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@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 3:32 AM

Day 3 of #biketour #travelogue

And we roll on, with the hardest climbing behindest us. Get a nice little river swim in at the top with some more picnic and session IPA

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 3:19 AM

Day 3 of #biketour #travelogue

Big heavy pack on my back with the beach towel, 2.5L of refreshments and enough ploughman's lunch to choke a horse.

But have you heard? The biggest climb of the Nanaimo Lakes ascent is being worked on so it is a surprise gravel ride!

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 21, 2026, 3:16 AM

Day 3 of #biketour #travelogue

The big one! Over 57 km going from sea level, over Nanaimo Lakes Road, up Nanaimo River road to the end of the pavement then back down to White Rapids and along the Haliburton waterfront

@hondonguyen.bsky.social Sep 20, 2026, 11:39 PM

Crossing 100 pages into this travelogue!

#nunobiki #botanicalgarden #plants #kobe #japan #travel #travelogue #art #artpost #artsky

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 9:15 PM

Day 2 of #biketour #travelogue

And now, we lunch at the Crow and Gate on our tour of Cedar and Yellow Point. Lots of rolling hills, some you glide up with your momentum and some are pretty stern little climbs

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 9:09 PM

Day 2 of #biketour #travelogue

My favourite viewing of the day was this. I like the fun of the staging, the patina of the vintage items and the hominess.

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 9:03 PM

Day 2 of #biketour #travelogue

I liked this sketch "Reservation Native Surrounded By Supernatural Clear-cut" especially the title.

This gallery also had 12 pictures based on Painting over something AI started. Challenging to say the least...

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 8:51 PM

Day 2 of #biketour #travelogue

A little art downtown. The main exhibit centers around this pile of soil, coal, ferns and screens. Amazingly folks, we technically have 2 days of #piles now. Piles!

@michaelspearwater.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 3:16 PM

#WIPSnips for Sept. 19 is 'tube'

In the #romantasy #travelogue, it takes all kinds to keep a voyage going, and some of those kinds are of a more artificial nature

excerpt from 'A Wager for Wanderlust' by Michael Spearwater
the word 'tube' is highlighted
---

A single sequence of trundle carriages sat on the rails, each cab blocky and solid with a half storey for passengers set above the main cabin holds. The thing was the black of wrought iron, whilst its attendants were all silver without polish.
The pawns, as they were called. The hard-working pieces of the chess set, identical in their blind obedience to commands and their constant forward motion. They were built in the silhouette of mæn, vaguely and without thought as to which kind. Two arms, two legs, a body, a head: Melitza had seen the dolls of children with more character to them. But a pawn would not be a pawn if it were unique, and this made its superiors easier to recognize.
Positioned at the base of the loading ramp, there was the next rung up the locomaton hierarchy, the sort her grandmother would call the turrets, for they could give direction but were otherwise as straightforward as the pawns they supervised. The turret was a thing of cylinders connected end-to-end with rubber tubes and gaskets, stolidly standing upon its tripodal arrangement as red lights travelled a circuit around its bucket-shaped head.
The hand which accepted their travelling papers was realistic—jarringly so, with its five fingers in a cloth glove. The fine instrument was too good for the tinker-yard appearance of the turret.
“All is in order,” it confirmed in its crackly, atonal version of the Krutki tongue. “Place luggage in bin. Passenger carriage is designated Number Three. Please proceed. And a nice day to you all.” The last sentence was delivered in a completely different tone that could almost have been a recording of someone else's voice entirely. The turret waved them farewell with that unsettling hand.

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 3:36 AM

It may be after dark in a rough part of town, but it is still not too late to get her flowers #biketour #travelogue

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 2:08 AM

35 km or so through Coombs Country. Crossing the Englishman River, a different view of the Inland Highway and piles. #biketour #travelogue

A large inflatable mushroom in front of a roadside shop

@tdastephen.bsky.social Sep 19, 2026, 2:03 AM

Day 1 of #biketour #travelogue

Lunch at the Rocking Horse Pub in Nanoose.

