Quarantine Day4 – Looking forward

www.gaiagps.com/public/bXUlUOkRUuOHaAQJcnCdwzLH

I’m just trying this out so, let’s see what happens. This link is our intended route out of London for Day 1 of our pilgrimage.

It departs from Southwark (pronounced Suthuck) and travels along the Thames past the Tower of London and tower Bridge among other wonderful iconic sites. Next you’ll see the path turning briefly away at Greenwich where we will cross into the Eastern Hemisphere. From there we make our way a bit further East ending in the suburbs of Woolwich.

It’s a short day to kick off a very long walk.

But mainly I’m just trying this Gaia link out to see how it looks on the blog. 🙂

Mark

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Mark Dowty

"An Intentional Life"

12 thoughts on “Quarantine Day4 – Looking forward”

    1. My first comment was based on using my phone. When I opened the link on my laptop, it took me directly to the map, i.e., no download was needed. I was able to use it using different layers (satellite and topo). I liked to satellite view (any guesses why?), but unlike Google Map or Google Earth, there don’t appear to be any labels / place names. There are labels and place names on the topo map, though.
      Why did you pick the start and stop points in day one?
      The route does not appear to be a “rational” route (i.e., the straightest) by just looking a the path on the satellite image.

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      1. Last question first. The route makes no sense at all. I traced a previously published route and your right, it makes no sense. Why they chose to hug the River so tightly is strange to me. Perhaps it is the view but most likely it is pedestrian only for as long as possible.
        There are several places where the “official” route goes around 3 sides of a field to avoid 100’ of roadway. This is an attempt to slowly gain access rights completely off road. As the miles wear on the likelihood of us choosing the shorter option will undoubtedly go up exponentially! Haha
        Why did choose the start and end points.
        The start is easy. The Via Francigena actually starts in Canterbury and traces the route (in reverse) of Sigeric the Serious’ return from Rome after being made Archbishop of Canterbury in AD 990.
        But I wanted to make the trip just a bit longer for several reasons…
        1) if your going to walk 1150 miles, you might as well walk 1400
        2) The route from London to Canterbury is also famous as a Pilgrimage route. It traces a route of pilgrimage to venerate Thomas a’ Becket who was made a saint after being murdered by Henry II’s knights (apparently all just a misunderstanding). Henry and Thomas were once friends but came in conflict over the secular vs religious realms of influence – particularly that of who gets to decide who is King.
        3) Southward Cathedral to Canterbury cathedral is the route immortalized by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales
        4) Southwark Cathedral is a “Pilgrimage” cathedral – more on that later.
        5) I wanted to walk farther than Efren Gonzalez (video blogger I’ve followed). Haha. He started from Canterbury.

        Why did we choose the end point for Day 1? Well that was more arbitrary. Unlike most days, I don’t expect to have an early start from Southwark. I have arranged some special events there (more later). So I didn’t want to make Day 1 a long one. Also at the time I didn’t know how we’ll prepared Madeline would be and wanted to ease her into it. That, as it turns out, was not necessary at all. I’m a little concerned she will be standing around waiting for us. She’s fast!
        The actual end point is just a bit off of the trail. That is purely pragmatic since there is a low cost hotel at that location. We’re still in the suburbs of London at this stage.

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  4. Hi Mark,looks really good&was able to look at map on my phone&choose what layers I want to see the view in👍look forward to the next post🙂

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  5. The map was a bit slow in loading but I was able to get it. It might come more easily on my computer than my phone. It’s also very exciting and 10 miles the perfect distance on any day.

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    1. It certainly makes it easy sister. Did you get any notice about the new page “History bits”. Not sure if you noticed it or if I need to draw attention to it.
      Did you like our time-lapse video of the hike. I thought it was funny.

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      1. I did think the video was fun. It does remind me of walking inside my house on days. And I just found the history bits. We just finished our 7 mile hike with Cindy Joan, Ken, Travis. Miss you guys!

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  6. Like to reasoning for walking and points to through five. However point number one I’m not sure if I agree but. Haha

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