I thought I should make a quick note just to let you know that I'm still alive, just in case somebody was concerned. I "ran with the bulls" on the second day of the running - July 8th. It was fun, but not particularly thrilling. I considered getting up again the following morning, but decided to get some sleep instead.
The missing things are what I managed to lose while in Pamplona. After all my previous travels, and the two and a half months up to this point, I have lost very little, but during those 5-6 days in Pamplona I had my camera stolen, left my torch in the bathroom after showering and then left my pillow (which I've carried around everywhere) on the train out of Pamplona as I rushed off to get my connection.
Nothing major really. I still have all my fingers and all that. But still quite annoying. So many times in the last week I've wanted to pull my camera out to take a photo. I'll get a new one soon.
Currently I'm in St Pierre des Champs, which is somewhere south of Carcassonne in France. I'm here until Thursday before finally returning to London for the first time in almost 3 months (although only for the weekend...)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Still alive in Pamplona ... today
I haven't been hurt yet, apart from cutting my toe running around in bare feet at the campsite. But I also haven't done the running yet. I watched it today, figuring that today (the first day) would be the busiest, and therefore least space to run. I'm not entirely sure that will be the truth or not, but that was the idea.
So I'm going to run tomorrow. Perhaps this will be my last post ;)
On lighter note, I got my camera taken yesterday. Lost the camera, but more importantly the photos from the last 4 days or so, including the events of the opening ceremony that day. Very annoying. Put a bad mark on the day.
I'm going to have an "easy" night tonight - not even going to drink that much...
Unfortunately that means that I'm going to miss the fireworks, since I have to be on the bus just before they start.
I'm sticking around until the 9th or 10th. I think I'll be pulling an all-nighter on the 9th and then jumping on the train to Toulouse in the morning.
Going to be back in London soon (briefly). Is that a good thing?
So I'm going to run tomorrow. Perhaps this will be my last post ;)
On lighter note, I got my camera taken yesterday. Lost the camera, but more importantly the photos from the last 4 days or so, including the events of the opening ceremony that day. Very annoying. Put a bad mark on the day.
I'm going to have an "easy" night tonight - not even going to drink that much...
Unfortunately that means that I'm going to miss the fireworks, since I have to be on the bus just before they start.
I'm sticking around until the 9th or 10th. I think I'll be pulling an all-nighter on the 9th and then jumping on the train to Toulouse in the morning.
Going to be back in London soon (briefly). Is that a good thing?
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bit of catching up to do
Almost a month since I last made a post. I'll try and at least give a "Hey, I'm just arrived at / left X, going to Y next" kind of thing a bit more often in future.
Maybe.
But I´ve said that before, and I still don't do it.
Here's the overview of where I have been in the last month:
Milan -> CinqueTerre -> Torino -> Marseille -> Nice -> Avignon -> Montpellier -> Farm near St Gaudens -> San Sebastian.
And tomorrow I'm going to Pamplona.
Hey, I've cut through France and am now in Spain, and the last post I made was when I was in Italy. Anyway.
As you'll be able to see from the the timestamp, it's quite late here, and I've had a bit of wine, so that kind of explains the rambling, incoherentness of this post, but I felt that I had to write something since it has been so long since I last made a post.
What I wanted to say 3 weeks ago:
The CinqueTerre was one of the best places I have been so far. I would happily recommend anybody coming through Italy or the South of France to go spend a few days there.
The CinqueTerre, which, as the name suggests, is a collection of Five towns along the north western coast of Italy - very near La Spezia, between Pisa and Genova.
I only spent 2 days there, which was ok but another day or two would have been nicer.
The first day I was there I began by going for a walk along a less-used track to a view point, took a few photos, then came down again and then just went for a quick jog along the "blue route" - between Riomaggiore (the "first" town, from the south) and Monterosso al Mare (the "last" town).
7 miles something. Took me 1 hour 50. Somewhat belong my normal running pace, however
a) It was really hot.
b) There were other people on the track too
c) The track was quite narrow and uneven in places
d) It´s up and down a bunch of bloody Hills!!!
I have a photo of a few sections but I don´t think they really give you a proper indication of what it was really like.
Still, I really enjoyed running along there. Slightly better scenery than my typical "run around Hyde Park 4 times" training runs.
I hadn´t taken anything with me other than my drink bottle, money and a few things to eat, so when I got to Monterosso and discovered the nice beach they had there I couldn´t really utilise it as I would have liked. No big deal, I still sat there for an hour or so before taking the train back.
The second day I had planned to get the train back out to Monterosso (I was staying in Riomaggiore) and then walk back the other way along the path that I had walked the previous day, and spend an hour or so on the beach somewhere along the way. However I figured that I had a bit of extra time so I wanted to do ANOTHER track as well.
Long story short: The train times didn't work out, I must have missed a turn or something along the track I had chosen because I ended up on the main road and walked back into town, and then it took me longer to walk to track than I had anticipated.
The result of this was that when I got to the path (down the cliffside) to the beach I thought I chill out on, I didn´t really have much time left. I started down the path, stopped a few times thinking "This is stupid, I´ve got no time for this.", but then kept going anyway. I felt that I might as well go and have a look, and hopefully I can walk around and back into town a different way.
