The Ongoing Odyssey of Two Old Dears on The Loose in Canada By Jan Speedie & Margaret Graham

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Margaret Graham

All our body clocks were still grappling with real time, Canada, and Margaret’s had rather more to worry about, so while she lazed about in a darkened room, Jan hit the road with the gang, heading for Lake Louise.

Before we arrived at this iconic lake we made several stops on our way always looking out for wildlife –black or grizzle bears, elk, moose, big horned sheep and mountain goats.

Our first stop was the Lake Louise ski centre. Surrounded by snowy peaks everywhere it was easy to imagine the winter scene. The only occupant of the piste was a black bear, looking for a fresh patch of dandelions, their favourite pudding.

Back on our coach, the next stop was the Spiral Tunnels an amazing piece of engineering and design, built in 1909 to prevent further fatal accidents as the trains struggle to ascend and descend Big Hill in the Kicking Horse Pass. The tunnels form the shape of a figure of eight, and although a longer route, it reduces the gradient and provides a safer passage for the freight and passenger trains. It is still in use today.

We stopped to look at many waterfalls on our way to the Emerald Lake which is one of the 61 lakes in the Yoho National Park. The lake is enclosed by mountains and was discovered by Tom Wilson in 1882. The remarkable colour is caused by the fine particles of glacial sediment (Rock Flour) descending into the lake. From November to March the lake is frozen but for our visit the weather was perfect and the colour incredible.

This beautiful lake is surrounded by larch trees and overlooking the lake is the famous Fairmont Chateau hotel. No hotel lunch for us, a picnic admiring the lake and a quick wander on one of the many trails surrounding the lake.

Bow River, Yoho National Park

Two Old Ducks Hit The Canadian Rockies by Jan Speedie & Margaret Graham

Posted on July 8, 2015 by Margaret Graham

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but was it? As all things do, it began with just one question: ‘Where shall we go to celebrate this sort of birthday?’

We met at primary school when we were nine, a million years ago, and both had one of those birthdays this year. We decided on the Rockies, by train. Would we go it alone, or with a company? We decided on Great Train Journeys. Dr Diffey was in charge of us, a former headmaster, which caused some palpitations as detentions were a feature of Margaret’s school days. He was far from the usual model, a real legend.

We landed at Calgary at the beginning of June, imagining Calgary to be a small rodeo town, but it’s thriving and huge. We set off by coach across the prairies, heading for Banff, in the Rockies.

We saw the Rockies from a great distance, and why not, they’re huge. We were lucky and arrived in a heatwave. Normally there is a British amount of rain and the mountains can be hidden, but we had a full frontal view at all times.

Feeling a little travelled out we hit Banff, toddling into the Caribou Hotel with our luggage. Margaret was smug because she had stuffed her clothes into something little bigger than a weekend case. Jan was just a small step up.

Then a quick look round in the clean clear air of the mountains. Banff is a tourist town, but why not? A perfect centre, with restaurants, shops, and lots of activities on offer. The next morning, Keith Diffey gathered us up, assuring us that it wasn’t like herding cats, but not sure we believed him. We clambered on board a converted school bus, and headed for Bow River where we were to – no, not white water raft, but just raft for an hour.

Another glorious day it was, as we were ‘oared’ rather than rowed along this most shallow of rivers. It has very few fish, as there isn’t enough to sustain more than the odd trout. The same could be said for the land either side. We saw the occasional caribou, but no bears, which we had rather expected. We passed weather eroded rocks.

And stopped to see the golden willow, which the First Nation Indians would use for headaches. Much as we use aspirin for ours, though willow is common to both medications.

We reached a gently sloping bank, and there was the bus, waiting to return us to Banff. As Margaret reached terra firma, she began to feel dreadful. Travel sickness? Onto the bus we went, Margaret with her voluminous handbag as always – thank heavens. (much like Tinky Winky the teletubby) As we travelled, she upchucked into the only receptacle, the handbag, of course, or rather the scarf lying on the top. A memorable moment for in the vicinity .

