Less than two weeks later, on Sunday 22 June to be precise, I had a magical view of Hong Kong as I flew on Qantas flight QF30 from London.

We came in over Macau, crossed the mouth of the Pearl River, flew by the south side of Lantau Island (the airport is on the north side) and then skirted the southern side of Hong Kong Island. This view is from above Hong Kong Island, looking across the island and Hong Kong Harbour to Kowloon and the New Territories beyond.

and click here for more views.

After a few days in Manciano (thank you for the use of your house Angelo!) and a daytrip walk to Montemarano (check the ‘Madonna of the cat door’ painting in the Church of St George/Chiesa San Giorgio, the painting has a circle cut through it close to ground level, at one point the painting was on a door and it was there for the church cat to make an easy exit?) we started our walk from Pitigliano and continued via Sovana, Sorano and Bolsena to Orvieto.

Click here for more on our Tuscan walking trip.

James Starley’s inventions were of a much more human scale and we encounter a number of them almost every day. Assorted elements of the modern sewing machine are Starley inventions. So is the differential, the package of gears without which a car would have difficulty getting its driven wheels around corners. Hop on a bicycle and you can be thankful for Starley’s invention of the modern bicycle wheel with its alternating spokes which made it lighter and stronger. His Ariel bicycle of 1871 is considered to be the first true modern bicycle and the Starley family’s manufacturing made Coventry a major cycle centre. His nephew’s Rover bicycle company lives on today as a car manufacturer, Land-Rover, and the word ‘rover’ still means ‘bicycle’ in some languages, such as Polish.

Sadly Coventry’s monument to this engineering pioneer, just inside the ring road on Greyfriars Green, is a battered affair, long overdue for the application of some civic pride. Assorted Starley bicycles can be seen in Coventry’s excellent Transport Museum, the city’s worth seeing for this museum and for the beautiful cathedral.

Click here for more on the Orient Express

On Saturday afternoon I managed to trip over a chair, fall full length across the room, crash my head against the corner of the wall and arrive on the floor bleeding profusely. Maureen did the British thing, called 999 and asked for an ambulance. Ten minutes later medical assistance arrived. On a bicycle.

It makes perfectly good sense, I wasn’t about to die, I could find my own way to a hospital to get stitched up and he probably arrived faster than a real ambulance would have found its way through Saturday afternoon London traffic.

We leave for Venice tomorrow on the Orient Express.