An important date was approaching: José’s 40th birthday was falling right on the year of our trip. How convenient that we were not far from Bordeaux at that point, where we could meet his birthday guests and celebrate in style. José’s brother Jorge arrived from Portugal, to hike with us and spend some fun… Continue Reading
Just when we started to settle into the life of hiking on the Way of St. James, we had to face the question: Are you real pilgrims? Which brought us to the question: What ARE real pilgrims? We often stayed at the home of families who host pilgrims for the night, offering a dinner together, a cosy… Continue Reading
We had another two wonderful hiking weeks in Brittany, still away from the sea. There was no lack of water, however. We were following the Nantes-Brest Canal (which from our perspective should be the Brest-Nantes canal, but we can’t change the toponymy just because we were walking in the opposite direction) and all along the… Continue Reading
We had been walking closely along the coast of Brittany until the city of Brest. From there, we started following the St. James’ Way rather than the GR34/E9, in order to reach Spain within two months instead of three or more. The price we had to pay was leaving the coast, but we soon discovered… Continue Reading
Coming from England, Brittany doesn’t represent such a huge cultural shock. This part of France has always valued its celtic roots rather than the French influence, which is felt in the local language, music, and architecture. Stone is one of the main elements in this region, be it as natural sculptures along the shore or as… Continue Reading
Days: 55 (20 rest days, including Christmas and New Year) Km: 733 Paid accommodation: 40 nights Free accommodation: 15 nights Best food: Sunday Roast Best drink: Cider Favorite word: Pub Favorite place: Jurassic Coast United Kingdom in one word: Mud Hiking in the UK was not our first idea when we had thought about the route. We were… Continue Reading
After leaving behind the emotions and ups and downs (literally) of the Jurassic Coast, we could expect an easy home stretch until Plymouth, right? Wrong. The last five hiking days in the UK presented as many challenges as the weeks before. The ferry lottery (will it be working or not)? Check. Climbing up cliffs… Continue Reading
When we had mentioned to anybody that we were planning on hiking along the Jurassic Coast, the reaction was always the same: “Oh, it’s a gorgeous place! But veeeery difficult to hike.” The latter usually was underlined by an upward and downward motion of the hand, drawing a steep curve in the air. We were… Continue Reading
Holidays were over and we were sitting in the train back to Portsmouth, singing happily: “We’ve got a ticket to Ryde” (you can hum the Beatles song “Ticket to Ride” at this point). In London, where we had celebrated New Year, we had already purchased the tickets for the hovercraft going to Ryde, at the… Continue Reading
“The Downs… too much for one pair of eyes, enough to float a whole population in happiness, if only they would look” Virginia Woolf, diaries After hiking along the gorgeous white cliiffs and enjoying the dramatic views at the North Sea coast during our first days in the UK, we didn’t expect the South Downs to… Continue Reading
12 crossed countries
319 hiking days
89 resting days
Updated on 11/06/2016 – ARRIVED IN LISBON!