X Transport found!

Designers have surely found a niche in the market, your mode of transport will fly off the shelves as long as it begins with the letter x. It seems i'm not the only person trying to do an A - Z of travel as the Internet is full of people looking for modes of transport beginnign with X. Well look no further, fingers crossed I get to try out at least one of this lot: -

The Jaguar X Type

X - City 125 Yamaha Scooter

And the rather quirky looking

X - bike

Here's your host...

I realise yet again why I originally fell in love with London. Everything is so alive and vibrant. There is so much going on all around you, you can spenda whole day just people watching. I had tickets to see All star family fortunes live, I didn't need any help from the warm up guy at the TV studios, Waterloo had already fired me up. After asking 3 random foreign locals for directions we fell across a path through a blue tunnel. After passing Charlie Stubbs off Corrie, turned right into the blue tunnel. Through the tunnel, past the two people making out and back to the surface. Turned around and asked a few guys doing Parkour for more directions. The guy I asked was more than happy to help and even more happy to get that back flip off the kerb out of his system. Past the gallery with the giant astro turf seats, through the funky eateries and onto the studios.

Once you find them, you are greeted by a guy whose great with colours and sooooooooo happy to see you. On with the wrist bands, 196 and 7, and we're hourded in. Past Waterloo's version of Hoolywood Boulevard, we are honoured with the hand casts of the creme de la creme of british campness and family viewing.


Quickly nip to the loo, that is unless you're a lday where you'll be queuing round the corner. Sucks to be you. We get in and find out we're going to be filming two shows back to back, both with C list celebs involved naturally. Most noticeable is Vanessa Feltz with her sickelny sweet mini mee clone daughter in a bizarre looking dress with a liking for shiny shoes and her new partner, one half of Phats and Small. "HEY. What's wrong with youuuuuuuuuu" is played throughout and is proof the brothers have natural rhythm and the rest of us... don't! We laughed when we were told, clapped when we were told and the whole thingy was really groovy and different and well worth trying. Think jury service but more fun.
The highlight for me was Waterloo itself though. The return journey gave us giant touch screens, funky slopes, skate park kids, grass chairs, polka dot trees, an elephant stuck in a window and a fantastic view of the thames and embankment. I'm in love with London all over again :)















Rossifer x

Road Trip

Travelling with both a veteran and relative novice like me, this was my first road trip. Lost most of the things on this site it’s something I’d never thought of doing before, my lone trek to Lands End was now a stop by stop road trip for 3. Unlike the abseiling, I’d been semi-dreading it all week but in the end it turned out way better than i'd ever expected. My driving can often lack finesse and I’m known to curse quite a bit when driving alone but I loved pretty much every minute of the driving and every minute of the trip itself. I’m starting to learn it’s not always the destination that matters, it’s everything else in between, that was definitely the case here.
First stop was the campsite in Braunton just outside Ilfracombe. I so wanted a go on the golf cart the guy at the site was using to direct us to our plot. Remind me to see if his job is available when I’m his age. It was close between that and the funky looking sidecar we saw on the way down as to which I’d want a go on first. If (like me) you don’t relish the thought of cold showers and crapping in a bucket then I can definitely recommend both the sites we stayed at.

First evening we spent munching fish and chips on Saunton beach, a cool little place we fell across which was our first view of the sea on the trip. Second day after my first night sleeping outside which wasn’t in a mate’s back garden it was onto Ilfracombe which is a great place for exploring rock pools and coastal walk but not so great if you’re a pidgeon where we saw one get nailed by a passing car just in front of us. Rest in peace little guy.

Driving out of Devon into Cornwall we headed to the surfers paradise of Newquay. The town itself is beautiful, not really my sort of place though. People go to Newquay for the beach and the surf, most of them are blokes of normal height, tanned, designer stubble, full of pecks and tragically they are all very nice for the ladies to look at. Sadly I tick none of those boxes so was more than happy to drive on when we eventually found the car by the crazy golf course and motorised scooter (note to self, add that to the list). I got a cream tea out of it all though so it wasn’t a complete waste. They say when in Rome do as Romans do, I was in Cornwall so was going to make damn sure I got my clotted cream tea. Pip got her Pastie the day after so we ticked all the culinary boxes. In the cafe we had lunch in, the girls met up with a fellow Kiwi who had settled over there and we also spoke to some guy who had worked around Reading. What a small world we live in!















