About

Welcome to Black Tar Rivers, a blog about travels on road and rail.

I am a magazine sub-editor but not a professional traveller, blogger or photographer. However, like so many people, I spend my days in the confines of an office dreaming about my next trip.

Over the years, I have embarked on numerous – not yet countless – journeys on trains and in cars, covering much of Europe, the US and Central Asia. For me, these are the ultimate modes of transport. So often, when forced to use a plane, I find myself frustrated at the time wasted in departure lounges and the opportunities missed while flying thousands of feet above unexplored sights. As the quote attributed to either TS Eliot or Michel de Montaigne goes: “It is not the arrival, but the journey which matters.”

Likewise, people can often go too far in search of wondrous sights. Thailand, Australia and Peru are all wonderful countries, but what of the Czech Republic, Romania and the other nations much closer to home? Every country has its delights and I often feel people are missing out by seeking far-flung lands first. At some point, I intend to get to New Zealand, but have not managed it so far due to there being so much in the way that I want to see. It would feel rude to bypass them!

And that’s the crux of the matter. Whenever people ask why I want to go to these places, the simple answer is “it’d be rude not to”. I’m not a religious man but, whether by intelligent design or scientific whim, we have been plonked on a huge ball with many, varied sights. Why wouldn’t we want to see them? Imagine if I was to give you a large house and you accepted the offer. Would you just stay in the bathroom? Of course not, you would wander round your new realm. This is how I feel about the Earth: it’s ours to explore, let’s do it.

While I prefer the car as a mode of travel (despite its obvious environmental issues), the train is also not without its charms: you never get lost on a train. Having said that, you never get lost in a car – you merely do some “unexpected exploring”. While you can go where you want to go by car, the train offers a more relaxed and seemingly sophisticated way to travel.

This blog is about such travels.

I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it – Paul Theroux