Slovenia

We've been away a few times since the last record of a trip here. Let me attempt to catch up by starting with the most recent! Last summer we had a walking holiday in Slovenia - the album for the visit is here,

I hope accounts of the walks will soon follow! Why doesn't flickr show the album photo on the link rather than the first photo?!

New Year

Another new year and as an intent let's try to breathe more new life here with some catching up and positive views. An early morning walk today along the local canal, quiet, frosty with the local birdlife giving a reminder that some things still go on. A bit too cloudy for good dawn pictures but then a boat with some heating appeared after rounding a corner under a bridge.

Down to Menton

The next day was the final long walk from Sospel to Menton (or at least from where the taxi dropped us at the Col de Castillon -giving us a helping hand).

From there we walked up to the Baisse de Scuvion:



we then had a route finding discussion where - fortunately - I was overruled - there were 5 of us at this point so lots of comparing notes! There was then a gentle descent to the Col St Bernard. Not gentle enough , and the notes said Careful I wasn't and tripped over my walking poles and ended up full length on the ground! - the 'careful' was on route finding rather than any tricky underfoot stages! I was very grateful that I'd been walking along with another party as I would have been otherwise on my own. I was rather bruised but managed to continue on the steeper downward section to the coast. And it was a steep descent and a dodgy walk through an underpass under a motorway. But then the Menton seafront and cafes restored us. That evening we ate at A Braijade Meridiounale flaming skewers in the old town. Definitely worth the experience, we were given too many digestifs and made our way unsteadily back to the hotel.

Here's the street containing the restaurant:

alas my phone focussing...

Ludlow

The final day we took a circular walk to Ludlow. Again we took the easier course by retracing the route of the morning. Had a wander around the town - an enjoyable drink at a cafe also selling bottles of gin (we took some away!!). There was a brief meeting, by chance, with someone we met on our first Inntravel holiday in Almeria back in 2007! He was playing in a band in the town square.

Bishops Castle to Stokesay

On the previous eaving we ate at the 3 tuns very much a pub but we enjoyed the food! The second day of our Shropshire break started and ended with a taxi ride. Unfortunately I was finding walking difficult (see account of day 1!) and we didn't get much time at Stokesay - it certainly would have repaid a couple of hours viewing - as you see from the photo. Earlier in the day the route took us over the huge Iron Age fort of Bury Ditches - wonderful views - and then a walk through Walcot Park lots of herds of cows that were fairly cooperative in moving out of the way! We stayed overnight at the Clive in Bromfield - ate there - they need to get the drinks waiters and the food waters to syncronise - on both nights we got drinks served when we were half way through the main course!

Teaser Tuesday - May 5

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

In the meadow where the trail had been trodden into a narrow trench several inches deep she told me about the time the campers complained that there was a crazy guy in their campground who stayed up all night wandering in circles muttering to himself, a guy who turned out to be an eminent but deranged mathematician. Somewhere in the course of these stories - maybe during the one about the babysitter and the amanita mushrooms - Michael commented that the consequence of the theory that nature is supposed to make you happy is that those most desperately in search of happiness tend to show up there.

From Rebecca Solnit's wanderlust - A History of Walking' - I carefully chose these 2 sentences as they were far too much fun - 'there' is the Sierra Nevada. This book had - I thought a slow start I nearly abandoned it but I am now really enjoying the book. Here's the author's website and a review. I enjoyed the wide breadth of topics she covered - I'd read much of the climbing histories and rights of way issues in the Peak District in the 1930's but her writing about walking in Paris was interesting and often provocative. There did seem to be a lot of coverage of the same places though!

Teaser Tuesday - June 30

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

I slept in bosomy clefts overlooking the ocean with my back turned to the mountains. From my sleeping bag I watched day melt into night and the waking eyes of ships' lights being brushed by the sleeping strobes of lighthouses.

From Nicholas Crane 'Clear Waters Rising' (A Mountain Walk across Europe)- a story of the writer's walk across the mountains of Europe from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. Here's the good reads entry and another review. That teaser is a bit flowery, the next sentence has 'the milky light of dawn' but there's good story telling in this book and good historical snippets on the regions he passes through. I've just reached the Pyrenees with him so there's a little way to go yet and lots of walking to do, the goodreads reviews suggests it gets better. It sounds a wonderful experience to have but the practicalities for most folk would rule it out but here's the experience shared!