Bill wrote in to tell us about his sponsored bike ride in aid of the Douglas Bader Foundation late January, early February this year.

How did it start? It began with a mad idea to cycle somewhere warm in the middle of our cold winter, experience two summers in one year and lose some weight. At first I was interested in Guide Dogs for the Blind’s ride in New Zealand. I started training in August 2003, but when I applied officially, I discovered that with a low demand the ride had been scrapped. I then looked around to see where else would provide the winter warmth and came across Vietnam, Cuba and Kenya. Mainly because my father had an amputation and I had seen the struggles which all the folk had in the recovery ward at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast, I chose the Douglas Bader Foundation cycle ride in Kenya.

What about training? Classic tours, which run many of these Bike Rides, provide good guidance as to how you build up the miles (and more importantly for this ride, the hills.) I had sputtered at training since May but never really got into a three day a week rhythm until the middle of August, when I was doing about fifty miles a week. My daughter Sarah’s wedding in early September set the training back a bit, but by the end of October I had managed Lisburn and back twice and a run up the coast road to nearly Glenariff. God was good with regards to the weather. In a ‘normal winter’ (if there is such a thing in this country) rain, wind and snow would have interrupted training. Most weeks I was able to get out three and sometimes four days a week which proved to be crucial when it came to tackling the big hills in Kenya. Motivation after Christmas in the colder January days was a real problem, when it was so much easier to sit in the warm than face four hours in the cold cycling round Islandmagee!

Fund-raising? Folk have been very generous. After an accident I had, I had decided to use some of my retirement funds as a Thank you to God to fully meet all costs, so that all sponsor money given would go to the charity concerned. What with support from relatives, church folk, Carrick Grammar School Charity Fund and staff, I hoped to raise over £2,000 for the Douglas Bader Foundation. With the other nine riders we should have raised over £12,000.

What was it like? Kenya is a really beautiful country with a huge range of bird and wildlife. Much of what we cycled through was cultivated and quite densely settled but there were still remote quiet places where fewer people were found. The support team were excellent, providing quick help for bikes and people with three course tasty cooked lunches provided at the roadside!!

Here are my diary extracts:

Sat 31st Jan 2004 – Heathrow terminal 4, 5.37p.m. Tired already – I’ve been on the go since 9.15am and I still have not left London. I hate this Belfast to London slog. I’ve done it three times in three years to meet other flights and still it never gets better. Transit lounges surrounded by 1,000 strangers and eight million locals, yet still quite alone. It is never daylight here. I read the Bible and prayed and just felt the Lord with me and I wasn’t alone any more. Perhaps a short tea and then meet the others at 7p.m. They seem like a good crowd and are very friendly. It’s difficult to make friends immediately, but we gel surprisingly well, for people who have never met but who have a common purpose. I am stunned to see Mike, a double amputee (below both knees) who is going to cycle most of the 400Km. Later in the week, when I see him strapping on his artificial limbs and dealing with the abscesses on his stumps, it is so humbling to see the huge efforts that he makes and it puts any difficulties that I had in training into a true perspective.

Wed 4th Feb. The Big Hill day. I can’t believe that we freewheeled for half an hour going down the twisty hairpin bends into the Kerio valley from the overnight stop at Kabernet in Northern central Kenya. We descend from 2065m to 1200m on the valley floor. Great fun to see the kids’ faces at Chermurgui Primary School, when Mike takes off his artificial leg. We stopped here to hand over the pens, pencils and drawing materials (plus a UTV Frisbee that I won in a quiz !!) to the headmaster of the school. We were all asked to bring some resources which would be better than giving out sweets. Carrickfergus Grammar School had provided boxes of pens and pencils, which went down really well.

