Beth & Ben's Travel Blog

London

2010-01-07T15:28:00.001-08:00

London

2010-01-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Our last stop is England. Boo hoo. It is great to catch up with Beth again and see where she will be living. We also caught up with Tj and Jess and went to a great dumpling place. Have been trying to fit in as many galleries as we possibly can. I think the best was probably the Anish Kapoor exhibition. We also went to Camden markets! The coolest markets i have ever been to. Spent nearly a whole day there. Found the most delicious vegie burgers in the world!

The Lake District

2010-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend in the Lake District exploring and continuing to be English. We had tea and crumpets and hot chocolate and scones in the afternoons, we got rained on while strolling around the incredible landscape around the Lakes and we caught up with old friends.

Brighton

2010-01-07T14:55:00.001-08:00

After accidently missing our flight to Scottland, we greatfully made our way to Brighton to stay with some friends; Sophie, Steven, Felix and Oscar. We had do much fun being English, had a pub lunch, fish and chips on the peer, and "went out and about" with Sophie and her beautiful family. Brighton is such a cool place, especially all the yummy sweet shops.mmmmmm

Berlin

2010-01-06T01:51:00.000-08:00

We went to see some history museums, and memorials which were very sad so weeeee went to the Zoo!we he he he ha. It was lubely to see all the baby animals. Had a fab time in Berlin and ate a lot of great food... will deffo be going back there.

Berlin

2010-01-06T00:30:00.000-08:00

Reunited with Batchy in Berlin at the best hostel we have stayed in! Hung out with our hostel man, Ralph. Berlin is a city full of energy and art, over 300 galleries! Found TJ and Jess and made some great friends in the hostel, Xavier and Frayer. Went on a lame "alternative tour" to see street art and explored the city. Made a delicious dinner and got a little roudy with our new friends.

Prague again

2010-01-06T00:22:00.000-08:00

Had another incredible day seeing as many sites as we could fit in. Went to one of the best galleries we have seen yet. Such a great collection, so much awesome in one space! Both Ben and i found the best suited artwork to our personalities. Next Ben found his ultimate sausage (blood sausage) and we haven't even been to Germany yet! Then in the evening we went to see DRACULA the musical! It was sensational, even though we couldn't understand the singing we were blown away. WE LOVE PRAGUE!

Prague

2010-01-06T00:08:00.000-08:00

We had a magical weekend in Prague. It is such a beautiful city to walk around. Went on a history tour the first day which was very interesting. Ate fantastic food and tried the local spirit made from cloves! We went on a romantic date to an old baroque cathedral to listen to a classical strings concert. It was amazing.

2010-01-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

Hungary

2010-01-05T13:42:00.001-08:00

We tried out hand at couch surfing in hungary. We stayed in a urt with 2 swedes and hungarian man. It was really fun. We went to hungarian hot baths, mmmmmmmmmm. so good.

Croatia

2010-01-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Croatia was beautiful, we just wondered around food markets, ate delicious food, saw lots of great galleries and tried to get used to the freezing cold.

"You Can Leave Your Ham On"

2009-10-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

He He Bulgarian tom foolerie in the supermarket! None of the staff wanted to dance though, i dont know why not : (

Popovo

2009-10-14T07:21:00.000-07:00

This lake is just down the road from where we were staying. One day Sheleen took us to a traditional Gypsy market! To us that sounded fab and we got all our money ready to embrace beautiful things but heck it was WAY different to what we expected. The majority of the stalls were equiped with every kind of gun you have ever heard of. These markets also specialised in Shuriken, so throwing stars nuckle dusters and what not. HECK! bit scary. Then we went to a few shops where they sold stuff made by the Babas (grandmothers). These shops were a bit more to our liking, lots of beautiful rugs and other hand made trinkets.

goaties and doggies

2009-10-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time walking the dogs around the lake and playing with the goats. We also picked one million walnuts which Beth then obsessed over trying to come up with the ultimate walnut dish, potato salad works well.

