The Route of the Thread

Good morning all
I hope this finds you well. If you have just joined me, this blog is about my crochet journey along some of the North Atlantic coast. The first post 'Germination' details the ideas behind this project; and this one sets out the route I plan to take, travelling simply by ferry and by bus. To keep to a modest budget, I will mostly be camping in my trusty old little canvas tent, except for the Moroccan stage. In a country where economic opportunities are more limited, camping is not so much of a leisure activity, so I will be staying in locally owned accommodation.

I am trying to keep as close to the coastline as possible- a little dependent on bus and ferry routes of course. My journey will begin in Killarney, in the south-west of Ireland, going by bus along the south coast, through Cork and to Rosslare, from where I will take the ferry to Roscoff in Brittany. From here, I will go to Quimper and along the south Breton coast to Nantes, and from the port at St Nazaire, a ferry to Gijon, on the north coast of Spain. Here begins the longest overland section of the journey, hugging the coast through Galicia, from the top to the bottom of Portugal, and along the Algarve, into Spain to Tarifa, where the ferry will take me to Tangier. It is in Morocco where I will slightly deviate from the coast to visit Fes, an ancient city so important to the history of fibre arts, that it seems wrong to miss out. From here, back to the coast at Rabat, and along the ocean through Casablanca, Essaouira and finally to Agadir, where my journey will finish. 

Not being a spring chicken, I know that this journey will be taxing physically, and I don't want to burn out, so am factoring in two 3 day breaks to stay put in one spot, roughly a third and two thirds of the way through, visiting friends in Landerneau in Brittany, and in Cercal in the Alentejo. Otherwise, I will be visiting a yarn shop every morning, crocheting and travelling every afternoon.

I speak French and Spanish, and am improving my basic Portuguese to facilitate communication- I want to be engaged with people on the journey, and speaking the local language of course makes things much easier, and allows for a deeper understanding. I have a basic knowledge of Breton and Moroccan Arabic, maybe enough to show goodwill and effort rather than meaningful communication- if anyone can help me with Amazigh, or more Arabic, particularly any specific vocabulary related to fibre arts, I'd be very grateful.

Anyway, the planning has begun, the route is set (subject to the ferry companies changing their routed, as they tend to do!) Now for some more serious research into places to buy yarn, and delving into the history of cultural exchange along this route

Love and light to you all, Billy xxx