices start at £230 per night. It's a 3-minute walk from Sloane Square tube station and 45 minutes by taxi from Heathrow, and obviously a superior stop if you want a quality London boutique hotel. * Funkiest B&B The Enchanted Manor, Isle of Wight Landscaped woodlands, outdoor sculptures, indoor artworks, four-poster beds and slipper baths are all part of the experience at this magical boutique retreat on the Isle of Wight. * Friendliest Landlady of the Year Margaret Frost, Diggins Farm, Chipping Ongar, Essex Margaret has been welcoming guests to her 16th-ccentury farmhouse for 8 years, and provides extra treats like homemade cakes, complimentary taxis to Stansted airport, and even surprise gifts to guests who stay a few days. * AA Guest Accommodation of the Year: England The Stables Lodge, Lamesley, Newcastle Indulgent luxury in a 'Hunting Lodge' theme in a semi-rural retreat but close to one of England's liveliest cities, Newcastle. * AA Guest Accommodation of the Year: Scotland Fauhope House, Melrose Luxury 5-star standards in the Scottish Borders in an 1897 house that still manages to feel like home. * AA Guest Accommodation of the Year: Wales Tan-y-Foel Country House, Betws-y-Coed Just 6 bedrooms, all with views over Snowdonia, with country house luxury but an informal feel have won Tan-y-Foel several awards. *Posted by Mike Gerrard The death of Robert Mondavi on May 16, 2008, at the age of 94, saddened me. It wasn't that I knew him, but I have enjoyed many of his fine California wines, and he was a figurehead and a pioneer in improving American wines. He was also a very real person, a friendly-sounding name at a time when it seemed you had to be a Baron in France in order to make good wine. When I first drank American wine in England, there was only one choice. It was Paul Masson wine, red or white, and it owed its popularity as much to the fact that it came (as it still does) in unusual large bottles with metal caps that you prised off. Afterwards the wine bottles made good flower vases, or you could put kitchen utensils in them. It's amazing to think back, not so very far, to a time when that was the only non-European wine you would find in most stores. It was a time when Monty Python made sketches about Australian wines – the very notion of a decent Australian wine made us laugh. It was also about the time when Robert Mondavi was opening his first Napa Valley vineyard, in 1966, independently from his family firm. By 1976 Napa Valley wines, including Robert Mondavi's, were beating the most expensive French wines at the infamous blind tasting in Paris. Yes, California wines have come a long way in a short time, and the death of Robert Mondavi – the man who invented Fumé Blanc, among so many other achievements – should make us all sad. But happy too for a long and full life. * Here's a link to a piece I did for Suite101 about visiting Napa Valley vineyards, including Robert Mondavi's. *Posted by Mike Gerrard It was September 20, 1777, when Dr Samuel Johnson made his famous remark about London to James Boswell: "Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." I am indebted to the Samuel Johnson Soundbite Page, for this and other marvelous quotes by Dr Johnson. This in particular appealed to me right now: "Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts." The reason I went looking for that famous Johnson quotation, which is as true today as it was when it was said, over 200 years ago, is because of some London walks I've been reviewing lately. What would Dr Johnson have made of audiowalks, or podcasts? As he was a man of intellectual energy and great curiosity, I'm sure he would have loved them. He would have been fascinated by the way Brick Lane, for example, had changed over the centuries. And he would have loved the London walks booklets produced by Louis' London Walks, which explore those little lanes and courts, and cover the tapestry of London life that Johnson relished so much, from the Beatles to Jack the Ripper, from the historic riverside pubs (old enough for Johnson to have drunk in them) to Princess Diana, and from the fictional London of Sherlock Holmes to the all-too-real London of the Kray Twins. Next weekend I'm off exploring Maritime Greenwich, and can't wait. I'm not yet tired of London, and so thankfully not yet tired of life. *Posted by Mike Gerrard This week I'm wanted as a Venice guidebook expert. A few months ago it was Amsterdam. Before that it was Paris, and before that Athens. Given the recent storm caused by the Lonely Planet writer who claimed he wrote about Colombia without setting foot in the country, you might like to ask if I've actually been to all these places. Well, yes I have. Frequently. It's a shame Lonely Planet took the flak, because it seems the author concerned only wrote the History section of the guide, and you don't need to travel to a country to do that. The fact that he had a book to promote, about writing guidebooks, means it should all be taken with a pinch of salt, to use one of those clichés we guidebook writers are meant to love so much. There are several sides to the story, and one of them is that, yes, some publishers pay guidebook writers very little. But there are also guidebook writers who abuse their publishers by not doing a professional job. I know several who take the money and run - though not to the destination concerned. For the Venice guide I'm updating, the publishers (the AA) not only write it into the contract that I have to go, they are also paying a reasonable sum in expenses. Not enough to stay at the Gritti Palace and dine Michelin-style, but enough for basic living expenses. Last year I updated my Essential Athens guide and turned it into Essential Spiral Athens, the new-style AA series – after ten days in the city. So yes, most guidebook writers do go to the places we write about. That's the best part! I don't need asking twice to go visit Venice, and maintain my credentials as a guidebook expert.Posted by Mike Gerrard Lost luggage is one of the worst fears that frequent flyers face. Waiting at the luggage carousel while everyone else's bags arrive, but not yours, is something that we all have a chance of facing at some time in our travels. Yet most lost luggage is not in fact lost. It's more often simply been parted from its owner and its luggage tags, and most baggage is eventually fund and returned to the right people. The problem with most lost luggage is in finding the right people. Many travelers use a flimsy luggage tag, which can easily be ripped off leaving no owner's details in the bag. If the airline's own