Anna suggested stopping off at St Ives way back so we dropped in on the way. We were all pretty out of it with all the driving so quickly parked in a vets so we didn’t have to pay for parking then took our shots and left. A shame because the views were better than those at Ilfracombe, by this stage though we all wanted to get to the camp site. We could tell Lands End was getting closer, it really felt like you were leaving civilisation behind at times with some of the roads down there. Our site was in St Just, 5 miles out away from the end. It was just like the last site, everything just seemed to work perfectly. The atmosphere is so relaxed, you’re outside so there’s no feeling of claustrophobia like you get with some rooms. Even when you’re in your tent you know you can just go out for a stroll and no one will think anything of it.



Going back to what I said earlier, the journey down was much better than my intended destination turned out to be. Lands End that evening i.e. the bit people go and park in to see is merely a right place in the right time sort of location. It’s full of tacky kids attractions and gimmicks. People go just to say they’ve been to Lands End and seen the first and last house, post box, telephone box, pub, road sign, seagull, blade of grass and sneakiest photo op con yet. Remember the famous white sign with all the famous locations like John O Groates and New York? Fancy getting your picky taken with it? Think again! Not unless you’ve got a spare tenner handy and arrive before 6:00pm. If you are going down there I’d recommend taking a free photo and photoshoping this on it: -

For those of you who don’t know, Lands End is either the start or finish of the epic 874 mile journey between the two north and south points of Mainland UK so the pub in Lands end could in theory be the first and or last pub you’ll see on your journey depending on whether you start in England or Scotland. What saved Lands End was the short drive down the road to the Minack Theatre, a place so quirky and beautiful we visited it twice. That night we just sat and soaked in the scenery around the theatre, it truly is breath-taking, the three of us found our own little spot away from each other to experience it. No team photos or comedy shots, it seemed each of us wanted to experience it in our own way without any distractions with Anna going on the beach, Pip sitting on one of the rocks and me being me going exploring to find a nice awkward place to sit and experience as much as possible.
The following morning we went back to see the theatre itself. Cut out of the rocks and completely open to the elements, the Minack is a joy to behold. We went in just as the cast of one of the shows were practising a few of the songs, one of them something about a coffee from a copper coffee pot which I still can’t get out of my head. Everyone there and most people we’d seen so far were just so chilled out, a big and welcome change from Reading. Click here to see it live http://www.minack.com/theatregoers/stream.html it doesn’t do it justice though trust me. Try it mid July when they’ll be doing Midsummer Night’s Dream this year.













The rest of the day was a ‘get home as quick as poss so we’re not completely knackered for tomorrow whilst still looking for groovy places’ jobbie. We stopped off in Penzance to see all the Piratey stuff and to get Pip a Pastie, then after a few u turns made it to Plymouth for Lunch. By this stage sightseeing had pretty much gone out the window so all I can recommend is the Nando’s restaurant where there’s a gorgeous girl working at the cashier :) Through Exeter, M5 and 4 motorways home, stopping halfway through thanks to some moron who couldn’t control his speed. Not sure what happened but it must have been a big solo effort as the roof and front bumper of his car were knackered. 670 miles later I was feeling chuffed that i’d managed to find my way through town to get to Pips house without doing several U turns and that i’d done the whole thing. Bring on the next one :)


Rossifer x



P.s. Huge thanks to Hidden Valley Camp site@ Braunton and Trevaylor Park @ St Just for making my 1st and 2nd attempts at camping carefree and marvellous, the guy on the cool black sidecar, the guy in the white mini coach for almost running us off the road, the friendly van driver who put the pigeon out of its misery, the girl at the cashier of Nandos in Plymouth and of course my two camping buddies Pip the Itinerary queen and Anna the Snack & Music Goddess xXx.



















