Nine go wild on a Norwegian fjord

Looking around for a different kind of holiday, we alighted upon the idea of heading North for some winter snow and were delighted to discover that the south fjords of Norway are all geared up for families like ours looking for something else.  We stumbled across a place called Risor Village on the internet.  They offered activities such as ice fishing, boat trips, skiing - cross country as well as downhill and dog sledding.  We decided to do the lot.  

Our first day was spent on a rugged Norwegian fishing boat  chugging round the beautiful islands along the coast from the white painted village of Risor (once visited by the eighteenth century writer Mary Wollstonecraft in pursuit of a sea captain and lost treasure). Everyone was given a rod and we fished off the side of the boat, reeling in startlingly large cod, coal fish and pollock
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Lunch was a huge and delicious fish soup cooked on board made partly from the fresh fish we had caught ourselves. To keep the boat steady we moored at

Chicago, Chicago you're my kind of town..

Well it's the 1st February and the clock is ticking closer to the launch date of our new book, The Bumper Book of London, and we are bowled over to discover that we have a cracking review in the Chicago Tribune all the way across the pond.  So exciting.  Let's hope their readers can buy the book as it is not in the shops till early April!

Here it is to delight you all

"The Bumper Book of London: Everything You Need to Know about London and More …"

Frances Lincoln, $19.95

The statistics in this fun and fascinating book are often mind-boggling: 1 billion people travel on the London Underground every year; 25 million visitors arrive here annually; 13 million people attend theater in London yearly. The city has 4,500 pubs, 17,000 black cabs, 300 languages, 30 rivers and canals and 40 theaters in the West End. There are sections on Roman London, Saxon and Viking London, Tudor and Elizabethan London, Stuart London, Georgian and Regency London, Victorian London and Edwardian and 20th-century London as well as chapters on Royal London and the River Thames.

There are anecdotes about the origins of the bowler hat, the history of Big Ben and the stories behind London street names. All in all, the book is a treat.

ctc-travel@tribune.com