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31st December
A breakfast in Stockbridge followed by a decent walk around Bentley Wood.
27th – 30th December
A three-night stay at a nice apartment in Teignmouth (Devon).
Whilst there we walked the railway sea wall, briefly visited the RSPB Labrador Bay reserve (on a dingy late afternoon, finding no Cirl Buntings), and an excellent walk around the RSPB Exminster and Powderham Marshes, seeing wintering Brent Geese, Avocets, Curlew, Dunlin, Black-Tailed Godwit and plenty of other birdlife.
24th December
A Christmas Eve jam session with musician friends Al Summers and Simon Farr.
22nd December
A day of admin and organising for 2025.
20th – 21st December
An overnight stay at Brockenhurst in the New Forest followed by a muddy walk around the Clay Hill Heath area, for a spot of birding, then a visit to Lyndhurst before heading home.
15th December
Various organising, content writing and “admin” plus a visit to Salisbury and Langford Lakes.
7th December
An evening visit to Bristol to see the Chameleons perform at the Marble Factory venue.
3rd December
Making a booking visit the Raja Ampat area of Indonesia, something that’s been on our “must do” list for a long time. We’ve got a long wait until we finally get there, as places book years in advance!
2nd December
Various sorting, organising and trying to get on top of things after such a busy month in November.
1st December
A productive jam session in Warminster with Al Summers and other improvisers.
30th November
Attending the 50th Anniversary of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society at Devizes, hearing the history of the society and some interesting talks about topics of an avian nature.
26th – 28th November
A visit to Barcelona in Spain for a business conference.
23rd – 24th November
After Buckmore Park, it was straight into central London for an overnight stay, to catch the rap and hip-hop influenced Abstract Orchestra at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.
22nd – 23rd November
An overnighter at Chatham ahead of Zac’s final Club100 Sprint 60 kart race of the year at a wet Buckmore Park. Zac finished 8th in the standings after a frustrating final race.
31st October – 22nd November
An excellent trip to Australia (via Singapore on the outward and return legs).
After arriving in Cairns, we headed straight up to Port Douglas for a night, followed by four nights in the Daintree rainforest staying at the Daintree Wilderness Lodge. We had excellent wildlife sightings and encounters such as Cassowary, Saltwater Crocodile and a Boyd’s Forest Dragon. Other sightings included numerous bird and butterfly species.
Next was a return journey back down to Cairns to catch a flight up to Horn Island in the Torres Strait to pick up the Spirit of Freedom dive liveaboard for a voyage back to Cairns. We stayed a night on Horn Island prior to boarding the vessel.
The next week was spent visiting some of the remote and virtually (or even actually) un-dived sites up in the far North of the Great Barrier Reef. We had an excellent week of what I called “binge diving” and saw many things throughout the week. It was a privilege to do this trip.
Once back in Cairns, we picked up a 4 x 4, had breakfast on the esplanade and then headed out to the excellent and remote Mt. Mulligan Outback Lodge.
A site of historical interest and hardship in terms of mining and gold prospecting, the area has now largely returned to nature, but it’s still possible to visit the abandoned town and coal mine workings and a former gold prospecting settlement. Best of all was the abundant wildlife – birds, butterflies, wallaroos, freshwater turtles, geckos, and it was even possible to hear dingoes howling from somewhere around the mountain itself.
A really good trip all round.
30th October
Final bits and bobs, then off to Heathrow – destination Singapore and ultimately Australia.
27th October
An evening jam session with Al Summers and other improvisers.
26th – 27th October
The beginning of a new personal odyssey for me, to see all of the UK bird species. The aim is to see all the species I’ve never seen, and to see again the species I’ve already seen as part of that same overall mission.
I’m unsure as to how long it will take, but for sure, and just like the UK butterflies (which took three Summers), it’ll involve me being out there in the natural world, checking out new places.
To get it started, I symbolically started in our garden, and on the Sunday, I visited Grovely Wood for the first time.
Nothing “new” in terms of species on my first forays into this new project.
I scribbled out some notes on it – let’s see where it might lead.
25th – 26th October
An overnighter in London to catch saxophonist Donny McCaslin perform with his band at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.
21st October
Our two new 2025 Calendars arrive – Diving Dreams and Driven To Abstraction.
20th October
Out and about at Glastonbury (for brunch), and then a good walk at the nearby Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve.
19th – 20th October
Getting ready for Australia in terms of final arrangements and packing.
18th – 19th October
An overnighter in London for guitarist Matt Schofield performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.
11th – 13th October
A weekend of kart racing with Zac at the Buckmore Park circuit in Kent, trying the Tillotson T4 Karts for the first time. An interesting weekend, helped by the friendly Tillotson crew.
