Category: Travel
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Lorne Long Weekend
We spent last weekend at Lorne with friends at their beach house. Their place is stunning, set up on the hill, backing onto the Coastal Park bushland that abuts the Otway National Park. We were socialising on the deck our first evening, eating cheese and drinking wine while two wallabies munched on the grass down…
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Camino de Santiago: Burgos
I left off my Camino recap in Pamplona. That afternoon, we caught the train to Burgos, the next major town on the Camino. For the next four days, we would be fast-forwarding through the central section of the Camino. Once we’d checked in to our hotel, we headed out to look at the town. Our…
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Camino De Santiago: Zubiri to Pamplona
We woke in Zubiri to an email from our travel company advising of a severe travel warning—the tail end of a hurricane was sending high winds and rain across Spain and France. The forecast was for fine weather from 8 am – 12 pm so we got started and walked fairly quickly without a break…
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Camino de Santiago: Roncesvalles to Zubiri
Continuing our pilgrimage, we left Roncesvalles around 8:00 am and started walking. I think I’ll leave the photos to do most of the heavy lifting for this day’s walk. Although the trajectory was mainly downhill, you can see from the elevation detail above that there were a few steep uphills. After the previous day’s effort…
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Camino De Santiago: St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles
The day had finally arrived when we would start walking. The weather forecast was for rain with thunderstorms in the afternoon and very strong winds. We did not want to get caught on top of the mountain in a thunderstorm, but there didn’t seem to be much we could do about it except leave early…
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Camino de Santiago: St-Jean-Pied-de-Port
After my week in Paris, G and I travelled south by train to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to start our Camino de Santiago. We didn’t have the 40 days required to walk all the way from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostella, so we booked the Highlights trip with RAW Travel. We walked the first three days over the Pyrenees,…
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List #13: Some More Things to Do If I Make It Back to Paris
I’ve now been to Paris twice, spending a full week both times. There are so many sites to see, but that must be balanced with time to stroll or sit and soak up the ambience. Not to mention making time to try all.the.food. Here’s my list of all the things that didn’t quite make the…
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Day Trip to Chartres
On my last full day in Paris, before G returned from the UK, I caught the train to Chartres. The main drawcard is the Chartres Cathedral, and its architecture, sculptures, stained glass and labyrinth provide enough reason to make the trip from Paris. The first Cathedral on the site was probably built in the 4th…
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Looking for Signs of the Camino in Paris and Chartres
The main aim of our European trip was to walk the Camino, with Paris being a happy bolt-on for me. For centuries, pilgrims came from all over Europe on pilgrimage; of course, some started or passed through Paris. On our first day in Paris, we were walking down Rue St-Jacques, and I spotted the familiar…
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Smaller Museums in Paris
Our trip to Paris with our daughter in 2018 included many of the most famous sites, including Notre Dame, The Concierge, Sainte-Chapelle, the Arc de Triomphe, Musée de l’Orangerie, the Louvre, Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Orsay, and Musée Rodin. G is not a huge fan of museums; I went by myself to those last…