Finding limited help as they began to struggle with their own menopause journey, two friends decided to set up a support group. Taking over a crumbling, unloved fifty-year-old church hall, that seemed to be going through its own menopause, they put up some posters and sat back to see if anyone would join them.Word soon got around and the Menopause Club quickly grew as new members joined seeking help, advice and understanding. Sharon with her brain fog. Linda with her increasing wei...

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED UNDER THE TITLE TERROR GALLICUSThe war to decide the destiny of a continent.The spark was struck in the sacred grove of an unremarkable clan in Gaul. The struggle that followed lasted for centuries, and shapes us still.390s BC. Led by Brennus, a warlord without a past, the Senone tribe undertake a remarkable trek. 80,000 strong, they brave primeval forest, shadowy assassins and Alpine peaks to settle the rich lands of I...

Not many people would consider cycling hundreds miles through Europe to be a relaxing holiday. Mike certainly didn’t. But Julia did, she was peculiar that way. There was a challenge to be had in following the River Rhine from its source high in the Swiss Alps, through Germany, France and the Netherlands to the North Sea. But if Mike could not be convinced by mention of the varied scenery, the cultural diversity and the cake, what would change his mind? Finally it was mention of the hundred...

Cycling the End to End is so much more than just sitting on something no bigger than, and as hard as, the sole plate of an iron and pedalling, as Julia was to discover. Every experience seemed to be about extremes: Cornish hills, Cheshire plains, busy Devon lanes, empty highland roads, downpours, droughts, smooth cycle tracks, hazardous cattle grids, psychedelic B&Bs and homely hostels. And when the terrain and the weather weren’t against her the wildlife was: terrorising Labradors, format...

A walk through time and fog along Hadrian’s Wall. Built almost two thousand years ago on the orders of the Emperor Hadrian and marking the northern-most boundary of the Roman Empire, Hadrian’s Wall is one of Britain’s most enduring ancient monuments and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 2003 a footpath following the line of the Wall was designated as a National Trail running 84 miles across England from the Solway Firth to the North Sea. Since then walkers have been coming to enjoy this lon...

Having cycled the length and breadth of the British mainland, it was time for a change. After seeing a little blue cycle route sign on the west coast of Scotland, Julia was struck with inspiration. The islands of the Outer Hebrides beckoned. There was just one problem, her boyfriend wanted to go too! Looking on the bright side he could be responsible for navigating and could take most of the luggage. Well, that was the plan. Little did she realise that with her boyfriend there also came hi...

When two friends planned a long distance walk on England’s South West Coast Path they thought the toughest challenge would be the walking itself. But the biggest obstacles to be overcome were not the 630 miles of footpaths, or the soaring ascents and descents of the cliffs. They were the unforeseen factors that cannot be planned for but which transform a journey into an adventure. Factors such as a torn calf muscle, recalcitrant underwear, two days of torrential rain and gales, two weeks o...

None can escape the judgement of Nemesis.390BC. A winter has passed since the Gauls crossed the mountains to crush an Etruscan army outside Clusium.Now, determined to avenge a death by the hand of a Roman observer, Brennus plans a terrible revenge.Confident in the might of their arms, the Romans march to drive away the threat. But the battle goes horribly wrong. Overwhelmed by the ferocious brutality of the Senone warriors, the citizen army is routed.Defence...

That strangest of traveller, the lone female, is at it again. This time cycling through the heart of England from Bath to London to her home in Lancashire. For such a small country England was proving to be a land of contrasts and surprises; from the leafy lanes of Berkshire to the bleak moorlands of the north, spectacular scenery and post-industrial mill towns, dead divas and murderous mad men.Throughout the six hundred mile cycle ride there was much that was quintessentially Engli...

Running two hundred miles from Newcastle to Edinburgh, the Coast and Castles Cycle Route promised to be a journey through millennia of turbulent history and fabulous scenery. It proved to be more than just ruined castles and wild coastline. More industrial heritage, more rain, more cross dressing stag nights, more stunning beaches, more wildlife, more grave robbers, more railways, more tea rooms and the Moorfoot Hills.Close encounters with seagulls, precocious children, warrior-lik...

Two women, two bikes, no backup on a Sea to Sea adventure.At the beginning of the twenty-first century two friends set off to cycle from coast to coast across England. For one, it was to be the first of many long distance cycle rides.Cycling Across England is an account of the fun, the food, the mountains, the moorlands and the mathematics the two friends encountered along the way. From the Irish Sea, through the mountains of Cumbria and the Pennine uplands they travelled thr...

Two friends deliberated where to choose for their next walking holiday. How about somewhere different? How about somewhere exotic? How about somewhere foreign? How about Wales? But with countless people advising them where to walk that summer and with neither of them speaking a word of Welsh, had they made the right decision? On a hot August day they set off to walk the 180 miles of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, starting from somewhere unpronounceable and finishing at a little place called...