Bulgaria

2009-10-14T07:00:00.001-07:00

Got the overnight train to Popovo in bulgaria. Bulgaria is feakin stunning. The train ride to Popovo was so amazing, huge mountains covered in lovely Autumn coloured forrests. We followed a river for a large part of the journey. Popovo is a small town of very friendly people and Gypsies (not so friendly as they love a five fingered discount). We stayed with Andy and Sheleen from Liverpool. They have lived in Bulgaria for 2 years and their neighbours bring them food and help out with stuff with the animals. It had a very good feel about it and we all want to explore Bulgaira more.

This is us helping to build a mud brick wall. We are machines!

Gallipoli

2009-10-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Gallipoli is a beautiful town. Stayed in a great hostel and watched the mel Gibson movie the night before going on a Gallipoli tour. It was pretty emotional but we learnt a lot. The one stand out thing of the day was the good relationship Australians still have with the Turkish. Everyone here has been so friendly and kind to us : ) We all felt very proud to be Australians. Had our last Turkish kebab before heading to Bulgaria.

Hotel Erenler, Istanbul

2009-10-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

Hotel Erenler, Istanbul

2009-10-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Hotel Erenler, Istanbul

2009-10-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

Selime Monastary

2009-09-30T02:35:00.000-07:00

Here is some photos of where we walked through a canyon next to a river that runs out of a mountain. This was a beautiful walk, all very green which is a contrast to the rest of the landscape here. The top images are of Selime montastry which is gigantic. There is a church, chapel, confessional, watch tower and other rooms too. Great views from the top too. This day we also went to the Onyx museum and learnt where Turquoise got its name: it means Turkish gold.

Chillin in the Underground City

2009-09-30T02:18:00.000-07:00

This is an underground city that was built so the people here could hide if they were attacked. It goes down for eight floors and all the paths are very little and windy. It was a lot of fun, they even have stables for animals. It can house up to 3000 people but Ben wouldnt be one of them cos he got claustraphobic. It was fine though because it is all really well ventilated and the temperature is stable between 11 and 16 degrees all the time (the 2nd and 3rd phots are of air vents). The top pic is of the school where beth.B taught Beth.M some interesting life skills.

Exploring Cappadocia

2009-09-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

Rose Valley

2009-09-30T02:02:00.000-07:00

This day we made a picnic lunch and set off, after a scrumpious brekky to explore the Rose Valley. First we went to the open Air Musem and had a look at some churches that were carved into the rock formations that were a result of volcanic activity and erosion. These were made from the 5th to 11th century. They painted religious scenes on them in the 9th and 10th centuries. After that we walked on little trails through the valleys. Its just nuts. Here is Ben with his two wives, around town he is known as "lucky boy" or "rich man". hehe

Cappadocia, Goreme

2009-09-30T01:56:00.000-07:00

holy mac took an over night bus here, 13 long long hours, but so glad we did. Have ended up spending almost a week here because it is just incredible here. The landscape is enough to keep you fascinated for a very long time, but the town, Goreme, is very relaxed and the people are very friendly. Have had tea with nearly the whole town now. This is our fave restaurant and the man who works there. We had pottery kebabs the other night, oh the brilliance of it all. They cook meat or veggies in a clay pot in a fire, then you crack it open and the stew bubbles over. It is delicious, as is the beer.

Also some crazy trees, the blue eyes ward off evil and pots just look rad.

Kusadasi, Turkey

2009-09-30T01:49:00.000-07:00

Woot we made it to Turkey via a few rocky ferries and a few lovely Greek islands. Here we are in Kusadasi on the coast of Turkey. Explored around Ephesus, ancient city, which was great, especially when there was a reinactment of the Roman Empire and a gladiator battle. We also had a great Turkish feast and went to an awesome rug shop where we learnt how to identify the genuines from the pretenders! Have fallen in love with the rugs here.

Pretty whıte dress

2009-09-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Thank you Bostons for my pretty whıte dress that you got me for my bırthday. I lub lub lub ıt and feel oh so perty.

Have reunıted wıth Bethany on Samos before headıng to Turkey!!! Hooray.

havıng fun wıth Beth,Lea and Rasmus

2009-09-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Met Beth,Lea and Rasmus on the boat over. They went to another ısland fırst and then we saw them on the beach. Had so much fun playıng on the beach, goıng out to dınner wıth them and gelatı. Also explored more of the ısland wıth them whıch was great. Cant belıeve how beautıful ıt ıs here.

