Detailed Itinerary and Contact Details

Hello friends and family,

Qantas Boeing 747-400

Our detailed trip itinerary (only if you're interested) can be downloaded from this link.

You can also click here to find our current contact details wherever we happen to be.

Cheers, Roger and Helen.

Cruising the Cut with David Johns

Quite a few narrowboaters document their story on video and post these videos on YouTube. I've been following this fellow David Johns who used to work as a local TV news reporter for ITV in the south east of England, quit his job, sold up and bought a narrowboat called Wreyland then began cruising around the UK canal network.

His channel Cruising the Cut features life on board, some beautiful scenery and places to visit plus some tips and tricks for people who are interested in cruising on a part or full time basis.

Narrowboat Wreyland

Here is a list of the videos of most of Leicester Ring ie. the same canal route that we plan to follow during our time in the Midlands in late June / early July.

Episode 84: Braunston to Crick
Episode 85: Crick to Kilby
Episode 86: Kilby to Birstall
Episode 87: Birstall to Loughborough on the River Soar
Episode 88: Loughborough to Ratcliffe on the River Soar
Episode 89: Ratcliffe to the end of the River Soar then onto Shardlow on the Trent and Mersey Canal

Hope you enjoy these   s  l  o  w  canal experiences as much as we do.

Cheers,

Roger and Helen

Yellowstone & Badlands National Parks

Yellowstone National Park

Hi everyone,

Our planning for the 8 week adventure in June & July is really progressing well.

All of the Airbnb and hotel accommodation for the USA sector (in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and South Dakota) has been selected and deposits paid. Starting with Denver we'll stay with Airbnb hosts in small midwestern villages around the perimeter of  the Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Yellowstone National Park

Grand Teton National Park

After Yellowstone, we're going to be stopping overnight in Buffalo, Wyoming before we spend three nights at a Lodge in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota.

Badlands National Park

To give you a good idea of what we'll see, 'Dances with Wolves' and 'Thunderheart' were both filmed in Badlands National Park. The Lakota (Native American) people were the first to refer to this place "land bad." due to the extreme temperatures, lack of water, and the exposed rugged terrain.

On the way to Badlands National Park we also plan to visit Mount Rushmore National Memorial where four of the early US Presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln) have been carved into the mountain face.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Numerous new fossil species have been discovered in the White River Badlands - terrain that has developed an international reputation as a fossil-rich area. They contain the richest deposits of Oligocene mammals known, providing an insight into life in this area around 33 million years ago.

Here's a just a glimpse of the unique Badlands landscape we're looking forward to seeing.

https://youtu.be/brZzLyzaXbA

Introduction to the Blog

Hi friends and family,

Just wanted to let you know that we're heading off around the world this winter and that we sorted and paid for all our flights yesterday.

The complete Itinerary is:

Sydney to Tokyo on QF 25 (a Boeing 747-400) departing Sunday, June 2 arriving the following morning. Our Flight Duration is 9 hours 25 minutes

We will meet Doug, Louise and Lou's sister Vivienne in Haneda Airport spending 4 nights in Tokyo and then off with them to see parts of north east Honshu incl. Hachinohe, Lake Towada, Hirosaki, Morioka, Hanamaki and finally back to Tokyo.

Tokyo to London via Frankfurt on LH 920 (a Boeing 747-8 and an Airbus A320neo) departing Sunday, June 16 and arriving the same day. We have a short stopover to change aircraft at Frankfurt. Our Flight Durations are 11 hours 40 minutes and 1 hour 40 minutes.

We'll spend time with family (Glenn and David) and visit more of London for nearly a week then travel to Rugby by train to spend 14 nights on a narrowboat on the canals of the English Midlands (with our friends Anne and Steve and also our extra crew members Trevor for a couple of days in the first week and Glenn and David hopefully for three to four days during the second week (see http://bit.ly/peggyttm for a detailed map of the planned canal route).

London to Munich on LH 2475 (an Airbus A320-200) departing Saturday, July 6. Our Flight Duration is 1 hour 45 minutes.

Whilst in Munich we're planning to drink German Beer (why not???) and visit some of the popular visitor attractions, catch up on documenting the trip so far and preparing for the next adventure.

Munich to Denver on LH 480 (an Airbus A330-300) departing Wednesday, July 10.

In Denver we will hire a car and begin an 18 day road trip through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota to visit Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial and Badlands National Park together with a few of the sights in and around Denver before heading home.

Denver back to Sydney via San Francisco on UA 737 (a Boeing 737-900) and QF 74 (a Boeing 747-400)  departing and loosing a day, arriving Thursday, August 1. The Flight Durations are 2 hours 43 minutes and 14 hours 40 minutes.

Cheers,

Roger 😎.