Category Archives: Art

Greece: wild walks or soft fruit?

Posted on July 4, 2013 by BarryH

After a delayed spring and weeks of very indifferent weather it seems that I am about to leave Wales just as a heatwave is promised. Health issue resolved, I have been hesitating to go back to Greece because of the … Continue reading →

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Vancouver: surviving a grey, wet Family Day

Posted on February 16, 2013 by BarryH

In his book ‘Notes from a Small Island’ Bill Bryson records that when he arrived one Sunday in Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales that it was raining and that it was closed (I paraphrase from memory because someone has borrowed … Continue reading →

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Vancouver on a sunny Sunday in February

Posted on February 12, 2013 by BarryH

A month skiing in the Rockies is at an end.  My visit to Canada is nearly at an end. I had heard so many good things about Vancouver that I decided to spend a few days in the city before … Continue reading →

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November Daily Blog 28: Rough-dug and ready for winter

Posted on November 28, 2012 by BarryH

Completely different feel to the day from the outset on Wednesday as if the grey and the wet of the past weeks belonged somewhere else, to another time.  Blue sky and cold air greeted me as I left the house … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, extreme gardening, Winter | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

November Daily Blog 5: clichés, truth and poetic cobblers.

Posted on November 5, 2012 by BarryH

Mention ‘Autumn’ and like-as-not someone will think of and, if they don’t have a filter between their mind and their mouth, trot out the line “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”.  It has become so much a cliché that I … Continue reading →

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The Llyn Peninsula: looking for variety.

Posted on October 15, 2012 by BarryH

For the last week I have been on a ‘travel and landscape’ writing course at the Welsh National Writers’ Centre at Ty Newydd near Cricieth on the south coast of the Llyn Peninsula, an area of Wales I have never … Continue reading →

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Areopoli: longest day, longest walk, highest mountain …. shortest me

Posted on June 22, 2012 by BarryH

Thursday dawned bright and sunny.  Well, it probably did but as ever I was not around to see it.  Still, the statistical probability was pretty high given that the weather has now settled down to a truly Mediterranean ‘climate’ of … Continue reading →

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Kardamili: doors, bats, belfries, fish, funky art, olive groves, gorge-hopping …. all grist to a rich memory

Posted on June 12, 2012 by BarryH

I keep going on about the great footpaths around Kardamili …. because it’s true!  There are colour-coded walks shown on the hiking map and marked on the ground but the great thing is that you can pick’n’mix as you fancy. … Continue reading →

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Kardamili: musings on the way ahead

Posted on June 10, 2012 by BarryH

Friday evening and the clientele at the Maistros coffee bar next to my apartment, where I regularly get my caffeine fix, erupted into spontaneous cheering and applause.  Greece had equalised against Poland in the 2012 European Cup.  At last something … Continue reading →

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Kardamili: another perspective

Posted on June 9, 2012 by BarryH

I knew that my legs were tired after the last three days walking.  It’s surprising how much it takes out of you walking the bed of a gorge.  The altitude rise is not very dramatic but you can’t get into … Continue reading →

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