Reuben with Gladstone Hazy Pale Ale (one of the all timers). Marks off for mozzarella instead of Swiss on the Reuben though (although I get it if you are the kitchen - a cheaper cheese that you will use in lots of others)

Pub table with Reuben sandwich, fries and hazy pale ale

@michaelspearwater.bsky.social Sep 16, 2026, 2:23 PM

#WIPSnips for Sept. 16 is 'call'

In the #romantasy #travelogue, it is time for tea and exposition.

“Amadeo Lutencio Firallis Etrovan Brume!”
It was the tradition to list as many ancestors as possible within twenty syllables of a name, and his own came to fifteen. Many-greats-grandfather Tiliovecchio sadly had not made it through the count. It was also common tradition to ignore all of those middle names unless and until they were required to scold one properly. That his father felt the need to drag them out of storage like this was not a good sign, though it was surely expected.
“Why, hello, Father,” said Brume as he entered his parlour once more to find his parent standing there, red in the face. “Shall I call Pomor to steep the tea? We still have a few sachets of Lord Wessingher's Morning Selection.”
“Cut the bilious bloviation, my son. What do you think it is that you are going?”
“You happen to be the second person to ask me that in the past half hour,” Brume noted. “I am afraid to repeat myself too often now, lest I be a bore. It was all passed on by messenger dæmon.”
“Yes, certainly. 'Taking Great-Aunt Cimorine's travel advice. Will be home by wedding. Honour of family and large purse at stake.' Really, Amadeo? I think half the city knows, and yet I note that what bindings you put on the messenger dæmons prevent the gossipy little twits from leaving the city with this news.”
“Ah, does it so? I suppose I should check my bindings more thoroughly. What would Mother say?”
“Nothing, because she's overseeing a new branch of the messenger service towards Dervisshire and that happens to be just about the only place this message and news shall not be going to-day. Really, Amadeo? She is going to erupt like Old Besabia when she hears.”
“And when shall you inform her?”
His father's face had flushed the red of apoplexy away, leaving his thoughts and feelings clearer to read, and the story they told was both old and new to his son. “This evening, I suppose. If I send a messenger dæmon at half-past the eighth hour, she should receive it just before the ninth.”

@michaelspearwater.bsky.social Sep 15, 2026, 10:24 AM

#WIPSnips for Sept. 15 is 'exterior'

When in a #romantasy #travelogue, it's important to take notes of appearances and inner realities as best one can. The least of observances can be the most interesting

excerpt from 'A Wager for Wanderlust' by Michael Spearwater
the word 'exterior' is highlighted
--

Looking to the right, no sign of Miss Atsalnova was to be found, but there was a general movement from the main hall to the lodge's plentiful side rooms for private entertainments and relations. He wished her the best in whatever endeavour she was about to partake.
But for himself, oh, what to do, and with whom? Folk of all kinds still loitered around the main hall, having conversations and making connections before taking things private. His inability to speak the local tongue would not help here, so he need play a different game. Sitting at a now-empty table near the middle, where a bowl of fruit remained half-full and delicious, he took out his sketching pad once more and began a study of the stranger and more exotic items. One such fruit, called the ha'amaina locally, was the size of one's head before it was cut in quarters lengthwise to reveal a sweet-sour yellow meat within its scaly exterior. The meat was further cubed so as to be easily speared by forks for the diner's enjoyment. Another fruit was furled in layers of fleshy, bright red leaves, though the meat itself was grey with dark seeds and was vaguely spicy upon the tongue. And the nababa fingers were subtly different from those grown in the Many Lands, being firmer and starchier. His pencil traced back and forth, recording the shapes and proportions as best it could.
“A'iu'eo.” It sounded like a greeting, and he was happy to find that his ears did not lie. A lass of the under-isles, the shallow waters immediately around and between the shores of the Bynthine, took a seat next to him, arranging her curling, boneless limbs below her. Inky dark eyes glanced curiously at the papers, and a questioning note followed.

