Jill and Bow's Travels

Walking the Camino de Santiago

We are arrived in Barcelona, Spain last Tuesday. It´s been an exciting week - from city life to our new life of walking.

When we got off the plane in Spain we met another young Canadian couple who were lots of fun. They happen to be walking the camino de santiago as well. We spent a few days together in Barcelona. We arrived downtown in the Barri Gotti around 11pm and the streets were absolutely mad with people, music, and food. We couldn´t believe our luck that we would come into the city on such an exciting night. We later found out that it was a week long festival in Barcelona and that the nightlife had been going on for days.

The four of us found and went out to enjoy the festivities until all hours of the night ... we enjoyed a couple of spontaneous dance parties. We spent the next couple of days in the city. We went back to Parc Guell, which is the most amazing park filled with Gaudi´s mosaics.

We left Barcelona on Thursday and spent a night with Jan Van Straaten (family friend) in Toulouse, France before heading onto St Jean Pied du Port on Friday to start walking the camino.

The camino de santiago is a walking journey of over 800 kms from St Jean Pied du Port in the French Pyrenees across northern Spain to Santiago de Compestello. Over 175,000 "pilgrims" set out each year to accomplish this route, staying at refugios along the way. We were inspired by my brother Ben and father to walk the camino after they walked in in 2000. Les has recently come back from walking it in September and loved it.

We set out not knowing if we would walk some or all of the camino ... I guess we´ll see how things go along the way. Since time is on our side, we would like to finish it.

When we arrived in St Jean on Friday at around 4pm we shipped a bunch of our stuff onto Santiago to make our packs as light as possible. We then went to get our Pilgrims Passports. Georges at the office was quite the character and convinced us to start walking right away. The first day is one of the biggest, walking 27kms up and over the Pyrenees. I believe it involves climbing and descending a total of 1250 metres. He said that we could walk up 6 kms and stay at a private refugio to help us make the next day less painful. So we did it. The walk was quite difficult ... getting adjusted to walking straight up with our packs on our backs. However, the beautiful countryside was such a treat to look at.

We arrived at 7:30pm, just in time for dinner with around 25 other people. The food tasted great ... an eight course meal. We then went right to bed.

Saturday was a big day - a total of 30km walked. Our bodies were exhausted by the end. Yesterday was an even bigger day ... we walked 35 km in total - what were we thinking? We arrived in the suggested destination around 2pm and we weren´t too tired so we thought we would carry on. Well we ended up walking all of the way to Pamplona, the city famous for the running of the bulls.
We walked so far, we were delusional. We couldn´t stop laughing - everything was funny. Our bodies felt like they had a major beating - I now know what I will feel like when I´m 92.

Now that we´re back in Spain, we definitely have to put a lot more effort into our Spanish. We´re getting everything mixed up. Last night, when Bow went to ask for the bill he said "Just le Cuenta" ... that´s English, French, and Spanish.

We´re off to walk about 20km on this bright sunny day.
Jilly

Scotland ... Highlands, Sheep, Castles, and Wonderful People

As the Scots would say, Scotland was "smashing". The countryside, millions of sheep and castles were all so stunning, but it was the people we met that will make Scotland unforgettable for both of us.

Before we left on our big trip, my Aunt Marg and Uncle Jim (the newlyweds)gave us names and numbers of friends and family to contact while in Scotland and told us not to forget because they were expecting us. Jim is originally from Glasgow and his stories over the past years have inspired our need to see Scotland. Jim has been with my Aunt Marg for seven years now and is a true gem - witty, interesting, and lots of fun - a perfect match for Aunt Marg. Amy and I have always said that if we didn´t have Bow and Todd we´d be heading straight to Scotland to find ourselves a young Jimmy.

We landed in Glasgow on Sunday Sept 14th and Jim´s cousin John picked us up at the train station. We had phoned John and Janet from Dublin and they had asked us over for breakfast when we arrived. They have six children and 11 grandchildren and they have to be the most social and hip grandparents I know. They travel constantly and have visitors on a regular basis. When we arrived at their house for breakfast they had another Canadian couple staying with them for over a week. We ended up staying for breakfast, afternoon tea, dinner and even stayed over. It was such a fun and social day because some of their kids, grandkids, and other aunts and uncles also stopped in. They were all so enthusiastic about our travel plans and gave us great tips on places to see while in Scotland.

