Sandbox

Introduction

This weblog is kind of my sandbox in my head. I have a lot of interests. Items regarding history, archeaology, GPS/GIS, ham radio, Grail Legends, geneaology, animals, books, ....   Anything is fair game in this weblog.

Janice

Cycling Southwest France

http://www.boblucky.com/Biking/Dordogne.htm

This is a good site chronicling a bicycle trip through Southern France. Along the Dordogne.

Includes maps with GPS tracks.

Additional Tracks for the Camino/France

I received this message from Richard Hardwick. He has mapped the  track
    along the French part of the Chemin formatted for Google Earth
     http://users.skynet.be/watermael/gps/50358a.html

He used the remarkable GPS Track Maker, which you I noted on my site,
    to transform formats from Garmin Etrex to Google Earth

Thank you all for providing this information for me. I haven't even tried the GPS Track Maker myself, but found it on the web.

Pilgrim Routes in Wales

For those of you who want to walk the pilgrim routes in Wales, take a look at this page.

http://www.peterrobins.co.uk/wales/

Introduction
Route Details (click here to show overview map in separate frame)
- Holywell and how to get there
- Chester-Holywell
- Shrewsbury-Holywell
- Holywell-Bardsey
- Holywell-Llandderfel (-St Davids)
- Pennant Melangell

Trip to France

               Going to France in a few months. Starting off in Paris to see the Louvre. Then on to sites I've been reading about.

Montsegur - see in previous post - 42 52' 35" N, 1 49' 51" E

Les Baux -

Coordinate	43° 45′ 0″ N,   4° 48′ 0″ E

Les Baux-de-Provence is a small village and commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône département in southern France, in the province of Provence. It has a spectacular position in the Alpilles mountains, set atop a rocky outcrop crowned with a ruined castle overlooking the plains to the south. Its names refers to its site — in Provençal, a baou is a rocky spur.

Lots of cool history.

Maybe the Cathar Castles if we have time. It's going to be tight. We're taking a little detour to Milan, Italy on the way to Barcelona.

Puilarens- 42 48' 20" N, 2 17' 36" E  http://catharcastles.info/120717_puilaurens.htm

Queribus- 42 50' 3" N, 2 37' 21" E http://catharcastles.info/120721_queribus.htm

Peyrepertuse- 42 52' 01" N ,  2 33' 25" E http://www.payscathare.org/3-6581-History.php

Villerouge-termenes

Aguilar  http://www.payscathare.org/3-6595-History.php

Termes - 43 0' 7" N, 2 33' 27" E http://www.catharcastles.info/120705_termes.htm

Avignon-  is a commune in southern France with an estimated mid-2004 population of 89,300 in the city itself and a population of 290,466 in the metropolitan area at the 1999 census.

The city is well known for its Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes), where the Popes lived for much of the14th century.

Coordinates: 43°57′N, 4°50′E

Notre Dame des Doms, the cathedral, is a Romanesque building, mainly of the 12th century, the most prominent feature of which is the gilded statue of the Virgin which surmounts the western tower. Among the many works of art in the interior, the most beautiful is the mausoleum of Pope John XXII, a masterpiece of Gothic carving of the 14th century.

Palais des Papes, the palace of the popes, almost dwarfs the cathedral. The palace is an impressive monument on a square of the same name. Begun in 1316 by John XXII and continued by succeeding popes until 1370, it is in the Gothic style. In its construction everything has been sacrificed to strength, and though the effect is imposing, the place has the aspect rather of a fortress than of a palace. A vistor to some of the interior rooms with their frescoes is given a sense of space and of the cultural richness of the papal court. For a longtime, it was used as a barracks and prison, to the exigencies of which the fine apartments were ruthlessly adapted, but it is now municipal property.

Carcassonne - 43°12′24″N, 02°21′50″E

Rennes-le-Chateau -

Coordinate	42° 55′ 41″ N, 2° 15′ 48″ E

Rennes-le-Château (Rènnas del Castèl in Occitan) is a small medieval castle village and a commune in the Aude département, in the Languedoc area in southern France. It is known internationally, and receives tens of thousands of visitors per year, for being at the center of various conspiracy theories. Starting in the 1950s, a local restaurant owner, in order to increase business, had spread rumors of a hidden treasure found by a 19th century priest. The story achieved national fame in France, and was then enhanced and expanded by various hoaxsters, who claimed that the priest, Father Bérenger Saunière, had found proof of a secret society known as the Priory of Sion.

In Milan, hopefully we'll check out Leonardo's 'Last Supper' and a museum or two.

Then we'll have a couple days in Barcelona and fly back home from there.