I finally realized another of my life’s ambitions whilst on one of our evening walks outside the village. My wife and I spotted a small herd of Red deer hinds and fawns on one of the hillsides and they bolted into the forest. Thinking they’d picked up our scent we carried on walking. 20 minutes […]

It wouldn’t be summer without a 13 hour drive to the Croatian coast. This year we booked an apartment directly on the sea in Šparadići near Grebaštica, Central Dalmatia. It wasn’t our usual sort of place (there were actually people nearby) but I was pleasantly surprised. Plus, after a month of building a gazebo and a woodshed […]

My daughter wanted to see Hallstatt in Austria so we booked a hotel in the Alps and, following a week’s break by the sea in Croatia, made a 12-hour drive through Slovenia and via the incredible Loblipass to Tauplitzalm above Bad Mittendorf. At 1650 metres (5413 feet) above sea level, we were woefully unacclimatized to our […]

On Friday, a shiny new pair of Red Dragon Armoury HEMA fencing masks arrived via courier, setting our plans for the weekend at the house. It was great to finally be able to fence without worrying about losing an eye, although it will take a while to relearn not to block the face with the […]

On an extremely spontaneous impulse we decided to stay the weekend at the house for the first time since leaving it on New Year’s Day. It’s been a long, harsh winter this year and having a couple of days of heat and blue sky was too irresistible. Unfortunately, the interior of the house is still […]

Last night was bitch cold. It was only about minus 5 but because it’s damp from all the snow melt it felt much colder. But daytime temperatures soared to about plus 7 and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I’d wanted to ride a month ago as traditionally I try to ride at least […]

It’s been quite a while since I last updated my blog, since well before Christmas in fact. It’s been a strange period with several ups and downs and much reflection. We stayed at the house in Eastern Slovakia over the Christmas and New Year period, which was both hard and amazing at the same time. […]

A few weeks back I got really sick of hearing people tell me that, because of global warming, we’d have a warm winter this year. The start of November was incredibly warm – I was doing our evening walks wearing a t-shirt. However, you could smell the oncoming cold in the air, and then it […]

Most of the following will undoubtedly be in the wrong order. This Autumn has been hectic to say the least and saw a big upheaval in our family when my eldest boy, Brano, went to Uni. I haven’t kept up with my blog because things keep changing daily – as did Autumn itself, transforming from […]

Just got back from a very pleasant afternoon spent with my adventurous friend Jan. It was 31 degrees centigrade here today and a Bank Holiday (even though it’s a Saturday), so I took Scarlet my BMW 650GS out for a ride through the bush. Out in Bardejov, Jan was preparing for his solo 8000 km […]