Travel – Page 31 – a sibilant intake of breath

Marrakesh

The decision about where to take my last trip has been made. I will be going to Morocco after all (albeit not hitchhiking, as once considered). I will be leaving early in the morning on Wednesday the 20th and returning on the morning of the 27th. That will have me back in Oxford in time for Antonia’s party and my possible viva exam, and with a few days available in which to say goodbye to friends here.

Given that this is my last opportunity to travel on this side of the Atlantic for at least a year, it seemed sensible to go with the bolder option. Going to Amsterdam, Prague, or Berlin wouldn’t have involved thirty degree temperatures and a reasonable chance of getting ill, but they would also have been much less of an adventure.

Suggestions for things to see and do would be appreciated. Likewise, if anyone in Oxford has a travel book I might borrow.

Paris photos IV

These are the shots taken on film, hence their late emergence. As has often been the case in the past, getting back the photos from my expensive film camera has been a reminder of just how good a deal my cheap point and shoot digital camera was.

Getting interesting angles sometimes involves hanging out windows, alarming the guards, and looking a right fool.

Parisian coffeehouse

Boat in the Canal St. Martin

A kind of shabby encampment beside the canal.

One last trip…

Between this Wednesday and the 28th of June, I don’t have any specific obligations in Oxford. Even with the higher cost of late booking, this means that there is the possibility for one more trip to Europe before I spend a year in Ottawa. As such, I am considering my options.

One strong possibility is Berlin. Other than a visit as a young child, I have never been to Germany. I expect that Berlin has a lot of interesting culture and architecture, as well.

Prague is a good possibility, since I have family there and already know that I like the city. Likewise, returning to Dublin has a lot of appeal, though it seems a bit foolish to go back to a place that I visited so recently.

Other European places on my list include Greece and Amsterdam, though flights to both are extremely expensive right now. Despite my enthusiasm for visiting Morocco, I am put off by the high price of flights to Marrakesh and the likelihood that it will be extremely hot there. Unfortunately, neither Ryanair or EasyJet seems to fly to Moscow or Saint Petersburg. Otherwise, they might be interesting possibilities.

Any comments? Is there a European city that is especially interesting at the moment, or at this time of year? Since it doesn’t seem like anyone will be free to come along with me this time, I am looking for somewhere that has appeal for a single traveller who speaks English and increasingly faulty French. San Sebastián has already been enthusiastically endorsed.

Good news

During the past eight weeks:

My thesis was submitted
I found an excellent job for next year
I finished my M.Phil exams

As of today, the college has also replaced our broken refrigerator. It will be good to be able to buy food for a period longer than a few days at a time.

I now have 33 days to arrange my departure from Oxford, return to Vancouver, move to Ottawa, and get to work. I might be able to wheedle in one more trip within Europe before I leave Oxford on July 2nd. I am also looking forward to the third incarnation of Tristan’s Cabin Fever event, to take place between July 6th and 8th.

Lakeland photos III

Compressed walkers.

Sheep are never far away.

One third of the way around the Kentmere Horseshoe.

If you are in a proper place for walking, the landscape will dwarf you.

Dry stone walls take a lot more effort to build than to climb over.

Lakeland photos II

Once you reach a peak, a bit of a rest is surely in order. Actually, Rob and Sarah were ill during the whole trip, so their fellwalking demonstrated particular persistence.

Walkers atop Wetherlam.

The hiking boot: noble symbol of our determination.

Which isn’t to say we never take them off…

If you can shear a sheep, you can arm wrestle two humans at once and win.

Lakeland photos I

Thirteen Oxonians on a mountainside.

An enthusiastic fellow Canadian.

This was one of the few bits of actual rock climbing we did. Note how much more impressive it looks when done with a gear-filled leader’s pack.

This scramble on the Coniston Horseshoe was the most enjoyable bit of walking on the trip.

Having climbed a Wainwright, it is sometimes necessary to climb the marker and present as unusual an expression as possible.

f = m * a

In a conversation at the end of Sunday’s walk, we realized just how much energy is actually involved in such a trek. Our vertical ascent was about 1100m, spread between climbing Yoke and following the ridge of the Kentmere Horseshoe. That is about 75kg of me personally, plus a pack. Imagine me falling from 1100m up, and you begin to appreciate the gravitational potential energy built up through the (not entirely efficient) expenditure of chemical energy. We also traveled more than 20km, as the crow flies. Then, there is the fact that we had to absorb all the energy from all the descents into our muscles and dissipate it. Add in the energy required to keep us warm, balanced, and thinking, and you are racking up a good number of calories.

It’s amazing how far some dry cereal, two sandwiches, a couple of chocolate bars, and ones various short and long-term energy stores can go. The fact that I didn’t feel unusually hungry at any point during the weekend suggests that those stores were not seriously depleted.

As you may guess, this weekend included a lot of interesting discussion about physics, biochemistry, and physiology. We also learned a good bit about sheep.

Back from the Lakes

The weekend in Lakeland was most enjoyable. We spent Saturday and Sunday walking, each time going around a horseshoe of peaks. Saturday, it was the Coniston horseshoe, starting with the Old Man. That day involved some enjoyable scrambling, a bit of actual rock climbing (for those who cared to try), and a brief nighttime rescue operation. Thankfully, those we set out to find met us on the road back from where we were heading to look for them. Sunday, we did the Kentmere Horseshoe, starting with Yoke.

The walking was atypical of the club for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I had never previously spent a day with them in which it did not rain significantly. Neither day of this trip involved any rain at all. Secondly, this was distinctly less strenuous than Snowdonia, which was distinctly less strenuous than Scotland. I rather enjoyed the drama of steep slopes and narrow, windy ridges during the previous two trips. Of course, there is something to be said for sheep-speckled tranquility as well.

In terms of company, this trip met the high expectations I had of the Walking Club. There is always a fascinating mixture of people from different fields – from theology to comparative literature to medicine – and they tend to get along in a very spontaneous way, even when they have not met before.

Photos and such to follow. For now, I need to get some sleep.

Trip tally

Here is a simple map of my trips in the British Isles so far. Blue is for London, visited many times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) . Orange is the the trip to Chichester for Sarah Webster’s wedding, with the eastward jot to Arundel shown also. Yellow is the reading retreat to Devon, while pink is for my day in Bath. Green is the excellent Ireland trip: to Dublin and then across to Galway. Light blue is the Walking Club trip to Snowdonia. Red is their trip to the Scottish Highlands, and light green is this weekend’s trip to the Lake District.

All told, it’s not too shabby an exploration. That is especially true when one considers the number of papers I wrote, the thesis, exams, and other trips to Estonia, Finland, Malta, Turkey, Vancouver, and Paris.