Gallery - This Big Road Trip

Scroll down for our Video and Instagram image feed or click the button to ....

Follow us on Instagram Follow us on YouTube

This Big Video Feed

This Big Instagram Feed

thisbigroadtrip

415

thisbigroadtrip

Jan 25

Continuing the theme of jungle critters. We’ve had a couple of juicy tarantulas, which are pretty cool. They’re fairly chilled out and just go about their business. They cower if you bother them and run away if you continue. Believe it or not, we had one visiting late in the evening; wandering over to the edge of the pool, climbing in, swimming to the other side and then getting out again. The spider in the picture was a bit more on the gangly side, presumably not a tarantula. He was fast though, as his legs would suggest.

thisbigroadtrip

Jan 21

Sophie & the Leopard.
Imagine my unabated joy at discovering someone had opened a cafe and coffee roaster about 200m from our land. Not only that, they have a decent Rancilio espresso machine too. Maderas Cafe ( @themaderascafe ) makes great food and Sophie makes a mean coffee.

thisbigroadtrip

Jan 20

Still running. Just over 4,000kms for me last year, a little more for 'Consistency Claire'. Our Global Run Project charity takes a but of a back seat here as there aren't as many people when we run, and we're currently in line spot; so the chance to help random people with a donation is somewhat reduced. That said we do have some other mini projects on the go, so watch this space.

thisbigroadtrip

Jan 1

Given our history of New Years Eve debauchery, it's probably understandable that we opt for something a little more low key these days. We did make a rare after dark appearance though. Maderas Beach was transformed into a mini-festival with bonfires, fireworks and a couple of hundred people spread across the three beach bars. I think we lasted 20 minutes.
One bonus though. On likely the business day of the year, with a few hundred people, three 'official' bar sound systems and a bunch of competing (why?) personal speakers on the beach in front of those, we still could not hear anything other than the waves at our house 500m away.

thisbigroadtrip

Dec 18

Yesterday was a #sloth day. One of the seven deadly sins apparently; such a cruel accusation given how cute they are. This guy was dozing within reach when we found him at the start of our run. An uncharacteristic sprint moved him higher up once we returned with a camera. Amazing creatures to watch though and not overly shy.

thisbigroadtrip

Nov 30

Killer sunsets. The shark fin rock structure. Inseparable models that crowd my iPhone photo library, all failing to capture that magical feeling of wandering along the shore between Playa Maderas and Playa Majagual as the sun bows out.

thisbigroadtrip

Nov 28

Our version of whatever your version is of an online vegetable delivery service. They drop by every three days; letting us know by WhatsApp message when they are 20 minutes away. We head out on the moto, wait at the corner and then choose form whatever fruit and veg they have with them that day. Lychees are a current favourite and the pineapples are amazing.

thisbigroadtrip

Nov 12

Instagram post 18189140671233523

thisbigroadtrip

Sep 5

Somewhere new! As much as we love New Denver, it's somewhere we've been before. Hence the relative lack of posts over the last few months. But, we're back on the road and into uncharted territory; hunkered down in Ford's Cove on #hornbyisland in the Pacific Ocean off British Columbia, Canada. The epically located little building above is Ford's Cove Fish and Chips, which gets the British Fish & Chips Seal of Approval from us.

thisbigroadtrip

Jun 10

A husky-fest at Arctic Chalet! Having managed to suffer a flat tire within 2km of heading up the highway, we decided to head back and see the huskies we had bumped into earlier in the week. Around 20+ white huskies with 4 or 5 pups. Amazing animals.

thisbigroadtrip

Jun 7

We were running along the Dempster Highway the other day and met these stunning white huskies. Our gratefulness over a lack of snow likely not reciprocated on their end. The are sled dogs from the nearby Arctic Chalet who provide accommodation and arctic adventures to travellers. The dogs are now 'summer' training by pulling quads.

I have always had a thing for huskies since I was around 5 years old. Presumably from watching a documentary at school. Maybe not the ideal house dog but they are stunningly beautiful. There is rumour of puppies. Watch this space.

thisbigroadtrip

Jun 6

Weve been racking up some miles on the Dempster Highway. Not in the way most people would. No car, camper or bike here. Just a pair of run shoes and a chilly face. From this point, we were around 140km fro the Arctic Ocean.

thisbigroadtrip

May 26

The membership at this Dawson City gym is free, but the machines will make you feel a little inadequate.

It might be historical one day, but I am starting to think it's cheaper to put a fence around these things, and call it a site of historical interest, than send it to the scrap metal yard. It's something to do with pulling gold out of the ground.

A better backstory might be obtained from someone who know's what they're talking about, but that's what you get for breaking into tourist attractions when they're closed. Anyway .... we're heading even further north next; off to Inuvik

thisbigroadtrip

May 24

The snow thaws. The sun shines. Temperatures gauges drag brittle needles to above 15ºC and the Youngs head to one of the top attractions in Dawson City.

