I'm walkin, yes indeed I'm walkin

 

After nine days of walking we are nearing our destination of Braubach. The trick here is to stay focussed as due to tour booking reasons, we are booked for two nights in Koblenz-one day short of Braubach.

A couple of prospects here. Maybe I will give tomorrow a miss, rest up a bit and get ready for life after the walk? In reality it is all about the journey and not the destination? This is just a fun thing after all so why not have a second rest day so I will be fresher for the events that I am going to over the weekend?

No. It is really the destination that I am seeking so it is very important for me to finish the last leg and tick the completed walk box and pick up my T shirt.

Well actually I have nothing else scheduled for tomorrow so I might as well walk. The weather is still good and warm so what could be better than a walk in this fine part of the world?

From a Rhine point of view, Koblenz is perhaps the most important place. German corner where the Rhine meets the Moselle is very important to most Germans. And the river traffic is more prolific.

And after 9 days of good walking, good company, hearty food, drink and conversation, we will leave the walk refreshed and ready for the next part of our busy lives. Australian politics rarely gets a mention as we all agree that we would not feed almost all of the current crop of people in that role. We often fall back to sport as a conversation starter, as a lot of Australians seem to do. Not tennis, not bike racing, not rugby but perhaps cricket. Family connections and events have been very well covered as has the fantastic countryside around the Rhine and the many interesting sights that we see as we slowly traverse this part of the planet. Some discuss business and business conditions and others relate events in their lives as they interact along the way.

This has beena great experience and we all understand just how lucky we are to have this opportunity to walk together for a few days of our lives. Where will we walk next?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Technology keeps us in touch-wherever

Restored castle above Konigswinter

This contribution comes from Bad Honningen when the walking club is having a rest day. Unfortunately one of the seven has had to stay behind for a couple of days rest to recover from a bronchial condition, possibly picked up from his kids before leaving home. The remaining walkers are savouring the rest. There is more than a good chance that we will be back as one unit soon, perhaps today.

Sometimes we feel like this

As we move a little further south each day (unlike that terrible soppy song that moves one further north in QLD), this walk seems to have toughened up. For the last few days we have walked more kms each day and the terrain is a lot hillier as we dip back towards the Rhine for a few kms only to turn around at the edge of a river town to climb back up to the heights again.

They know how to create great walking and cycle space

It rained almost all of the second day and the paths in many places remain quite boggy. Whilst going uphill is ok in such conditions, we are careful on the downhill bits to avoid slip, slip slipping away. To draw an analogy to the recent walk in France, it is a bit like the last couple of kms where you drop down into Conques, which is hidden away deep in the valley, about 8 times a day. Not a favourite pastime for Yvonne.

Dracula could be living here

Within this group we are well armed with techology. Ipad, Ipod, Netbook, mobile phones, smart phones and it is routine in France and Germany to have wifi access in hotels and B&Bs. Is this needed or desirable as 'we get away from it all'?

On the road again

So this morning whilst I am writing this blog, others are watching an AFL live and a replay.   There is little interest in a Wallabies replay.  The net has been searched to find a local massage place for those interested. Trip Advisor is being used to assist with eating optons and tourist opportunities. And we are well aware of global news. And of course I have been able to keep a daily contact with Yvonne who is now in the Orkney Islands and enjoying her exposure to more one of the more remote parts of Europe.

Central Linz-would like to get back here

But aside from the tendency of technology to temp me away from the experience of simply enjoying the walking opportunity and the challenges when living within another culture, this has been another great week.

 

 

 

 

 

Like Wille Nelson-on the road again

 

I have a advertisement up on the wall next to my desk at home which shows a big fat man trying to heave himself out of a swimming pool. There is the pool ladder just next to him and the caption is something like "Why do things the hard way when....".

And sometimes I wonder if our travel is a bit like that man.

For me, there is something endlessly fascinating as us humans get around the world. And airports, train stations and major tourist sights really bring these feelings to the surface. How do we get from station to hotel? What do we want to do/see/eat/buy when we get there? Why do people do things that way? How long does it take from Paris centre to Charles De Gaulle airport? Which airport-1,2,3? Are Randall and Yvonne heading for the same terminal? (answer No, of course).

From Brussells, do I want to take the Chunnel to England? Now that I am in Cologne, how do I get to next destination Bonn? Where and what will I eat tonight? Why don't I just line up with others to buy the whole travel experience and leave the thinking to others? And so on.

 

The answer so far is that is you learn when the unexpected turns up just around the corner. When you meet and talk for just a few minutes perhaps over a meal with strangers. When you see Eiffel tower/Conques/Estaing/rural France/Rhine river/Cologne cathedral for the first or subsequent time. When your your train/plane connections are out by minutes/hours/days. When you really enjoy/pass up/not like that cafe/brasserie/hotel/meal/service.

Today Yvonne starts her tour of Scotland, looking for big views and feelings and perhaps something to paint later including a few puffins. Randall heads for Bonn and to join up with friends to walk the northern part of the Rheisteig from Bonn to Braubach. The weather in Germany is warmer than we experienced in Paris but the threat of rain remains for at least the next few days.

