Category: travel

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Fleeting visit to Aldeburgh

Aldeburgh High Street
Aldeburgh High Street

I was going to add Aldeburgh to my list of places for #50places2026, however I only spent just over an hour there after visiting Orford Ness. I decided it was very much a flying visit. I have planned to record visits to fifty places this year, as I did last year. Orford Ness took me to 47, so I just need to add three places to the list.

My last visit to Aldeburgh was back in October 2024. My connection to Aldeburgh goes back to the 1970s. I would visit there all the time as a child.

Custom House
Custom House in Aldeburgh

I hadn’t anticipated my visit to Orford taking as long as it did. I was there for much longer than I thought I would be. I also stopped there for lunch, which reduced how much time I had left.  My original thoughts were to visit the Snape Maltings and then spend time in Aldeburgh. I ran out of time.

I arrived mid-afternoon. I had an enjoyable walk down the high street to Slaughden Quay and then I walked back along Crag Path.

Aldeburgh Beach
Aldeburgh Beach

I then headed back down to the High Street, popping into some of the shops. I did think about stopping for a coffee, but it did look like rain. I also knew I had a long drive back home to Weston. Decided rather than have coffee in Aldeburgh, I would set off home and stop for coffee on the way.

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Strode House

The converted stables at Barrington Court which became Strode House, was the living space for the Lyle Family.

It was an Arts & Craft design, and was filled with salvaged wood panelling from other houses across the country.

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Somerset in the sixties

Lovely BFI film about various places in Somerset including Weston-super-Mare.

Obviously. bit dated in places, but it does show off many of the attractions of the seaside resort which now no longer exist.

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First man on the moon

The foyer and reception of the ibis Styles Delft City Centre hotel is an eclectic  mix of sculptures, pictures, murals, and a Jurassic Park  pinball machine.

My favourite part though was the mural with human achievements, specifically the first man on the moon in 1969. Did they illustrate it with the lunar module? No they did not. What about the huge Saturn V rocket that got them there? No, that wasn’t used. What they did use was a picture of the rocket that Tintin used to get to the moon!

More photographs from the hotel.

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Then and Now’ish – Citroën

Well not quite a then and now.

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2023 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. Back then I took a photograph of a lovely Citroën DS23 Pallas from the early 1970s.

Citroën DS23 Pallas

I made a return visit to the Netherlands for a conference in September 2025 and walking around the canals of Amsterdam and saw another Citroën. This was a Citroën Dyane, probably either from the late 1970s or early 1980s. 

Citroën Dyane

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Why no helmets?

parked cycles in a cycle rack

It would appear that everyone in the Netherlands has a bicycle and cycles everywhere…

On a recent visit to the Netherlands I had first-hand experience of Dutch cycling. There are numerous cycle paths across the country and in Delft where I was staying there were loads.

One thing that really stood out for me was the complete lack of cyclists using helmets.  Alongside that was the huge number of cyclists as well, especially at peak hours, at some points it felt like the cycle path was part of the route of the Tour de France.

Now I am not saying they should wear helmets, mandate it, but the thought of crashing at 20kph would make me wear a helmet if I was cycling in the Netherlands.

So, why don’t they wear helmets?  Searching online, the key reason appears to be cultural.  This article from The Guardian explores the Dutch thinking.

When 42-year-old Myrthe Boss gets on her bike to go shopping in the Dutch town of Ede, she pops on a helmet. This act, considered essential in many countries, marks Boss out as something of a radical in the Netherlands, where helmet-wearing is rare.