Lost for Words

The Night Sky…

davidnoelsmith — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:42:58 +0000

The Moon, Venus and Jupiter taken last night, the 27th January. A crystal clear sky!

So I’ve decided..

davidnoelsmith — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:42:50 +0000

So I've decided..
Last June I traveled to Spain to walk the final 100km of the Camino de Santiago. I have written about it before in past posts and the general opinion was I enjoyed it. It was painful on the legs but I came home with an over riding thought…I'm going back there again.
So here I am today. January 2012, 7 months after and after much humming and hawing, I've made my first enquiries. I'll be starting at Leon and walking to Sarria. I plan to take to bus to Santiago and stay there for a night before I come home. Ten days in total from my flight out to Madrid and my flight back from Santiago.
In June, I walked as part of a group which was great. But everything was planned and there was no lee way to do my own thing. If I met people on the road, I would say goodbye within ten mins as I could not match their pace. This time I'm doing it alone.
A lot of people have asked me if this is wise, is it a good move, and why not hold back a few months until you meet someone else who may be interested in going. It's not going to happen if I wait. Once the seed has been sown, there is no escaping it.
I'm having diffuculties with the folks who will always see me as their 20 year old son. This will never change.
I don't have much planning to do being honest. The flights need to be booked, and a place in Leon and Santiago need to be arranged also. Other than that, it's anything goes. I have ten days, for a stage that "could" take me 6 days. So I can take a rest day in between, or stay in Santiago a day extra.
Loads of people on Twitter have been helpful and have given tips on what to see and where to stay.
Another thing I need to mention is I have been in contact with a guy from Canada called Randall St Germain (@CaminoMyWay) who has written about his time on the Camino. He crazy thing is he did it in 20 days! You can find his book here: http://is.gd/QjyYzx. Give him a follow on twitter if you can. Even after reading his book, I have no idea how he did it.
So I'm going to finish up now. I''ll post again soon

Untitled

davidnoelsmith — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 15:12:53 +0000

via rainymood.com

It is raining in Dublin as I type but if you like the sound of rain, and win, give this site a shot.
It can be off-putting if the weather is stormy where you are.

R.E.M. Call It Quits – Stereogum

davidnoelsmith — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:43:25 +0000

via stereogum.com

Sigh!

What does it feel like to fly over planet Earth?

davidnoelsmith — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:32:03 +0000

via youtube.com

time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy.

Draw a Stickman

davidnoelsmith — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 19:50:33 +0000

Check out this website I found at drawastickman.com

Brilliant! Great fun altogether!

Beirut – Santa Fe

davidnoelsmith — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:53:28 +0000

I have recently bought the latest Beirut album called The Rip Tide. Mainly because I heard a track called Santa Fe on the airwaves. I was immediately hooked. So I wanted to hear more. I haven’t heard of this guys work before this so I will go discovering.

Have a listen:

Posterous is a-changing..

davidnoelsmith — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:20:47 +0000

I’ve just seen the new posterous set up and like it. I have downloaded the iPhone app also and it looks easy to use. I would really like to use this as a kind of photo blog and hopefully in time I will get out and about. Seems fairly easy to upload photos here too. I want to create a new “space” also that is music related. We’ll see how things go!

My (Possible) Return to the Camino

davidnoelsmith — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:49:21 +0000

As most of you know, I completed over 110km of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in June. I loved every second of it and walking for charity made it feel that bit better. But ever since I returned home, I've had a nagging urge to go back and walk some more. It took more than a while to settle back to routine when I returned.

So I have started plans to return back to walk another stage. Initially I wanted to walk 8 days from Ponferrada (http://bit.ly/ndy6WV) to Sarria. It seemed doable and after hurting my leg back in June, I was thinking I wouldn't need to walk more than 20km a day. The plan was to fly into Santiago, get a bus to Ponferrada and walk to Sarria. On return, I bus it from Sarria back to Santiago, maybe stay the night and then return. Handy enough.

Next step was to get in touch with Garry, the guide from June. He lives in Santiago and has walked the Camino three times. He has written up a plan of action for me and I have to say it's a massive help. In the end, I decided to round the duration to 10 days and start from Leon.

The biggest problem I have (and any help would be appreciated) is how I get to Leon. I have so many choices for flights; Dublin to Santiago or to Bilbao. Ryanair don't fly to Northern Spain from Ireland so a flight to Santiago from Dublin seems the right option. It costs a small fortune so I may be forced to travel to Stansted and fly out to Santander or Santiago by Ryanair. Phew!

I have alot of decisions to make. The past few days I have been thinking of holding back for a few months but it's now or never I reckon.

August 2011

davidnoelsmith — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:35:04 +0000