Walkıes

2009-09-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Most of the days we raıded Lyns book collectıon and relaxed on the beach, or hung out at receptıon havıng mad chats and lookıng at some of Lyns ıncredıble paıntıngs. Thıs day we walked up a hıll to thıs church and had a pıcnıc whıle overlookıng the ısland. What vıews :)

Sıfnos

2009-09-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Was very happy to leave the hussle and bussle of the cıty and get to Sıfnos, Greek Island. We were very lucky to stay at hotel Boulıs run by Lyn, Andonıs and theır 2 gırls Margarıta and Kassaneah (sorry bout the spellıng). The hotel ıs rıght on the beach.

Athens

2009-09-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Had a weekend ın Athens. Ate as many Gyros as we could (kınd of lıke a kebab,thanks for the tıp Dabıd). Went to the Acropolıs, whıch was crazy and hot. Amazıng vıews from there. Also went to the flea markets and sampled our fırst frappe (coffee shacken wıth ıce so ıts frothy). saw the changıng of the guard (hehe they have funny clothes).

Sooooo many stray dogs around too, well not stray coz they belong to Athens.

The Vatıcan

2009-09-24T09:40:00.001-07:00

On the way to the Vatıcan Ben found hıs long lost Brother, Matt from Brısbane. ıt was a great reunıon. Then we were overwhelmed by the brıllıance that ıs the Sıstıne chapel. Got sore necks from starıng up so much. Also saw some great paıntıngs just before you enter the chapel. Couldnt take photos ın there though. Struth there were a lot of people.

Ostıa Antıca

2009-09-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

Thıs gallery was fab... haha no vısıtıng thıs deserted cıty was our fave days ın Rome. We just wondered around ımagınıng what ıt would have all looked lıke.Plus we had the best gelatı EVER!!!! Beth wanted round two but Ben spoke reason... untıll after dınner...

Colosseum

2009-09-24T09:29:00.000-07:00

Thıs was such a fun day. We learnt a lot coz we had a really great tour guıde. Boooooo kıll hım!!!

Italy

2009-09-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

Flew from Portugal to Rome. Had such a great tıme explorıng thıs oldoldold city. Went to some rad gallerıes and ate an ımense amount of gelatı. Went to the Trevı fountaıns an threw a coın ın so we get back here (Beth mıssed t

he fırst tıme she trıed to flıck ıt ın.....awwww)

porto frıends

2009-09-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

Aveiro

2009-09-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Famous for its salt and seaweed.....and chargrilled squid....so good....hand me a towel.....

More Porto

2009-09-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Public Art In Porto

2009-09-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Making friends is hard...we do what we can...

Super Bock is good

2009-09-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

Port crawl

2009-09-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Porto is known for its Port (duh) so we indulged...lucky for us three lovely girls from Oz were in Porto at the same time. Bethany, Rene & Sophie. Never had white port before, very nice.

The Bethday!!!

2009-08-13T05:16:00.000-07:00

What a day!!! Waking up in the classy digs, Buffet breakky on the top floor, Fantastic galleries, a site-seeing tour by tram, A chocolate bar, a bit of shopping, two vegetarian organic restaurants, a trip to the theatre, and complimentary drinks at the roof bar of our fab hotel!!! Thank you everyone who made me feel so special! Love to you all.xx

The Plush Digs

2009-08-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

Struth what a place. We are in Lisbon staying in this incredible hotel thanks to Beths wonderful Fam. This 4star hotel is such a change from all the travel we have been doing... WE DONT WANT TO LEAVE IT! Here is the view from our balcony, the massive bed and hanging out in robes watching a movie!!! Hell yeah for a bit of class baby!!!