Jan spent a delightful afternoon dawdling along the river bank at Banff – alone. Margaret did not see the light of day for a good 24 hours, wondering quite where the high temperature had come from. There is, you will be thrilled to hear, no illustration of these events, especially not a selfie.

She did not emerge for the trip to Lake Louise, but instead managed to get into Banff and gave a chemist the option of shooting or medicating her. He gave her antibiotics, and anti-this, and anti-that, which got her upright and so the odyssey continued. More later.

https://www.greatrail.com/

And So To Bath Part 2

Posted on June 23, 2015 by Jane Cable

In her second article about the city, author and Frost contributor Jane Cable dips more than a toe in those famous waters

I can think of very few cities whose names are synonymous with their raison d’etre and Bath certainly tops the list. Since Roman times, and possibly before, that little hot water spring gushing out from the ground a few hundred yards from the river has been responsible for the prosperity and even the very existence of the place.

Bringing the concept right up to date is the Thermae Bath Spa in, most appropriately, Hot Bath Street. From the moment I saw pictures of its stunning architecture and roof top pool the spa was close to the top of my bucket list and as I wanted to experience it to the full I had booked a couple’s massage and visit package some weeks before.

Seeing the queue snaking from the building I was very pleased I had. The website warns that weekends are busy, but later a taxi driver told us that arriving at seven o’clock in the evening for the last two hour session – or first thing in the morning – guarantees a quieter time. Even so the spa was not unpleasantly crowded at any time during our visit.

The massage suite is on the first floor and after changing and putting on our robes and slippers we went upstairs. The treatment rooms are a series of curved pods and the therapists first class. I have rarely known fifty minutes pass more quickly or more blissfully and we floated into the central relaxation area where we were brought herbal tea and plenty of water. Husband was so blissed out he didn’t even pick up one of the array of glossy magazines on offer, just stared dreamily into space.

When we could be bothered to move we went up to the steam rooms on the next floor. The curved pod design continues, and four of them surround a central rain water shower which varies from gentle drizzle to tropical downpour. Each pod has a different scent; lotus flower, ginger, sandalwood or mentholyptus. The last one was incredibly strong and certainly cleared the sinuses but the sandalwood was our favourite.

Then it was up another flight of stairs to the roof top spa pool. Yes, it was busy, but there was plenty of room for everyone and the views over the city and the hills beyond were jaw-droppingly beautiful. We were blessed with sunny weather but even in winter the warm water would keep you cosy. Half the pool is taken up with spa jets and we dabbled here for a while before swimming into calmer waters to relax and people watch, just as the Romans would have done. To our surprise we stayed there for almost an hour but by that stage we were so chilled that time just floated past unnoticed.

We completed our visit with a swim around the indoor thermal pool in the basement and a light meal in the restaurant, which was included in our package. I have to say that we wouldn’t chose to eat there again but on reflection it’s probably best to let spas be spas and restaurants be restaurants. What we will be doing is returning the Thermae Bath Spa for more treatments and to soak and steam ourselves into bliss.

The next morning we got up early to visit the Roman Baths before the coach tours and school trips arrived. It’s a real don’t miss attraction with so much of the original roman architecture on show as well as brilliant background information. You can chose to follow audio guides by Professor Alice Roberts or Bill Bryson, with a separate tour for the kids. But what struck us most of all was how our experience the previous day echoed what has been done in the city for centuries; massage, steam room, thermal baths. Those Romans certainly knew how to live.

And So To Bath | Travel

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Jane Cable

In the first of two articles author and Frost contributor Jane Cable explores the possibilities of a weekend in Bath

Think of a weekend in Bath and what do you think? Georgian elegance – that’s what – and staying at the Bailbrook House Hotel on the edge of the city does not disappoint.