On Monday morning John helped us to get a great deal on a rental car. It was a compact (some might say lunch box) neon green DaeWoo Matiz. We were beyond excited to see the tape deck for our mixed tapes (yes we´re still old school with tapes).

As per usual, we didn´t have a real route planned. We decided to head up towards the west coast and go to some of the islands we had heard so much about. The countryside was so different from Ireland. The land was very lush and filled with millions of sheep. There weren´t too many houses or villages, and certainly no yellow or pink houses like we had seen in Ireland. We had heard that the reason the countryside was so barren was because people had been forced out of their homes and villages were burned since owners could make more money from sheep than renting land and homes to people, which was quite sad.

The highlight of our first day was a castle B&B on the way to Oban. We stumbled over it and decided to live like honeymooners for one night and the price was reasonable to allow it. What a treat!! The room was gorgeous with ornate furnishings. We had the most amazing breakie in the morning and then the owner took us up the tower to overlook the loch and another local castle.

We carried on to Oban to catch the ferry over to the Isle of Mull, which was recommended by a co-worker of Bow´s - great spot! We explored this island on one-track roads. It was filled with misty hills, more castles, lochs, highland cattle, and once again millions of sheep. The sheep loved the roads, in fact they preferred them over grazing in the fields - we would literally have to drive around them like an obstacle course on the roads.

After going to another island called Iona to see a 14th century Abby and Nunnery we headed to a harbour town called Tobbermory for the night. We stayed at a B&B on the harbour and ate at the local fish n chips stand before heading to see ¨Fine Friday¨, a band from Edinburgh who performed traditional Scotish and Irish music with their own flare.

On Wednesday morning before we headed out of Tobbermory we added another lesson to our long list - "remember not to lock the keys in the car". Yes we had locked the keys in the car. Early in the trip we decided to make a list of lessons instead of getting frustrated when things don´t always go the way we want them to go ... and rather make a joke of it instead of get frustrated. I think lesson # 1 was "don´t forget sunglasses at internet cafe" (second set of glasses already purchased!!). We´ve actually had many laughs over the lessons we´ve made on this trip. I think we´re at 25 already and still laughing ... let´s see how we do at 100.

Although we were frustrated about the keys, we were very entertained with the ability of the local garage crew to get the keys out. They slipped a long wire through the door and played around until he got the keys out of the ignition and slowly brought them out of the small crack in the door. And only 35 Pounds (about $100) for that five minute show.

From Mull we headed to the Isle of Skye for a day and then over to Inverness in the Highlands the next day. We were driving past all of the hoopla surrounding the Loch Ness Monster just before Inverness and decided to turn back to see what all the hoopla (aka touristy joints) were all about since we´ve heard about this monster since childhood. We were actually quite impressed with the exhibition and learned quite a bit. It´s been going on since AD 565 but mainly since 1933 when people started devoting their lives to searching out the monster. We were shocked to find out about how much time and money people have put into finding out whether the monster even exists or if it´s only a figment of people´s imaginations. For example, people would spend 10 consective summers sitting at lookouts at different points of the loch just watching the water to see if anything would come up. Craziness!!

On Friday, we drove from Inverness to St Andrew´s, the home of golf, before heading to Edinburgh. St Andrew´s was a beautiful town and offered more than just golf - it housed an incredible cathedral and university. But watching Bow on the 18th tee was just so entertaining - a kid in a candy store. And yes golfing fanatics we managed to get his picture on the famous foot bridge on the 18th tee, which he was beyond excited about. He was trying to tell me the significance of that bridge and could hardly get the words out quick enough.

We didn´t follow our new rule # 20 and arrived in Edinburgh after 9pm when it was dark and we were without a place to stay. That brought rule # 21 - "try to remember to listen to our rules". It was difficult to look at the map because there was just so much to see in the city that I could hardly concentrate. When we did get our bearings we ended up driving around the main city square (princess street) about six times before figuring out where to go - the city was obviously built before cars were ever a thought. We stayed in the tiniest of rooms in a hostal - a bunk bed and that´s about it for $100 ... Scotland is expensive!!! We did end up having a great night out - yummy pasta at a lively Italian restaurant and we walked all over the downtown core. The architecture blew us away.

