René’s old blog

This site is some twenty-five years old, and it contains lots of ancient stuff, much of it utterly dated and useless.

Sorry about that.

If anything, I post very unevenly, and about whatever occupies me.

Some featured posts

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Most recent posts

  • Hardship continues

    Hardship continues

    We’ve had a hard day on the beach today. The sun was relentless, but we did manage to send several text messages, shave various body parts (apparently Wendy and I have different predilections there), do some laundry and cook an edible meal of italian noodles, which they seem to call ‘pasta’ down here. Only at…

  • Nokia N800 on kayak journey

    Nokia N800 on kayak journey

    I’m on a three month kayak journey around the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily. Our only computers on this trip are two N800 tablets which we use daily for email, checking weather forecasts and for blogging. They keep us connected and updated wherever we go. Our blog is at www.kayakislandquest.com. We’re bringing two N800…

  • Suffering and Hardship

    Suffering and Hardship

    Paddling is not just aching muscles. It can also be waking up to a beach full of sand looking at derelict old edifices: or being forced to have your morning cappuccino in the wrong kind of cup, eating Sardinian cakes from the previous day: or discovering that the copious amount of excess belly tissue it…

  • Back-paddling

    Back-paddling

    I have a history of back problems. It is a growth problem from my childhood, my vertebrae are slightly deformed and therefore more at risk of dislocation. When that happens it is pain beyond words. The whole back locks up in a spasm making just about any movement difficult and very painful. My back has…

  • Windbound again

    Windbound again

    We’ve had a very short but active day on the water. We started from Vignola Mare at about nine, in moderate weather conditions. We had a good NE wind, around F4, and some following waves of 1-1½m. We had a fun ride down the coast, with tailwind and following waves, but after an hour and…

  • Beach Blogging

    Beach Blogging

    Wendy and I have been blogging quite actively during our time in Sardinia. We’ve been blogging on the beaches, we’ve been blogging in the streets, we’ve been blogging just about anywhere. There are few internet cafés in Sardinia, home internet diffusion isn’t very high and in any case, we haven’t been invited in anywhere. I…

  • Different times, different technologies

    Different times, different technologies

    Blogging from the top of a neolithic nuraghe

  • Landbound

    Landbound

    Stuck on a beach with a nuraghe – only in Sardinia

  • Around Capo Testa

    Around Capo Testa

    From Santa Maria di Gallura via Capo Testa to Vignole Mare