First day as Pilgrims: Temples 1-5

Gordon:  We had beautiful weather for our first day on the Shikoku 88 Temple pilgrimage.  We made our way to Temple 1 under our own power, adding about 14 kms to the distance of about 13 kms from Temple 1 to Temple 5.  With 83 more temples to visit our appreciation of them may diminish, but we enjoyed the first five a great deal.  They are tranquil places, with a variety of pavilions, sculptures, ponds, and other features.  

We have decided upon a protocol that sees us ringing a gong, cleansing ourselves at a fountain, taking turns reading stanzas of the heart sutra at the principal temple, and then going to the shop to have our books stamped and calligraphied.  This is quite beautiful to watch, and easily shows why calligraphy is an art form in Japan.

The walks between temples are mostly on small lanes with minimal traffic, although there are also some stretches on paths.  Much of the land is under cultivation, with carrots currently being harvested, and rice being planted.  There are also large areas devoted to pear and apricot orchards.

We were both almost giddy today, and we look forward with eager anticipation to tomorrow’s outing.

Camino Portuguese 2015 :Time to Mount the Bikes Again We are off to tour in Portugal

We fly to Portugal on July 4th and arrive in Lisbon on our 25 anniversary! Gord has informed me that the 25th anniversary is the pvc plastic anniversary, so I am expecting some rather nice plastic bling!

Today is the last day of school and now I have a week to obsess about what to pack and what to leave behind. Even though we have done this a lot I still spend far too much time  revising the packing list, and I always throw in more than I need.

The plan, as much as we have one, is to begin in Lisbon and  follow the Camino Portuguese up to Santiago de Compostella.  We have nine weeks, so after Santiago de Compostella, we will have lots of time to explore more of Portugal.

Blog Contents
i. Camino Portuguese:Time to Mount the Bikes Again We are off to Lisbon
ii. One More Sleep 
iii. First days in Lisbon
iv. Lisbon and Preparing for the Camino Portuguese
1.  Lisbon to Vila Franca de Xira 44Km
2.  Vila Franca de Xira to Santarem and Santarem to Alcobaca
3. Alcobaca-Batalha - Fatima 
4. Fatima to Tomar
5. Rest day in Tomar and then on to Ansiao
6. Ansiao - Conimbriga - Coimbra
7. Coimbra - Albergaria - Porto
8. Porto - A few of our favorite things
9. Porto to Vila do Conde - A few more favorite things
10. Vila do Conde - Guimaraes, Guimaraes to Ponte de Lima
11. Ponte de Lima to Viana do Costelo, Viana do Costelo to Valenca
12. Valenca to Pontevedra
13. Pontevedra to Santiago 
14. Galicia after the Camino
15. A Little Stone House in Branda
16. The Descent from Peneda Geres
17. Bom Jesus

18. Into Tras os Montes
19. Prato do Dia
20. Parque Natural de Monteshino
21. Parque Natural do Douro Internationale
22. Filthy Little Devils

The Via Francigena for 2012!

Gord and I have air tickets purchased and Alison Raju's new guidebook hot off the press. 

Our planning for the Via Francigena is now offically under way. 

We fly into Gatwick on July 1, 2012  and we are booked into to the Canterbury Cathedral Lodge right in the Cathedral grounds for our first night.

This year we will  do about half of the route to Rome ending somewhere in Switzerland. We will spend five nights in Paris before heading home on August 11th. We are bringing a tent this time just in case we run into difficulties with accommodation. Being a princess of a thing I went out today and bought a really light inflatable mattress. It certainly  is way more comfortable than my old therma-rest. I am glad it is a fairly flat route because it looks like there will be a bit more stuff in my bike trailer.

My Via Francigena Map
Topo Maps in France: http://www.geoportail.fr/visu2D.do?ter=metropole#
Topo Maps in Switzerland: http://www.wanderland.ch/en/routen_detail.cfm?id=284505