On Saturday, we met up with John and Janet´s son Gerald. He and his wife Elizabeth and two kids Ewan and Raurie live right downtown. They were so wonderful to us - very kind and generous. Gerry took us on a walking tour of the city, which was such a treat to learn more about the history from a local. They made us delicious pesto and let us stay over. Gerry and Elizabeth have both travelled all over the world and told us many great places to check out along our travels. Ruarie is 11 and is a goalkeeper on his high school football (soccer) team and told us all about the sport.

Sunday morning we headed back to Glasgow for our last days in Scotland. Gerry had recommended the Museum of Religion to us and so we decided to check it out. It was one of the most fascinating museums we have ever been to since so much of the world´s history is based on all of these different religions. It did a wonderful job at bringing everything together and incorporating it into all modern day events and celebrations.

We wandered around the city before heading over to a young couple´s place - Maria Montoya and Shaun Doherty. Maria was a friend of my Aunt Margaret´s from Toronto. She had come over to Scotland with a friend when she was 21 and met Shaun. Within a year they were married back in Canada but they have lived in Glasgow for the past 10 years - we could tell right away they were a perfect match. Shaun teaches and Maria is currently working part time as a social worker and home an extra day a week with their adorable son, Rory, who is 18 months. They were a wonderful family and 100% pure fun - we had lots of laughs. She made us a very yummy dinner and we chatted up a storm all night. They too were very hospitable and had us stay the night.

Monday was our last day in Scotland and John and Janet picked us up around noon from Maria and Shaun´s. They took us for traditional tea and scones at the Pollok house and then to the Burrell Collection. The collection was once the private collection of a successful shipping agent in Glasgow. He donated his entire collection of medieval european art, oriental ceramics, tapestries and paintings to the city of Glasgow for everyone to enjoy. We walked around the city before going back to relax at their house and eat another amazing dinner cooked by Janet. We surprised Jim and Marg that night when they arrived to find us there - it was great to see them and hear about their travels in Ireland. Once again they had us stay the night, which was such a treat.

We had one last Scottish breakfast before heading off to catch our plane to Barcelona. Scotland was such a beautiful country, but the true highlight was definitely the kind and generous people we met.

Now we´re off to walk the Camino de Santiago ... more stories to come soon...

Jill

Well, I have to echo my wifes comments about the people we met in Scotland... WOW, they were so generous and hospitable but so much fun to be around!! We talked and talked for hours and seemed like we knew these people forever! so thanks Marg and Jim for leading us to them (John And Janet, and the rest of the family,as well as Tom And Kathleen, Gerald, Elisabeth and family, and Maria, Shaun and Rory). So Marg and Jim, if any of these friends or family come to visit with you in T-dot, let us know and maybe Jilly and I could head down to see them again!! We can´t thank them enough for all they did for us!!

Just to add info to Jill´s posting... The Castle B&B was truly amazing, the atmospere, the view, the rooms and even the food! If anyone is travelling to Scotland, specifically to Oban, definitely ask us for the address!

The Isle of Mull, thanks Kristen for the tip!, was really beautiful! WE saw most of the island in our little neon green lunch bucket. And yes, I locked the keys in the car at Tobermory, so much for the great rate!!

Then we moved on to the isle of skye, but not without incident... on the way to Mallaig in a rain storm, we just found out that the last ferry was leaving so we were excited and on our way... til the next crest of a hill when Jilly mentioned " Bow, I think that car is in our lane?" which it was... so I hit the brakes and went to pull over to the left shoulder (that´s on my side of the road in Scotland for those of you that forgot) but the woman driving right at us turned that way as well... so with my Jacques Villeneuve-like reflexes I pulled the car back to the right and then laid on the horn... Anyways, suffice it to say we survived but the ticker was pumping a little faster on the rest of the drive to Mallaig. We caught the Ferry and it was as beautiful as Mull!

