Tag: Animals

Win-Win ~ May 18, 2016

  • Wednesday, May 18, 2016
  • Day 18 (Day 15 Camino)
  • Casters
  • Distance: 9 + 5 miles = 14 miles (10% tarmac) 218 1/2 total miles
  • Ascent 1,155 feet and descent 1,449 feet
  • Time: 3 1/2 hours
  • Weather: 50-60 degrees, blue skies with clouds & few drizzles

Compromise. Jean-Claude does not like to walk in cities. Our Gîte is outside Castres. Tomorrow we will take a bus through Castres.

I dropped off my pack at the Gîte and went exploring Castres to connected by foot our Gîte and the termination point for our tomorrow’s bus ride.

Win-win. Jean-Claude avoids walking in the city. I walked the whole Camino.

  1. Towards Castres – Unusual donkeys typical of a Jean-Claude’s region. They keep long fur even in summer.
  2. Castres – Eglise de Saint-Jacques-de-Villegoudou
  3. Castres – Medieval houses of tanners, weavers, and dyers attest to the importance of textiles to the town.

George Washington ~ May 9, 2016 

  • Monday, May 9, 2016
  • Day 9 (Day 6 Camino)
  • St-Guilhem-Le-Désert
  • Distance: 14 1/2 miles (35% tarmac) / 90 1/2 total miles
  • Ascent 1,444 feet and descent 1,526 feet
  • Time: 7 1/2 hours
  • Weather: 60 degrees, intermediate to steady drizzle

Americans tout George Washington slept here.

French tout the Romans were here.

  1. Towards St-Guilhem-Le-Désert
  2. Towards St-Guilhem-Le-Désert
  3. Towards St-Guilhem-Le-Désert

Longhorns? ~ May 5, 2016

  • Friday, May 6, 2016
  • Day 6 (Day 3 Camino)
  • Vendargues (Baillargues)
  • Distance: 15 1/2 miles (35% tarmac) & 49 total miles
  • Ascent 753 feet and descent 703 feet
  • Time: 5 3/4 hours / Total 49 miles
  • Weather: 50 – 72 degrees, winds 16 mph, blue sky with clouds

Texas Longhorns in France? Nay. This is the region for the Le Taureau (torro).

  1. Toward Vendargues – Le Taureau
  2. Toward Vendargues – Le Taureau
  3. Toward Vendargues – Le Taureau

Bull or Man? ~ May 5, 2016

  • Thursday, May 5, 2016
  • Day 5 (Day 2 Camino)
  • Gallargues-le-Montueux
  • Distance: 20 miles & 33 1/2 total miles
  • Time: 9 1/2 hours
  • Total ascent 282 feet & total descent 276 feet
  • Weather: 50 – 72 degrees, clear blue sky

In Pamplona, they run with the bulls. In Vauert, horse riders stampede the bulls through the town’s spectators. Which would you rather be…bull or man?

I dined on bull medium-rare for dinner.

  1. Vauert – Bulls being stampeded
  2. Vauert – Bulls being stampeded
  3. Vauert – Bulls being stampeded

Sunday Stroll ~ October 11, 2015

  • October 11, 2015
  • Day 34
  • Firenze
  • 60-75 degrees

A Sunday stroll across the Arno River was free from the usual tourist trappings. I simply went where my feet lead me. I discovered a cafe with a charming outdoor garden complete with a grassy amphitheater for small productions and a dog park by the Rome Gate.

  • 1st, 2nd Chalet Antana, Bosle Galileo 7, 50125 Firenze
  • 3rd, 4th Regolamento Del Giardino, Florence


  

But of Course ~ October 3, 2015

  • October 3, 2015
  • Day 26
  • Caminno Day 15
  • Assisi
  • 9 miles
  • Total ascent 2,054 feet and descent 1,969 feet
  • 4 1/4 hours
  • 55 – 75 degrees

Dinner with my favorite Italians. We have been playing “telephone tag” keeping contact over the past days. They telephone me and I find the nearest translator. People are so kind to me as I am limited to English.

  • 1st, 2nd (Antonio P,), 3rd (Angelo A.), 4th Assisi