Greg's Wanderings

Category: Trail Blog

Once I arrive in Portugal, I hope to provide daily progress of my journey to Santiago de Compostela.

  • Chipping Camden to Broadway

    Chipping Camden to Broadway

    Wednesday, May 13 – I got nearly nine hours of sleep and woke feeling fully rested around 4 am. The songbirds were singing a symphony and dawn was beginning to crack. By 6 am we were both itching to get moving so we decided to walk the town before everyone else was up.

    The night before we had decided to leave most of our belongings in the car and just bring in essentials for the night. That hadn’t included our rain gear and no more than a few blocks from our hotel, we realized that had been a mistake. We reversed course and made haste to the car to grab our raincoats and hats. We made it just before the showers turned into a legit downpour.

    The weather here has been very reminiscent of home: don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes. Bands of showers passing by with intermittent sun breaks. Nothing that will slow down two native Oregonians!

    Our hotel stay included breakfast, which didn’t begin until 7:30. After our early morning walk, we set up camp in the hotel lobby until the breakfast room opened. The breakfast was very impressive, with toast and coffee delivered as we sat down. I ordered the full English breakfast while Pam opted for Eggs Benedict. While waiting for our orders, there was a table with a variety of juices and another with pastries and fresh fruit. We were going to need to do a lot of walking today to offset the intake!

    Had we been walking to our next stop, our path would have been chosen for us – a twelve mile hike to Broadway. With the car, we had the freedom to take a less direct route and so we headed for Morton-on-Marsh. We arrived in the town about 9 am and walked its main street taking in many shops as they were opening.

    After exploring the town, we backtracked to stop at the Batsford Aurboretum and Garden Centre. Located on a hillside, the 60 acre grounds features rare trees from around the world. We spent over two hours walking its trails and had just come back to the cafe in the Garden Centre when a microburst hit, dumping a torrent of rain and at a quarter inch of hail amidst thunder and wind gusts. Our timing could not have been more perfect!

    A ring-necked pheasant greeted us at the entry of the aurboretum
    Pam stands next to a plant with leaves big enough to be bath towels.
    The flowers of the Davidia involucrata appear to be handkerchiefs hanging below the leaves
    This cottage is located within the aurboretum and features a thatched roof.
    The Bratsford Manor
    Several creeks running through the aurboretum empty into this lake.
    This is the largest and more prolific Oregon Grape I have ever seen.
    Several open fields provide views of the Bratsford mansion, located just below the aurboretum.
    Located just at the edge of the aurboretum is St. Mark’s church. I couldn’t find a date on the church, but a plaque indicated one of its rectors had passed in 1767.

    We left the arboretum and headed for Broadway, our home for the next two nights. Our reservations were at the Crown & Trumpet Inn, a 16th Century pub with 5 guest rooms upstairs. Our room had been renovated so that it had a large, modern bathroom, but everything else about it screamed historic. That started with the skeleton key to unlock the door – which was barely tall enough for me to go through without ducking. I’m not sure there was a straight wall or level floor anywhere in the building – but it was very charming and we both agree we like this much better than the beautiful hotel in Chipping Camden.

    Either I’ve grown, or our room at the Inn has very small doors.

    We ate dinner downstairs in the pub and then ventured out for an evening walk. We found where the Cotswold way leaves town and decided to follow it for a bit. We cut through fields of grazing sheep and discovered how England has public path rights of way through farmland.

    Trail marker for the Cotswold Way
    Gate designed to let hikers through, but to keep sheep in.
    Ominous clouds
    Sheep seem not to care about the humans passing through their pasture.

  • On to Jolly old England

    On to Jolly old England

    May 11-12 – This spring, I had hoped to hike the Cotswold Way in Southern England, but an injury awaiting corrective surgery made that plan evolve. The original plan called for my girlfriend, Pam and I to walk the 102 mile trek over eight days, then rent a car and tour other parts of the region, Plan B called for picking up the car Day 1.

