Another impromptu cycle ride, another cause to wonder if small bikes can be used for touring. Audax fans will tell you that luggage isn’t necessary, so why not extend the minimalist theme to your ride? Temptation to plan a longer trip is fuelled by an ad hoc ride home from my new job. Maybe I’m just eager to get out after being cooped up for a couple of weeks, or maybe it really is possible to go the distance with impossibly small wheels. Either way, this itch needs scratching.
Nothing is as big a turn off – on any level – as a caravan. Their sad, beige contents are usually flimsy, they smell of chemical toilets, and they make your car handle like a combine harvester. You’re unwelcome everywhere you go, except for authorised caravan sites where you can mingle with your balding peers and bicker about the latest outrage in the news.
Why anybody would voluntarily do this is beyond me, but a camper van – now that’s an entirely different proposition. For a start you’ve got a vehicle which drives like a car, reverses like a car, and fits in a regular parking space. There’s leather, alloy wheels, a rack for your surfboard and a towing hitch for the trailer with your dirt bikes. Could this be the ideal mix of camping adventure and home comforts? We rent a VW California and take it for a lap of Britain to find out.
This place isn’t just larger than life, it’s larger than everything. Whoever built it didn’t read the rule book because they had no intention of playing by the rules. Keep up.
Hidden behind the sleepy village of the same name, Krampnitz was originally built for the German cavalry and later used the Soviet army for pretty much the same thing. Today it’s a vast complex of trashed barracks, overgrown parade grounds, and rusting machinery, but it also presents some photogenic secrets for those inclined to keep digging.
Located just 30 minutes south of Berlin, Beelitz Heilstätten is an urban explorer’s paradise. The former tuberculosis therapy centre features 64 architecturally fascinating buildings in various states of decay / vandalism, and has a long history speckled with famous patients such as Hitler and Honecker. What a lovely destination for a day in the snow …
Having issues with your TimeMachine backups? Here’s a way to repair those corrupted sparsebundles – grab a coffee and dive right in.
In August 2009 I decided to try and recapture the magic of my first motorcycle trip abroad by aiming for another unexplored country – Spain.
I can’t walk past an abandoned building, even on holiday, even if it’s raining and I know the pictures will be rubbish. This was very much the case with Antigua and the Half Moon Bay Hotel, though something I couldn’t guess as we walked up the beach in a storm was how much filth we’d uncover once we started poking around the history behind this place. A tale of corruption, scandal, and global fraud; this rabbit hole goes deep…
Wouldn’t it be good if you knew exactly where each of your pictures was taken? Modern software is making this not only possible but easier each day, and in this post I’ll show you the easiest route yet.
Got an iPhone? Want some free ringtones? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s a selection I’m using on a daily basis, just download and drag into iTunes.