Fun Teepee People

2009-08-13T05:09:00.000-07:00

Here are Hannah, Jessie and Sol. We met them while working at Tanquian. We had a lovely time with them and hope to see them again soon. Beth misses Sol but thanks him for his artistic skills when making beautiful birthday cards. Thanks guys.xx

Children Of The Hay

2009-08-13T04:44:00.000-07:00

Tanquian

2009-08-13T04:40:00.000-07:00

Tanquian

2009-08-13T04:38:00.001-07:00

"Sticks and Bags"

2009-07-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely dinner out with the SweedAmericans. Hooray for female company. Our last day with the Frenchies was just fantastic, had a big brekky, light lunch before hitting the beach, where Antoine found us all clam shells. Ben and I cooked a huge feast for the "Sticks and Bags" crew (Frenchies and us), then we headed out to a bar to play pool and drink cider from a fountain thingy. Said a sad farwell to the Frenchies this morn as they are heading on, we hope to see them again one day. So now it is back down to two and we head off to begin wwoofing in Lugo for the next 2 weeks. It will be nice to be in one place for a little while.

Celebration

2009-07-17T04:52:00.000-07:00

We made the climb to the light house (the end of the earth) in time to see the sun set on our last day of pilgrimage. We drunk champagne, smoked cigars and burnt our wretched smelling shirts! Very emotional but mostly happy that we made this amazing journey. Then we went out for dinner in a fancy restaurant. We hired and apartment for the five of us which overlooks the ocean and is very close to the sea and the centre of town. The apartment has a kitchen so we made pancakes! Hooray. Spent the last two days lying and playing frisbee on the beach and eating as much food as we could. All the boys got amongst the seafood.

Get your motor runnin

2009-07-17T04:43:00.000-07:00

The end of the earth!!! This was a great moment! It was a dark and gloomy day, raining off and on, then we rounded a corner and there was the sea. When we reached the first town on the coast, the sun came out and we felt very happy. Had a massive long lunch with lots of ice-cream then kept on trekin to Fisterra.

Head out on the highway

2009-07-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

After a much needed day of rest we hit the road again to reach the "end of the earth" in Fisterra. We set off with the Frenchies and camped once again in a gymnasium. However this time there was only one other group, a Sweedish/American family. We all played frisbee :)

Lookin for adventure

2009-07-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

Santiago!!! WE MADE IT!!! This was a very momentous occassion. You walk through the town and then all of a sudden you are next to the church, it is absolutely incredible, so much detail. We hugged a golden statue of Saint James and went to mass where they read out the people who had completed the jouney; "two Australians from Le Puy" Wooooo hoooooo thats us! We were very lucky during the mass because someone had paid for the incense burner to be swung. This is the largest one in all of Europe. Unfortunatley the real one was getting cleaned which meant we got a smaller silver one. It didnt matter thought because it was great, we thought it would whack someone in the head. For us Santiago was all about the food and drink. It consisted of one meal after another with various combinations of pilgrims. It was very touristy but we kept inside our food bubble and had a wonderful time.

And whatever comes our way

2009-07-17T04:09:00.000-07:00

Have met up with the mad Frenchmen; Noel, Felix and Antoine. They are great company and have decided to walk with them till Fisterra. Now we take the days very slowly and have very long lunches. These Frenchies sure appreciate their food, yesssssss! There are now masses of people making the trek for the last 100km which means its hard to find a bed in the evening, especially now we dont have our tent. We slept in a Gymnasium on the last night which was fun. We got to see some local soccer matches from our beds on the side lines. Have really enjoyed this last stretch with the Frenchies. The countryside is beautiful and we spend the days eating, walking, talking and singing, Noel and Antoine are very good when they sing together.

Galicia

2009-07-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

We spent the night at the highest altidude of this region, Galicia, which was incredible. It was quite windy but the views were fantastic. We had a very silly dinner at the hotel because we were both exhausted and wine was included in the meal. We walked a massive 39km this day and a lot of it was straight up!!! Strewth we´re gun beasts!

Its business time

2009-07-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Misty mountain hop

2009-07-17T03:50:00.000-07:00

The evening before we stayed at the top of a mountain in a town that had been deserted and people had only just begun to return to it. The town was in ruins but we had a fun time in a Viking bar where the staff wore animal skin clothes and the walls were covered in cow hides.

This was a fantastic walk. Hardly saw any people and walked along little dirt/rock paths between these crazy mountains. The downhill was pretty tough and had a few near falls, but its so much better with less weight. We arrived in Ponferrada at around lunchtime, and came accross people dressed in funny medieval clothes. Europeans sure love to dress up, Beths kind of people : )

Burgos - Ponferrada

2009-07-17T03:43:00.000-07:00

Beer O´Clock

2009-07-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

Pilgrims

2009-06-27T09:28:00.000-07:00

Spooky spanish street art

2009-06-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Wind farms for William

2009-06-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

Windfarm windfarm windfarms!