    We departed Portland on Monday afternoon with a 3:30 flight to Iceland and then on to Gatwick airport in London. I enjoy flying Icelandair and making connections in the tiny airport in Reykjavik.

    Our first flight was a little trying. We knew we needed to get some rest, as the flight was essentially a redeye, but we had several challenges: 1 – the screaming kid sitting two rows ahead of us. 2 – the guy in the middle seat behind us who snored like a freight train. 3 – given the time of year and the northerly route of the flight, we were in perpetual daylight. At least we thought so, because somehow I succeeded in booking seats in the only row of the plane that didn’t have windows. For Pam, who is slightly claustrophobic, that made issue #4. We learned that Snoreface (as we named him) was flying with a bunch of buddies to Copenhagen. The other guys with him spent a good deal of time discussing who was going to get stuck sharing a room with him.

    We made it to London shortly after 11 am local time (3 am to our body clocks). Border entry and customs clearance was the fastest either of us had ever experienced.

    Not so fast was finding our rental car, which required a tram ride to the opposite side of the airport. We picked up our little Mazda and began our 2 and a half hour drive to our first night’s accommodation in Chipping Camden.

    Pam is our driver, as she has been to England several times before and is familiar with driving on the “wrong” side of the road. She claims that being left handed makes her naturally want to drive on that side of the road. We were both fighting sleep but fortunately she had more stamina than I and kept awake and alert for the drive. I tried to stay awake and keep her company but confess to nodding off briefly a few times.

    Chipping Camden is a 17th Century market town. In it’s heyday, it was one of the most affluent areas in all of England thanks to it being a wool-growing capital. But when cotton from the Colonies was introduced, the rough fiber of wool lost favor to the newly introduced cotton fabrics. When that happened, the region ended up being frozen in time.

    We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Cotswold House Hotel and Spa. It featured just 15 rooms, with ours looking out over the market square with it’s 16th century market building. The hotel had a beautiful garden in the back that you had to walk through to get from the car park.

    We did a quick walk about the town and giant St. James Church. The structure was first constructed in the 14th Century and then added onto over the next 300 years.

    We ended our walk at the pub across the street from our hotel and had a traditional “Sausage & Mash” dinner. I could barely keep my eyes open – having been up for the past 30 hours. By 7 pm, I was in bed and crashed for the night.

    Our hotel
    This building has been in use since the 16th Century. The day we arrived, they were hosting a craft fair.
    St. James Church
    The limestone headstones have erroded away so that anything over about 100 years is impossible to read. Sheep pasture in the background d.
    Marker for the official starting point of the Cotswold Way
    Path leading from the hotel to the parking lot in back.
  • Day 35 – homeward bound

    Day 35 – homeward bound

    Oct 15

    My accommodations last night were extremely comfortable and convenient. The place was billed as “The Coolest Place Near the Airport ” and it lived up to the name. It was a large private residence that had converted its upper level to four guest rooms.

    Mine was huge. I swear, my private bath was larger than the hotel room I stayed in my first two nights in Lisbon last month.

    My flight today departs at 7:10. I received multiple alerts to arrive at least 3 hours early, as the EU just implemented new entry/exit processes on Monday and border control was taking significantly longer than normal. That meant getting to the airport just after 4 am.

    I was all packed before going to bed and set my alarm for 3:30. I woke up naturally at 3:15 and was out the door in short order. It was a pleasant walk to the airport as the temperature was already 18 C (64 F). The way was well lit and much busier than I expected given the early hour.

    Since I had purchased hiking poles and a larger pocket knife since arriving, I decided to check my backpack to avoid having to leave those items behind.

    After dropping off my bag, we hit our first snag, as to get to our gates (and passport control) we first had to pass through the duty free mall – which didn’t open until 4:30. It wasn’t a long wait and I was in the first wave, so when I did get to passport control the were only a handful of people ahead of me.

    I’m now waiting at the gate for my first of three flight legs. Lisbon to Dublin to Reykjavik to Portland.