At first the friends we travelled with were nervous about booking a hotel outside the centre but I relish my peace and quiet. And one look at the menu in the Cloisters Restaurant won them over in seconds. All the same I had my fingers firmly crossed as we unloaded the car that the Bailbrook would live up to the reputation of the Handpicked Hotel chain of which it is part.

I need not have worried on that score. The reception area was crowded with new arrivals but we didn’t have to wait – the concierge settled us on a sofa and brought the paperwork to us to complete. Then we were escorted to our rooms in the hotel’s modern wing to find them large and luxurious with every home comfort including a capsule coffee machine and a dinky bottle of milk in the fridge.

Alas, the milk was off. But all this did was provide this marvellous hotel with an opportunity to give us another example of its fabulous customer service. Having telephoned housekeeping I put the kettle back on, more in hope than expectation, but the replacement milk arrived before it had even boiled. Surely the charming lady who delivered it must have been lurking in the corridor for just such an eventuality.

Pre-dinner drinks were served in an elegant drawing room overlooking the grounds. The house champagne was reasonably priced for a hotel at just over £50 a bottle so we treated ourselves and settled back on a comfortable sofa in front of the fireplace to nibble canapés and peruse the menu. Again, at £39, the three course table d’hôte looked like excellent value for money.

Excellent was indeed the word – not just the food, but the service was also spot on. The front of house manager read the mood of our party perfectly and joined in with our banter, the rest of his staff following his lead. With couples enjoying romantic dinners they were warm but discreet.

The food was completely fitting for a 2 Rosette restaurant. To start we variously enjoyed local asparagus with duck egg, gravadlax and a wonderfully light cheese soufflé with a salad of heritage tomatoes and radish. Three of us chose the 21 day aged slow roast fillet of beef and the fourth wished he had. Not that there was anything wrong with his sea bream on crushed purple potatoes, but the beef literally melted in our mouths and was so full of flavour. The only small criticism is that perhaps a few more vegetables wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Despite the lemon posset having sold out, dessert was a triumph when we almost all selected the honeycomb parfait. Husband, of course, headed straight for the cheese and was rewarded with a selection of three generous chunks accompanied by home made chutney.

After a hearty breakfast the next morning we set off into the city and discovered:

Café Lucca in Bartlett Street for coffee on a sunny terrace and amazing salads for lunch.
Sotto Sotto in North Parade for good solid Italian cooking: gets raved about on TripAdvisor but for us was at the better end of average, if fairly priced.
You have to pay to go into The Parade Gardens but there is a fabulous park on the other side of the river, tucked away on the Henrietta Mews side of Great Pulteney Street.
You don’t have to eat at Sally Lunn’s to be able to visit the tiny museum in the basement which shows the different pavement levels of the city through time – fascinating.
If you want to stay central then Three Abbey Green looks to be a great alternative.
If you go to Bath and find somewhere you can park for more than four hours then please let me know.

Just for Bread – Sailing Adventures by Manda Bear

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Margaret Graham

We were at anchor, under canvas, (not a tent, but our sailing boat). It was 4am in the morning and the mosquitoes were on the attack, so discretion being the better part of valour, we gave in and sailed 20 miles to a area called Cap Bear ( good name I thought) We went into a harbour and anchored outside a town called Port Vendres in Spain just to get some supplies and bread for lunch.

After making sure the anchor was settled Dave, Arthur and Adria took the dingy with the outboard engine, and left Lorenzo and myself on the boat listening to music and tidying, After about 15 minutes a small snorkeling vessel came over with a group of people on it, yelling that I needed to leave this area as a big cargo ship was coming into harbour.

‘Where am I supposed to go without my Captain and crew? I’ve never moved her on my own,’ I shouted back, panic stirring.

‘Move it over towards the beach area just for a while.’ It seemed simple but I could see there were rocks under the water there. However, there was nothing else to do but pull up the anchor on my own, fire up the engine, and carefully edge towards the shore.

