The Camino continues

Geoff is part of this group, here is how he is getting on :

 

Taken from Bedbugs and Blisters  www.blistersrus.wordpress.com

 

Adventures of a newbie trekker

Day 3 Los Arcos to Logrono

October 7, 2013

1

The 6:00am alarm call came too soon, the previous evenings haricot beans were starting to take affect …the air became a bit thick and pungent in the communal bedroom (not good)
We were on the road at 7:00am … It was still dark as we headed towards the small 13th century village of Torres del Rio. We saw the sun rise – fabulous.
Main ‘highlight’ of the day was at breakfast – watching Richard drop chocolate down his shirt and John trying to get it out with shampoo… Very messy. This was followed by John dropping Geoff’s drink on the floor – the cracks are starting to show!
Arrived in Logrono , very tired after our 20 mile walk that took us 8.5 hours including a couple of breaks. The cathedral was beautiful.
No partying tonight…very tired and legs aching…another full on day Tomorrow with 30km to cover.
We have a few blisters developing in the team…John lanced his with a needle and drained the puss with thread, Richard applied Compede to his… We will see which method works best…

Richard & Geoff (in the black top)

 

Camino de Santiago

Geoff left this morning with four of the five from the original group that walked the first stage of The Way through rural Spain, earlier this year.  This second stage shown below is approx 110 miles...

For more details on the Camino de Santiago see my other blog

dedicated to this famous Pilgrimage

www.holidaywithadifference.blogspot.co.uk

Here is the (rough) Plan for October 2013

Stage 6 – Saturday 5th – Los Arcos (23Km)
Stage 7 – Sunday 6th – Logrono (30Km)
Stage 8 – Monday 7th – Najera (30km)
Stage 9 – Tuesday 8th – Santo Domingo (23Km)
Stage 10 – Wednesday 9th – Belorado (23Km)
Stage 11 – Thursday 10th – St Juan (24Km)
Stage 12 – Friday 11th – Burgos (25Km)
Rest Day – Saturday 12th
Fly Home – Sunday 13th – Depart Bilbao 13:40

…then just another 22 stages until we reach Santigo

Give this some thought

September Sunshine

The weather has been superb this weekend, bright skies and plenty of sunshine, out of the sea breeze still plenty of warmth.

I walked from Cliftonville to Broadstairs on Saturday morning with Linda and Karen, along the cliff top and into town, walked to the top of the town to check out a yoga venue for me to start going to (maybe) then back into town for a spot of lunch at Prezzo. We decided to share a bottle of wine, opting for a rosé as it felt quite summery outside.  The breeze did get up and cool down as we returned home. We probably walked about eight miles. It was great to be out in the fresh air.  The sea looked superb a grey green colour with lots of white horses and chalky rock pools... Where was my camera when I need it !?!

Sunday Geoff and I decided on a slightly shorter walk, up to Palm Bay along the cliff tops, picking Mark and Linda up en-route, then coming back along the cliff tops towards Margate and looping back into Cliftonville.  Fresh on the cliff top but very warm a few hundred yards inland.

We all said it was great to get out in the fresh air even just for those few hours.

The boys are off Friday on the next leg of the Camino de Santiago.

Blackberrying ...

This Sunday we set off on the most beautiful clear bright Autumn morning for a walk in the woods and fields around Fordwich & Canterbury.  It was warm enough (just) to wear shorts, however not the wisest of choices as Terry and Karen had us walking through the undergrowth with brambles & nettles waiting to catch us, as we passed by.

We stopped to fill our tubs full of wild blackberries eating as many as we could too.. blue stained hands to prove it.  We also found trees laden with apples and damsons.

We stopped for our picnic lunch on the edge of a large orchard, the trees weigh down with ripening pears.

Finishing back in Fordwich for a quick drink at the George & Dragon.

To see our 7 mile walk click the link below, although the very straight route can't be quite right.


http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2308986

Rows of pears, our picnic view

Our walk took us through Howlets Zoo

Tub of wild blackberries & one damson (others eaten !)





 

Italy ~

Well our holiday finally arrive, nine glorious days in and around Sorrento.  The weather was hot and sunny without being stifling.

We set off on our first walk through the hills above Sorrento taking the old paths and steps that were originally used to get about between villages before the roads were built.  Generally these paths are in good condition, although there were the odd set of steps that can't have been used for years that were very overgrown and a few paths that I found a bit scary (on the edge, narrow & loose gravel).

We had a guide book to follow, I had read through this walk a few times and thought it was well documented and would be easy to follow... that is of course until you start to follow it !

