About me

I was born and raised in London, England and now living on the South Coast. Back in the 1990’s I began to realise I have not been anywhere in my own country. I had been to Hemel Hempstead and Cornwall on school trips, and once to Peterborough on a random “lets get this train” adventure with a friend when we were bored one day.

My first few trips were to visit ancestral homes. Being a Londoner, my ancestors were a diversified lot, coming from all over Britain, migrating to London as the city grew. Historic events such as the Huguenot persecutions and the Irish potato famine caused my ancestors to come together.

Early trips resulting in getting very lost, but then back in the late 90’s I bought my first GPS unit. Back in those days, all it did was to tell you your grid reference and point you in the direction of the next waypoint. I had to plan my own routes, program in waypoints where I needed to turn. I developed my own software to do this, and spent many evenings pouring over Ordnance Survey maps, getting grid references of the major road junctions.

I discovered that to get anywhere in England takes a maximum of 12 turns! About 3 turns to get onto an A road, a couple more and you are on a primary trunk road. The secret is to keep your eyes open for road signs and keep following the road you are on.

As I went on more trips, I added to my gadgets with digital cameras and laptops, and I invented the E-postcard which have provided a large resource for this latest project. On one trip I made the observation that everywhere provides tea and coffee, but every kettle has been different. This developed into the kettle obsession for which I have become famous.


The extras are being hosted elsewhere – The maps are at  http://www.everytrail.com/ and the videos are at http://www.youtube.com/