Inverness was a very cute little city but our highlight was as Jill already mentioned was St. Andrews! What a beautiful area, not to mention golf course.... and yes, I got my pic on the brdge leading up to the 18th green! Paul and Todd, we could have hacked that course up well!

Then we moved on to Edinburgh and what an amazing city! Very unique to Scotland I found so if ever in the UK, definitely make a trip to Edinburgh! And thanks again Gerald for the great personal tour!

Glasgow is a nice city as well and finally we saw quite a bit of it the day or two before we left... the museum of religion is a must if you have any interest in world religions!

Then, as we were waiting for the plane to Barcelona we wrote many post cards, so hopefully most of you will be receiving them soon. Those who have not, well, be patient, we´re on holiday! hahaa and loving it!

Next leg of the trip... when we embark on our trek through Northern Spain as pilgrims, or as they say in Spain, "Peregrinos"!! Cán´t wait!!

Just hope the new walking boots can handle it!!

Bow.

"Tales from Ireland" continued...

Jilly did quite an extensive first entry about our tour of Ireland so I'll just add a few things to it...

Well, the first thing we did when departing the airport was to pick up the rental car we had reserved. I was the driver b/c i have had extensive experience when i was in Australia, but as we soon all discovered, that was in 1997, so I was a little rusty (not to mention that it was a stick shift to boot!). It was a lot to remember but it didn't take long to fall into the nice, slow paced driving of the locals here in Dublin! But, we survived ok and only one little incident to report... Those of you that know jill and myself, she's very carefree and I rely on her judgement totally... well, I'm performing a very highly skilled U-turn and there is a wonderfully uniform Irish Stone wall in front of us. So I asked my reliable, trustworthy Navigator, "Jill, are we going to make it?", and she replies, oh yeah, for sure. SCCCCCRRRRAAAAAPE, well Paul and Ria luckily convinced us to pay the extra 8 Euro/day for the extensive insurance so we'll see how it goes today when we return it.

On our travels just north of Cork (outside a little town called Middleton), we stumbled across this Cave that was on the private land of this family who sold tickets at their front door. IT was 200 metres down into the ground but luckily there was electricity. It was quite cool but there were no bats b/c it's a constant 12 degrees celsius, too warm for bats (jill and Ria were quite relieved to hear this tidbit of info). At one point there was this open area where Kevin, our guide, told us that they held a charity concert down in here with 200 chairs set up with a stage.... they even got a piano down and if you saw the 88 steps that we had to walk down, not to mention how steep they were and narrow, you would find it quite amazing that they even attemped this feat let alone acomplishing it.

ok, Noreen and Denny, what a very nice couple and very hospitable! (some may have found Noreen a little over the top, but you can't blame her she's just very friendly and loves to talk! She could fit into the girl's dinner nights on Thursdays no problem!). Denny took Paul and i over to his farm and we met his son Michael. Not very talkative, obviously doesn't take after his mother, but he was very nice. Then Denny took us on a lil tour of the outskirts of Kinsale where there was a fort... very scenic, overlooking the harbour into Kinsale but the best part was coming across this truck that said pigeon racing on the side of it. Denny turns around and we find out that we are 5 min. away from the start of the race, so we spoke to the "starters" until the race began... They were saying that 4 or 5 pigeon keepers owned all of these pigeons and the finish line is way back up in wexford, so I obviously asked them if they have ever seen the finish of a race, but they didn't share my same sense of humour! Anyways, picture a 1-ton truck with about 7 rows and 5 columns of doors on both sides of the truck. On the count of three, the two of them open up all of the doors and out fly the pigeons. I assumed that there would be one pigeon behind each door, but once the doors were open and all I could see was this huge white/gray cloud for about 3 seconds, realized there must have been at least 10 pigeons minimum behind each door. There were a few trailers that had to be pushed out of the doors and I was a little scared when 3 or 4 took a sharp right turn and were flying right at me... I turned and burned it (you know, with my cat-like reflexes) til I realized they turned away from me as quickly as they came initially. We all had a good chuckle. Then Denny took us into town and we met a couple of locals in the harbour and before we knew it Denny was trying to line us up for some Deep Sea fishing but the Captain was making repairs already so it was a no go.

