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Europe 2026
  • Chris Dickson
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  • Chris Dickson

Europe 2026

A 41-day adventure by Chris Read more
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    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cotswold District, England
    Chris DicksonEurope 2026Traveler
    Market Square, Castle Combe
    The By Brook, Castle CombeCastle CombeCastle CombeCars in the square, Stow-on-the-WoldThe Yew Tree DoorArlington Row, BiburyBiburyBiburyMarket Hall, Chipping CampdenMarket Hall, Chipping CampdenTown Hall, Chipping CampdenBurfordBurford, Church of St John the BaptistBurford, Church of St John the BaptistSt Mary's Chapel, Sudely CastleSudely CastleSudely CastleBroadwayBroadwayBlockley, Church of St Peter and St Paul, closedRandom Father Brown actorsBourton-on-the -Water - didn't even get a mention in the textBourton-on-the-Water

    The Cotswolds

    Jun 22–25 in England ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Wow, this is a beautiful area, even in the thirty-plus heat we have experienced since arriving.

    We’ve navigated the length and breadth of this designated Area of Natural Beauty by every manner of road from manic freeways to single-lane goat tracks.

    The motor car is by far the preferred means of travel here, and it is lucky many of these villages have a historic market square that they can fill up with cars, to allow the tourists to have their cream teas and check out the boutiques. They would actually look nicer as pedestrian plazas, but that’s just an opinion.

    A few highlights.

    Castle Combe, probably the jewel in the Cotswolds crown. We visited early, before the crowds, and found a very quiet but stunningly beautiful place. The bridge over the By Brook has featured in so many pictorials it is now retired on the royalties.

    Stow-on-the-Wold (gee, these hyphenated names are annoying to type) was also very nice, the Yew Tree Door of St Edward’s Church very photogenic and possibly inspirational for JRR Tolkien. Besides, you could see it from the pub next door where we had a fantastic dinner with our friends Ron and Kim.

    Chipping Campden. Hardly a hidden gem, but a bit more unpretentious than some of the others; the National Trust-owned Market Hall and the nearby Town Hall look wonderful.

    Bibury is famous, mainly, for Arlington Row, an isolated row of National Trust-owned cottages that attract - or at least they did when we were there - hundreds of visitors each summer day. Even, so, it was well worth a look.

    We also visited Burford, Broadway (sort of the Berry of the Cotswolds) and Sudely Castle, which had magnificent gardens and a great story to tell, from Catherine Parr - last wife of Henry VIII and buried at the castle - to the inevitable rise of the death duties spectre and the opening of the doors to mere (but cashed up) commoners like us.

    Oh, and we visited Blockley. Well known as the filming location for the Father Brown series, we popped in to have a look at the Church of St Peter and St Paul where it all happens. But we couldn’t… because they were filming Father Brown and there was no access permitted.    Read more

  • Chris DicksonEurope 2026Traveler
    Windsor and Eton Central
    Entrance to the castle2Chris's next carThe Round TowerChanging of the GuardSt George's Chapel, now housing Elizabeth II, among othersThe Long WalkWindsorBorough MarketHMS Belfast, in front of the Tower BridgeTower BridgeQueue for the Crown Jewels. About 32 degrees.The White TowerViews from the Battlements

    London

    Jun 19–22 in England ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Recovered from the flight and our botanic gardens overload, we kicked off in London with a visit to Windsor.

    Along with quite a few others, we caught the train to Windsor and Eton Central Station and walked the hundred-or-so metres to the castle entrance.

    The mood was quite festive, with people spilling out of cafes and even a band playing. We thought it might have been the Band of the Grenadier Guards or something, but it turned out they were from… North Dakota.

    Once inside, and having the obligatory snap with some guy’s vintage Rolls Royce, we donned our audio guides and toured the very swish Royal Apartments. The audio guide content was excellent, but unfortunately didn’t run in the same sequence as the tour; that was okay, as the relevant item number for the guide of displayed in every room - but right near the exit, so you sort of found out about what you had just seen on a time delay.

    As we proceeded from room to room, the crowds mysteriously began to thin out: the changing of the guard was taking place. So we duly joined the others and took a blurry picture of some bearskins behind a sea of mobile phones thrust majestically skyward.

    The other highlight of a great day at Windsor was Queen Mary’s Dolls House. Sadly, there are no photos, but any dolls house with running water and electricity, miniature books you can read and miniature records you can actually play has got to be worth a look.

    The following day found us initially at Borough Market, where we wandered past all sorts of yummy and exotic comestibles.

    Then it was down to the Thames for a walk down to and across the Tower Bridge and a visit to the Tower of London.

    It was very hot, and twenty minutes of queueing in the sun to have a look, with a hundred other people, at the Crown Jewels was a bit wearing. They are pretty impressive, though.

    We also quite enjoyed the White Tower and a walk along the Battlements, before heading back for some all-important liquid refreshments.

    That was about it for a short visit to London; we are next heading north to Moreton-in-Marsh and some time in the Cotswolds.    Read more

  • Chris DicksonEurope 2026Traveler
    Singapore Botanic Gardens
    A garden guardianThe Swan LakeSteps constructed by WW2 POW'sPOW prisoner arrowsIn the Orchid GardenChopin. Not sure that he ever got to Singapore...Preparing to fly to LondonThe Palmhouse, Royal Botanic Gardens, KewInside the PalmhouseLooks like a bell tower, actually a chimney for the Palmhouse furnaceThe Broad WalkSingapore has its orchids, England the thistle......and the rose.Kew PalaceThe OrangerieA Henry Moore sculpture, of which there are 30 scattered aroundThe Temperate HouseThe Great Pagoda - seems a little out of contextThe Treetop Walkway

    Singapore and onward

    Jun 17–19 in Singapore ⋅ 🌧 30 °C

    We broke our journey with a stopover in Singapore, and began our trip with a botanical twist, starting at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, one of only three such gardens to hold World Heritage status.

    It was great to enjoy the warm weather and see something away from the usual Singapore sights.

    We wandered along happily, at one point dodging a rather large goanna-like creature, to the Orchid Garden. Having previously seen orchids in hot houses around the world, it was a pleasant surprise to see them outside in a beautifully designed and tended setting.

    Thence it was on to London via a somewhat delayed flight, and a slight surprise to find the weather even warmer than Singapore.

    So, to enhance our vitamin D, we carried on with the UNESCO-listed garden theme with a trip to Kew. We also carried on the flying theme, with a constant steam of aircraft passing above on the flight path to Heathrow.

    Unlike Singapore, for which the entry price is nominal, here they sting you for about twenty-five pounds each to wander around and get sweaty.

    It was very good, the glass buildings oozing history as well as luxuriant vegetation, as we covered as much ground as our jet-lagged minds and legs would allow.

    The tree top walk was another highlight, a circular walkway twenty-odd metres above the ground.    Read more

    Trip start
    June 17, 2026