Go to the South West if only to experience:-
Ilfracombe – Deadly Deadly Chocolate, a great full English brekkie & Cider bottles with dicks on them.
Westward Ho! – The only place name in UK with an ! in it. FACT.
Newquay – Sand, surf, cream teas and annoying good looking guys for the ladies.
St Ives – Vets, Man with many wifes.
Lands End – First and Last time you’ll ever visit & Minack Theatre, the one reason you’ll ever go back.
Penzance – Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. The one town in England you can say that and get away with it & Pasties.
Plymouth – The Nando’s cashier. If she were a Nando's sauce you'd find her in the highly spicely hot section ;)

Abseiling the Blade

I kinda stumbled across this by accident. Mum found a small article in the local paper about an abseil being done for charity. They were after 75 volunteers so naturally I thought 'that sounds cool, bring it on'. I'd never heard of the blade building and up until I started telling people about it didn't think much of it until everyone said I was mental for thinking of doing it! I'd abseiled once before on a nice stable wooden flatform a few metres off the ground as a kid so thought it would be pretty easy to do again.

Until I saw the size of the blade! Actually seeing from afar was the worst bit, I was starting to tweak it as I saw it looming in the distance. Actually when you gety up close to it it's not that bad, there were a few of us there and they all seemed pretty chilled out, one girl had come from Cardiff just to do it. After going through the instructions and fitting up it was up in the elevator to the rather ominous 13th floor. I thought it was ironic when the lift said 'going down' after we got out, I fet like saying, 'me too, meet you down there!' Through the door into this huge empty room where we had to put on the CSI style blue shoe covers so we didn't mark the pretty new building. To get out we went through this door and had to walk round the perimeter towards the abseil flatfrom. The views across Reading were fantastic, I'm sure the view down was good too but you'll have to ask the others about that one! We were told there was only room for one person going done at a time, they'd rigged up this small wooden platform that you had to crawl into before the worst bit of the abseil, the over the edge bit. I was the second to go down and was juist pipped for the least graceful looking whilst decending as at least I was facing pretty much the right way throughout. I didn't swear, much, and remembered most of what they'd taught us; right hand back, left hand tucked in, keep your face fuzz out of the metal bit that sort of thing. I actually felt quite shite until half way down, I only really started to enjoy it once I knew I was right near the bottom. When I landed it felt so fantastic, pretty much the same feeling I had after my chopper flight. If you're in any doubt about trying it, go for it. There's something about fear that brings the best out in you. Once you've finished that fear turns to euphoria and it makes the whole thing so special. All this and Karting tomorrow, what a cool month :)

Rossifer x

p.s. A huge thanks to the chaps and chappettes of the Children with Leukaemia charity and Classic Tours for organising it, the abseiling crew for getting me down the Blade and my abseiling buddie Freya

Snowdon

Right in the north of Wales, Snowdonia is in my view unparalleled in views for the UK, especially on the winding roads on the way to Llanberis where I stayed. The north of Wales is home to the only people who seems to speak welsh as anything more than a past time, in ever ystreet and shop it is spoken and it takes some getting used to, dunno about you but I always get nervous when I can't understand a conversation going on behind me...


On the way to Llanberis is Betsw-y-coed which is well worth stopping of at, mainly in no small part to this: -



















Swallow Falls is well worth a look, it's one of those places you just stand and soak in as words and pictures can't do it justice.

After that it's onto Llanberis, home to the Llanberis pass, one of the many routes up to the top of Mount Snowdon and the other peaks in the area. I was told it was one of the longest but also the easiest route up. Not being an experienced walker I had no idea how tricy it would be. If you're giving it a go, expect to go through Spring to Winter while you're there. I went up baking hot with only a t-shirt and jeans on and by the end of it I had about 5 layers on including a spare pair of socks as makeshift gloves! The walk up is brutal at times, the 1st mile is all steep and the rest is pretty brutal underfoot so make sure you've got really decent footwear. Good views 3/4/ of the way up though:-




















When you get to the top, pray you get better conditions than I did. There is a small open stone staircase leading to a pedestal which points to various locations around the UK. I had to picture what they'd all look like as visibility was ridiculous! Within 10 minutes I went from perfect views to bitterly cold weather and a sea of fog. Luckily I wasn't alone and had someone take proof of my ugly mug at the top of Wales :)




















Rossifer x

By any means - Wishlist

UPDATED!
In front of me is a bit of paper covered in what looks like 2oo odd different forms of travel. I've ticked off several, mainly boring ones apart from the best moment in my life so far obviously: -



Looking at the list though there are several I can't wait to do, quite a few I have no idea when and where i'll be able to do them which makes it all the more tempting. Highlights have to be: -

Roman Chariot
Husky Dogs
Sidecar
Sit on Mower
Fork Lift Truck
Tank



I've nailed an a - z list of travel but i'm struggling for an 'x' so any contributions, greatly received!

