Sorry for the silence these past few weeks but, along with getting to grips with a goose to feed the five thousand, I have slowly been building up a plan for our imminent trip to India. We leave on Sunday and, all things permitting (bowels mainly, but also the kids' sanity) we plan to be gone for at least three months – in my case, longer.

Why India? An extraordinary cuisine of which I am almost wholly ignorant. A billion people following almost as many faiths which, again, I know virtually nothing of. Plus palaces, forts, tigers, beaches, deserts, jungles and lassis. I am going to be doing a few articles for the papers while I am there plus gathering material for a book, as usual.

I am going to do my best to blog from the road, with photos. 

So, see you in/from India.