On Climbing Volcanoes - and other familiar travel experiences

There's a lovely piece of travel writing by Barry Humphries (Spectator Diary of 22 August, 1987), in "Views from Abroad, The Spectator Book of Travel Writing" (1988).

He describes the time he and his wife, with their two children, climbed Mount Epameo, the Ischian volcano.

"It was very beautiful up there, even if what I supposed to be white orchids nestling in the boscage turned out to be broken polystyrene cups".

The restaurant at the top was famous for its specialities, but the 'hunter's rabbit' that they were hoping to sample was 'off'' that night, so they ended up eating spaghetti a pomodoro.

Barrie Humphries concludes, in a way that most parents or grandparents might recognise from similar experiences and disappointments:

'Is that all there is?' said my jaded son Oscar.


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I will now re-read that wonderful autobiography, "More Please"