I love the water, in all its forms – from puddles with reflections to the weedy banks of streams to fast flowing rivers to fresh water lakes and the oceans beyond. Ailsa’s Travel Theme: Land meets water Continue reading Land meets Water
I saw the honour guard assume their posts, I hard the skirl of the pipes, I watched the parade of veterans and soldiers approach along the Esplanade. I stood in the -20C cold with my daughter at the cenotaph in Medicine Hat; I closed my eyes and in the silence I was transported back …
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
As I write this we are in France, driving the highways and countryside of Normandy towards Courseulles sur Mer on the northern coast, to the beach where Canadian soldiers landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. As we pass through small French towns with their old stone houses and store fronts, their doors opening directly onto the cobbled streets, I can’t help but imagine enemy tanks barreling along these narrow streets, the noise echoing through the corridors of the village, the marching step of the soldiers, weapons held ready to fire.
I am thinking about my father and all the men like him and their willingness to serve. Uncle Kenneth had just turned 24 the very day he died trying to pilot his plane back to safety.
I am thinking about the heavy bombing raids of the Blitz and the reminiscences of my Continue reading “A Deserted Stretch of Sand”
Julia’s prompt for the 100 word challenge this week is …. the line was drawn …. here is my take Continue reading “100 word challenge”
“Nature, like a kind and smiling mother, lends herself to our dreams and cherishes our fancies.” Victor Hugo
Our dreams and fantasies lie behind a veil of mist, just Continue reading “Quotes from the Masters: Hugo”
Previous post: Central France – St. Enemie and other gems.
Sunday was a day of rest – a leisurely rise, croissants for breakfast, coffee on the terrasse with our view to the Pyrenees, warm October sun in the south of France. For us it doesn’t get much better.
N &B went off on foot to explore our somewhat uninspired little village of St-André while I received a refresher course on driving a standard, something I hadn’t done in over 10 years. I hoped to get behind the wheel at least briefly just for the experience. This went quite well and we learned something about our rental – when one squirts to clean the windshield, the windows automatically go up. Presumably sensors detect the ‘squirt’ and read ‘rain’ and send a message to the windows to close. This ‘smart-ass’ feature of our car caused some embarassment. Continue reading “Driving the coast road”
My last post on Wales was On the Road to Abergwaun
We had given up on our idea of the train ride out of Aberystwyth to the Vale of Rheidol but there was another outing we were both interested in – a trip out to Ramsey Island.
Ramsey Island lies a mile off the Pembrokeshire coast – it’s only about 2 miles long, a nature reserve with some of the finest cliff scenery in Wales. We had booked on the 10.30 tour from St-Justinian’s but found that due to insufficient people there would only be one sailing that day, at 1.15 p.m.—smack in the middle of the day. So this was going to have to be a split shift—a poke-about, then Ramsey Island, followed by another poke-about.
So we took one of the roads out of St-David’s and headed to the hinterland of Pembrokeshire … within 5 kms we found ourselves in Whitchurch – in Welsh it is Tregroes, meaning “Settlement of the Cross” – in either language it is a mere blip on the map.
But we were actually in search of Continue reading “Split Shift”
My previous post on Wales was Walking the Coastal Path.
For Thursday we had planned an outing to Aberystwyth. From Aberystwyth, meaning “Mouth of the River Ystwyth” – I need to interject here – harking back yet again, to It’s OK, They Speak English, the pronunciation of Aberystwyth is given as: æbəˈrɪstwɪθ – now I ask, it that really helpful? To continue … from Aberystwyth we planned to take a ride on an old steam train on the Vale of Rheidol Railway that would take us on a “nostalgic journey through some of Wales’ most spectacular scenery”.
But for this day our plans were less ambitious and we headed in the direction of Abergwaun, meaning “Mouth of the River Gwaun”, or, in English – Fishguard.
So again we set off at 10.30 a.m. – this had become our norm; we just couldn’t seem to get moving any earlier – and we motored north along the A487 … but before long Continue reading “On the Road to Abergwaun”
My last post in this Wales saga was All things come in threes …
Just two miles from our vacation apartment in St-David’s lies Whitesands Beach on Whitesands Bay. It is said to be the best surfing beach in Pembrokeshire and one of the best tourist beaches in the world. In fact, this October day, we saw Continue reading “Walking the Coastal Path”
Yesterday had been a day of rest, speaking in whispers …
Monday, we were refreshed and our chosen destination was Dinbych-y-Pysgod … harking back to It’s OK, they speak English, I really have no idea how to pronounce that but the good thing is it is well-known by the name of Tenby. This was the day, it turned out, that had the most annoyances – all travel has its little hiccups and petty annoyances, some one’s own fault, some not. Monday was our day … Continue reading “All things come in Three’s”
Beyond the Brush 