It was closed. But we went in anyway. To be fair, it would probably have been more interesting if it was actually open and someone was there to tell us what all the old stuff was but it was a reasonable mooch amongst the tin building and rusty machinery.

Here we see something old, yet still colourful, whose bodywork has seen better days. And two cars.

thisbigroadtrip

May 20

Another permafrost victim; adding a while new meaning to the term 'listed building'.

The buildings are now built on raised platforms to stop the building heating the ground and causing permafrost damage. The highway that runs through Dawson is also a light colour, to avoid radiation from the sun doing the same.

The little building on the left is Bonton & Company. One of the best restaurants we've been to. Anywhere. Dawson is known for its gold but we think this gem of an eatery is the highlight.

thisbigroadtrip

May 18

We're back in Canada. A brief stop at our alleged home town (I am no longer sure we have a home town) before we took a flight north to The Yukon, a territory above British Colombia not famous for its high population density. About 1,000 residents and the nearest town, Whitehorse, is 6 hours drive away.
Dawson City, is however, mildly famous for its Klondike gold rush.
In the middle of nowheresville, the town is built on permafrost. A perpetually frozen layerground underground that, when a bit happens to thaw, causes the buildings to sink. St. Andrew's Church (in picture) being a good example. More wobbly building photos to follow, in part because there is not much else to photograph.
There was a Farmers Market on Sunday. It consisted of one stall selling cheese, whilst freezing rain hammered down. Roll up, roll up.

thisbigroadtrip

May 16

Another 'publishable' from Claire; a knife shop in Lahore. Some of the knives on chains to the right of the picture are made for self flagellation (called tatbir) during the Shia Ashura celebration (the day Moses parted the Red Sea). A small number of Shia Muslims will swing the knives on chains around their bare backs, resulting in a bloody mess. Some cut their heads with knives or sword, whilst others might line up for a more clinical small cut with a surgical knife as a token blood let.
I'll let you Google Shia Ashura, but the more squeamish may simply want to take my word for it.
For those who like a bit of gore, also Google the Vegetarian festival in Thailand, which we saw first-hand when we were there about 30 years ago.

thisbigroadtrip

May 9

Concrete. Rubble. Wiring. Regardless of how much we love Pakistan there is absolutely no doubt that 'beauty' is hard to find in the architecture and infrastructure. Buildings often look half built, half demolished. Generally, one is indistinguishable from the other and may actually be neither. Or both. The chaos of Lahore is not limited to the people and traffic, but the architecture as well. All encompassing.
Claire took this picture. She's good at capturing things that I take for granted and miss. The differences between our world and this blend quickly for me. Becoming normality. I love being amongst their daily lives. The formalities and routine of their religion curdling with the ignore-the-rules bedlam of their surroundings. It was wonderful. Organised insanity. I fit right in.  Claire loved Pakistan too, but was less adaptable to the differences. Always ‘fresh’ to the changes being thrust upon her. Claire is always taking photos that I don't particularly understand when we’re within a country, but gain clarity when we leave. I take photos for how they look to me when I am there. Claire takes photos because of how they will look to other people who are not there, and how they will rekindle feelings when we are no longer there. Gaining value and becoming brighter as memories fade.
She calls them her ‘publishables’. Photos that she feels I might like enough to edit and post somewhere. She excitedly grabs her phone and pecks at her screen, opening up the photos app and swiping through. She always tell me why the photo was taken, often starting her explanations with “I just wanted to show …”.
In this instance she points out the massive electrical transformers with writhing coils of hissing, venomous wiring that have bitten and killed many a brave Pakastani electrician. Made from wooden beams and collapsed metal trusses. One transformer skirting a professional fix by simply being raised at one end by a house brick or two.  Flick a switch. The lights come on. Job done. Safety and aesthetics be damned. It works, inshallah! (God willing)

thisbigroadtrip

May 6

I'm a sucker for the 'pop-up' business. Preferably one that has embedded itself into the detritus of a city corner or alleyway. The backdrop an unwitting canvas for the sanguine business owner.

A cheeky start. A mirror. A chair. A defensive glance at passing police truck as the scissors and blades are lined up; hoping for a lack of interest or, at least, leniency from the authorities. A first client. Then another. The handsome beards of Lahore coaxed into place by a nameless barber shop.

Decades later the location is temporarily permanent; filled with regulars. A continual thread in the city tapestry.

thisbigroadtrip

May 5

Hanging out with the Sufis at their holiest shrine.

thisbigroadtrip

Apr 26

A hiker starting from the stone streets in Karimabad. Boots, rope, jacket and a stick. Old skool.

Load More... Follow on Instagram