barcoded baggage tag also comes off – and it happens – then the bag is unidentifiable. The lost luggage could belong to anyone, anywhere in the world. There are about 250,000 reports of lost baggage in the United States alone every month. And rising. Six years ago a traveler named Chris Truelove and his wife lost one of their cases. They had to survive a three-week trip on what they could buy locally, and were disappointed by the compensation the airline offered them. So Chris and his wife set up www.globalbagtags.com. For £9.95 you get a pair of sturdy luggage tags, each of which has a unique code on it. You also get a year's access to the online database. Here you can record your itinerary and contact details, every time you travel, and if your luggage is lost the airline can track you down and get it back to you by going online and finding you. You should also, of course, write the information on a card and put it inside your luggage, for double security. I use them myself and hope I never find out how well they work. *Posted by Mike Gerrard I expected to enjoy Disney World, Epcot, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and all the other theme parks and fun experiences when I went to Florida recently. The Spiderman ride? Fantastic! Go back and do it again. We went Soarin' at Epcot two days in a row. And who doesn't enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean? But what really blew me away about Florida was the wildlife. We saw manatees swimming at the Blue Springs State Park, and again at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, just a few miles from the Kennedy Space Center. We saw 'gators, bald eagles and wild pigs, right in the Space Center itself. Injured manatees were being cared for at Epcot and SeaWorld, under the excellent wildlife protection programs that many theme parks operate. Two of the best days we spent in Florida were when we got out and did some wildlife watching with knowledgeable guides. One was with Boggy Creek Airboat Rides, who are just south of Kissimmee, and with our excellent guide Martin Wallace we saw osprey, bald eagles, snail kites... and, of course, 'gators. The other great wildlife experience was with Brian Faulk, who runs Canoe Escape and was our guide on a canoe trip of a few miles down the Hillsborough River. It was a rich and relaxing experience, getting up-close views of roseate spoonbills, anhingas, hawks, all kinds of herons and ibis, woodpeckers, and, yes, Florida's 'gators. As Brian said to us at the end of the trip: 'That's an experience you don't get in a theme park.' The wildlife of all of the United States, not just Florida, is wonderful and precious. Protect it and cherish it. * Read about the Boggy Creek Airboat Rides near Orlando and Kissimmee here. * Read about the Canoe Escape near Tampa here. *Posted by Mike Gerrard Last week, fresh back from Florida, I tried to pick my top Orlando attractions. It wasn't easy and I couldn't reduce it to the Top Ten that I'd originally planned to do – but then I also wanted to include our side trips to the Space Coast and to the Tampa Bay area. This week it set me thinking – could I choose a Top Ten list of London attractions? That would be even harder, as I lived in London for almost 15 years, and we'd only been in Florida for a month! But I decided this time I would definitely keep it to just ten, and try and come up with a list that everyone should absolutely not miss when on vacation in London, whether you're there on a family holiday, honeymoon, business trip, solo vacation or whatever. Whether you're 17 or 70, there are certain things in London you really have to see, and then you can add some more depending on your personal preferences, whether nightclubs or theatre visits. And I did come up with my own personal London Top Ten, though because of the space restrictions on Suite101's pages, I had to divide it into two. But that made me realise that half of London's top sights are right on the river, and I'd already chosen the River Thames itself. So here they are, London's Top Ten Attractions, divided into: London's Top Five Travel Attractions London's Top Five River Attractions *Posted by Mike Gerrard We've just returned from a month in Central Florida, where my wife was researching a new guidebook to Orlando, with excursions as far as Tampa and St Petersburg on the west coast, and the Space Coast in the east. It was a hectic non-stop trip, and my first visit to the Sunshine State. It was an eye-opener, showing me there's more, much mre to Florida than just Disneyland and the other theme parks. Here's a quick run-down of my personal Florida favorites:
Posted by Mike Gerrard When we left our home in England we had been battling a plague of carpet beetles. These creatures fly in your windows during the warm summer months, lay their eggs in some dark corner, and the first you know about is when little holes start appearing in your carpet or your favorite clothes as the larvae start munching away. They'll continue to gnaw at your clothes – even cotton and artificial fabrics – till the spring comes when they fly out to the garden and the whole cycle starts over again. But carpet beetles are wimps compared to the pests we find when we come to Arizona. Bugs eating our clothes? That's nothing. We'd only been here a few days when it was time for our annual termite inspection, and the guy called us out to look at something in the garage. One of the wooden jambs on the garage door was rotten from the inside, eaten away by the termites. They'd come up from under the concrete garage floor and gone straight into the middle of the wooden support post, and chewed their way up. They're an invisible menace, impossible to detect until the wood and the paint start crumbling, looking like they do when rot sets in. The guy punched several holes in the wood with his screwdriver, showing that the blind little creatures had eaten their way up by a few feet. The post was going to need replacing, after treatment. So back in England the carpet beetles are probably still tucking into our clothes, while here in Arizona termites are eating our garage.Posted by Mike Gerrard One of the Christmas presents my brother gave my wife was 1000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz. This hefty book provides a traveler's life list of places you really must see. Not content with a Top Ten Travel Destinations, the author attempts to provide us with, well, what it says on the tin: 1000 Places to See Before You Die. The wrapping was hardly off when we were checking how many of those Top 1000 we'd enjoyed.
