Peter & Joanne McLeod's Travels 2018

Quintans is typical of the numerous villages we cycled through – small, quaint, interesting, a real mix of the old and the new, and seeming to doubt if it had a reason to exist in future. There were really old skeletons of houses hundreds of years old, old houses built of stone and still occupied, new modern houses, large modern feeding barns for dairy cows, large maize silage stacks, modern and large farm equipment and hand carts. The missing element that was most disconcerting was the lack of children. We saw very few. There were lots and lots of elderly sipping their espressos and smoking but very few young families. The countryside is rolling hills clad in forest – pines, eucalypts, cedar and native species   - and green productive valleys. They don’t lack rain but they do seem to lack fertiliser. The maize crops looked malnourished and the pasture was disastrous. But it was all green. There are lots of granite rocks and outcrops - hence the stone houses - which mak...

The story behind the Camino goes something like this: There is a Spanish legend that the body of James, the apostle, was shipped to Spain and buried near Santiago after he was beheaded in Jerusalem in 44AD. In 812 some skeletal remains were discovered in a cave at the site of Santiago. The local Archbishop, using the latest scientific methodology determined these were the very bones of James. A pilgrimage was an essential for every good Christian. A shrine was built. And a church or three. And a cathedral. And a wonderful cashflow. By the Middle Ages up to 250,000 pilgrims per year visited the shrine. As a comparison 300,000 walked the Camino in 2017. So it was a big deal. Wouldn't Shane Jones (and Eketahuna or Waimate or ...) be smiling if he could think up a similar Regional Development plan like that!!! We decided to bike from Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre, Muxia and back to Santiago. A distance of 240 kms. The route was tge same route as ...

Inland Morocco As we left Chefchaueon we headed into the various ranges of the Atlas mountains. The most surprising aspect of this transition was the green and productive valleys  running through the yellow-brown and red-brown eroding hills. Berbers 60% of Moroccans are Berber. they are a first nation people who have originally been nomadic herders. Some still keep to that lifestyle. Others have settled into farming the fertile valleys. Others are moving to the cities for education and jobs. Schooling is gradually coming to the remoter areas and even to the nomads, although only 3 years of education is compulsory at this stage Morocco - Photographing People A common belief amongst the Moroccans, particularly the village Berber people is that if you take their photo it steals their soul. Our guide, who was a Berber, stressed that we should not take photos without asking permission. In several cases, particularly with older villagers, he would not even ask....