Travel | the writer is a lonely hunter

Lots to get excited about

by gailaldwin

With the opportunity to meet up to six other people outside from 29 March (when some of the lockdown restrictions are lifted in England) I find my diary filling up. My mum is visiting from 1 April (she’s in our bubble) and my daughter returns to Dorchester until her new-build house is ready. I haven’t seen either since December when we had a pre-Christmas celebration so I’m really looking forward to catching up. Mum and my son share the same birthday in April so there will be more celebrations before she goes home.

In other news, David and I achieved a long held ambition yesterday. The windows of our house look over water meadows to a ridge with a clump of trees. Setting off at ten o’clock, we stomped beside hedgerows and through fields to reach the trees ninety minutes later. They were not as we expected, with the evergreens hiding two huge water tanks but the deciduous tree with its many trunks and extensive roots was fascinating.

We covered 15km in total and saw other interesting things along the way.

Our plans to visit Scotland depend on further lockdown restrictions being lifted but we will definitely be heading off in the coming months. Arrangements are confirmed that will enable us to spend time in Cambridge over the summer. And now the clocks have changed to British Summer Time, things are definitely looking up.

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On a road to somewhere

by gailaldwin

At a time when we’re restricted in our movements due to Covid19, it occurs to me that travelling by road is now something to savour. And there have been many journeys I’ve taken by road that are worth revisiting. From unsealed routes to highways, roads are symbolic of progress, a life path, even a map to the future and a way back to the past. But it’s the physical experience of travelling by road that I’m interested in exploring here. If you’ve followed my recent posts, you will be aware that the journey from Koboko to Yumbe in Uganda is along a red dust road. Travel behind another vehicle and visibility becomes a huge problem. Other hazards include cows (they always have right of way), motorbike taxis called boda bodas (which slip in the dust) and the inevitable potholes. The drive to Bidibidi refugee settlement is even worse especially when riding pillion on an off road bike. It felt like we were driving over corrugated iron and it was hard to believe the conditions could get any worse… but they did. With the arrival of the wet season in March, rivers of rain gouged deep tracks in the paths and on more than I occasion I got off the bike to walk rather than face negotiating another gully.

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Other occasions when I’ve walked alongside a vehicle include a journey from London to Kathmandu in 1981 with Top Deck. The travel company was started in the 1970s by a group of Australians who converted Bristol Lodekka buses into touring vehicles by fitting a kitchen and seating downstairs and installing bunks on the upper deck for sleeping.

photo: Philip Wadds

On the mountainous roads across northern India and into Nepal, we were frequently required to walk in order to lighten the load on the vehicle. Doug Foskett’s footage shows instances of us doing just that. Another perilous road, this time covered in snow, was negotiated with the use of only two snow chains for the wheels. As we approached the Turkish border with Iran, the bus slipped and slid so much we passengers were like crew on a dinghy, lurching from one side to the other in order to keep the bus steady.

photo: Philip Wadds

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Jessie Cahalin AKA Books in my Handbag

by gailaldwin

Jessie Cahalin is a prolific book blogger who is also a published author. I was delighted to read her recently published novel You Can’t Go It Alone which has received many four and five star reviews. Jessie kindly dedicates much support to other writers through her blog. You can find my cover on Jessie’s very popular Handbag Gallery. Here you can click on any cover you fancy and the link takes you to further information about the book. Here’s a picture of what to expect:

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She hosts a Blogger’s Cafe, too. This works on the same principle as the Handbag Gallery but this time showcases the blogs of a range of authors.

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I’ve been fortunate to be interviewed on Jessie’s blog and she’s posted one of my stories. You can read both here. All Jessie’s posts are accompanied by wonderful images to compliment the text. The care Jessie takes in presentation makes it an absolute delight to appear on her blog.

To top all this, Jessie has just posted an outstanding review of Paisley Shirt. She’s taken prompts from my collection to write the review as a piece of flash fiction. This not only demonstrates her talents as a writer but is a wonderful tribute to my collection. I am absolutely thrilled and can’t thank Jessie enough.

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