Then it was off up the Elgeyo escarpment. In Classic tourspeak it was “a very serious climb” – to you and me it meant if you hadn’t done enough hills in your training ‘get off and walk’. I don’t think I have ever faced a stiffer challenge – a fifteen mile hill that went from 1200m to 1925m. Lunch at two o’clock had never tasted quite as good. The views on the way up were stunning in the early morning but by lunchtime it was too hazy to really appreciate the whole landscape.

Thursday 5th Feb. Another 60 mile day phew!! This time less long steep hills and more undulations (shorter and steeper) Through the Kakamega rain forest with views of Vervet and Colobus monkeys. The first few days were cloudy and it even rained on Monday (warm rain, of course, unlike Carrick). Now it was blue skies and 35 to 37 C with little shade even through the forest. A litre of bottled water has never tasted so good. I needed the Factor 50 sunscreen that I had brought with me as I burn so easily. The rain on the first day had washed the sunscreen off my right calf and the sun had burned it even through the cloud!

Fri 6th Feb. The final run into Kisumu – only 35 miles!!! All those days of encouraging one another were over. The distracting ploys like: “look at those lovely wee wild flowers beside the road” – but don’t look at the huge hill that is emerging in front of us as we round this bend or “Let’s stop and look at the view’” which means: I’m punctured and need a breather. Another one was: “I must take a picture of this for the folk at home” read as : I need a good drink of water, and finally “Look, I think that might be a bee-eater / shrike / black kite” which translates as: I’ll be able to get my heart and lungs back to a semblance of normality while I try to focus on this pesky bird.

Outcome: a huge rewarding effort and a great sense of achievement while seeing a really different part of God’s beautiful creation. New friendships made and many folk helped through the generosity of our sponsors. Oh and over a stone lost in weight, since starting training in August.

On how my first birdwatching trip to Candaba, Pampanga Province, Philippines made my enthusiasm for conservation take flight.

Trudging stealthily on a marshland trail, struggling to keep alert despite it being 5:30 in the morning. With binoculars slung over my neck and a species list on hand, I tried to make as little noise as possible. Is this an episode from National Geographic or a feature on the Discovery Channel? No, but that’s what I felt like on my first bird-watching trip.

It was a cold day in November when I was surprisingly able to coerce two of my friends to pry ourselves out of bed at 3 in the morning to drive down to the Haribon Foundation center. All we knew to prepare for the trip was to wear dark clothing, bring a hat, some food and pay the joining fee. There I met some 20 or so individuals, scientists, bird-watching enthusiasts from here and abroad, and regular clueless folks like me. We got to our destination the Candaba Marsh at dawn, and even before getting off our van, they told us to spot Egrets flying over and into the distance. How majestic they looked! Enormous wing span and quite easy to spot due to their size and number. It was right about there when I was handed a checklist of the different species of birds we could spot in this particular location. My eyes widened as I counted 92 listed there! And I was only expecting maybe 2 or 3 species! I couldn’t believe that we had so many different kinds of birds here in the country! It was also of major interest to me that as one scientist noted, the Philippines has 80 or so endemic species whereas countries like the UK had none. All the more curious, I was to find out how many I’d be able to spot at the end of the day.

My excitement mounted as our scientists Blas Tabaranza and Tim Fisher pointed out to us the lone Purple Heron sitting high atop a sparsely leafed tree, the many Black Winged Stilts, easily identified by their long bright red spindly legs and the daintily colored Blue-Tailed Bee-eater. I was pleasantly educated that even the Chestnut Munia or “Maya”. the local name for the common sparrow, was not the Maya I thought to be. Its head was black and body brown. All in all I was able to jot down 19 kinds of birds that day. I’m quite sure that wasn’t all there were that day since the I wasn’t able to quickly spot everything pointed out to us.

Whereas before I saluted Haribon’s conservation efforts only in theory, to be alongside them was a concrete expression, one that further strengthened my resolve to support the projects and one that I hope would be followed up with many more wonderfully mind-broadening adventures!

