Wilburton and Anglesey Abby Gardens

We spent the day in the gardens and wandering the grounds. We ended the afternoon at a pub called Five Miles from Anywhere Pub. We had some beers and some fish. The pub is located on one of the channels among the fields. It is truly beautiful farm country with a nice relax pace of living. We are planing to stroll the village later in the day.

Cambridge, England - Departure

We left Toronto at 10:55pm. We are due to arrive in London at 9:55am. The plane is very hot and smells. I am looking forward to getting some sleep. We'll see about the movie. It is usually a bad one.
It was a very long day we arrived around 9pm Canadian time. The bus took over 3 1/2 hrs. But village of Wilmington is beautiful. We are celebrating Grannies birthday tonight.

Bucket List - Mt. Robson

http://yamnuska.com/mountaineering/mountain-guides/climb-mount-robson/

Guys - while looking at Cameron's Yamnuska website, I saw this! Its on my list.

Destination	Mt. Robson
Days	7
Costs	Cost Breakdown
		Flight	$    1,000.00
		Car	$       200.00
		Guide	$    3,150.00
		Other	$       300.00
	Total		$    4,650.00

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Ontario Trails - New Website very cool! Can search by area

http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/

This link came with the Ontario parks emailer. It is very neat. You can search your area for a trail. They include maps and directions. You can also add trails for the area. I think the search needs to be refined but it allows you to find trails in any area in ontario.

I've done a search at the farm and a few interesting trails have come up.

Cio!

World's Highest Lifts - Lifts in Colorada

http://verticalfeet.com/highest-lifts.html

http://www.arapahoebasin.com/ABasin/Default.aspx

http://www.skiloveland.com/default.aspx

http://www.aspensnowmass.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breckenridge_Ski_Resort#Imperial_Lift

http://traveltips.usatoday.com/colorado-ski-resorts-elevation-51443.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_lift

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairlift

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondola_lift

http://www.skilifts.org/old/glossary.htm

http://www.revelstokemountainresort.com/uploads/files/rmr-trail-map.pdf

Yamnuska Oct 20 - Cam's Expedition - Mount Kline

Cam spent the week climbing mount Kline in Banff. 1 meter of snow on the way up to the summit. Looks like he is having a great time. We are very proud of what he is doing. Next week he is in town doing wilderness first aid. We miss him very much. But he sounds healthy and happy.

Spain Hiking - Final Trip Costs

Per Person
-------------
Flights $1200
Car $1200/6 = $200
Food, Gas, Wine, Chorizo €300=$420
--------------------------
Total Per Person $1820

Spain Hiking - Day 8&9 - Oct 1&2 - Madrid and Home

After a late night of guitar, wine and cigars in the main square we loaded up the car for our drive to Madrid and our last full day. The weather was again high 20s and clear blue sky; and we laughed that the easiest job must be the Spanish weatherman. "It's sunny and hot again!" The drive to Madrid took about 1 hr and although the Gps got us lost, it did help us navigate the roundtables especially those with stop signs. My plan was to take the van into the Plaza de Castilla with it's 6 lane round about. Just to make things last we went around it twice then headed down the Castellana, Spain's Madison Avenue. This took us past some amazing architecture including the post office and numerous fountains at the centre of roundabouts. We parked close to the Parke del Retiro, Madrid's high park. There we sat in front of the man made lake, had a cafe con leche and people watched. A few of us could have spent the whole day here but Mike our history buff insisted we see the city. He became the walking guide for the day and we headed down to the old city to walk the narrow streets, view the Plaza Major and view the Royal Palace from outside. After a few hours of walking we found beautiful cafe overlooking the Palace and gardens. We drank sangria, ate ice cream and had a few cortados. As the sun went down the streets began to fill with people and as we walk the old streets we were slowed by the number of people out. The drive to the village took about an hour. Madrid surprised me, I've been here many times but the streets were clean and the Avenues and side streets were a pleasure to walk. The people everywhere were pleasant and friendly. I think Madrid is underrated it truly is one of the great cities of the world rivaling Paris and Rome. We pull out all the leftovers including an over zealous amount of beer. We order a tortilla and ensalda mixta from Rachel's Restaurant. We stay up late talking about the trip and future trips we'll take on our bucket list. We try and squeeze every last drop of sangria out of this trip. Tomorrow it's back to the real world.

