Starting to get ready for my next adventure. I will be hiking the Beara Penensula in Ireland with my one time neighbor, Bob Baker.
Bob is a retired attorney (I hesitate to say retired as he is very active in the community and with challenging the Northern Pass transmission line project). Bob divides his time between his mountain top place in New Hampshire and West Hartford.
Today Bob and I hiked about 11 miles along the Metacomet Trail in totally delightful weather.
I will be updating the blog site, replacing the Greek and Vietnam stuff with Irish.
I do not yet have a great many thoughts about the Beara trek. They will be added as time goes on.
One thought I had as I prepare for Ireland is advice my father’s stepfather gave me. Charlie, my father’s stepfather was a hard man, he was a sawyer and owned a small sawmill on lake Samamish in Washington. Charlie had been a teamster in the Klondike during the gold rush. Charlie was always hard on dad but he was always kind to my grandmother, Gertrude. Because of the kindness to his mother, dad was always deferential to Charlie and made his last days comfortable. This was long after Gertrude had passed. Well, Charlie’s only advise to me that I recall was, “Stay away from the Irish.” Had I heeded this admonition I would have had a very different and possibly better career. I will endeaver to understand wisdom as I trek the Beara Way.
Backpacking Bill 