We set off in the morning catching the shuttle bus from our hotel high on the hill, the Grand Hotel President, lovely place to stay, down to the centre of town to pick up the route, needless to say a few wrong turns were taken and a bit of back tracking, getting lost & finding the only non English speaking Italian to help direct us ! 

Now, don't laugh, an hour later we end up at the back of our hotel (!) to pick up a path towards Pantano, the first village.... steep paths took us onwards & upwards with the sun beating down, luckily much of the route was shaded through beautiful lemon & olive groves. Past striking plants & rows of vines.

The directions were not as easy as we first thought, as the paths wind and criss-cross through the hills, we arrived on the outskirts of Massa Lubrense, without ever seeing Pantano (!). 

Some paths had names in marble

We headed down into the village and civilisation once more, having not seen a soul en-route, it was a bit of a shock to see all the cars, tourists and locals... we bought some delicious fruit at a local shop and sat looking out over the sea as we ate our lunch.  You may wonder why we didn't stop for a long lazy lunch at a restaurant... over the few days we had eaten so much good food, we just weren't hungry and one piece of fruit was enough !

We also visited the large church, where apparently Nuns live, they join young and never leave the premises and have no contact with the outside world, we were told that you knock on the door hand them food and leave... things have changed a bit now though, the church is open to wander round and you leave the food in there for them to collect once the doors have been closed to the outside world.

Flowers outside the church in the village square

After lunch we opened the guide book again to see if we could pick up the return route (the way we should have come in) we also picked up a very vague map from Tourist information (no help at all, it just said a long route ) So after a couple of false turns we managed to pick up the route and stay on it for half the hike back.... we did find Pantano, nothing there, just houses, unless of course the centre of the village was tucked away somewhere and not sign posted, nothing unusual about that in Italy, but that's another story.

Generally the route was really pleasant, a few times you did have to venture along the very busy main roads with blind bends to get to the next set of steps taking you up or down.  We even impressed ourselves by finding our way back, to the rear of our Hotel to shortcut the last leg.  We arrived back mid-afternoon hot & tired but having had a really nice time.

We only passed one family having lunch at their farmhouse & didn't set eyes on anyone else apart from in the town.  We really felt as if we saw a different side to Sorrento & its surroundings.

I suppose getting lost & finding our way is all part of the adventure, rather than following the route someone else has chosen for you.....

We did plan another hike, however there was so much else to do we ran out of time, so we'll have to go back :)

We visited the island of Capri, wandered the back streets, though colourful gardens.

 then down a long cliff path round part of the coast, stunning views.  The climb back up had tough going, it was a really hot day !

We did stop for a reasonably priced lunch in a small family run restaurant off the main streets, so  'romantic' on the little juilette balcony.

Sorrento itself was a nice place to wander the narrow cobbled streets of shops, bars & restaurants.

We loved it !

Minster

Last Sunday we walked in Minster, the main reason we had all been there the evening before and had left a car there to be collected.

Mark Linda Geoff & I set off from Way Hill Minster around 11am, leaving our car with the one to be collected outside our friends house.

The route was through Minster village then along footpaths through various fields, along by the river and backwards and forwards across the railway line. Its too difficult to plot the course as we just took whatever paths came our way & felt in the right direction. (How exciting/ how adventurous were we, Christopher Columbus had nothing on us !)

Some parts were tough going, with deep grass and stinging nettles to push through.

I don't know how many times we crossed unmanned crossings, each one as scary as the next, there was one that was in the middle of a 'close ' blind bend in each direction, how crazy is that ??

I think we did roughly a 8 mile circular walk, stopping for a sandwich in the farmers field among his crops.  (Don't panic) We didn't squash his crops, there was a bare patch to put the picnic rug. Most of the time there was light rain, which actually was quite refreshing as the air was warm and muggy.

 

I am wearing my new purchase the Trespass VASP Hiking Hip Waist Pack Bum Bag with water bottle, I didn't want to carry a daypack so I bought this and it worked well, plenty of pockets and easy to reach water bottle at the back.

 

We also stopped at Minster church Linda and Mark were married in... ahh sweet.

Lots of wild flowers en-route.  I have just bought two little books to take with us next time, so we can identify the trees and wild flowers (I know I am an anorak !!) I just like to learn something new, they say it keeps the mind active.

Wild daisy (I think)

Stormy skies

It was good to get out in the fresh air and stretch the legs, although tired at the end, I think its because of the late night the evening before, not that we are not fit enough..yet !