Golden Years

Our 10 day sailing adventure from St. Lucia to Grenada is done and we are now relaxing at a beach front cottage in Grenada. We fly home tomorrow.... read more

Victims of the strike action by the French railway workers, here we sit in Paris patiently waiting for a train to Orleans. The 11:35 train was canceled, now we are hoping the 12:51 will run. Fortunately the coffee shop serving chocolate croissants is doing a roaring trade. The Paris 7’s was great fun. Canadian women finished 3rd and the men 4th. England came 2nd losing to South Africa in the final. The Stad Jean Bouin is a small stadium and we had seats affording us a great view of the action on the pitch. Unfortunately the toilet facilities left much to be desired and the food reminded me of British-rail food of the 70’s. On Sunday we packed a lunch. Resturant’s in Paris are closed on Sundays, but we happened upon a Greek deli take out ... read more

On our last weekend in Moab and feeling fit we elected to attempt an epic ride; the Jug Handle - Shafer trail loop. This 62km loop ascends 990m from the Colorado river to the Island in the Sky and back down Long Canyon to the river. We started at the boat launch into the Colorado river on Potash road and wound our way past the potash evaporation ponds, that we had spied from the East Rim hike in Dead Horse Point park at the beginning of our vacation, gently climbing the gravel road past Thelma and Louise point to the entrance of Canyonlands National Park. At the beginning of our vacation, we watched in awe from the visitors center as vehicles wound there way up the Shafer trail switchbacks to reach the top of the canyon, ... read more

Whilst waiting for bike parts from the UK, which are scheduled to be delivered today, we have filled the days with some spectacular hikes around Moab. Yesterday we arrived at the parking lot for the Amasa Back trail and were treated to a display of Base Jumping, a very popular sport along the shear cliffs of the Colorado river canyon. We watched in awe as, one after the other, they launched themselves off the cliff for a 30 second flight into the valley. "It takes about one hour to hike to the jumping site" explained a young man packing his chute after his jump. The cliff-hanger hike took us past Jackson Hole (Not), a butte surrounded by an abandoned meander, and I discovered how to take panoramas with my phone. The return trip to the parking ... read more

The West and East Rim walk offers stunning views above the Colorado River. According to legend, the point was once used as a corral for wild mustang roaming the mesa. Cowboys rounded up these horse, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30m wide, was then fences off with branches and brush, creating a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs.Cowboys then chose the horse they wanted and for reasons unknown left the other horses corralled on the water-less point where they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado river 2000 feet below.... read more