Paul and I decided to golf in the afternoon b/c it was a beautiful day and then the girls would have time to peruse the shops. Paul and I couldn't do both so we grudgingly went off to the golf course. As soon as we dropped our 53 Euro and were on the first tee box we look behind us and all of a sudden the beautiful day turned into this huge dark gray cloud heading right for us... well, when it comes to golf and rain, and if you have golfed with me before, you'll know that I always become very optimistic that it'll just blow over and we'll be ok. Needless to say, berfore we hit the green the rains came and there we were huddled under trees and bushes in the pouring rain. Paul and I couldn't believe it. We laughed and then it let off some, so Paul ran back to the car, got his coat and 2 umbrellas and we were back at it. THe course only had one set of left handed clubs and we weren't allowed to share one bag, so Paul turned on his Cedar hill charm and the woman gave us a deal. We were able to split the clubs into two bags. Unfortunately the bags didn't have a shoulder strap so we had to carry them by the handle for the whole round. I know what you are thinking, it can't be that heavy with only 6 or 7 clubs in the bag but these bags were from the early 80's where the bags were about 20 inches in diameter and weighed about 50 lbs! It was a nice course though other than being totally covered in rabbit shit! This was when I realized playing in my sandles was probably a bad idea!

Now, at the Mad Monk, where we listened to the local irish tunes... Ollie was quite a character. Jill mentioned his shirt but it was bright white with stickmen in every sexual position possible and he was this big Jolly fellow who was very proud of his irish background. We noticed him singing along to every tune the band played and then all of a sudden he's introduced and brought up to the stage for a 'guest appearance'. He was hilarious, the words of his songs were funny but the actions he did along with the lyrics was drop dead funny. For those of you who know Shane Legree, picture him in about 30 years! sorry guy!

Just to add to Jilly's comments, the sites along the Ring of Kerry and Ring of Skellig, the cliffs of Moher and the Aran islands were truly breathtaking... but not only did we meet Marg and Jim on the same ferry but that same morning at our B&B we met this couple also from Ontario and after further discussion found out they were from Walkerton. It turned out that my buddy Dan taught their son at Walkerton District High! Small world!

Well, I'm getting tired of typing and no doubt you are getting bored reading so I'll sign off... but stay tuned for more details of our global tour! We did the Double decker bus tour today of Dublin and we are glad that we only had two days of the big city life... the small towns are so much more quaint and interesting...

Until Scotland... the Geddoches...

Tales from Ireland

Our travels through Ireland with mom and Paul have been wonderful. Ireland is more beautiful than I ever anticipated it to be. We were so busy having fun over the past 10 days that we are only finding an Internet cafe today to email home to friends and family.

Our travels through Ireland with mom and Paul have been wonderful. Ireland is more beautiful than I ever anticipated it to be. We were so busy having fun over the past 10 days that we are only finding an Internet cafe today to email home to friends and family.

We started in Dublin and made our way around the coastline of the bottom half of Ireland. We headed south to Wicklow, where we made our first stop on a fruit farm. It was a beautiful stone farm with great land for growing berries, apples and other fruit and vegetables. Paul and the owner exchanged trade secrets, which also meant that we got a unique tour of the farm - all good fun! We carried on from along the narrow and winding roads down to Wexford. The roads in themselves are gorgeous - they are lined with old stone fences covered in lush vines, wild flowers, and bushes. Even the hydro poles are green with vines growing up them. We stayed in a cute little B&B in the countryside in Wexford. While wandering around the town that night, we came across an Irish wake. A large line up of people stood outside the pub (pronounced poob here) and waited for the casket to arrive from the funeral home. Then everyone walked through the streets with the casket to the church - very interesting.

From Wexford, we travelled inland to Kilkenny (recommended by Brendan), which was a medieval city with narrow streets and cute little pubs and restaurants in the centre of town. We decided to stay in a small village outside of Kilkenny called Kells on a ranch B&B. This town had the most beautiful old ruins - a priory and mills.

