It’s amazing how busy you become when you retire. Leaving my company and my job behind as I set forth on this journey I naively imagined the vast expanses of time I was opening up would be used to explore new vocations, skills and pastimes, yet there aren’t enough hours in the day to even write this damn blog.
On previous visits to Bali, my prejudice has kept me from visiting the Gili Islands off the northwest coast of Lombok. It’s dubbed a travellers’ paradise, so my visions of stoned, dreadlocked, friendship-banded euro geeks gamboling about the place overshadowed the reported beauty of the three tiny tropical islands… and I guess the supposed lack of surf didn’t help.
…and put up a parking lot.
The inordinately long time between posts is testament to the surf-rich Bali lifestyle. We left India a month ago now and have been squeezing two or three surfs in a day, cowering from the oppressive heat in between.
After my planned trip to the longboard heaven of Costa Rica had to be aborted for various reasons, I found myself on a plane heading for Bali.
Al-Jazira Al-Arabiya
Mat Arney hooks up with old friends on the Arabian Peninsula.
Homeblown talent
An encounter with a British company doing something special with surfboards.
Still So Numb: Iceland
Ian Battrick and Tim Nunn take a journey around the North Atlantic isle.
The Hebrides: A photo essay
James Bowden experiences life in the slow lane on the far shores of the British Isles.
Local Hero
Jimmy Newitt pays homage to one of South Devon's treasures - not a break but a surfer who stands tall in the crowd.
Post-modern punk
Chris Preston chats to Neil Randall of if6was9 about his radical take on traditional board design.
From San Francisco to Bali, here are a few shots from Mr Thelo Aiken.