Gorillas in the Mist- Travel Theme…

Ailsa has really set a difficult challenge this week.  We don’t often have misty days around where I live. And sorry- no Gorilla’s either, the nearest would be the vervet monkeys… http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/04/04/travel-theme-misty/

Most of my misty experiences happened on hiking trails. There was this beautiful morning on the Camino de Santiago in 2011! We walked through the misty layer to high above it, It was so beautiful looking down the mist covered valleys…  (nearly reminds me of my favorite song from Dire Straits… These mist covered mountains,… !)

Where is the mist? Look down there!

A year before my Camino experience, our family hiked the Blyderivierspoort Hiking Trail in South Africa. And the weather was really extreme. We got lost in the first 2 km! When you are lost in the mist, without a GPS, sit and make tea…  The boys loved it, my daughter didn’t…

Teenagers and Misty Hiking days… pure memories from hell… (for them…)

And that is all I have to say about that…

Bridges- Sunday Stills

http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-bridges/

When thinking on the theme of bridges, I decided to post a few bridges I crossed on the Camino de Santiago in Spain… Bridges are quite useful to help you continue your journey and reach your destination…

The world famous bridge at Hospital de Orbigo, where knights used to joust in the Middle Ages- I would not like to fall off a horse here…

High above Ruitelan…

Just before o’ Cebreiro

Portomarin

Into Melide

You see- we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it…

Short- Ailsa’s WTT

http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/11/15/travel-theme-short/

xxx Ailsa

“Is life not a thousand times too short for us to bore ourselves?” – Friedrich Nietzche

“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see.” – John Burroughs

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When time ran short- the end of the world last year according to the Mayan Calender…

When short is good…

When the mercury line is short in the thermometer…

When the desire to walk is short, and the short game shorts…

Shorty may have short horns, don’t mess with his mom’s short temper…

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Related articles

• Travel theme: Short (wheresmybackpack.com)
• Delicate- Ailsa’s WTT (vosperdruiter.wordpress.com)

Unplugged Rider Family…

Daily Prompt: Bloggers, Unplugged

by michelle w. on October 8, 2013

Sometimes, we all need a break from these little glowing boxes. How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us UNPLUGGED.

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Every now and then civilization and all the blinking stuff gets too much. There is only one solution for extreme cases of being full of city… 

Go Hiking! 

Expose the family to nature in its most raw state… 

 

And there, in nature, doing the most basic things in the most basic way, you find yourself again! 

 

And I know- I need a little bit of this soon:

 

 

Good Morning, Camino de Santiago!

THIS WEEK, SHOW US A PHOTO THAT SAYS “GOOD MORNING!”

It could be a shot taken during your morning walk, the morning vista out your kitchen window, your cat doing a pre-breakfast stretch, or a textured close-up of your oatmeal bubbling away at the stove.

I’m excited to see how all your days start — maybe we’ll all pick up a new morning ritual!

– Michelle

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One of my happiest memories in my life  is the early rising, and the hiking on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  Early Morning tells you: it is time to make big strides today on your journey of life!

Underneath- Word a Week Challenge

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2013/10/02/a-word-a-week-challenge-underneath/

Once, on a hiking trail with two of my boys- they slept on top and I slept underneath…  Beware of Trail cooking in a crowded room like this- underneath…

My sons can also be underneath at times:

Underneath all that is me…

 

 

 

Relaxing: Ailsa’s Weekly Travel Theme

Travel theme: Relaxing

Posted on September 27, 2013

So lean back, put your feet up and think about what relaxing means to you, and when you’re ready, create your own post for this week’s theme.And breathe!

xxx Ailsa

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.” – Etty Hillesum

“The man who doesn’t relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on.” – Elbert Hubbard

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Relaxing on the hiking trail… for just a few moments, quite a few years back….

These boots…

Daily Prompt: These Boots Were Made for Walking

by michelle w. on August 24, 2013

Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us WALK.

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My favourite boots EVER is the Wolverine Fortis pair that I bought for doing the Camino de Santiago in 2011.  It has taken me on the French Route of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, and has given me 2 more years of service, and still going strong…

Wolverine is so impressed with their boots they offered a guarantee: if it is not the best shoes you have ever owned, they would return your money in the first month. Mine is extremely comfortable! There is only one problem- and it is not the boots’ fault. I bought mine the right size, which is a size too small when you are walking downhill loaded with a backpack!

With all the Gore Tex and adjustable inner soles, this is really an awesome pair of footwear!

 (I was also just playing around with my camera for the weekly photo challenge on focus…)

WALK:  (the effect of walking with a size too small boots- taken at Villafranca del Bierzo next to the stream…

So if the good people at Wolverine ever read this- I would love a size 9 pair of  these lovely boots, please?

The Bridges on the Camino de Santiago

Cee’s Which Way Challenge Week 7

http://www.ceephotography.com/2013/08/21/cees-which-way-challenge-week-7/

“The idea behind this challenge is to show off the actual road, bridge, walkway, tracks, etc.  I don’t want to see main topic to be the people, cars, trains.  Searching for which ways I find it gives me a new way of looking at how we move around and what wonderful ways we have found ways to travel as well as beautify our world.”

One of Cee’s options:

• Bridges (any view)

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On The Way Challenge I just can’t seem to escape from the Camino de Santiago experience… So here is my entry for this week: just a few bridges on the Camino…

A road, a railway and a bridge on the Camino in one shot… and one single hiker way in front of me…

The famous bridge at Hospital de Orbigo, where knights jousted on this bridge…

Bridge into the beautiful town of Molinaseca

The bridge high above the ancient town of Ruitelan…

Small bridge just outside Ruitelan, at the beginning of the climb up O’ Cerbreiro

The two bridges into Portomarin…

And finally- the bridge into Melide…

Nighttime on the Hiking Trail…

I chose the Photography theme for today. After a long day on a hiking trail, carrying a 36 pound (18 kg) backpack over the hills and through the streams, it is so good to reach the overnight hut. It is heavenly to drop the pack, and to start a fresh brew on a fire.  And then, sitting next to your fire, with an enamel mug of coffee,  to just BE while nature is settling in for the night…

Daily Prompt: The Full Moon
by michelle w. on August 20, 2013
When the full moon happens, you turn into a person who’s the opposite of who you normally are. Describe this new you.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us NIGHTTIME.