flicks
Thanks for the dog park St. Cugat
We have a new dog park where we live. We had none before. I have to say it is *great*.
- Our dog can run free (check the photo).
- Our dog can socialize with other dogs (we really needed this). We had a couple of small fights but nothing big.
- The dogs have a place where they can be off leash and not be a danger to themselves or an annoyance/danger to other people.
- We meet other dog owners.
The dog park not only has been put in place, but it is being improved as well. Benches have been added, gates improved and it seems they will add a much needed fountain and some trash cans. They will even add lights.
About dog fights
If my dog is involve I never let it escalate. If I smell conflict I call my dog and make her run in another direction. If she or the other dog insist on attacking, I just grab Happy (our dog) from the back legs and pull her out of it. I only get in between the two dogs if a fight has not started but I suspect it may.
I never let Happy fight, if I have doubts between if they are playing or fighting, I prefer to err on the safe side and not let the dogs figure it out and then be sorry.
new earthpassenger logo/title
We inkscaped a new logo/title.
It’s a vector graphic, which means that we can make as big as we want. Also it is very easy to change the color of things since the attributes are applied objects and not pixels.
An example of changing the letters color and exporting to bigger png:
inkscaping…
I’ve being drawing with inkscape and a wacom tablet.
That’s suppose to be a dog, to be more specific, our dog.
EDIT: Playing a bit with layers I created other “settings” for the same drawing:
changing wp theme
We’ve decided to give a go to the Hybrid theme and create a child theme’s on it (overwrite css).
The previous theme was assembled from zero, but let’s face it, doing a children theme on top of a well built and solid theme (which I am hoping Hybrid is) seems like a better way to create a good personalized theme, hopefully with much less brain power required.
Today I started by changing the theme to hybrid (0.7.1). It wasn’t as easy as it could’ve been, since I skipped the part (which I am sure is somewhere) that says you should have a recent version of wordpress.
Everything went to hell after activating the theme. We could not admin wordpress via web anymore buaaaa!!!. Luckily I had ssh access and was able to get back on my feed by replacing all the contents in the wp_theme/hybrid with wp_theme/default.
We upgraded version of wordpress via web admin, flawless. Installed (Upload/Activate) hybrid 0.7.1 this time without a single problem.
Next mission: install the skeleton child theme and start with messing with css.
Stage 17: Honto to Pamplona
We started our last day early at 8.15am. There was a dense fog. You could only see up to 15-30 meters. We were hoping that as we rode up the mountain the fog would thin. No luck.
We had a long climb ahead mostly on a small road, and then the last 3km on a walking path. The weather didn’t improve as we climbed. When we reached the walking path it started getting REALLY cold. We took out our rain gear which was one of the few things in our packs that we hadn’t used yet.
We reached the top around 11am after climbing 900+ meters. We started to take a small road down to Roncesvalles which was fairly inclined. We had to go slowly since Francesc didn’t have any front breaks and the visibility was really bad!
As we start the final part of the descent to Roncesvalles, it started raininig. Like someone turned on a faucet!
When we finally get to Roncesvalles we are soaked thru and tired. We still have about 50km to go to get to Pamplona following the main road. We quickly decide that Roncesvalles is the final destination of this trip. We ask in the information office what options we have to get down to Pamplona without riding. Turns out we just missed the bus by about 5 min. We are lucky that there are several large taxis that can take us and our bikes down to Pamplona in 30 minutes vs the 3 hours that it would normally take!
We got to Pamplona at 14h. Checked into the hotel and had a shower to warm up, got some lunch then picked up the rental car. We decided not to spend the night in Pamplona and we were home in Barcelona by 10pm that night. Home sweet home!
And so ends the crazy biker adventure!
Stage 16: Sumisou to Honto
Total km 68
Total climb 1000m
Today was a cloudy day and a relatively easy one. It seemed to be mostly downhill, but we did about 1000 meters of climbing. I think that the scenery would have been nicer if it was sunny.
The path took us thru quite a few settled areas, and was double marked in a few areas, which meant that we got lost. To find our way back to the path we had to take the national highway, a pretty big road with big trucks. Scary.
After 1000km the brakes on F’s bike are totally shot. We had hoped to replace the pads at the bike shop in Saint Jean Pied du Port, but unfortunately they didn’t have the right parts available, so he is going to have to be very careful on the descent tomorrow.
