France
Week 9 already! Day 57 • 31 Oct • Blois to Sarlat-la-Canéda Cobblestones, candy And des bonbons ou un sort: A French Halloween. Day 58 • 1 Nov • Sarlat-la-Canéda The Dordogne invites Exclamations of rapture As our pedals turn. Day 59 • 2 Nov • Sarlat-la-Canéda to Carcassonne We meet Philippe At the Saturday markets.
Haiku
Eight weeks in already! Day 50 • 24 Oct • Florence Brolly touts appear When raindrops fall in Florence. Later, a rainbow. Day 51 • 25 Oct • Florence to Venice 5K in the rain, Lugging luggage and no lunch. Ah, personal growth. Day 52 • 26 Oct • Venice Cheap traghetto or Ninety Euro gondola?
Italy
Here you go... Day 43 • 17 Oct • Naples to Rome Half an hour in Rome Before Ben's pocket is picked. Our day’s in ruins. Day 44 • 18 Oct • Rome The Colosseum, Stone arches decayed by time, Is gargantuan. Day 45 • 19 Oct • Rome “Pizza by the cut”
Ireland
The next batch of haikus (these come around quickly!)... Day 36 • 10 Oct • Ballymoney to Edgeworthstown “See the Northern Lights?” We scream and bolt out of bed. Pink and green and WOW! Day 37 • 11 Oct • Edgeworthstown A day to catch up On sleep, life admin and blog. B is
England
Week 5 haikus! Here you go... Day 29 • 3 Oct • London Gunpowder treason! We sneak through dark passages. Beware! Trust no one. Day 30 • 4 Oct • London to Ballymoney J teaches me chess. We play en route to Dublin. Goodbye, King and Queen. Day 31 • 5 Oct • Ballymoney I cuddle
England
It's haiku time again! As a refresher, this form of Japanese poetry consists of three lines with five, seven and five syllables respectively. I've been writing one for each day of our trip... Day 22 • 26 Sept • Oxford Diddly Squat Farm Shop. Sadly don't
Estonia
More haikus! We're three weeks in already! Day 15 • 19 Sept • Tallinn to Helsinki to Worthing Twenty-three hour day. Too tired to make a haiku. Refer to line one. Day 16 • 20 Sept • Worthing Arundel Castle. Sieges, skins, salt galleons— It's another world! Day 17 • 21
Singapore
Here's my next batch of haikus! Day 8 • 12 Sept • Johor Bahru to Singapore Lunch at Nachi's house: A great feast prepared for us. The kindness of friends. Day 9 • 13 Sept • Singapore to Helsinki Oodi Library. Google Translate makes us laugh: Unbridled Dog Bark. Day
Singapore
Something I started doing on our last holiday (a cruise back in February) is writing a haiku each evening to capture a moment/memory from the day. Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines, with the lines having five, seven and five syllables respectively. We have