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Bob’s Recent Blog Posts
- English Ramblings April 25, 2023
- Library Adventures February 24, 2023
- Revising my Adventures February 12, 2023
- Epilogue/Epiphany June 4, 2022
- The last leg – five years, 2000 kms. June 4, 2022
Adventure Archives
Category Archives: Walking Adventures
Crossing the plains of Italy.
After a somewhat challenging start, I arrive in Italy. My landing in Milan from Montreal via Frankfurt is almost anti-climatic. Having entered the EU and been cleared, there was no one at the Milan airport who had the least bit … Continue reading
The Challenge of post-covid Travel.
I have recently returned from a big adventure, an international trip to Italy. It involved long flights across Canada and the Atlantic, several interactions with immigration officials from various countries, including my own. In the pandemic nations are trying to … Continue reading
Posted in Walking Adventures
Tagged fitness over 60, Hike, midlife adventures, Off the Couch and Out the Door, treks, via Francigena
4 Comments
Shared Experiences
Summers are short in Canada. School’s out; carefully husbanded vacation days are spent. We pack them full of activity. We fill our days with friends and family. We break bread; feasting in the age-old tradition of communion. We barbeque, we … Continue reading
My Japan Pilgrimage III
The joy and the challenge of adventure is simple. I am whisked away from the comfortable and familiar. Life becomes intense, exciting, remarkable, constantly surprising. My senses are overloaded; tastes, sights, smell, sounds do not register in familiar ways. Every … Continue reading
My Japan Pilgrimage II
This is my first trip to Japan. For two months, I deliberately choose to immerse myself in a completely foreign culture – the food, the language, the customs, the sights, the sounds – all will be beyond my ken. My … Continue reading
My Japan Pilgrimage – I
I first heard of the 88 Temples pilgrimage several years ago; shrouded in exotic mystery, it was too much to even consider. It was Japanese, Buddhist, long, culturally and linguistically unfathomable; it was too complicated, therefore unachievable and insurmountable. I … Continue reading
Tender Mercies
Robert Duvall won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best actor in a sweet, oft-overlooked 1983 film called Tender Mercies. It’s the transformation of an end-of-the-line alcoholic country singer into a decent man, not by some instant Hollywood epiphany … Continue reading
Outward Bound in Ottawa
One of the joys of going on a new adventure is that it sometimes…no, just about always…takes me somewhere unexpected. Off the Couch and Out the Door reconnected me to Outward Bound Canada. The book starts with an Outward Bound … Continue reading
Climbing to the top of Africa – Part 2
The first draft of my remembrance of events in my life usually comes after a bit of time. I tend to be too emotional and too volatile after a special adventure to catalogue it appropriately in my head; a few … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, Walking Adventures
Tagged Climbing Kilimanjaro, Hike, outward Bound. Chagga Tours, training for climbs, treks
2 Comments
Climbing to the top of Africa – Part 1
Climbing to the top of Africa – Part 1 I don’t like bucket lists, it seems too simplistic a way to navigate through life. I prefer the messy, spontaneous, serendipitous view of the future, It’s more alive. Life presents opportunities … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, Walking Adventures
Tagged Mount Kilimanjaro, Outward Bound, treks
3 Comments
Walk or pilgrimage; both are one step at a time
Two months ago, I walked the Camino Frances, a well tramped thousand year old Catholic pilgrimage, a stroll of about 800 kilometers, from St. Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago, Spain. Catholic pilgrims pay homage to Saint James whose … Continue reading
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