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Tips, Trips, and Stories From Our Worldly Travels
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Cycling from Horta to Capelinhos
Ruth: Life gets better on a bicycle. Today we cycled from Horta to Capelinhos on the far end of Faial. It was a beautiful ride along a jagged and varied coastline. My fears that this year’s islands would pale in comparison with the ones we... Read More
Horta: the bikes arrived!
Ruth: What a difference a day makes. After 10 hours of sleep I woke up feeling much more like myself. The travel gremlins have retreated and instead our bikes and bags have arrived. We celebrated by hiking around the headlands near Horta and then polishing... Read More
Arrival in the Azores: Horta, Faial
Ruth: We just arrived in Horta on the island of Faial in the Azores. We left Victoria after a very rough start to the year. Gord and I are still shaken by the lost our good friend Blair. He died on December 30 of the flu. Nobody... Read More
Return to Kathmandu
On our final, twenty-fourth, day of trekking we walked for three hours, mostly on the road. As we descended towards the highway the temperature rose and the intensity of human activity increased. We completed our walk at Naya Pul, a town on the highway that... Read More
The Walk Out
Yesterday we got up before dawn to watch the sunrise at ABC. The moon and Venus were bright, and we could see small groups of trekkers with headlamps making their way up from Macchapuchhare Base Camp. I am not much for sunrises, but it was... Read More
Annapurna Base Camp
It was a pretty three hour walk, with 900 metres of climbing, to reach the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC). We crossed stretches of old snow in avalanche chutes, before bursting into the sunshine above the Macchapuchare Base Camp. Helicopters buzzed overhead, much closer than they... Read More
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Recent Posts
Beginning, end and beginning: Temple number 1
Description Ryōzenji , temple number one on the Shikoku pilgrimage, is the beginning, end, and now the beginning for us. Unlike all the other pilgrimages... Read More
88 Temples on Shikoku: What Next?
The view from the ridge Gord climbed Ruth: Yesterday Gord and I climbed from the seashore to the Temple 88 on the Shikoku pilgrimage. I... Read More
Some Wildlife: Temples 84 to 86
Gordon: Despite its industrialization and massive cities, Japan still has a rich diversity of vegetation harbouring a lot of wildlife. Some of the animals... Read More
Life is Henro: Temples 70-83
Ruth: I saw a t-shirt at a temple that simply said “Life is Henro,” and I am beginning to agree. It’s hard not to compare... Read More
Staying with a Hibakusha: Temples 66 to 69
Gordon: Last night we spent the night at Minshuku Okada, located between Temples 65 and 66. The proprietor, Akira Okada, is in many respects a... Read More