We continued travelling south towards Cork on route to the famous Blarney Castle and Stone. We did indeed bend over backwards to kiss the hunk o'rock in hopes of acquiring the legendary eloquence bestowed to the smoocher.

After Blarney, we followed the guidance of the Lonely Planet and headed south of Cork to Kinsale, a small harbour town. At the end of our trip, we all voted and agreed that Kinsale was our favourite spot. It was a very scenic town with rolling hills surrounding the harbour. The town was filled with cute little shops, winding streets, and great restaurants and pubs. We lucked into finding an amazing B&B with the greatest hosts, Noreen and Denny, just outside of town. The rooms were so cute with their million dollar views that we decided to stay for two nights. We had so much fun in Kinsale. Bow and Paul found a great golf course and mom and I found the shops.

We went out to the Mad Monk while in Kinsale to enjoy the locals and traditional Irish music. The bar was small so the rowdy crowd circled around the band. They played all of the traditional Irish tunes and the crowd went nuts and we all sang. They even had one of the loud locals, Ollie, get up to sing a few songs. Picture this, a 60 year old man wearing a t-shirt with characters in all sorts of unique positions singing songs about the "Pfizer Riser" (viagra) and "Big Knockers". It was quite a good laugh. The band also gave us a good laugh - they said about five Irish jokes between each song, which kept our bellies aching.

After Kinsale we headed north west along the coast to the beautiful Ring of Kerry. We stayed in a small village that won the Tidy Town award, called Sneem, in an old nuns convent. We quickly realized that the Irish love to give out awards. Every pub, restaurant, and B&B have some sort of plaque outside showing off their award. The funniest award was in a small fishing village where we noticed the "Tidiest Toilet 2002 Runner Up" award outside the loo. We couldn't believe it, naturally we had to take a picture. It got to be so funny that at breakfast one morning, Paul was eating homemade jam and commented to the host how delicious it was and that it must have won an award and it was hardly out of his mouth when she said "Yes, it did".

We explored the famous Ring of Kerry and the even more spectacular Ring of Skellig. Basically you drive around a penninsula on nail biting narrow roads to check out the rugged coastline, sheep, beaches (strands), and beautiful countryside. We ended up in Dingle, which was another beautiful fishing village with a famous dolphin. We really enjoyed this town - a spot not to be missed.

After Dingle, we travelled north towards Galway. We stopped along the way to see the Cliffs of Moher (Jay and Fiona's suggestion). Excellent stop! It was the only place where we saw droves of tourists but it wasn't a shock when we saw how beautiful the cliffs were. We continued from there up to Galway.

On one of our last days, we headed to the Aran Islands (recommended by Jason Morin), which was an unforgettable stop. We took the boat (no cars allowed) over to Inishmore and we were absolutely shocked to run into my Aunt Marg and Jim on the ferry. We knew that they were in Ireland at the same time, but naturally were quite surprised to be on the same ferry as them over to this small island. When we arrived on the Island, we hopped in a little van with a man called Michael Faherty and he drove us around the island, letting us out at Dun Aengus for two hours to explore. This was a spectacular cliff top fort with massive dry stone wall battlements. He picked us up and drove us around the rest of the island. This man knew every single person on the island and gave us a full rundown on everyone as we passed their homes, which was quite neat. The entire island was filled with stone fences, like you would see on a postcard. It was unbelievable! This was definitely our favourite day trip.

After we got back to the mainland we made our way back across to Dublin. For our last night the four of us shared a room because it was significantly cheaper. It was a Fawlty Towers experience for sure - which kept us laughing. At one point, we were discussing whether or not Bow should fill up our water bottles. Paul mentioned that we could fill them up in the bathroom and Bow said "good idea" and headed straight over to the bathroom and opened the door without realizing that my mom had just gone into take a shower. Bow quickly realized when he saw my mom in the buck. We all had a good laugh and Bow realized that it was the most scenic view of the trip.

Mom and Paul left this morning to head back to Ottawa. We had a fantastic time with them! Bow and I are in Dublin now until Sunday morning and then we head off to Glasgow, Scotland for 10 days. Today is our 10 year anniversary of being together, so we're off to celebrate.

Until next time .... The Geddoches