Christina Alejandro is a product designer for a chain of gift shops and also a member of the WWF and Haribon Foundation, both environment oriented organizations. She loves travelling and has visited the US, Europe, Australia and some Asian countries. Christina’s website is:

All long-distance buses seem to have termini fairly near the Central Station [trains]. Outside this there is a massive square where most local buses start and from the other side there are roads into the centre, of which the Via Roma is the widest. The place where I stayed is just to the left of the Via Roma [third turn] and is visible from it. This is the Rosalia Conco d’Oro, completely unprepossessing from outside but snug, clean, comfortable and friendly inside and with a lift to the third floor reception and rooms. Toilets and showers are shared but I never had to wait.

However short your time here, there is one thing which is simply NOT TO BE MISSED, the Duomo at Monreale. This means one of the buses which does not start from the station and it is necessary to get first to the Piazza del’Indepenza to catch it. [Bus #309 from the station.] Words fail me at describing the appeal of this cathedral and I am happy to quote from the Rough Guide ‘the most extraordinary and extensive area of Christian medieval mosaicwork in the world, the apex of Sicilian-Norman art.’ I certainly cannot envisage anything better. To me this is one of the sights of Europe. Although totally different in style, I should place it in the same quality box as the Alhambra.

This Duomo must have been quite remarkable in the twelfth century for the dazzling speed of its construction. It is believed that it was done and dusted within twelve years. The reason for this would appear to have been political rivalry between the king and an archbishop but it does leave us now with a whole building of a single style. I regarded this visit as being of great historical interest as I had seen nothing of this type of Greek and Byzantine workmanship, but I did not expect it to appeal to me artistically. Talk about being bowled over; the impact of the view of the interior on entry was like a physical blow. Although I have seen nothing of its type to equal it, it has left me ready to appreciate a much wider artistic range of church interiors.

I suppose the crowning glory in terms of art must be the mighty mosaic of Christ – ‘mighty’ not used lightly here as the head and shoulders are a good sixty feet high! I think, however that the ones that moved me once were those of most of the best known Old Testament accounts which go all around just below the high windows of the nave. Some real humour is very visible in the sections on the Creation and Noah’s Ark. Lastly, on the subject of this cathedral, do not on any account miss seeing the cloisters. I forget whether the entrance is on the same wall as that to the cathedral or the wall to the right hand side as you face it, but it is worth finding.

There are some wonderful mosaics elsewhere in Palermo as well. The church of La Martorana near the centre has some of these and is probably one of the first things to see in Palermo. However do not miss seeing the church next to it as well, the little twelfth century chapel of San Cataldo. This is innocent of mosaics, very plain in fact, but its very simplicity gives it a considerable appeal. Strange to English eyes but rather appealing too, are the bright red domes of the roof. I have more difficulty in writing about the Palazzo dei Normanni, now the seat of Sicily’s autonomous government. Only a limited amount can be visited here but this includes the Capella Palatina. Here there are mosaics which should logically have something of the same effect as those at Monreale. However for me, although I could appreciate the skill and artistry well enough, they had no such impact. It was not anti-climax because I saw these before going out to Monreale. In the Capella I was more fascinated by the lovely Arabic ceiling. Whilst on the subject of churches I shall mention one that is no longer consecrated but is a striking building. This is San Giovanni degli Eremiti, not far from the Piazza del’ Independenza and the Norman palace. The twelfth century church was built on the remains of an earlier mosque and it is very much an Arabic type of building, well worth a visit, although its Christian style cloisters also call. The fact that the garden is now quite wild seems to enhance rather than detract from the beauty of the building.

David was a keen walker, particularly on mountains before he developed serious heart problems in 1995. He has now adapted his holidays to what he is able to do and we are presenting his account of 12 days in Sicily over this and the coming months. Next two episodes: Palermo.