6th October
A morning drive to Fordingbridge and Downton, with various organising in the afternoon.
4th – 5th October
An overnighter at Wroxton, near Banbury ahead of a round of Zac’s Club 100 Karting series at the Shenington Circuit. A frustrating day, but it happens…
2nd October
A quick overnighter in London to catch Forq perform at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.
28th – 29th September
A weekend of planning and organising.
25th September
Making final changes to our new 2025 calendars.
22nd September
A day of organising the few things for the Autumn and Winter.
13th -14th September
An overnighter at Weedon Bec near Northampton ahead of Zac’s Whilton Mill Zac’s Club 100 Kart Series race at the nearby Whilton Mill Circuit. Again, it was good day’s driving for him.
8th September
Various bits of laptop work and future planning.
6th – 7th September
An overnighter in South Wales near Bridgend, ahead of Zac’s Club 100 Kart Series race at the nearby Llandow Circuit. It was good day’s driving for him.
1st September
A day of organising and planning.
23rd – 26th August
A visit to the Czech Republic, to visit the historic town of Cesky Krumlov in the South West of the country.
To get there, we had a brief overnighter in Prague, and then took the train to and from our destination.
16th – 18th August
An overnight stay at Tenterden in Kent, ahead of a visit to the Lydd Kart Circuit for Zac’s Club 100 Kart Series, which was marred by him being caught up in an accident, though he wasn’t hurt.
Afterwards, a visit to London to see PJ Harvey perform at Gunnersbury Park. A really good show, and we enjoyed Big Thief who were the main support act.
10th – 11th August
Some catching up, planning and admin, plus work on a pair of 2025 Calendars.
4th August
A visit to the Langford Lakes Nature Reserve run by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, located in the Wylye Valley.
18th June – 30th July
A ride to Iceland and back on the motorcycles with Fuzz (as you do).
This long-awaited trip (a door to door duration of 6 weeks) involved riding to the top of Denmark via France, Belgium, Holland and Germany to catch the ferry from the Danish port town of Hirtshals.
We had three days to ride some roads around the Faroe Islands (conveniently linked by tunnels) before continuing north to Iceland. Based at the Faroese capital of Torshavn on Streymoy, we visited places around Streymoy, and also Sandoy, Vagar, Esturoy, Kunoy, Bordoy and Vidoy.
In Iceland for 4 weeks, we landed in the Eastflords port of Seydisfjordur and headed briefly clockwise before travelling generally anti-clockwise around the whole of Iceland, with the only area we planned to visit not being possible to properly explore being the Westfjords, which was affected by severe gales during our time in that area.
Our route saw us staying in (or at) Egilsstaðir, Bakkagerð, Vopnafiordur, Kopasker, Myvatn, Husavik, Akureyri, Dalvik (from where we visited the island of Grimsey on the Arctic Circle), Blonduos, Holmavik, Stykkishólmur Reykjavik, the Westman Isles, Pakgil, Skaftafell, Hofn, Reyðarfjörður and back to Seydisfjordur.
Enroute, we saw fantastic birdlife such as Red-Necked Phalaropes, Eiders, Whooper’s Swans, Snow Buntings, Whimbrels, Redshanks, Golden Plovers, Snipe (drumming), Dunlin, Short Eared Owls and Red Throated Diver, we encountered dolphins and whales, got eaten by flies at Lake Myvatn, were mobbed by Arctic Terns, survived rides in gusting winds alongside big drop offs, climbed glaciers, discovered the Arctic Henge, rode remote roads and peninsulas including some of the legendary “F-roads”, visited geothermal pools, walked on cooling lava fields, stood above spectacular waterfalls, saw active geysirs and other geothermal areas, sampled varieties of local fish soup, supped local craft beers, and so much more.
I even went for a swim in the Arctic Ocean after a special day riding from Vopnafjordur to Kopasker under clear blue skies and temperatures of up to 25 degrees. If ever there was a day to re-bond with the planet, this was it. Too much to take in, really. All in, I put more than 5000 miles on the motorcycle.
17th June
Final check and pack ahead of my ride to Iceland and back.
15th – 16th June
A full pack of the bike for Iceland.
8th – 9th June
A “trial run” for our Iceland trip to the South Downs for a visit to the Knepp Wildlands, staying at nearby Cattlestone Farm where we tried out our tents. We ironed out a few problems, so it was useful.
31st May – 2nd June
A trip to East Anglia for Zac’s Club 100 Kart series race at Ellough Park near Lowestoft, and decent drive from Zac.
Overnight on the coast at Bacton, followed by a brief visit to Hickling Broad on the Sunday morning. Saw a few Swallowtails, with one specimen landing briefly on my jeans (sorry, no photographs, so you’ll have to believe me!).