Lady Bear helped me, by moving gently and like a dream. I radioed my partner, Dave, but the connection wasn’t good.

‘Return to Lady Bear, need you,’ Short and sweet and to the point, I thought.

The man in charge of the snorkeling vessel stayed by for a few minutes because of the underwater rocks. And I watched him leave, with regret.

There Lorenzo, my eldest son, and I stayed, but as time went by there was still no sign of our dinghy with the others on board. Where was he? Then I got a garbled radio message from the harbour master saying ‘Dinghy engine is broken down’.

It was at that point a huge cargo ship came through the small harbour entrance, shadowing and dwarfing our boat. Lorenzo, my son and I were beyond scared. It was then I saw Dave with the others, bobbing about on our tiny dingy with no engine in the path of this huge vessel.

I could do nothing as I had my hands full continuing to keep the Lady Bear clear of the rocks. But in the nick of time our guardian angel, the snorkelling vessel returned. Within minutes he had set up a tow, and at last our family was together again, on board, and the Lady Bear was in Dave’s safe hands. Many lessons learned, we decided as our thanks followed the snorkelling skipper as he went on to no doubt help someone else.

‘Is it always this exciting getting bread?’ our friend Adria asked.

Well. That was just one of the complications and adventures we experienced while we sailed on our small 37ft classic wooden hillyard boat.

For several years we have spend long periods on her and she has been good to us. Arthur, our youngest son, was only five years old when we travelled all the way to Turkey to buy the vessel, before sailing her back to Italy where we live in Le Marche. Lorenzo our eldest was seven years old then, and even though he is totally blind from birth, took to her really well and she helped his confidence enormously.

Together we have all experienced amazing events. We’ve had an engine falling off into a busy harbour, we have rescued other sailors during storms, as well as surviving them ourselves. We have met wonderful people, but also thieves who stole vital possessions. Next time I would love to tell you how we actually bought the vessel in Turkey, which involved Dave diving into the water to rescue – well, what? I’ll tell you next time.

But don’t forget, that there are of course, the most wonderful quiet and peaceful times.

http://casacasali6.weebly.com

French House Party, Carcassonne – How it Began By Owner Moira Martingale

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Margaret Graham

By Margaret Graham with news of an exciting offer exclusive to Frost readers.

** A very special offer for Frost readers: sign up for the House Party Creative Writing Retreat in June at this great venue, and save £150. Just email Moira Martingale quoting the code: ‘Frost’. This is a rare opportunity to find time to finish that manuscript or short story in the company of others. A professional will be on hand to help when needed. There will be great food, wine, a swimming pool, sunshine… Read more to find out the where, what and why.

‘So,’ owner Moira Martingale ponders, ‘where did the idea of French House Party come from in the first place?’

One sultry August evening, sitting around the table in Carcassonne with friends, it turned out that all of us had read Yann Martel‘s Booker-winning ‘Life of Pi’ and everyone had a view about it. The book-talk went on for ages, punctuated only by the uncorking of further bottles of the lovely local wines from this region of southern France, which is Languedoc-Roussillon.

We were all arty folk: a successful ceramicist, an early-retired theatre director, teachers, artists and writers, one of the latter being myself. A journalist-turned-author, I also had a teaching qualification and a doctorate in English literature.

Suddenly it dawned on me: why not set up holiday courses for people to come and do precisely what we were doing: discussing books with each other during a holiday in the sun with lovely food and wine laid on.

At that time there were five en suite bedrooms in this 200-year-old farmhouse, so in theory there was room for ten people. My friends were all skilled and enthusiastic artists and within minutes I had my Ceramics, Arts and Creative Writing tutors with a planned Books and Drama course run jointly by myself and my theatre director friend, Chris. It was as easy as that.