Next episode – Palermo Part 2

The success of the Harry Potter films has resulted in a spate of tour operators organising tours of Harry Potter film locations – and don’t forget there’s a third Harry Potter film coming out in June 2004. There’s no reason why you cannot see some of these locations yourself without joining a tour. Here is where some of Harry Potter’s movie locations can be found:

Hogwarts school was shot in and around Lacock Abbey with some additional computer graphics to add to the mystery. Some of the scenes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third soon to be released movie were shot around the narrow streets and stalls of south London’s Borough Market – a favourite movie set where much of Bridgit Jones was filmed.

Platform 9-¾ was filmed at London’s main line station, King’s Cross between platforms 4 and 5. This is where Hogwarts students catch the train to Hogwarts boarding school. These days you will see, as the Beetle did the other day, a simple Platform 9-¾ sign hanging on a brick wall in a corner of the station. The adjoining railway station, the Gothic-style St. Pancras, was used for exterior shots. Australia House in central London provides the façade for Gringott’s Bank.

Various sites around Oxford were used in the first two films. Christchurch College was a model for the Hogwarts dining hall. Parts of the Bodleian Library were used for Hogwarts school scenes (the Divinity School as the Hogwarts hospital wing; Duke Humfrey’s Library as the Hogwarts library. The cloister and other parts of 900 year old Gloucester Cathedral were used in Hogwarts scenes. Up in the north east of England, the exterior of Alnwick Castle was used for Hogwarts’ Quidditch games and flying classes.

• The British tourist office can provide information, including a map of some Harry Potter film locations (0800-462-2748) or go to www.travelbritain.org/moviemap).
• Warner Brothers’ official Harry Potter movie site has previews and more: www.harrypotter.com.
• The BBC has Web pages with useful information and photos on Harry Potter sets, including Lacock, Oxford and Gloucester. See: www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/harry_potter/index.shtml

If you ever wondered which European countries were joining the European Union this year, look no further, for here is a list:

Travel industry experts say that small central European countries joining the European Union on May 1 are unlikely to lose their identity as visitors flood in. The concerns increased following an announcement by low-cost airline easyJet earlier in the year that it will start flights to the Slovenian capital Ljublijana. “It is a viable worry,” Frances Tuke, of the Association of British Travel Agents, told CNN. “There is always some concern over any new travel destination that is poorer than the origin of its tourists.” And Matthew Mavir, boss of lastnightoffreedom.com, a stag and hen weekend package supplier, warned that Ljublijana could easily lose its identity as the big tour operators move in. “It has happened with Prague and Dublin, so there is a definite danger,” Mavir said. “The more money you can save on a low-cost flight to these places, the more you have to spend on beer and going out.” easyJet’s spokeswoman refuted this saying: “That is unfair: easyJet carries a whole range of people from all walks of life, from students to lords and ladies.” A spokeswoman from the Slovenian Tourist Board in London said that Ljublijana attracted a sophisticated sector of the market that would appreciate its charms. “Hotels in the city are still expensive,” she said.

I’m writing this as we turn into Spring. The weather is on the turn now. Each day you can feel it getting slightly warmer, although it does still get a bit nippy at night. A couple of Saturdays ago my friend Joao came over from Lisbon and we had a late lunch sitting by the sea enjoying the sunshine and the following day I drove up to Ericeira to meet up with my friend Vanessa to visit Mafra market.

I left home about 9.00 and had a fabulous drive up the coast. Everywhere is so green at the moment and the blossom is starting to come out. Even the badly burnt areas around Mafra have changed colour. All the allotment areas are a vision of freshly turned earth and newly planted vegetables. The locals were all out along the roadside with their little tables selling bags of potatoes, onions, turnips, garlic, bread, chorizo etc etc. This is quite a common sight at weekends and in some places you can buy beautiful bunches of flowers. There is a lovely miniature village on the outskirts of Ericeira and opposite it is an area just devoted to vegetables and fresh bread. The miniature village also does a mean doughnut – always worth a stop!