Well, it was a waste of time, and after spending 10 minutes sitting on the beach going "Hey, I made it here.", I had to get up to leave. Just along from the beach there was a tunnel that lead back into town. But apparently it was a "private" tunnel, and to use it one had to pay €5. At this point it was about 15:55, I wanted to catch the train at 16:18, it had taken me at least 20 minutes to get down the cliffside (Down, remember), and I didn´t really know how much farther it was into town from that point. The smart thing to do would be just to 'give in' and pay the €5. But I'm a stubborn bastard, and I wasn't about to pay €5 just to walk through a bloody tunnel. So I took off back up the cliffside. This is the point where I really wish I had some photos to show what I was doing, however there was no time for that. I literally hauled myself up the cliff, then sprinted off along the path and back into town. Once in town, I had to get to the train station, which was conveniently on the other side, and down about a thousand steps (ok, maybe it was more like 300 or something, I don't know. I remember running up them was pretty hard the previous day. Running down was 'easy' but still took some time). I was just coming along the finally stretch as the train was pulling into the platform. I had heaps of time.
Why was I rushing to catch the train? The typical story of public transport, of course - hurry up and wait. I had to get back to pick up my bag, so I could get the train at 17:00 back to La Spezia so that I could then sit for an hour to wait for my train to Torino.
Travelling is fun.
Definitely bed time for me now. Off to Pamplona tomorrow. If you don´t hear from me within the next week or so then it means that I have been gored to death by a bull (either that or drowned in pool of sangria / own vomit). I've got at least the first two runs, and I've basically resigned my camera to whatever fate shall befall it while carrying it around for the second one, after using the first as "training".
Maybe.
But I´ve said that before, and I still don't do it.
Here's the overview of where I have been in the last month:
Milan -> CinqueTerre -> Torino -> Marseille -> Nice -> Avignon -> Montpellier -> Farm near St Gaudens -> San Sebastian.
And tomorrow I'm going to Pamplona.
Hey, I've cut through France and am now in Spain, and the last post I made was when I was in Italy. Anyway.
As you'll be able to see from the the timestamp, it's quite late here, and I've had a bit of wine, so that kind of explains the rambling, incoherentness of this post, but I felt that I had to write something since it has been so long since I last made a post.
What I wanted to say 3 weeks ago:
The CinqueTerre was one of the best places I have been so far. I would happily recommend anybody coming through Italy or the South of France to go spend a few days there.
The CinqueTerre, which, as the name suggests, is a collection of Five towns along the north western coast of Italy - very near La Spezia, between Pisa and Genova.
I only spent 2 days there, which was ok but another day or two would have been nicer.
The first day I was there I began by going for a walk along a less-used track to a view point, took a few photos, then came down again and then just went for a quick jog along the "blue route" - between Riomaggiore (the "first" town, from the south) and Monterosso al Mare (the "last" town).
7 miles something. Took me 1 hour 50. Somewhat belong my normal running pace, however
a) It was really hot.
b) There were other people on the track too
c) The track was quite narrow and uneven in places
d) It´s up and down a bunch of bloody Hills!!!
I have a photo of a few sections but I don´t think they really give you a proper indication of what it was really like.
Still, I really enjoyed running along there. Slightly better scenery than my typical "run around Hyde Park 4 times" training runs.
I hadn´t taken anything with me other than my drink bottle, money and a few things to eat, so when I got to Monterosso and discovered the nice beach they had there I couldn´t really utilise it as I would have liked. No big deal, I still sat there for an hour or so before taking the train back.
The second day I had planned to get the train back out to Monterosso (I was staying in Riomaggiore) and then walk back the other way along the path that I had walked the previous day, and spend an hour or so on the beach somewhere along the way. However I figured that I had a bit of extra time so I wanted to do ANOTHER track as well.
Long story short: The train times didn't work out, I must have missed a turn or something along the track I had chosen because I ended up on the main road and walked back into town, and then it took me longer to walk to track than I had anticipated.
The result of this was that when I got to the path (down the cliffside) to the beach I thought I chill out on, I didn´t really have much time left. I started down the path, stopped a few times thinking "This is stupid, I´ve got no time for this.", but then kept going anyway. I felt that I might as well go and have a look, and hopefully I can walk around and back into town a different way.
Well, it was a waste of time, and after spending 10 minutes sitting on the beach going "Hey, I made it here.", I had to get up to leave. Just along from the beach there was a tunnel that lead back into town. But apparently it was a "private" tunnel, and to use it one had to pay €5. At this point it was about 15:55, I wanted to catch the train at 16:18, it had taken me at least 20 minutes to get down the cliffside (Down, remember), and I didn´t really know how much farther it was into town from that point. The smart thing to do would be just to 'give in' and pay the €5. But I'm a stubborn bastard, and I wasn't about to pay €5 just to walk through a bloody tunnel. So I took off back up the cliffside. This is the point where I really wish I had some photos to show what I was doing, however there was no time for that. I literally hauled myself up the cliff, then sprinted off along the path and back into town. Once in town, I had to get to the train station, which was conveniently on the other side, and down about a thousand steps (ok, maybe it was more like 300 or something, I don't know. I remember running up them was pretty hard the previous day. Running down was 'easy' but still took some time). I was just coming along the finally stretch as the train was pulling into the platform. I had heaps of time.
Why was I rushing to catch the train? The typical story of public transport, of course - hurry up and wait. I had to get back to pick up my bag, so I could get the train at 17:00 back to La Spezia so that I could then sit for an hour to wait for my train to Torino.
Travelling is fun.
Definitely bed time for me now. Off to Pamplona tomorrow. If you don´t hear from me within the next week or so then it means that I have been gored to death by a bull (either that or drowned in pool of sangria / own vomit). I've got at least the first two runs, and I've basically resigned my camera to whatever fate shall befall it while carrying it around for the second one, after using the first as "training".
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)