I’ve got six minutes left on this free WiFi at McDonalds to write about the beautiful medieval village of Gruyeres, and upload the photos. So here are the sights in bullet-point form: HR Giger museum and bar Castle Bike race Really nice village — go visit it! :-) (I’m out of time, here are the […]

It wasn’t long after Dave and I had started dating that I went to his flat in Spain, along with family Bartlett who I met then for the first time. We joke now about a comment his mum made as she watched me taking Dave out in a small sinking sailing dinghy without a life […]

Imagine this scenario. One sunny morning, after a gentle stroll in the mountains, you are unexpectedly presented with an unlimited, unrestricted and unsupervised supply of Swiss chocolate. Well that’s what happened to us. Ok, it wasn’t completely unexpected. We had taken a free tour of the Nestle-Callier chocolate factory, to see how the yummy stuff […]

One year, when I was a kid, I had a bike for Christmas. I fell off it and have not gotten back on any bike since. Truth is, I’ve ‘happily’ driven a car at 130mph and ‘happily’ fallen out of an aeroplane approaching 120mph, but a bike at just 10mph was way too scary a […]

Or so I kept telling myself, as it was “tayta’s” in the water (or “freezing”, for those outside East-/South-end). It had to be done though. I’m proud of Squiffy for having a go also, even if it  meant that her extremities were still white for an hour afterwards…

Our first Swiss campsite was in Rolle, on Lake Geneva. We parked up at night on the front, right next to the lake. I woke up early the next day to suck in the view. Some people live full-time on the campsites that we’ve been to. On this one, I could be tempted. Note to […]

I worked in Zurich for a short spell a few years ago. The business people with whom I came into contact took themselves very seriously. Don’t get me wrong: They were great people and had most interesting things to say. I just couldn’t find a single soul who told a joke, or laughed at mine. […]

Driving south-east from Dijon, the landscape changes within what seems like just a few miles; from the straw-coloured agricultural flatlands to fern-green forests, repair-ready barns to alpine log chalets. The air seems somehow lighter, crisper. We have crossed the border into Switzerland. The road twists and climbs. Hearing cowbells, live, for the first time invokes […]