We set off to explore further up the coast towards Peniche. It was lovely to see new parts of the country. The coastline is very beautiful and the villages and little towns quite fascinating. Some are still very traditional and quaint but spoilt by seventies infill building. We also passed a very amusing Vespa rally. This consisted of about 80 different coloured Vespas of varying ages, driven by young, middle-aged and old bikers!

Then, of course, lunch beckoned. The previous weekend Vanessa had been to a restaurant that she said was amazing so we tootled off back towards Ericeira looking for the village. We found it quite easily but then had to ask directions to the restaurant. She said that the road went from tarmac to rough but when the rough started it was something else. Basically the road ran out at the edge of a cliff. I sort of sat there dumbstruck and she offered to drive – I gratefully accepted. The access to this restaurant is down a rough three-quarter size track with a direct drop into the ocean and has about three hairpin bends in it! She managed perfectly of course. It’s me – I hate heights and can’t swim, so that combination was a guarantee of a panic!

The place was fantastic. It’s on the edge of the cliff with views out over the Atlantic (next coastline the USA). It is run by fishermen so the fish is chucked up the cliff and straight into the kitchen. It has three dining rooms and by the time we left at about 1.30 the place was packed out. Because we were early (12.10) we managed to get a table for two by the window. The majority of the tables were already set up for families with bread, olives, pasteis (home made mixed fish ones) and varying sizes of big saucepans containing caldeirada (a wonderful Portuguese fish stew). There was a daily fish menu but they also did meat dishes. The kitchen was open to view and the chef is a fisherman himself.

Vanessa had a half portion (a full portion can feed three) of mixed fried cuttlefish and manta ray which was served with tomato and black bean rice and chips in small chunks; I had a skewer of monkfish with prawns with a salad. We had a local bottle of fabulous white wine and the total bill was 21 euros (approximately £14). Can’t wait to go again but only if Vanessa will drive down the cliff!

Eventually made it to Mafra market. It’s a good market with the usual stalls of T-shirts, jeans, bedding, household goods, baskets, materials, sunglasses etc. The underwear stall was selling bras and knickers at 2 euros a piece! And good quality too. It was a very windy day so the stallholders were desperately holding things down with the nearest available stone. The market is held in front of the Mafra Palace which makes it a rather good setting. The olives they sell on Cascais market are beautiful. I bought some big black ones (€2.70 a kilo) and marinated them in garlic, olive oil, Italian seasoning and chilli flakes.

Which countries are represented by these flags? For the answers, see at the end of the e-news.

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

We are sorry to say that Mac is not very well, but he is still e-mailing strong and recently sent the Beetle a collection of Mac reminiscences about some of his travels in 1992. Here we have thoughts and experiences on India.

Vasco De Gama, Goa, India 14 Jan 1992. Got on narrow gauge train at 830PM and arrived at Mirji Junction at 5AM where I was to change for a wide gauge train to Delhi at 7AM. They put a notice on board in station what train car you are suppose to go on and what berth. My name was not on the list although I had made a reservation. Sometimes they would have my name as Wilfred (my first name) as last name and no reservation under either my first, middle or last name. I then looked for the number 67 (my age then.) They put your age beside your name so all India now knows my age. There was not even a number lucky 67 number. The station supervisor was not worried. He said the conductor would know even if my name was not there and to get in berth A5 if no one was in this berth. This was not First Class which my ticket was, but second class air conditioned sleeper which I had found I already preferred to First Class.

They gave me a side bed without curtain (all others had) and it is door where everyone passes. It is like laying on display in Lenin’s Tomb with a continual parade of people going through door and looking at me in surprise. Ha! It turned out though to be a good way to meet people as many asked me where I was from and asked me to visit them if I passed through their city. I met the High Sheriff of Calcutta this way, a lady Indian architect (unusual) and a Indian Army Officer that later showed me all around Agra on his motorcycle.

