Covered – May 21, 2024

  • Francès ~ Gebennesis Camino – #8 Valencogne/Grand Lemps
  • Distance: 13.9 miles / Total 113.1 miles
  • Ascent: 1,368’ / Descent: 1,635’
  • Time: 7 hours 0 minutes
  • Weather: 60-66°/ blue skies with white clouds

Got all bases covered. Bedroom patio with a view, a dog, and a pool.

View from bedroom patio.
View from bedroom patio.
Leaving Valencogne.
Leaving Valencogne.

Riverside – May 17, 2024

  • Francès ~ Gebennesis Camino – #4 Seyssel/Chanaz
  • Distance: 16 miles / Total 57.3 miles
  • Ascent: 62’ / Descent: 716’
  • Time: 7 hours 45 minutes
  • Weather: 60-70°/ sunny, blue sky with white clouds

Today’s walk is down by the riverside. The Rhône River is greener than I anticipated.

Green water.
Classic swain lines.
Rhône River.
It’s Iris season.

Terrarium – June 12, 2023

  • Portuguese Central Camino: Day 13 / Rubiães to Tui, Spain
  • Distance: 12.6 miles / Total 159.3 miles
  • Ascent: 943’ / Descent: 1,449’
  • Time: 7 hours
  • Weather: 60 – 75 degrees / sprinkled rain first hour than blue skies with white clouds

So green…it is like walking in a terrarium.

Terrarium Territory
Terrarium Territory
Terrarium Territory
Resident of Terrarium Territory.

Memories – June 5, 2023

  • Portuguese Central Camino: Day 6 / Porto
  • Weather: 60 – 65 degrees / blue skies with clouds

I remembered the walking tour guide from 2022 but didn’t remember soon enough his persona as a stand-up comedian want-to-be. I tipped him, aborted the tour, and salvaged the afternoon. I wowed myself by finding the shop that sold cork placements seen in 2022. A happy VISA moment.

Tiled Train Station
Tiled Train Station
Cork placemats bring package for the trek. (Luggage service from Porto to Santiago 💫)
Boat for hauling port.

Nyord Island – May 17, 2023

  • Møn: Day 6
  • Distance: 11.2 miles / Total 80.5 miles / 18 km
  • Time: 8 hours
  • Ascent: 440’ Decent: 485’
  • Weather: 53 degrees 23 mph wind / overcast with patchy sun in afternoon

America doesn’t have villages with homes cluster around a church and outside the cluster of homes miles and miles of open fields. Nyord is such a idealic place. Locals tell me they receive 300,000 tourists annually. Yikes.

Nyord Church dates back to 1846.
Nyord Church. Notice the ship hung from the ceiling.
Ships hung from the ceilings signify the role of the church as refuge from life storms.
Nyord Church windows.

Where in the World

  • Time: 31 hours from my front door
  • Møn: Distance: 4,100 mile…as the bird flies…from Charlottesville
  • Ascent: 1,630’ Decent: 796’
  • Weather: 60 degrees overcast, misting

Møn is a 237 square mile island located 75 miles south of Copenhagen. Møn is UNESCO site featuring spectacular Ice Age glacier landscape. All this to be explored by me!

Northeast Europe
Møn circled in red.
Møn is in the Baltic Sea.

Baby on Board – Oct. 6, 2022

  • Portuguese Camino: Day 23 / Vila Praia de Ancora to Vila Nova de Cerveira
  • Distance: 14.7 miles / Total 324.4 miles
  • Time: 7 hours 30 minutes
  • Ascent: 681’ Decent: 644’
  • Weather: 62-73 degrees, clear & sunny

Baby on board. Stackable…backpack, baby seat. When mother and baby took the bed beside me, I admit I was less than hospitable. Think about it from the mother’s perspective as she could never set the baby down. No showers or trips to the toilet without infant. Feeding is simple…breast feed. But what about the diapers? I can’t imagine a box of pampers in her backpack. I hadn’t the constitution to ask.

Mom and baby nap after early morning feeding.
Osprey baby- backpack.
Eight month old baby girl. FYI Mother buys Pampers on the Way.

Companions – Oct. 2, 2022

  • Portuguese Camino: Day 19 / Porto to Vila Chã
  • Distance: 16.6 miles / Total 260.6 miles
  • Time: 8 hours 30 minutes
  • Ascent: 400’ / Decent: 496
  • Weather: 55- 72 degrees, sunny

Barking security dogs are replaced by companion dogs. Not one barks!

Sweetie
A keeper.
She must spend more time on her hair than I do.
New variety of canine.

Haunts – Sept. 30, 2022

  • Portuguese Camino: Day 17 / Grijó to Porto / Half-way to Santiago
  • Distance: 12.8 miles / Total 244.1 miles
  • Time: 7 hours 15 minutes
  • Ascent: 1,158’ Decent: 1,397’
  • Weather: 55- 64 degrees, clear & sunny

Local haunts…

Train Station
Just like Penn Station, NYC. “Meet me under the clock,” said cousin Eddie.
Rio Douro, Porto.
Strolling in the park.