On the road – and the rails

This week: the beauty of California; a poignant experience in Canada; at home with the police in Sudan

of forest in Alberta. On that occasion, they managed to extinguish the blaze before lives were endangered.

The recent tragedy in Fort McMurray in Northern Alberta highlights the fine line between successful control and complete devastation when fires rampage in this beautiful wilderness. MOIRA ASHLEY

Best of Bordeaux

I enjoyed Anthony Peregrine’s article about the new wine museum in Bordeaux (“A bright idea for Bordeaux”, May 28), but I’d like to suggest that this city is not just for oenophiles: whatever your tipple, it is a wonderful destination.

My friend and I spent a few days there in October and found it to be a charming city. We browsed in antique shops around Place St Michel, before heading to the banks of the Garonne and its lively promenade. It was warm enough to sit outside all evening soaking up the atmosphere.

It is worth taking the train to le Bassin d’Arcachon, a bay with lovely villas and a touch of Riviera glamour about it. In October, we almost had the beach to ourselves.

Bordeaux has something for everyone: cultural heritage, quirky designer shops, acres of greenery, and, of course, plenty of bars and cafés. ELIZABETH ALLISON

Wizards of Oz

Reading Ann Widdecombe’s article about Australia (“I wanted to charge into the Outback”, May 28) took me back six years to when my husband and I decided to buy an old camper van and drive around Australia for five months.

We wanted to see the “real” Australia and headed off from Adelaide up the Stuart Highway

It’s a fair cop

In the Seventies, 10 years before Frank Gardner travelled on the roof of the train from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum in Sudan (Travelling Life, May 28), my friend and I arrived at Wadi with our BSA650cc bike thinking we were going to drive to Khartoum, but discovered it was forbidden. into the outback as far as Tennant Creek. We went fossicking for opals at Coober Pedy, walked around Uluru at dawn and fended off an amorous emu at one campsite.

We then made our way across to the east coast and down to Sydney where we sat on the stone wall in front of Sydney Opera House for 14 hours on New Year’s Eve so that we were in prime position for the fireworks.

The next train was going to arrive in two weeks’ time and we had nowhere to stay. And that it is how we ended up at a police station in the middle of the desert.

The policemen in their long blue robes were the kindest men we met on our four-month trip through the north and east side of Africa. We passed our days lying on wooden beds eating dates,

We watched the penguin parade at Phillip Island and drove along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne. The finale of our trip was to drive across the Nullarbor Plain to Perth. Stopping to refuel, we encountered lots of characters at the roadhouses along the way, incredible wildlife, magnificent scenery and we can’t wait to do it all over again. JANET GAZZARD WINS A £250 RAILBOOKERS VOUCHER

learning Arabic, drawing and writing. In the evening we ate meals seated on the ground before strips of mat upon which our hosts laid delicacies such as a bowl of Birds custard which they had a tin of in the shed. We learnt how to eat this with our right hands only and how to wash our hands in the sand before eating. JULIA RACSTER-SZOSTAK