Or was it? Marketing? Promotion? Advertising? Annual accounts? Business plans? What did I know about forecasts and profits and losses? I found I knew nothing the moment the website went up. Because NOTHING happened. The enquiries@frenchhouseparty mailbox was empty.

Slowly I learned, and things picked up. My break-even point was five people per course and at six I was in profit, although I was clearly in no danger of being named in the Sunday Times Rich List. Frequently we had three or four people booked onto a course and I still ran it. Ruthless businesswoman I was not.

Eventually I made all the arts courses groups-only, other than Sarah Hymas’s Creative Writing, which was regularly over-subscribed. In 2009 I extended the house to eight bedrooms. Things were cooking, literally, because French House Party offered additional courses which individuals could join – various cookery breaks tutored by first-class French chefs and our Summer Songwriting course run by the respected singer-songwriter and 1970s/80s chart-topper Dean Friedman.

Along with Creative Writing, these remain the most popular, and are effortlessly filled year after year. Other arts courses continue to operate and the demand is, in fact, increasing, but now these are on a groups-only or privately-booked tailor-made basis.

Dedicated writers have an additional option now. Sarah Hymas, who is a professional mentor at her publishing company, is for the first time, offering a Writing Retreat for authors whose work is either complete or in progress. There will be no formal lessons, but individual one-to-one sessions for manuscript inspection, advice, help and ideas-input from someone with a pedigree in such expertise and who is fearless when it comes to sharing it.

This course – ‘Pen & Think’ starts on 15 June and ends on 20 June. The all-inclusive price is £895. As with all our courses, we provide free airport transfers and include extras such as a couple of dinners, including wine, out at lovely restaurants. (See our French house Party offer above)

In the years since that first inspirational nudge from ‘Life of Pi’, French House Party has been named one of the top ten learning retreats in a National Geographic book ‘The 100 Best Worldwide Vacations to Enrich Your Life’ and we have a Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor, reflecting customer satisfaction. This year the Daily Telegraph named us as one of the top ten cookery holidays in France.

You see, it might have taken eight years, but finally I’m starting to sound like a businesswoman, aren’t I?

Moira Martingale

The French House Party, Carcassonne.

Email: enquiries@frenchhouseparty.co.uk or moiramartingale@me.com

Website: www.frenchhouseparty.eu

UK Mobile: 07900 322791

UK Landline: 01299 896819

The Antarctic Pavilion: Alexander Ponomarev – Concordia

Posted on May 1, 2015 by Catherine Balavage

Fondaco Marcello, Calle dei Garzoni, Grand Canal, Venice 56th Venice Biennale of Art

Saturday 9th May – Sunday 22^nd November

For anyone who happens to be in Venice between the above dates I think I trip to the Antarctic Pavilion would be an extraordinary experience. Following the critical success of the Antarctic Pavilion’s inaugural exhibition at the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale, Concordia is a major installation by the celebrated Russian artist Alexander Ponomarev.

Concordia is Latin for ‘harmony’ – the personification of concord, a treaty or pact. It is also the name basis of the Costa Concordia, wrecked off the coast of Italy in 2012 after a catastrophic blunder by its captain who abandoned ship before the safe evacuation of his 3,229 passengers.

For the 56th Venice Biennale of Art, Alexander Ponomarev’s installation, curated by Nadim Samman, deploys the Costa Concordia disaster – specifically, the broken pact between Captain Schettino and his passengers – as a provocative lens through which to view the fragility of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty. This agreement suspended military activity and sovereign claims on the continent’s territory, limiting human activity there to the pursuit of peaceful scientific endeavour. As the global struggle for resources intensifies, the future of this treaty is in peril.

In Ponomarev’s sculptural intervention a scale model of the grounded Concordia, tilting like a tipped iceberg (or perhaps a shift in the polar axis itself) stands as an image of terrestrial re- orientation: a new worldview.

Elsewhere in the exhibition, fire invokes a notorious act of arson by a staff doctor from the Argentinean Almirante Brown station, who burnt his base to the ground when the setting sun announced the onset of winter.