I wonder how things will turn out before we catch up with each other in 12 days time?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pariseans Deux-encore

 

Paris. What can one say? Certainly the most beautiful city in the world. A city of many contrasts and sights. A great place to relax for a few days after our two weeks of solid walking along the Chemin de St Jacques.

 

 

The weather remains uncertain and unseasonal but we walked our way around Paris. Apart from the hordes tramping around the major sights, Parisians seemed to be contentedly going about their days.
 

 

We relived parts of our previous time here, and took in the ambiance of Paris whilst enjoying the time together. Tomorrow we go our separate ways for almost two weeks, Yvonne to Scotland and Randall to Germany. Interesting prospects both. Even if not in the same class as Paris.

 

 

 

Travelling with technology

The question of the moment is about the degree of communications you need to take with you when travelling. The last time we walked in France, it rained all the first day and our one mobile phone got wet and never recovered. There were no blogs and we used phone cards to make any forward bookings we needed. We got by.

We are now at the other end of the spectrum. Two smart phones, a computer and a 'need' for wireless access each night for news, banking, stocks management, weather forecasting and emails to family. Whilst it seems good to be keeping up with the technologies, we feel we have lost something along the way. Nostalgia says is was more fun back then.

In any case, we enjoyed our time in Lyons and have quickly settled back into French lifestyle. To date, we are not noticing too much impact from the GFC. The people seem much the same as before and just getting on with their lives.

This will be the last posting on this blog for a while as the focus is now on recording the walk on our other site. http://www.ourwalksinfrance.blogspot.fr/

And when it comes down to it, we feel very lucky to have the health and capacity to get away on trips like this.

So did we really lose a day of our lives

Not quite Dr Who and time travel but you have to be impressed when you can walk out of home one afternoon and 24 hours later (local timings) be sitting on a train in France skimming across the countryside towards Lyons. Just what William Kingsley, guest of HM judges in 1827, would say about that compared to his own 108 days of relocation, travel beggars belief.

As we sat in our brasserie awaiting our summer salads and transform into boomers grappling with the power of our smart phones, fearful of data download cost implications from using Mr Google when accessing the power in our palms.

By morning our travel world has now changed-thanks to our smart phones. In the old days, we used to get a local map from Reception, ask a few questions about direction to so and so museum, gallerie, cafe etc and be on our way exploring. A couple of arguments later, a few stops to check maps and an encounter or two with locals and we get around for our orientation day.

Not any more. We visited SFR telecom where we bought new SIM cards and loaded up with 'special' French and data. So now I have lost my wife who is walking along using map functions, checking reviews of cafes and restaurants and telling me off for not checking before we left the hotel that the Musee des Beaux arts is closed on Tuesdays. What used to be “fun” is now more efficient and easier. Wonder when my wife will return to me?

In the mid afternoon we sat for a quiet drink in Brasserie Georges, a huge brasserie where lots of well known people have been. As I drink my beer, Yvonne is texting home on viber. Where will it end or are we heading into new and different travel experiences?

If I thought my day of moving with travel technology was over, then I was mistaken. On returning home for a break before heading out for dinner, I decided to post this blog. In the morning I had been unable to re-establish wi-fi and so I was very pleased to find that whatever the problem was, it was now gone and all was working perfectly. So with phones and computer up and running we were set.

Yvonne stopped working her phone long enough to warn me that you, my clients, preferred blogs with associated pics. That meant I needed to download today's pics onto the computer. No problems. Before leaving for the trip I had cleaned up the computer from previous trips pics wise and erased all photos from my camera. But now the computer was delighted to find that Yvonne only has 2573 pics on her camera and went into overdrive downloading before finishing with the ones taken today. Great.

So hope the pic selected meets your needs.

Actually, our day with technology combines well with first impressions on how France is 'moving forward'. The cafes, brasseries and bars are still stuck with tradition-we found it difficult to move beyond the idea of croissant and coffee for breakfast. And the cafe manager with no clients assured us that although he could and does make a mean croque madame, he could not make us one before 11:30 as that is not how it works in France. So we left him to his old world ways.

But then there were plenty of people getting around by bike and there were plenty of racks with rental bikes around for locals and tourists. We saw quite a few people using scooters, even older women. And plenty of 'green' oriented shops doing good business.

Is it better to preserve your culture, keeping to old ways? Or do you globalise your shops, ways and services so we can all 'feel at home' wherever you are?

Heading back for another fix

Since 2009, we did venture back into France in 2010 for just a couple of weeks whilst Randall walked in the Dordogne area with a few friends.   And for some reason we can keep on creating reasons for yet another holiday there.  But for one of us at least, it is really a bit more than a good place for a holiday break.

Since 2010, we have pursued our post paid work lives, further developed our hobbies and kept in regular contact with our now remotely living families.  But the 'quest' to develop our lives further remains.  And France, and French country living, on at least a semi-permanent basis, remains an attractive idea.

So for 2013, we are renting a couple of gites for the month of August;  one in the small village St Andre de Cubzac in the wine growing area not far from Bordeaux and the other in Pignan a town not far from Montpellier and the Mediterranean.  

Not really a holiday and not really 'normal' living.

Finally, maybe this all started for Randall back in 1967 when 'sitting' in the French Quarter of New Orleans getting a portrait drawn?