Bucket List

Remember if you pick it, it will fester. So if you picked it you should organize.

The "Original" Bucket List as scribed while sampling some of the local Spanish grapes. (Forgive the spelling). Subject to change with time (but before time runs out).

MM:
Scotland
Ireland
Wales

JA:
Spain - El Cameno
Banff - Mt. Robson
Switzerland - The Materhorn

SG:
New Zealand - Route Brun
Waterton National Park (Alb/BC/US Park)
Gros Morne Park (NFLD)

JM:
Sicily - Mt Etna
NZ South Island Fox Glacier
Northern California Sierra's

AB:
Italy - Cortena di Pizo (Dulmites)
Grand Canyon
Peru - Monte Pichu

SR:
Himalayas
Vancouver Island - Carmel Valley
Argentina Patagonia Mtns

http://bucketlist.org/

Spain Hiking - Day 7 - Sept 30 - La Pedriza

We drove down the a1 in the direction of Madrid and took the exit to Macanares. La Pedriza has a number of mtn bike trails, hiking trails and some serious rock climbing routes. We pull into the parking lot which is full of school children complete with 2 bars and restaurant. What else would you expect in Spain! We will take the main trail past the Refugio (hut) and we plan to have lunch in the pass called La Silla ( the seat/saddle). As we make our way up the dusty goat path you can see a number of climbers on the rock spires in the distance. They are about 200-300 ft above the valley floor. The sun is intense and the rock reflect the Spanish sun and heat. We have lunch in the Silla. The views to the east are maraviosa! There is evidence that people have camped in this spot. Jack decides to return back to parking lot but the remaining head up. Our plans are to head up to a spot called the Ventana, the window then get off the main trail and head down a side trail. As we head up we realize it will take us longer than expected. We spend much time and energy scrambling up and through the pinnacles of rock. The air is dry with an intense smell mtn pine. After crawling under a few boulder we come apon a mtn goat and kid, a welcome surprise; how did they ever get up here. After navigating through the labyrinth of rocks we find what we think is the Ventana. But the side trail is not mark and there are no signs of cairns. Any we begin to follow the goat droppings, they probably have done this many times before so let's hope they don't lead to cliff. We determine our whereabouts by a specific feature in the distance rock face called El cocodrillo, the crocodile. There appears to be 2 ways down. So we do what 5 university grads would be reasonable a flip a coin.
The downing down is step and rocky. We eventually come upon a rock climber who directs us the a trail down. We reach the valley floor tiered and thirsty and head back to find Jack waiting anxiously. We are 2 1/2 hrs later than expected. We're pretty good with estimating but this time we were way off. But we still celebrate at the bar with beers and potato chips. This place was beyond expectations and I plan to return one day with the family.
We head out and make lamb chops at home getting ready for our last site-seeing day in Madrid.

Spain Hiking - Day 6 - Sept 29 - Road to Segovia

Plans were to head out early but with our late nite we decided to sleep-in a few extra hours. We loaded up the bus ( this is a 9 seater mini van) and head to the A1 auto-route. Plan was to take in a quaint village for coffee so we headed in the direction of La Cabera and then to Miraflores (meaning looking at flowers). Miraflores is a picturesque village famous for it's up scale vacationers from Madrid. It has a number of 1st class hotels set among the narrow winding streets which over look the valley toward Madrid. This place is famous for cycling and bullfighting. At the centre of the town is a beautiful square with cafes and shops. At it's centre is an olive tree which is apparently over a 1000 years old planned by the Romans. We all sit in the square have our cafe con leche and try some churros with our coffee.
We jumped into car and headed for the Valle de Los Caidos. This is the civil war monument but it is controversial because really it was built by Franco to commemorate his victory. He is also buried here. On the way we past the Castile of Santillliana and La Pedriza a hiking and biking mecca.
The visit to the Valle is impressive and the basilica is bigger than St. Peters. The cross and views to the valley are spectacular. The guys were reluctant to come are glad they visited this monument which is an important part of Spanish recent history.
Next stop is La Granja the Kings hunting lodge and smaller replica of Versailles. We get and audio tour and wander the hall and rooms of this massive palace. We head outside and stroll the gardens and fountains of the grounds. In the distance you can see the summit of La Penalara which we had climbed the previous day.
Next and last stop is Segovia an important part of the huistory of Spain.
There is a roman aqueduct running through the center of the city. We end up at a tradition restaurant that serves suckling pig. After stuffing ourselves with meat and more meat, we walk through the streets and see the Castile which belonged to queen Isabella. She was the Catholic queen who unified Spain and sent Columbus on his way.
It grows dark and we get into the car. Steven takes us home and the ride which must take us around the mountains only takes 45 minutes. The highway are amazing. That evening we setlle for a salad, meat is unthinkable.
We are all very tired with our longest day. This evening after a few beers and wine we come up with the guys bucket list. 3 destinations we plan to visit with the guys before we kick it. We all end up in the upstairs dining room and connect with the city hall Internet to message everyone at home. Tomorrow is a long day of hiking at La Pedriza.