Posted by Mike Gerrard As a travel writer who has written a lot about London, and lived there for about 15 years, I've got to know the city pretty well. I lived in Notting Hill, have been up Big Ben, been invited to the Houses of Parliament and dined at some of the best restaurants, like Gordon Ramsay, Nobu and The Ivy. But there's one thing about the city that always excites me, and gets me jumping up and down like a little kid: a cruise on the river. Lots of PR companies know this, when they want to get travel writers to attend their events. Organise a London river cruise and you're sure of a good turn-out. One of the publishers my wife and I write for, Insight Guides, hold an annual summer party on one of the Thames river cruisers, and they always have a waiting list to attend. They go down the river as far as the Isle of Dogs and views of Canary Wharf, and up the other way to Hammersmith past the Houses of Parliament. To see London lit up at night, especially the buildings along the river banks, is an experience you'll never forget. That's why I've written a short piece about London river cruises, with links to several of the tour companies offering them. If you're planning to visit London soon, or even if you live there and have never been on the river, take a look at Sail on London River Cruises. *Posted by Mike Gerrard That was bad timing on my part. The 2008 Six Nations starts on February 2nd with the Ireland-Italy and England-Wales matches, at Croke Park and Twickenham respectively. And will I be staking my usual place on the sofa, glued to the box for the afternoon? Er, no. Three days earlier we fly off to our place in Arizona, where it is safe to say rugby doesn't get a look-in. I know, because I've tried. The USA may have had a team competing at the Rugby World Cup but can you track down any rugby coverage on any of the 4000 TV channels the average household can tune into? Not a chance. Not that it would help if we could. Less than two weeks after arriving we leave again to spend a month on the road in Florida, researching a guidebook. So on February 23rd, when there are three matches one after the other, we will be – according to my wife's military-style itinerary - in Disneyland. There's a Mickey Mouse joke in there somewhere, given the way one team played in the World Cup, but my Irish friend would never forgive me. Full 2008 Six Nations Fixture ListPosted by Mike Gerrard I grew up in St Helens, which was in Lancashire at the time, though later someone sneaked in one night and moved it into the district of Merseyside. We all suspected it must have been a Liverpool Scally, up to no good. In those days, if Liverpool was European capital of anything it was more likely to be car crime than culture. Liverpool was our nearest big city, easier to get to than Manchester, and it was where we went to do our Christmas shopping, or sometimes to go to the pantomime, and later as a teenager to see the Beatles and other pop stars like the Rolling Stones, PJ Proby, Stevie Winwood and the Spencer Davis Group, Mary Wells, The Hollies and many more I've forgotten. As I grew older and realised that history went back a little bit further than the Beatles' first LP (which was the first LP I ever bought), I discovered that Liverpool did have its own distinct history and culture, like no other city in Europe. The docks and the shipping trade was fascinating, Liverpool had one of the world's first commercial ferry services, going across the Mersey between the Liverpool shore and the priory at Birkenhead. In the 20th century it produced great comedians like Ken Dodd, Robb Wilton, Jimmy Tarbuck, Tommy Handley, Alexei Sayle, Ted Ray, Paul O'Grady, Tom O'Connor and Arthur Askey, there were playwrights like Willy Russell and Alan Bleasdale, and of course the great 1960s days of Merseybeat – the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer, the Searchers, Cilla Black, The Swinging Blue Jeans, the Fourmost... the list really is almost endless. So to see Liverpool as the European City of Culture 2008 is really rather special to me. The next twelve months will be - fab! * |
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