Posts from Theo
Dirty Man, Clean Soul
Rain and wind beat the windshield, timidity is palpable.
Courage delivers hard pavement and cold biting spray, soaking all.
Doubts. A group of optimists tilt against the wind and water hiking on.
Small trails winding deliver a verdant room of juxtaposed tranquility.
Traversing rocks at the ocean’s threshold,
then climbing steeply through sheep and cows find the respite of a pint.
Most retire, but two ascend.
Mist voraciously devours epic landscapes leaving eerie isolation and calm… a tomb.
The dividends of rain seep into our trail shoes; squish and ooze.
Fence after fence the mist dissipates, yet fences remain;
each a click on the volume dial on the ocean’s music.
The light sounds of breathing break into the aimless chatter of deep human connectedness.
Finished but not done, old tired feet and wary legs carry a dirty man and his daughter,
their souls freshly laundered,
to a new beginning and another pint.
The Kerry Slalom
Today we were faced with an long travel day. We picked up our brand new Citroen Jumpy (9 seat "people mover") at London's Heathrow airport yesterday and made a short jaunt to a rest stop hotel in Cardiff, Wales. Today, we woke up, wished a wonderful Happy Birthday to Michelle and then proceed to our next night's sleep in Caherdaniel, Kerry, Ireland.
Driving on the other side of the road is weird; I'm still getting used to it.
We made our way to the Pembroke port in Wales for a 14:45 departure, due to arrive at Rosslare, Irlenad 18:50. The problem, you see, is that Rosslare is on the east coast of Ireland and Caherdaniel is on the west cost of Ireland -- via crazy mountain roads near the end of the journey. Much credit to the smooth operation of the ferry, we docks at 18:45 and we were on the road at 18:55.
I had called ahead and told the Scarriff Inn that we'd be arriving near midnight. The kind host politely informed me that I was crazy and that I'd never make it there. Pedal to the metal! We booked it down through Cork and I do have to say that the whole group were troupers: no potty breaks, no dinner breaks, and no complaining. Near the end of the journey, 100km/h on hilly, hair-pinning, cliff-hanging mountain roads we arrived in Caherdaniel at 23:18. It's possible to drive like a maniac on curve roads in a Citroën Jumpy, but maybe not so smart.
If that were the end of the story, life would be simpler. It turns out that the Scarriff Inn might have (or might not have) a Caherdaniel postal code, it most certainly is not in Caherdaniel. It is approximately half way between Caherdaniel and Waterville. As we ascended the mountain toward the Inn, heavy fog rolled in. For the next 30 minutes we carefully explored the next 5km of road and by a stroke of luck (and foot travel, with headlamp) I managed to find the Scarriff Inn, the guest house, and finally our beds.
A long day for everyone... tomorrow: grueling hiking!
Being normal in Athens.
Okay, I supposed staying for four days in Athens as a part of a round-the-world trip is so far from being normal that this title is absurd. Today we hung out at the hotel, the kids did school work, we ate a simple and cheap dinner of falafel and then relaxes at the roof-top bar for about two hours picturesquely spanning sunset.
I had the opportunity to start teaching Zoe algebra: factorization of polynomials. And I worked with Gianna on fractions manipulation by doing units conversion of various speeds of things that she likes: namely rollercoasters.
That intro picture isn't from a post-card picture, that little gem was casually shot from my Sony RX100III from the roof-top bar of our hotel: The Attalos Hotel Athens. Wow.
Tomorrow we plan to go to the Acropolis and then turn in early to wake to the day that will begin our western European road trip.