North Goa vs South Goa and stumbling across the best beach in India

January 29, 2014

It’s a bit like comparing Great Yarmouth with the Isles of Scilly – it really depends what you’re into. Jim Davidson routines on the pier? North Goa’s for you. Hidden little coves with no people on them? South Goa it is.

Latest posts

Featured

March 1, 2023

Why it makes perfect sense to extend the DLR from Stratford to Leyton and Leytonstone

March 1, 2023

Stratford International is the best-placed gateway to the Olympic Park, but it’s out on a limb. And if you’re travelling there from anywhere north of the park… well, heaven help you. TfL, it’s time to build a bells-and-whistles extension to Leyton and Leytonstone.

March 1, 2023

August 23, 2022

Maidencombe is the best beach in Devon you’ve never been to

August 23, 2022

Honestly, I still can’t believe how brilliant Maidencombe beach is. Almost completely hidden from view at the top bit of the English Riviera, this sandy little cove has everything from cooked breakfasts to clear-blue waters (with the odd sea caterpillar, granted).

August 23, 2022

June 5, 2022

Leyton FC: The story of an extinct club that strangely still exists… for now

June 5, 2022

For well over a century, there were two teams in Leyton. One of them may have technically disappeared, but their ground – the pitch, the terraces, pretty much everything – still stands. The players are around too, if you know where to look.

June 5, 2022

April 29, 2022

WWII’s forgotten army: The East and West African soldiers who fought in Burma

April 29, 2022

The Fourteenth is Britain’s forgotten army – its epic WWII campaigns in Burma long overshadowed by events in Europe. Its three African Divisions – which did so much to win back Burma from the Japanese – are the forgotten army’s forgotten formations. This is their story.

April 29, 2022

July 19, 2021

Trying to find the closest sandy beach to London at the glow-in-the-dark Bradwell-on-Sea

July 19, 2021

Apart from a few cultists and retired nuclear scientists, not many people have heard of Bradwell-on-Sea. But this tiny village, all by itself at the end of the Dengie Peninsula, has what might just be the closest sandy beach to the capital. So I had to go there, didn’t I?

July 19, 2021

June 25, 2021

Leytonstone FC at Granleigh Road: Triumphs, tragedies and international friendlies

June 25, 2021

Once upon a time, a couple of minutes’ walk from my house, stood a grand old football ground that, during its 92-year existence, hosted the Nigerian national side, Tottenham Hotspur, and some semi-famous people from the telly. What happened to it?

June 25, 2021

May 14, 2021

In 2001, I had a close encounter with a puma on my morning paper round

May 14, 2021

I’m telling this story reluctantly because I’ve endured two decades of ridicule from the people I’m closest to. But it’s true: when I was 15, I saw a big cat darting around a disused railway line in Cheltenham in the wee small hours. Here’s what happened.

May 14, 2021

April 19, 2021

Falling in love with Real Betis Balompié in Barcelona

April 19, 2021

By sharing a moment with Pepe Mel, Rafael van der Vaart and Ricky van Wolfswinkel in a hotel lobby – which was every bit as exciting as it sounds – I became a proud Betico. The lads may have ended up letting me down, but I still love them.

April 19, 2021

March 30, 2021

I added a pond to my garden and now I want to tell you all about it

March 30, 2021

‘You’re having tin bath, mate,’ I said to myself when I turned one into a lost-and-lonely pond. So, I thought about plants, structure and solar-powered features and, hey presto, created something far better.

March 30, 2021

February 28, 2021

In my small London courtyard garden, the party’s already started

February 28, 2021

Monty Don wrote that February “feels like the preparation for a party”. In my small London courtyard garden, where spring always comes early, the guests are already starting to arrive, the music’s cranking up, and the neighbours are starting to wonder what’s going on.

February 28, 2021