The long and winding road

2009-06-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Have been travelling in Spain for a week and it is very hot and orange and blue. There are more people on this section which is fun. Although its great to have the tent so we can nook away on our own sometimes, plus they sometimes have pools.mmmmmmmmmmm. We have also been staying in quite a few refuges as there are fewer campsites in españa. This means heaps of bunk beds in the one room and it fels like school camp but with more people snoring. At the moment we are in La Rioja which is a wine growing area so we have been walking through lots of vinyards and also golden fields of various crops. It pretty but with hardly any shade. Lucky we know its important to slip slop slap. It is still quite hilly and prob wont flaten out until we cross the meseta which we think will be like the desert. Have been trying lots of yummy beers, sorry cerversas : )

España

2009-06-27T08:59:00.000-07:00

Beetle versus Worm, Slug versus Dragonfly

2009-06-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

Winner: Beetle

Winner: Slug

The descent

2009-06-27T08:50:00.001-07:00

The crossing over to Spain was made with a crazy swiss man who jumped like a kangaroo. Hehe. The downhill was very hard and hurt my knees and Bens bottom. He fell over twice in the mud!!! it was the best... but he was alright. The forrests were spooky and every now and then you would break out a have a wonderful view of the mountains. We were so energised by the bottom that we walked another 8km, then collapsed at a nice campsite by a river.

Onwards and Upwards

2009-06-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

Eeeek, set off late in the day as we were only walking 8km to Orisson, which was part of the way up the Pyrenees. Holy mac that was the hardest 8km we have done so far, it was all completely straight up! Intense and the most amazing views. The weather was perfect, if a little too hot. We saw lots of vultures flying above us waiting for us to cark it but we made it. That night we stayed in a fantastic place on the side of the mountain. he greenest phot is the view out our window. AMAZING. Had a delicious meal with all the other pilgrims. In the evening Beth went looking for the 20 brown bears that supposedly live in the Pryenees. Found nada. The next day we left early in the mist and could hardly see a thing. After about an hour of upness we broke through the fog to see the tops of the mountains peeking through a sea of mist. It was magical. Even though it was all upwards it was the best walk in our lives. eing so high was immensely energising and momentous.

Half Way!

2009-06-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Struth we are half way and it feels like only yesterday we set off. St Jean Pied de Port is wonderful. A cobble stone town with lots of little streets and plenty of cafes and bars to chill out in. We had a rest day here as it was rainy and we wanted to go up the mountains when we could see everything. Went out for a romantic dinner and had fun exploring the town. In the old part there it is partly surrounded by stone walls and lots of big beautiful trees with fun roots. A man let us use his washing machine, hooray for clean clothes.

Late nights and early starts

2009-06-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

Have been getting into a bit of a rythm. Are walking about 20-25kms a day and loving it. The weather is a bit topsturvy which we put down to getting closer and closer to the mountains. Have been walking with some great people.

Berries berries berries!!!

2009-06-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

Hooray for French berries, we lub lub lub them. This was a beautiful old french house where we camped in the garden overlooking the town of Aroue. The best part was we were allowed to raid the garden and there were masses of strawberries, goosberries, blackberries and 2 types of raspberries. We all went a little nuts and Beth made an awesome berry dessert for the A-foursome as they tend to supply the alcohol :)

Pelote and friends

2009-06-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here are the awesome foursome. We travelled with them for about 4 days, Joseph, Hieve, Danniel and Jean-michel. They were a lot of fun. In one small town we got to see a local game of Pelote which is game played only in the Basque region. It was intense and i think we will bring it to Autralia.

The Pyrenees are in sight!

2009-06-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

Weeeee he he we are nerv about crossing these mahoossive mountains. Have been travelling slowly as we dont want to leave France. It is too beautiful.

following the lovely couple

2009-06-27T08:17:00.001-07:00

This is Anni and Jean-Michel, we followed them for a long time and shared many a bedroom with them. They are lovely and wear matching orange shirts.