Kalismer India. Got a haircut and shave in a hole in a wall barber shop that was just wide enough for a barber chair and with a mirror in front of you and a mirror in back of you. You could see what the barber was doing to the back of your head. What a good idea. Barber spent ten minutes lathering and brushing my face and then shaved it. It was so cheap that I had him do it a second time! 5 rupees (twenty cents.) Haircut was 10 rupees (forty cents) Getting a shave and haircut in India was like it used to be in Japan with lots of attention and I like that.

At the YMCA hotel in New Delhi they gave you a card with address, phone number, your room number and on its back a map of city showing location of your hotel. Great Idea.

30 Jan 1992 in New Delhi, India. If in Delhi, try to be there around the 26 Jan for their national day. Parades with decorated Elephants, colourful pageants etc.) When I ordered eggs fried sunny side up this morning they did not understand sunny side up. An Indian said I should have said eggs Bulls eye if I wanted them sunny side up.

The huge Jain Mosque, the largest in India in Old Delhi has souvenir stands in front selling pictures of Saddam Hussein (whatever happened to him??) of Iraq. No pictures of Bush or me.

In the First Class waiting room in Old Delhi train station (there is an Old Delhi Train Station and a New Delhi Train Station (different trains to different destinations leave from each and they are quite aways apart. Both of them are old and I am usually at the wrong one. A well dressed Indian came up to me in the 1st Class waiting room with a porter (coolie) (they do call them coolies) carrying his luggage (brand new) on his head (on the coolies head.) He spoke to me and asked where I was from. He had just came from one of the Arab States (Qatar) where he had worked as an engineer for several years. When I mentioned about the mosque having pictures of Saddam Hussein for sale outside the mosque and that I had heard there was a bar in Dubai that was serving both sides at the same time (Iraqis, Iranians off ships and American servicemen at the same time to the surprise of both sides he said he was not surprised that the Iraq Embassy in Bahrain was open all during the 1992 Gulf War. I didn’t think Iraqis or Iranians Moslems drank but some do. This bar was Ponchos, was a Mexican style bar, very popular with foreigners living in Dubai and one time a ship had been torpedoed and those rescued and the torpeaders were in bar at the same time !) Dubai evidently allows or looks the other way at some practices that other Arab countries don’t allow.

In Indian train station waiting rooms I would sometimes lay my silver space blanket down on the floor and sleep using my belongings as a pillow. If I had to go to the toilet I would sometimes ask an Indian lady if one was there (although I think they had separate rooms for women only if they desired) to look after my stuff. I found Indian women were flattered if you talked to them as a human being and they were very good at giving information and looking after ones stuff and one. It was just me sleeping on the floor many others did too. Instead of getting up early at your lodging for an early train I would sleep that night in the waiting room as did many Indians.

The Indian engineer said they had fantastic lotteries in Dubai. They will deliver the prizes anyplace in the world. Luxury cars, lotteries for apartments in London and Washington, D.C. etc. Fantastic duty fee shops and Dubai is a world of luxury. Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world (Kuwait used to be)

I was in India several times using Indian Rail Pass. You were not questioned about sleeping in 1st class if you had a rail pass. Besides the waiting rooms some of the train stations had accommodations (with beds, mosquito knits etc ) nearby Arriving in Calcutta at an ungodly hour I slept in these accommodations one time rather than try to make it outside that early.

India is interesting.

And on a parting note: The National Geographic Traveller for April 2004 has a very good article on the Rajasthan section of India. To me that is the most exotic part of India. I found this comment amusing. “If you find the sometimes less than spotless conditions in India up setting try pretending you’re British. The British don’t mind a little dirt,” a resident of Jaipur commented. “They look on it as part of the adventure” Me: if my British friends at the Globetrotters Club want to sue National Geographic, I can get them a good lawyer! Another comment was that if someone in India puts a garland of flowers around your neck you are supposed after a few minutes to take the garland off and carry it in your hand to show that you are humble. I wore mine for days. No wonder India asked me to leave!

If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer e-mails: macsan400@yahoo.com