In an article I wrote in 2014, I likened life’s journey, the choices we make and the direction we take, to navigating in the hills. We each will have familiar repeating tasks in our everyday lives that become routine. Yet our life is full long-distance journeys which, as we grow older, take us to unfamiliar…
Avignon Short Trip – 5 Great Sites to see in Provence
Paul has fond memories of living in Avignon for a few months as a young missionary volunteer in 1986, and it’s a place that we have been lucky to visit a few times since. Famous for its papal palaces, roman architecture and castles, Avignon is surrounded by the lavender fields and mountains (including Mont Ventoux)…
Normandy: 6 Places to Visit & Extra Ideas For Your Holiday
We have had numerous holidays in France and even lived/worked in Paris a few years ago, but have never visited this corner of France. The Normandy coastline lies to the north-west of Paris in between LeHavre and Cherbourg. This area is full of historical stories dating back to when the Normans conquered England and William…
Alpine Mountain Refuges: 5 reasons why you should experience them
Whether an experienced mountaineer or keen walker, you have not really experienced the Alps until you have stayed in one of the thousands of mountain refuges there. Some in the lowlands are easily accessed, even by car. However many ot them are high on the rocks, accessible only by walking in and out. The facilities…
Guide to Start Climbing Your Own Via Ferratas
If you enjoy hill-walking, scrambling or climbing you may not yet be familiar with the mountain experience known as a Via Ferrata (or Iron Path) although they can be found in most areas of the world. They originated in Italy at the start of the 20th century to facilitate troop movements across the mountains. There…
Infographic – Why Being Busy Does Not Equal Being Productive
This is a popular post from a few years ago – here is an infographic that will hopefully be a helpful tool. Here is the original post on my coaching website Share your experiences and challenges with busyness!
Family Travel: Can Airbnb beat Hotels?
Our experience of travelling as a family over the past few years, can give some very interesting insight into how family hotels compare with Airbnb. We would be interested in hearing about your favourite places too… Background To Airbnb We have been using Airbnb several times a year since 2015, and have found it to…
Infographic – 5 Keys To Excellence In Anything
For much of my life, I felt that to excel at something you need to be talented or at least born with a head start, that you either have a gift or you don’t. I’ve always been a mediocre sportsman. I played in both my school rugby and hockey teams but only as a reserve…
Planning Your Coast to Coast Cycling Route
Get five guys together and an idea like, “Why don’t we do the Coast to Coast (C2C) on bikes?” might just come up. Three of us had minimal experience and didn’t cycle very often whilst the other two used their bikes regularly – so there was a mixture of responses to the idea! We would…