@michaelspearwater.bsky.social Sep 14, 2026, 10:19 AM

#WIPSnips for Sept. 14 is 'month'

Time management and calendars are a major part of the #romantasy #travelogue, which is likely why there are so many of them. Every time the journey takes the protagonist into a new dating system, he just adds it to the list, until it ends up like so:

Final date notation for 'A Wager for Wanderlust' by Michael Spearwater
It utilizes an inordinate number of calendrical systems
--

The day of the Wedding

The Fifth of Oksefen, or Pecoras, the Month of the Kine
The Twenty-Fifth of Ïulës
The Eighteenth of Peristoros
Year of the Merciful 1752

The Nineteenth of Kine,
second month of the Season of Floods
Year 372 of the XXXIVth Dynasty

The Eighteenth Day of the Sailing Month,
Year 1345 after the Fall of the Kingdom

The Eighteenth of Tyrza, or Tïksyna,
the Month of Accuity
The two-thousand-and-twentieth
year of the Eternal Falsa,
Fourth Year of Faravsya, Clad in Gems

The Seventeenth of Owahst-meñ, the Month of Growth
twenty-first year of the Toch'Krut

The Seventeenth of Tataget,
the Year of the Gilded Rat,
the seventeenth of Emperor Daisyo's reign

The Seventh Fulsome Day of Kawa'u,
Month of the Glossy Green Leaf

The Second Day of the Reed Period, Jaguar of Reed,
Year of the Old Knife, Eighth in the Fortieth Cycle of the Age

The Third Day of the Ripening Month,
Year of the League 27

@msipress.bsky.social Sep 13, 2026, 8:57 PM

#Publisher's pride (#books on #bestseller lists): #Travels with Elly, an #awardwinning #book by Larry MacDonald

msipressblog.blogspot.com/2026/09/publ...

#Canada #travelogue #travelwithpets #dogs

@michaelspearwater.bsky.social Sep 13, 2026, 8:00 AM

#WIPSnips for Sept. 13 is 'distract'

Reaching back to the start of the #romantasy #travelogue here for an example

excerpt from 'A Wager for Wanderlust' by Michael Spearwater
the word 'distract' is highlighted
--

There was not much time, and so he spent what little he had on a quick hug to his mother. He paid no mind to the flash of the picture-lamps in the background. Master Brume was making one last speech to the news-mongers, and such was to be expected. “I'll be home soon enough, mother,” he promised. “It is just a job, like any other. You shall see.”
His cheek had a callus from the number of pinches it had gotten, just like the one his mother left on it now. “You better. And beware of those wanton foreign lasses. I hear the stories, you realise. Get back here with a decent wage in your pocket, and we'll see about finding you a good, honest skurl-lass to wed.”
“Never fret, madam,” said Master Brume as he led Ollover away. “Your lad is safe with me. I shall insist he not do any such thing as I would not do myself.”
It seemed to Ollover, when thinking back on this moment, that the casual honorific to his mother had done its job to dazzle her and distract her from the fact that, to a mæn, the gathered news-mongers had guffawed at that final statement.
“Fare you well, everyone! We shall see you in ninety days' time!”

@lorrainecaputo.bsky.social Sep 12, 2026, 3:11 PM

2/2

HALF-WAY ON DEATH AND BACK
latinamericawanderer.wordpress.com/2018/08/19/h...

Safe Journeys!

#GermanLanguageDay #Travel #Travelogue #Train #Trains #TrainTravel #LatinAmerica
#travelbloggerscommunity #travelblogshare #traveladdicts #travelbugsworld

@davidninov.wsocial.eu Sep 11, 2026, 12:22 PM

Every thinking person feels the two central truths of Palamite theology: the absolutely incomprehensible mystery of Being, and at the same time, the mystical experience of it. Sвѣздоблюстителъ. #Travelogue #Sky #ArtOfLiving

@1handed.bsky.social Sep 9, 2026, 1:19 AM

Some of the food I've truly enoyed with gusto on this trip.
Luckily my bestie has lived here forever and is willing to go there, do that and show me.
Home tomorrow
#travelogue
#NewBrunswick

Killer good dark fudge cake with a large coating of boiled icing. Iykyk

Herb, cheese snd squishy white buns from the "pumpkin" produce stand "across the river".
They are heavy on my lap, but i know theh are wildly light and fluffy too.
I enjoy paradox. I really enjoyed the buns.

Sometimes the only thing to do is drive an hour to a wild blueberry stand by the road, which has been there decades and get STILL WARM WILD BLUEBERRY MUFFINS.
if you know, then your mind has been expanded too