A Maverick Traveller

Some inner-city attractions you may not know about even if you have lived there for years. (The first instalment of a two-part post.)

Returning North via the Fairfax Train Station and Otautau

Exploring the less-known wonders of Western Southland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Exploring the less-known wonders of Western Southland, Aotearoa New Zealand

Mostly, now, in the southern part of this lovely Aotearoa New Zealand peninsula

My old hometown is so much more of a café society these days

Getting away from it all, only 90 km from the big city

The spectacular southern end of the Outer Hebrides

Three more lovely and historic isles in the Outer Hebrides

Small islands with lovely beaches

The biggest island in the Hebrides, always spoken of as two islands though it is not

Speed, bonny boat, like a bird on the wing / Over the sea to Skye

Exploring Britain’s northernmost city, last big battle on home soil, and loveliest glen

The best way from Dundee to Inverness, through Britain’s largest national park

The most historical city in Scotland

From the City of Discovery to the Fair City, both of them with famous castles on the river Tay

Like Camelot or Shangri-La, Lindisfarne has a magical name, yet it is a real place, amid the beautiful Northumberland Coast

A westward road trip through a historic landscape, ending up in England’s Lake District National Park and an early home of rock climbing

Once holy, and the home of Grace Darling, now a famous nature sanctuary

A land of ruined abbeys, old bridges, wild forests and the Hole of Horcum, a scenic railway, and the National Centre for Birds of Prey

A small but pretty and historic town in Northumberland, where I stayed while exploring the nearby coast’s outstanding beauty

A trip to the seaside turns up unexpected connections with geology, Captain Cook, Dracula, and the Brontës

More of the incredible, sometimes gruesome, history of England’s northern cultural capital

The ancient cultural capital of the north of England, with nearly two miles (3.4 km) of city walls still standing