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Bob’s Recent Blog Posts
- 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
- Walking Pilgrim Paths, a four stage Odyssey. April 13, 2022
Adventure Archives
Tag Archives: fitness over 60
Revising my Adventures
On December 27, 1831, the HMS Beagle set sail from Plymouth England on a two year voyage to survey the coast of South America. On board was a young Cambridge academic – Charles Darwin. He was just 22. Few adventures … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged fitness over 60, midlife adventures, Off the Couch and Out the Door
2 Comments
Over the Apps.
The Appenines are the mountains between the Po Valley flatlands and the famous west coast of Italy – most famously, la Spezia and Cinque Terre. They’re not the BC Rockies; nor is this the Great Saint Bernard Pass through the … Continue reading
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
Walking with Purpose III – Switzerland and Italy
The Via Francigena is not for the easily distracted or for those who desire instant gratification; it’s a 2000 kilometre path that starts in Canterbury, England, traverses northern France then wends its way through Switzerland and crosses into Italy over … Continue reading
Walking with Purpose II
Last summer, I started a major walk; the Via Francegina, from Canterbury to Rome. It follows the path of Sigeric the Serious, the Archbishop of Canterbury who made the trek to be appointed Cardinal. His return trip was documented; he … Continue reading
The Power of Trust – II
Pierre Trudeau paddled the South Nahanni in 1970; his love of paddling was clear: “What sets a canoeing expedition apart is that it purifies you more rapidly and inescapably than any other…. paddle 100 miles in a canoe and you … Continue reading
The Power of Trust – I
The South Nahanni River is a true Canadian Icon, a World Heritage site. It is rugged, powerful, inaccessible, and indescribably beautiful. Paddling the 200 or so kilometers of the South Nahanni below Virginia Falls in a canoe is a legendary … Continue reading
Wanderwegging in Switzerland
Wanderweg is German for footpath. Switzerland is wanderweg heaven; a maze of thousands of kilometres of footpaths and hiking trails of various degrees of difficulty, every path carefully marked, given a number and assiduously signposted. The Swiss, home of impeccable … Continue reading
The one less traveled by
Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference. – Robert Frost The Camino Portuguese is a 600 kilometer pilgrimage from Lisbon to Santiago. Unlike the more famous … 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
Obrigado Portugal
I have spent the last three weeks on the Camino Portuguese, a 600 kilometre Pilgrimage from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago in Spain. I walked across Portugal, village to town to city, along ancient cobblestone paths, following the Via Romana … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Albergue, Camino Portuguese, Camino Santiago, Casa Guedes Porto, Eat Portugal, FC Porto, fitness over 60, Lisbon, middle aged fitness, midlife adventures, Off the Couch and Out the Door, Oporto shore tours, Ponte de Lima, Porto, Portugal, portuguese bread, Santiago, St Francis way, Via Romana XIX
5 Comments
Food, Glorious Food.
Over the past six weeks in Italy, I have consumed at least my body weight in the following; tomatoes, cantaloupe, mozzarella cheese and prosciutto. My two main dishes have been prosciutto y melon and Caprese salad. They fed my body … Continue reading
Bottled Poetry
Florence is the place most people go when they visit Tuscany. It is a city like no other, with ornate cathedrals, museums crammed with Tuscan art and artifacts, piazzas that demand a stop for coffee and contemplation and enough shopping … Continue reading
Medals and Memories
The Senior C team was successful beyond all expectations in winning medals at the IDBF club crew world championships this past week. This is different for me; hoping to win and winning anything beyond a participation medal has been off … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Dragon boat competitions, dragon boating, False creek, FCRCC, fitness over 60, IDBF world club crew championships, middle aged fitness, midlife adventures, Off the Couch and Out the Door, outrigger canoes, Ravenna Dragon boat championships, Vancouver. Eh team
5 Comments
Here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten me into…
We are half way through the regatta schedule; I continue to be amazed. It’s a roiling cascading kaleidescope of events and a tempest of emotions. Chris, my paddle caddy, advisor, sports mentor and coach/psychologist is monitoring my vital signs minute … Continue reading
Polish and Glue
We arrive in Cervia Italy, near Ravenna, on Thursday evening after a full day of travel over 9 time zones. The Hotel Rouge, our home for ten days, is a gem – a ruby. Friday morning marks our first practice; … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Dragon boat competitions, dragon boating, False creek, FCRCC, fitness over 60, IDBF 2014, IDBF Dragon Boat championships, middle aged fitness, midlife adventures, Ravenna Dragon boat championships, Senior B FCRCC, Senior C FCRCC, Vancouver. Eh team, Westcoast Dragons.
4 Comments
The Road to Ravenna – part 4.
The last month has been surreal. Six days a week my day is focused on TODAY’S PRACTICE SESSION. The only thing that matters is an hour or more of intense physical activity that leaves me breathless; drained and intoxicated, depleted … Continue reading
The Road to Ravenna – Part 3
At the age of 65, well past my prime for every competitive sport except maybe bocce, I am heading for an international dragon boat competition in Ravenna Italy. My late evolving chance at glory came as a huge surprise last … Continue reading
Drowning Fear
“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” – Franklin Roosevelt I think I should have that quote tattooed on my arm or some other key … Continue reading
The Road to Ravenna – Part 2
At the start of the new year, I set out to achieve something I had never hoped possible. I tried out for a team representing Canada in an International Dragon Boat championship in September in Ravenna, Italy. The False Creek … Continue reading
Off the couch hits the interview couch on Shaw TV
I was interviewed on Shaw TV in Vancouver; it aired today. go to; http://www.youtube.com/therushonshawtv Fame and fortune are sure to follow…
Turkish Delights
Turkish delight is a soft, chewable sweet made famous in a land that offers some of the world’s best – think honey sweetened concoctions like baclava. It is the sweet of all sweets; I bought a kilogram to take home … Continue reading
Outward Bound got me Off the Couch…
Who would have guessed that I would be a poster boy for Outward Bound? Certainly not me, except maybe as the ‘before’ in the ‘before and after’ contrast. The attached has been shamelessly copied from Outward Bounds blog spot featuring … Continue reading
The Road to Ravenna – Part 1
The temperature in Vancouver last weekend hovered around zero, windchill on False Creek took it below zero. It snowed all weekend; abnormal weather for the lower mainland. No one expects sympathy from the rest of Canada, locked in their deep … Continue reading
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