In France, slugs are orange

2009-06-06T05:41:00.001-07:00

Ramble On

2009-06-06T05:39:00.000-07:00

Felix, Dop and Condom

2009-06-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

Leaving Lectoure we headed toward Condom with a new friend, Felix. While passing through a small town we patted a funny dog.... oh if only we knew what this meant.... As we continued this dog, Dop, proceeded to follow with much excitetment, after about 2km we decided we had to take Dop back or he might get lost, so Ben valiently offered to go. Nearing the town, more pilgrims patted Dop, so Ben was forgotten and Dop followed them... As we travel the same road it was inevitable that we would come accross Dop again. He was running and jumping and sitting in puddles and having the best day of his life so we decided to just enjoy his company and decide awhat to do when we arrived in Condom (not pronounced as its spelt, we soon found out). 27kms later Felix, Ben, Dop and Beth headed to an angry vet to see if Dop had a chip, which he did. So we called the owner who said he would be there soon. When he arrived he hit Dop and lifted him up by his ears, it was really sad. No wonder he ran away with us. We didnt even take his photo, sniff sniff. Had a rest day in Condom and met an English couple cycling who gave us a book about the walk. Thank you Jeff and Gwyneth and good luck, email when you get there :)

Lectoure

2009-06-06T05:10:00.000-07:00

The way to Lectoure was very fun. Made some friends who had similar music tastes and spent the walk singing James Taylor, Cat Stevens and The Beatles. He he. Once we arrived in Lectoure we saw men and women walking around in old fashioned clothes and there was to be a recreation of a battle that happened 200 years ago! Sweeeet. They had set up camp in the middle of town and there was music and later, firing in the streets, it was a bit scary but fun. At Pierre,s (one of the singing walkers) Gite there was a guitar so we went to his place and had a mad singalong. Then to top of a strange day we had dinner with the arch bishop of the region at the church where we were staying!

Images from lauzerte-Auvillar-Miradoux

2009-06-06T05:07:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmm choclate cake from a wonderful woman who knows the way to our hearts.... through food!

The accomodation varies a lot

2009-06-06T05:05:00.000-07:00

Benny wishes he was Hellboy

2009-06-06T04:43:00.001-07:00

Jim and Joan and cherry trees

2009-06-06T04:37:00.000-07:00

Jim cooked us a delicios dinner and we stayed up drinking almanac and listening to some of Jim and Joans funny stories. Beth stole from the cherry tree. wee he he! Such genereous people just waiting to be found in the fruit section of your local supermarket. Thanks again guys : )

Always make friends in the fruit section.

2009-06-06T04:27:00.001-07:00

Due to our muscley legs we are now walking at a rapid pace and arrived in Lauzerte sooner than we thought we would. After mistaking a supermarket for a hard ware store we proceeded to the fruit section where we began talking to a lovely lady, Joan. She invited us to stay in her garden and eat from her cherry tree. Woooo hoooo. It was an incredibly hot day and their place was up a hill so we arrived sweaty and exhausted to find the most picturesque French house surrounded by flowers and lots of trees, and at the heart of it all was a pool!!! Jim and Joan were so lovely to us and served us Gin and tonics while we swam and lazed by the pool. ABSOLUTE BLISS!!! Pictured here is their crazy dog Teppe who has a connection with the wheel barrow and would wait by it in case someone needed to move it. Once it was moving she would run in circles in front of it then follow the trail behind the barrow, sniffing in ecstasy...... a little strange, no?

On the Road Again

2009-06-06T04:23:00.000-07:00

Leaving Cahors onward to greener pastures.

2009-06-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Who likes sneaky camps na na na na na na na WE LIKE SNEAKY CAMPS na na na na na na na!

2009-06-03T08:15:00.001-07:00

ho ma god this was an awesome meal out on my very generous bro, Tombo. CHEERS! we had so much greatness in one meal its hard to explain, but... i like to photograph what i eat when i know its going to be mega.... but when the dessert rolled around i couldnt wait to photo it i just smashed it down... i am salivating thinking of it now......

Cahors

2009-06-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

Workin On The Farm & Rorshach Cow

2009-06-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

After a hard days walking Ben likes to help out on the farms we have been staying on.