Further works are based on the artist’s recent expedition to the (Russian Orthodox) Trinity Church of Antarctica when the whole expedition party received marriage sacraments from the southern continent’s only resident monk.

In addition to its invoking of paradigmatic disasters, Concordia is a meditation on community, responsibility, security and the strength of the ties that bind us together amid shifting personal and political landscapes.

The Antarctic Pavilion is a European interface platform for The Antarctic Biennale, to be held in Antarctica in 2016 aboard international research vessels. The Antarctic Biennale is also devised and implemented by artist Alexander Ponomarev and curated by Nadim Samman both of whom were named by Foreign Policy Magazine among the ‘100 Leading Global Thinkers’ of 2014 ‘for designing a blueprint for Antarctic culture.

www.antarcticpavilion.com

Holiday Destination: Kerala, India by Pat Heath

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Margaret Graham

Cycling in Kerala sounded fun. Yes, they mentioned mountains, but how hard could it be?

Day 1 was deceptively relaxing – a guided tour of Kochi and its history. Separated from the rest of India by mountains, Kochi was influenced mainly by foreign traders, attracted by the lucrative spice business. The apostle, Thomas, beat the Portuguese missionaries by several centuries, and Indian-style Christian churches alternate with Hindu temples and mosques, together with one beautiful old synogogue, maintained by just six Jews.

The cycling started gently, along quiet canals. The locals stopped washing their clothes in the waters to enquire just how old we were? And couldn’t we afford a car?

Then the first mountain appeared. It was beautiful (I think – I mostly stared at the road, with gritted teeth, resisting the call of the air-conditioned, leather-seated support vehicle ahead). But after hours of grunting and cursing, we arrived at a spice plantation, set on the mountain-side. After cakes, fruit juice, and a much-needed shower, the owner showed us around. Every spice we’d ever heard of – and some we hadn’t – were growing around us. Using smell and taste, we identified nutmeg and mace, ginger plants, cardamom pods, all spice, and cinnamon bark. The photograph shows Johann, an Austrian guest, testing peppercorns on the vine.

Our evening meal, naturally incorporated all these spices.

Next day – more climbing, but the rolling tea plantations were worth the shaking thighs. We paused (any excuse) to watch the tea-pickers cutting leaf tips into bags attached to their scissors.

Then we visited Tata tea factory (thankfully by car) to watch the tea process and buy fresh, high-quality tea.

On to the Periyar Rainforest. Wearing sackcloth overboots (for leech protection), we crossed the river, by standing on a narrow raft of thin branches. Incredibly we reached the forest still on board. The native guide showed us monkeys, giant squirrels, numerous medicinal plants and even fresh tiger paw marks (no sign of the owner, fortunately).

Finally, it was downhill, literally, as we whizzed to the Backwaters. Rounding a corner, we braked to avoid flying into a huge lake – cartoon-style. The guides loaded our bikes, plus us, into a large canoe and we chugged to our waterside accommodation – a traditional farmhouse with luxurious, open-roofed bathrooms – a shower with a suntan.

More delicious Keralan food followed, with a chance to sample the local coconut toddy.

The Backwaters comprise hundreds of reclaimed islands, surrounded by lakes and canals. By hiring a houseboat, you can see life on the water – families fishing for their supper, school children travelling by canoe (see photograph) and local youths practising snake-boat racing.

We were greeted with a coconut drink and banana fritters on our houseboat.

After a peaceful night, rocked by the water, we enjoyed a typical South Indian breakfast, watching cormorants and sea snakes.

After disembarking, we cycled to the Alleppey beach, for camel rides.

Would I recommend Kerala as a holiday destination? Absolutely.

Kalypso Adventures is a holiday company based in Kochi, Kerala. Their experienced and high-quality customer service works to give a wonderful holiday experience : http://www.kalypsoadventures.com

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