SuperTrip 2024

We came to Calgary in 2022: A Canadian-American and an Irish-Brit looking for a place we could land, after the challenges of staying together during covid -another of the many adventures we have had together, across 3 continents. It was (and is) our first home together. Putting down roots does not mean we have stopped moving. After some epic road trips, and a few day hikes, in North America in 2022 and 2023, it was time to shave our heads, pull out our packs and put our boots back on...

On March 3rd 2024, we set off from Calgary in the middle of the first real storm of that winter. We got back on August 14th, 2024.

We were headed to Atlanta, where we would see Carey’s friends and family from his 20+-year soujourn there and park up the jeep for the final part of our journey.

In 2018, I walked the Camino Francais, from St Jean-de-pied-de-port to Santiago de Compostela, walking solo, while out of work. In 2020, Carey retired and had planned to make his own pilgrimage, only to be stimied by covid. In 2022, we came to Calgary. With me, again, unable to find work, the camino re-entered our lives.

We arranged to walk from mid-May 2024 to the end of June.

Then we found out what renewing our lease in Downtown Calgary was going to cost. We decided instead to repurpose.

Carey loves Paris. Our planned camino starts in South-West France. With our lease in Calgary lapsing at the end of February, we found a self-catering apartment in Malakoff, just outside the Périphérique Intérieur, about a 20-minute stroll from the Eiffel Tower and an easy train ride to Versailles. We became friends of the Louvre and got ourselves a Metro supermarket loyalty card.

We joined these 2 Parts of Supertrip 2024 together with a 2-week putter through provincial France from Paris to Tours to Azay-le-Rideau to Marseilles to Biarritz, which allowed me to show Carey the gardens of Villandry, one of my favourite places in the world.

Then, (per our watches) we walked 1,000km from the Pyrenees to the ocean, where we picked up clamshells on the beach (the scallops being long gone). Finally, after a week in Madrid, we flew back to Atlanta for Super trip part 3.

With nothing to rush back for, we decided to take the long way home from Atlanta – via Niagara Falls, Montreal, Old Quebec City, Fredericton, PEI, Cape Breton, Newfoundland, Labrador, Newfoundland (again), Halifax, Ottowa and then back around the Lakes and across the Prairies, home. It was extraordinary: an East Canadian odyssey, following on from our road trip to Tuktoyaktuk in the far North West in 2022.

Man plans and God laughs. 6 weeks after finalizing our trip, we found our perfect apartment in Bankside, which is where we now call “home”. We remained committed to Supertrip 2024. Even though we doubled up on some expenses, following through (on both opportunities) was a magnificent, if stretching, choice.

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