Figeac

2009-06-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Figeac. we absolutely loved it here. Got beths foot all sorted and met some wonderful people. The man Beth is hugging is Jean-Michel, the owner of the Gite we stayed in for almost a week coz it was so good. Jean-michel was so friendly and introduced us to some of his friends who make Fugar- special duck liver pate_ewwwwwww. There were lots of great local art galleries and we also had awesome tea with a lady who told us about the legend of the demon of Cahors bridge- see above post.

paintings by Beth

2009-05-10T03:08:00.000-07:00

paintings by ben cont

2009-05-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

recent paintings by Ben

2009-05-10T02:53:00.001-07:00

ooooo

2009-05-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

Are currently having a few rest days because of Beths fun feet.

walk cont.

2009-05-10T02:43:00.000-07:00

We are now in Livinhac, a very small town 24km from Conques. Conques was beautiful, Beths fave town so far. We ate with about 70 other pilgrams that night. When we do stay in accommodation there is always a three course dinner on offer, often there are more than 3 courses!!! hell yeah for French cuisine!

walk cont.

2009-05-10T02:36:00.001-07:00

The first couple of days were killer hard and we were carrying about 20kilos each which is way too much given the countryside; immensely hilly. After about a week we culled a lot of our things and have got it down to around 16kilos each. Have made lots of pilgram friends along the way. The snow photos are of a place called Le Sauvage. We arrived at this farm house sort of thing and the next town was another &ékm away, luckily we got a bed because when we woke up in the morning it was all white!!! Had to move on as we didnt have enough food but it was fun to walk through the snow. Snowballs were thrown.

The big hike

2009-05-10T02:22:00.000-07:00

Well we have been walking for over é weeks now and are having the best time. We average between

15 and 20km a day but have lately been doing more because towns are few and far between, and often very small with nothing open. We have done quite a few cheeky camps when we get tired or we find a rad place to spend the night, usually in a forrest.

Le Puy-en-Velay

2009-04-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

Here we are in Le Puy preparing for our walk. Havent done

very much site seeing as we have been busy trying to get our pack weights under control, not as successfully as Beth hoped but we will just have to see how it goes. We head off tomorrow to La Roche only 6km, will see how we go to there and then maybe on to the next town another 5km away. Cant wait to get amongst it all. We have our shells and our pilgram passports so we are all set. Wish us luck : )

Penguin in Le Puy

2009-04-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

This is the most delicious pengiun we have ever eaten. Marzepan, chocolate,proffiterole-ish,chocolate liquer mousse on the inside...oh ma god

Friends in Colognac

2009-04-22T03:46:00.000-07:00

We have just spent a bit over a week in the village of Colognac with some friends - Win and Aly and their 2 grandaughters Claire and Eloise. They have a beautifule home that overlooks a mountaineous landscape. Win made so many scrumpious meals. The band in the photo were awsome; especially the wash board man and the accordian man. This was at some local markets with lots of goats cheese and creamed honey stalls, we got amongst it!

Colognac part 2

2009-04-22T03:42:00.000-07:00

These are some photos along some of the walks we went on during our time in Colognac. Most of them ended up in La Salle, a town below Colognac. Here there was a great cafe where we spent a fair amount of time drinking cafe cremes. Walking around this area was fantastic, it is so beautiful and flocks of sheep run around with bells and funny coloured pom poms on.

Colognac!

2009-04-22T03:37:00.000-07:00

Some more views of our walks around Colognac. Ben is posing here in front of this spooky door that we didnt know where it led to trying to look like Hellboy.
Everywhere we went in Colognac there was water pouring out of the mountains, its crazy how much water there is here. For all the weather watchers: it has been very funny weather, most days it rains and is sunny in the same day. We always take our rain coats with us. Its not too cold though.

we make friends in Madrid!

2009-04-09T10:50:00.000-07:00

Sevilla - flamenco and Alcazar gardens!

2009-04-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a few phots of sevilla. Had an amazing time there seeing the Santa Semana processions, the Alcazar caslte and its beautiful gardens and the best freakin performance we have both ever seen, ever, this being Flamenco! Vale! For Ben it was on par with the Boat of Doom!