A - Ambulance
B - Bicycle
C - Canoe
D - Dinghy / Dodgem
E - Elephant
F - Fork Lift Truck
G - Golf Buggy / Gondola
H - Helicopter
I - Ice Skates
J - Junk boat
K - Kayak
L - Limousine
M - Mini Steam Railway
N - Narrow Boat
O - Ocean Liner
P - Penny Farthing / Pedalo / Police Jaunt
Q - Quad Bike
R - Rollerblade / Roman Chariot
S - Sedgeway
T - Trolley / Tractor
U - Unicycle
V - VW Camper
W - Water Skiing
X - X - Bike / X - City 125 Scooter
Y - Yachy
Z - Zorbing

By Any means...

Inspired by the fantastic programme 'By any means' by Charley Boorman but limited by a spare half a year off and lack of enough pennies i'm gonna do my own version of travelling the world by and means possible. You forget just how many unique forms of travel there are, forget simple terms like car and plane and start dreaming of the time you'll be zorbing down a hill, paddelling down a river on a dragon boat, burning rubber on a golf cart or getting around on an elephant. Too many to list in full but here are a few to whet the appetite: -


Tuc Tuc, Gondola, Camel, Sedgeway, Penny Farthing










I always saw travelling as a means to an end, an inconvenience keeping me from where I wanted to be but now I guess i'm seeing it as just as much, if not more important than wherever it is i'm going.

Jersey

My first solo trip, Jersey was I guess the start of thinking differently about travel. I now had a new sense of freedom, I could go anywhere and do anything, all at my own pace. For those of you who haven't been, Jersey is a beautiful British island with a strong french influence throughout. Half of the Island's place names are in french including a road called Val Plaisant, don't ask me why but I loved the name of it. It's one of those places that you can't imagine it ever raining and you fall in love with it because of it. I love getting a good soaking but not whilst on holiday, there's an unwritten rule that it just shouldn't happen whilst you're away.

If you love walking then go to Jersey. The streets in the mini towns are always worth a look but the real joy comes from doing the beaches on the south or west coast or my favourite, the somewhat ardous 2 mile cliff walk on the north from Greve de Lecq to Plemont Bay. I came across this by accident as I picked the only day the bus didn't go to Plemont. The cliff walk has loads of hidden paths leading towards the sea, have a look for these as there are some fantastic caves worth checking out if you're feeling daring and energetic.For all you tourists out there, check out the Jersey Pottery, War caves and Montgorleil Castle, any sun worshippers will spend all their time on the long west coast beach and everyone else really should check out Plemont bay, just to get a glimpse of the fantastic hidden waterfall at the end of it.

Rossifer x

Black Mountain



Myddfai, United Kingdom
Myddfai is a really small place south of Llandovery, home to the 6 mile or so single lane track which is the only way into the Beautiful Black Mountain in the west area of the Brecon Beacons. Whereas every other 4 wheeled thing was a 4 x 4 jobbie I was stuck in my Corsa faced with the sort of road that makes the one to the Isle of Skye seem tame. Picture a 6 mile rollercoaster complete with dodgy track, hedges and sheep and you've pretty much got it. I didn't know what 'get out the bloody way' was in Welsh so spent 10 minutes waiting for a fluffy family of four to trundle along into the nearest Field.
As long as you're prepared to do plenty of reversing to let the various middle classes in their land rovers to pass and u turns when you realise you've ended up in someone's farm it's well worth making the journey. If you need a pee whilst travelling, go on one of the service stations before jnct 32 on the M4, or stop of in Llandovery (just make sure you've got 20p handy).
I've still got know idea which bit I climbed was Black mountain, there are 4 sort of peaks and I got to the one that looked the highest so I guess that was it. Unlike Snowdon which gave me fog at the top the views from the top of Black mountain are spectacular. Best view is across Llyn y fan fach which you circle on your way to the top. If you going on a warm day take 3 pairs of socks and 3 tops, 1 for the drive there, 1 for the climb and one for the drive back and don't forget to cool your feet off in the stream on the way back. This is also King Arthur territory so have a look for the lady in the lake while you're down there :)

Rossifer x