Spain Hiking - Day 5 - Sept 28 - Penalara National Park

We headed out early for Cotos and the pass close to Navacerada. We drove past Rascafria and the monastery at El Paular. We park in front of a restaurant Marcelinos and made our way to the park office of Penalara. The last time I was here was in 2005 when I hiked to the mountain lake with my 70 old mother, my sister and Cam and Kate. The guys had all brought full weather gear but looks like we were going to have another fabulous day with temperatures in the 30Cs. The hike took us to a mountain lake. Here we got lost but found the right trail after talking to a park warden. It turns out she was the person I had talked to on the phone from Canada. We continued on the trail passed the Lake of the Birds (Pajaros). Here the trail made a sharp ascent to a series of false summits until we reached the top of Penalara. From the summit you could see into the valley of Lozoya, the ski resort at Navacerda and the line of summits called La Cuerda Larga, the long Cord. To the west was the province of Leon & Castilla with clear views to Segovia and La Granja. We meet quit a number of people on the summit including some amercian from florida, a Scotsman and quit a number of older spaniards. Mike had pack a pack of wine and we enjoyed a drink of wine with our jamon and chorizo sandwiches. The return trip to the car was not as long since we had already done 3/4 the route. We return to Manjiron and had a large salad as we were getting tired of eating meat and cheese. We again had some wine and beer and made our way to the heli pad to play guitar and keep up the villagers.

Spain Hiking - Day 4 - Sept 27 - Toledo

We decided to take a break from hiking today and head to Spain's old capital, Toledo. We headed to the cathedral and walked the old streets. Toledo is famous for it's narrow streets and steel making. The picture here is the synagogue in the Jewish quarter. We also visited and old Mosque per 1300. It was a long day and we headed back late. But we stayed up late to finish off the red wine and head to our favorite helicopter pad for beer and guitar.

Spain Guys Hiking - Day 3 - Oct 26 - Pena de la Cabra

Day 3 saw us up alittle later than usual but we head out for about a 4 hour hike to Pena de la Cabra (Rock of the Mountain Goat). This is a relativily easy hike with basically only a small summit push at the end of the trail. But the payback is hung. As you can see from the above photo we are well above the treeline and have a 360 view of the Valley of Lozoya which contains my families village of Manjiron. Off in the distance is the Pico de la Miel which we had summited the day before.
  After the hike we drove down into the valley of La Puebla, a remote valley which during the winter is often cut off from the outside world. The road from the village to the out end of the mountain is a one lane afare and there is a real need to be careful when driving this road.
  This morning we stocked up with supplies and spent the evening eating and drinking in the back courtsyard.

Manjiron Backyard "El Coral"

Spain Guys Hiking - Day 1&2 - Oct 24 &25

We left Toronto around 8PM and had an unscheduled spot over in Montreal. The plane was full and we were subject to the usual bad food and even worse movie. But we arrived in Madrid around 11am Spanish time. We headed to Buitrago for a but to eat in the main square. The menu was jamon, chorizo, calamares, manchego-cheese and we sampled some pigs ears. We had a couple cervezitas had headed home for an after noon nap. We each slept for about 2 hours but vowed to do the planned hike of Pico de la Miel. The picture should the 2 Steve and the summit. It took us about 2hrs plus for the return hike and it was growing dark so it was very hard to find our way home. On returning we called it an early night and slept for 11 hours until the next day. The good news was we seem to be already over the jet lag.