    The flight to Dublin was uneventful – except somehow I lost my straw fedora hat at the airport. I remember taking it off when I went up to the immigration agent and then putting it back on again, but while seated in the gate waiting area, I suddenly realized it wasn’t with me any longer. Oh well, I thought it was a little dorky and considered abandoning it in Lisbon. It served its purpose.

    The second flight to Reykjavik got in early and then the outbound flight was pushed back 30 minutes, so there was a 4 hour layover to contend with. Fortunately, there was an abundance of power outlets, so I was able to charge up both my phone and power bank to 100% for the 8-hour flight home.

    We had a smooth final flight to PDX. Although the plane was very full, I was fortunate to be sitting next to one of the only vacant center seats. I passed the time nodding off, watching movies and listening to audiobooks. Even with those distractions, eight hours makes for a long time.

    When I got home, I had arranged for my daughter to be ready to record my dog’s reaction to me coming home. I’ll include the video once she shares with me.

    It was a wonderful trip, but I am grateful to be home.

    My spacious room near the airport.
    My bathroom was larger than the room I stayed in my first two nights in Lisbon
    Using FindMy to make sure my checked backpack gets on the plane
    After 18 hours of traveling, nothing is more fun than waiting nearly an hour at PDX to catch the shuttle after customs.

  • Day 33 – last full day

    Day 33 – last full day

    Oct 14

    Day 34 – last full day

    Another quiet night in the bunk room.  Tonight I had an upper bunk companion, but she did make a sound.  I only knew it was a woman by the shoes at the bottom of the ladder.  

    After breakfast, I packed up and secured my stuff in a locker on the hostel lobby.  I have over for hours to kill before reservations at the Lisbon Aquarium, which is on the metro line to the airport and my hotel for the night. 

    It’s a beautiful day, so I just started walking.  I soon found myself at the waterfront watching the ferries cross between Lisbon and the cities on the other side of the Sea of Straw.  

    Sitting there, I remembered that I had yet to successfully locate a Geocache on this adventure.  I had tried in Porto and Finistere, but both efforts were stymied by long descriptions in the local language that I was unable to copy & paste into Google Translate.  With some time on my hands, I thought I’d give it another go.  

    To my delight, there was one less than 100 meters from me with a description in English.  After a quick success, I thought I’d try another.  The second was even easier and provided me with some history about one of the few buildings to survive the 1755 Quake.  This one dating to 1585.  

    On my way to a third cache, I stopped at the Pastelaria where I had my dessert last night.  Time for an almond croissant and an espresso. 

    After four easy finds I decided to try and hop on another trolley. My map showed an intersecting line seven blocks north, so I headed in that direction. Only to discover that the distance included a significant elevation change. The path to the upper elevation was a finicular track. The finiculars are currently not running as they all undergo safety inspections following the deadly accident on September 3 that killed 16 people.

    I reached the top and waited at the nearby tram stop, but when it arrived, it was packed tighter than a can of Portuguese sardines. Checking my watch, it was late enough that I decided to walk back to my hostel, claim my bag and grab a Metro to the Aquarium, where I had tickets for a 2pm entry.

    The Aquarium was amazing. It had a giant central tank and the outer perimeter was divided into four sections each representing a different oceanic area. The walkway around was on two levels, so you could see shoreline inhabitants on the upper level (puffins, penguins, sea otters, etc) and sea life on the lower level. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

    I spent nearly three hours at the Aquarium and then took the Metro three more stops to the airport. My room for the night was less than a kilometer walk away.

    Proof I was here
    This tiled square is perfectly flat, but give the illusion of an uneven surface
    Elevator designed by Eifel’s student
    My first geocache find in Portugal
    One of the few buildings to survive the 1755 quake
    Just a reminder that you are near a fault line
    Looking down the finicular track
    Ambassador to the southern oceans exhibit
    Jellyfish
    Seastar and anenomies
    The sunfish is my nominee for weirdest looking fish
    The Indian Ocean exhibit included a rainforest trail.
    Jellyfish
    Anenome
    Swimming penguin
    Fish seemed to be more colorful in the Indian Icean