Saint Jean Pied de Port is a beautiful little walled town. The traditional jumping off point for thousands of pilgrims who want to begin the Camino de Santiago. I suppose that it would be a beautiful little walled town if you could actually see it. The last 2 times that we have been here it has been PACKED with tourists. The road was chock-a-block with cars and the town was bursting at the seams with people.
We stopped for some not very good food then didn’t even bother to wander around before starting the last 4km and 300m (climb) of our trip. By the time that we reached Honto, the place where we were sleeping, it had started to drizzle.
Our B&B has about 30 pilgrims staying at the gite. Almost all are French. We are all hoping that the weather improves tomorrow.
We have one last final push before we end.
Night 17 – Aug 24th
Honto
Demi-pension
Stage 14: Montréal-du-Gers to Miramont-Sensacq
Total km 80
Ride time – 6.5hrs
Climb ??
Today was a long day. We left Ferme de Colume at 8.45. I had peanut butter on toast. YUM.
Once again the start of the day was constant ups and downs. I think that we probably have done about 800m of climbing. It was like riding a rollercoaster. We followed the GR at least 80% of the time. The paths were good and under shade although it wasnt that hot today.
But we are tired. I suppose that is what you get on day 14 of a 1200km trip….
Our Bed and Breakfast today is wonderful. It is called the Maison du Bois and is located outside of Miramont-Sensacq. The room is lovely and cool with its own bathroom (with shower and tub!) and a pool as well!!! They also offer a gite that you can rent by the week. I think that it can sleep about 6 to 8 people. It would be a wonderful place to come for a week!
Miramont-Sensacq Le Maison du Bois Demi-pension
Stage 13: Miradoux to Montréal-du-Gers
We had a good late(8.15) breakfast this morning. We had breakfast on a terrace looking at a fields and little forest. The same place where we had dinner yesterday. While we were having dinner I saw something crossing a large field more or less at a half a kilometer from us. The owner of the chamber d’hote, got her binoculars and we were able to see that it was a deer. Both dinner and breakfast were great and plentiful. For dinner we had melon (like cantelope the orange ones), hot tomato soup with lots of spices, confit du canard with potato purè aligot style (ie with lots of garlic – which the region is known for), several local cheeses for the cheese course and finally a peach cake. It was delicious. Breakfast was the classic bread butter and mermelades, but also a not so classic home made yougurt. I even think that the marmelades were home made. Definitely a place to repeate both for the wonderful food and the great hospitality.
Today was a cloudy day, it threatened to rain but it didn’t. We started relatively late (9.15) and mainly followed the GR (not many shortcuts and detours today). We thought that we were going to do around 80km, but at the end we did around 60km. Probably miscalculation and an official “Hors GR” shortcut. The hors GR marked in our book saved us some ups and downs and may be 5 to 10km.
The first big town (500+ hab in the summer) was Lectoure. Of course Lecture is on top of a hill which you have to climb to later descend to the road again. Lectoure had a market day today, which allowed us to do some food shopping. We took our only shortcut via road after Lectoure. It was only a couple of km. Looking back I am not sure it was worth it the road was relatively busy and we could have done the path perfectly fine, but at that point we thought that the day was going to be 80km.
Today we crossed lots of sunflower fields. The little paths that go between the fields are very dry now. You can see cracks, like if the earth was openning its mouth hoping for water. These little paths also have the marks left by other vehicles when they were muddy. The uneven surface by the cracks and marks makes for an interesting ride. Between path and path we take small roads (no center marking, one vehicle at a time and almost no traffic). These roads seem to be use by the GR to connect between paths and visit every little group of houses on the way.
Just 4km before the town of Condom, we stopped for our lunch. We ate our usual bread, sausage and cheese, plus a couple of pices of fruit. After lunch we napped for 10 minutes. By the end of the nap I opened my eyes to see another deer crossing the field in front of us. The deer was at 80 meters from us, and did not hurry. The deer went into a sunflower field where we could not see it. We took the camera out hoping to take a picture, but the deer was not seen again.
After lunch and crossing Condom we found out that we were closer to the end of our day, than we though. We celebrated by getting tired earlier than if the final destination was farther away. That is mind work at its finest. We you know that the end of your day is near, your mind starts telling you that you are tired.
The place were we are staying tonight its a working farm, I bet the dinner is going to be good. We meet the owner and old couple 50+. As we where going towards our rooms, the husband jumped in the tractor and went away. The tractor had one of those tools attached at the back to air the fields.
We are waiting for dinner which is at 8.00, we were getting used to early dinners. I suspect we are waiting for the husband to come back from the fields.
Montreal-du-Gers Ferme du Couloume Demi-pension