"Andy's Travel Page" aah_stone's Profile

Hi, how are you?

I am a travel addict who regularly spends weekends in the outdoors in the UK and Europe.

Trips planned for the near future:
October-December 2008 - Kazakhstan (maybe Uzbekistan again)
December 2008 / January 2009 - Jordan

Recent Trips:
October 2008- Munich (again) & Berlin
September 2008 - Barcelona
August 2008 - Prague
July 2008 - Brugge
July 2008 - Amsterdam
April 2008 - Geneva & Lausanne
February 2008 - Ghent and Brussels
January 2008 - Moscow and St Petersburg
October 2007 - Munich & Passau
August 2007 - Moscow
July/Aug 2007 - Hylands Park, Essex, UK (World Scout Jamboree)
April 2007 (Easter) - Helsinki, Finland
March 2007 - Dartmoor, UK
March 2007 - Yorkshire, UK
January 2007 - Madrid
September 2006 - Munich, Germany (Oktoberfest :-))
September 2006 - Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium
August 2006 - Brecon Beaons, Wales
April 2006 - Uzbekistan
April 2006 - Snowdonia, Wales
February 2006 - N. Yorkshire, UK
December 2005 - Limerick, Ireland
November 2005 - Scotland (Ardgour)
September2005 - Munich, Germany with day trip to Salzburg, Austria
July 2005 - Stuttgart, Germany
July 2005 - Aberfoyle, Scotland
June2005 - Bruges, Belgium
May2005 - S. Wales
March/April2005 - USA (New York-Washington DC-San Francisco-Las Vegas-Arizona-Utah-Colorado)
February 2005 - Yorkshire, UK
January 2005 - Riga, Latvia
December/January - Ireland
December 2004 - Day trip to Belgium/France
October 2004 - Manchester, UK
September/October2004 - Munich
July 2004 - Ghent, Belgium
March/April 2004 - Argentina

I have many hobbies and interests other than travel and will list those that I devote most of my time to here.

Me underground looking at a rock

I first started caving when at university in 1997, spending many weekends underground in Yorkshire and Derbyshire, UK. I have also ventured into the underground kingdom in the south of France where the caves were much more friendly - drier and warmer!!

Since leaving university I still keep in touch with my old club on a regular basis. I have also joined a local club now, but I will add that I am not all that regular a caver now!

Druridge Bay, Northumberland, UK

I just love being outside with a beautiful view so Walking became a hobby very early on when I was a Scout.

Since then I have been all over the UK walking. Been on shorter walks in the French/Swiss Alps, The Pyrenees and many other places.

Snowdonia, Wales, UK is probably one of my favourite areas - rugged and majestic. Both low and high level walks are available. No excuse for not walking even in the harshest of weathers.

I have recently walked from Brownsea Island (Site of the 1st ever Scout Camp) to Hylands Park, Essex (Site of the World Scout Jamboree 2007) over a series of weekends. This was to raise funds to pay the £570 fee to help on the Service Team at The World Jamboree. A great chunk of this money goes to help Scouts from less wealthy countries so they can attend the camp.

The South Downs

This picture was taken in October 2004 just a few minutes walk from my home.

Taken looking west back towards my home, although you can't see it. One of my all time favourite views on the South Downs, from a hill called Devil's Dyke.

We (3 of us) later had a pub lunch and a few well earned beers before heading back.

Over the North Sea

Always an interest of mine as farback as I could remember.

All the way from the Wright brothers up to present day airliners it is all very interesting for me.

I can remember flying out to USA as a child and being very excited about the aircraft.

Very saddened by the withdrawl from service of Concorde in 2003 having never flown with her.

Had a couple of trial flying lessons in little Cessnas. Great fun.

Also had a few gliding lessons, the most recent being the end of 2003. I would really like to get back in to that again. The rush as you skim along a ridge is just amazing, as is the feeling as you go over the top during a loop. Just fantastic.

My house from the air

This is a snap of my house from the air when i was coming in to land at London Gatwick on the way back from Toulouse. It is just to the right (east) of the river. I have a few other aerial photos of my house from light aircraft, when I have flown from Shoreham (Brighton City) Airport. But I think this is quite special, as I wasn't really expecting to see my home on this occasion.

Myself and my friend James at Oktoberfest 2003

I have to say I am a great lover of German beers and it was no surprise when I first went to the Munich Oktoberfest in 2001 I became hooked on the city.

It is now an anuual trip, this year will be the 8th in a row!

I have been outside the Oktoberfest once in May 2003 but it was the weekend Bayern Munich were presented with the league trophy so Marienplatz and the whole city was in party mood anyway.

And also to visit a friend in early 2006.

Also been to Hamburg breifly.

In 2005 i managed to get to Stuttgart to visit my friend james who was on a week long conference there. Had a great time seeing the sights and sampling the excellent food and drink.

Always planning on visiting elsewhere in Germany. Maybe Nuremburg or Berlin next?

GPS - during geocaching

What is Geocaching?

'from geocaching.com'

Geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. Participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a GPS unit. The basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. GPS users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. Once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. All the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.

My friend James introduced me to geocaching back in June of 2005. I have found 114 caches to date in Scotland, England, Finland, Switzerland and Germany.