30th – 31st May
An overnighter in London to catch Air performing their Moon Safari album at the Albert Hall.
25th – 27th May
Iceland Planning in terms of figuring out how to pack the motorcycle, seeing what I think I still need, general preparation, plus a trip down to Honiton to see Fuzz.
Also, trying to arrange a return to the Bahamas, this time to Bimini for the Great Hammerheads.
21st May
Collecting my new BMW R1250 GS Adventure from Bahnstormer in Alton.
10th – 19th May
A trip to Sicily to celebrate our 25th anniversary staying at Taormina, followed by the Aeolian Islands staying on Lipari.
During our time out there, we visited Castelmola and then travelled up to Milazzo for the ferry to Lipari. Whilst there, we visited Salina, Panarea and Stromboli.
4th – 6th May
A Bank Holiday weekend of gigs, Snarky Puppy at Ronnie Scott’s in London on the 4th, Kula Shaker in Bournemouth on the 5th. Then, an evening walk in the woods at Shearwater on the Monday.
1st – 2nd May
An overnighter in London to catch Shez Raja perform with his band at Ronnie Scott’s, which included John Etheridge and Guthrie Govan.
26th – 28th April
A weekend in Wales, based at Betws-Y-Coed in Snowdonia. Zac raced for the first time at the Glan Y Gors circuit and had a good day at the office, so to speak. Some nice roads to and fro as well.
23rd – 24th April
A visit to London, to see Tomasz Bura and Guthrie Govan perform with their band at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.
21st – 22nd April
An overnight in London, to catch jazz guitarist Julian Lage perform at the Barbican.
20th April
A chilly wild swim at Studland, the first time in a while.
15th April
An evening completing some Iceland planning.
2nd – 14th April
A visit to Japan, initially based at Nagoya from where we visited sites around the city, the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, the Shirakawa-gō World Heritage site, and Kyoto including the Kinkakuji Temple and the Kiyomizu-dera Temple.
Then, we travelled on the bullet train from Nagoya to Tokyo, where we spent an excellent few days.
31st March
A bit of “Iceland planning” with Fuzz.
28th – 31st March
An Easter weekend of writing based at Portland on the South Coast. I got to a good point.
25th – 28th March
Evening stints of planning for my Iceland motorcycling trip with Fuzz.
23rd – 24th March
Some fairly intensive and focused writing sessions.
21st – 22nd March
An overnighter in London with Zac visiting Ronnie Scott’s to see Gilad Hekselman’s Trio Grande. We had a 21st Birthday special treat meal at Nobu.
16th – 17th March
Weekend working on my ongoing writing project.
13th March
A great night in Bristol seeing Robert Plant perform with Saving Grace.
8th – 10th March
Working on my ongoing writing project.
3rd March
Working on plans for my Iceland trip, which I’ll be doing with Fuzz.
2nd March
A few hours continuing onwards with my writing project (and it’s Zac’s 21st birthday).
25th February
A few hours working on my writing project.
24th February
A morning writing session at Chatham in Kent.
23rd – 24th February
An overnighter at Chatham in Kent, ahead of one of Zac’s Club 100 Karting rounds. A frustrating day, but some good promise of a decent season to come.
23rd February
An evening writing session at Chatham in Kent.
22nd February
An evening working on planning our Iceland trip.
18th February
Continuing work on my long-term writing project.
16th – 18th February
A weekend in Bournemouth with Amanda, to work on some future planning.
11th February
Further work on my long-term writing project.
9th – 10th February
An overnighter in London to see Philip Lassiter perform with his band at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
4th February
An afternoon writing stint, a bit of progress made.
28th January
A Sunday stint of working on some writings.
27th January
A visit to the Cheese & Grain in Frome to catch Hugh Cornwell perform with his band.
26th – 27th January
Down to Kent to stay at Chatham ahead of Zac’s Club 100 season opener at Buckmore Park. A really promising day for him in terms of his driving, but he was hamstrung by penalties. At least two driver warnings were incorrectly applied to him, in my opinion.
25th – 26th January
An overnighter in London to catch Emeli Sande performing at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho.
20th – 21st January
A writing weekend in Warminster and Shaftesbury.
19th January
A late afternoon visit to the Ham Wall Reserve near Glastonbury on the Somerset Levels, to see the Starling murmuration. They numbered in the hundreds of thousands, but we only saw them flying at some distance away (the location being different every evening).
13th – 14th January
Some bits of work on the “writing project”, plus an overnighter in London to catch jazz saxophonist Camilla George perform with her band at Ronnie Scott’s.
6th – 7th January
Sporadic work planning a busy year, and continuing onwards with a writing project.