ABC of the Saints

[bluenotebob]

There's been a bit of misunderstanding here - and it's probably my fault (it usually is).

I thought the intention was for each individual/challenge entrant to choose their own two target subjects (a bit like the Lunacy challenges in that you pick a distance that suits you ... yet is still challenging).

That's why my initial (and daft) proposed Challenge title was the 2024 ABC of Two Things.

I said that my preferred option would be Crosses & Rivers - full expecting @All uphill to opt for something like Pubs & Parks.

Is this an unworkable idea? If so, I'm perfectly happy to go with a consensus pair of target subjects.

I swore off alcohol more than 20 years ago so I don't pay any attention to the names of bars. But perhaps Bars & Restaurants would work for me .. I'd have to find a Yellow Pages equivalent and start searching for targets.

Reverting to crosses for a moment - there are a lot here (almost as common as telegraph poles) .. most crosses aren't named but some are. I was thinking more of place names - such as la Croix Adéline - which may or may not actually have a cross - and would photo the place name as my post.

Incidentally - I did find la Croix Zoro - which pleased me greatly. Reminded me of Quaker Oats .. and I'm still trying to work out why...

I'd be happy to launch an ABC of Crosses challenge that is undefined time-wise, ie to be done whenever. .. and join in a 2024 Challenge on a pair of subjects that everyone else has agreed to.

 

[bluenotebob]

Are you still thinking about this ? @All uphill . You "liked" my post above (thanks) but haven't replied yet.

It would be helpful to know if you're going to launch a '2024 ABC of Pubs'. I said above that I'd have a go at 'Bars & Restaurants' but some initial research suggests that I may also need to include some cafés (which sell alcohol) in my A to Z list.

It's so damn cold here that I'm limited to only a couple of short rides each day so I have lots of time to research and plan this challenge - if that's what we're going to do next year.

Re @Willd 's comments above ... yes, there are a lot less pubs in the UK than there used to be. I lived and worked in Kingston-upon-Thames in the early 1970s and there were over 60 pubs in the square mile of the town centre .. probably less than half of that now. But you could still do most of this suggested challenge in an afternoon there, were you so minded...

Please let me know what you think @All uphill ... so that I can either crack on researching - or do something else.

 

[All uphill]

Are you still thinking about this ? @All uphill . You "liked" my post above (thanks) but haven't replied yet.

It would be helpful to know if you're going to launch a '2024 ABC of Pubs'. I said above that I'd have a go at 'Bars & Restaurants' but some initial research suggests that I may also need to include some cafés (which sell alcohol) in my A to Z list.

It's so damn cold here that I'm limited to only a couple of short rides each day so I have lots of time to research and plan this challenge - if that's what we're going to do next year.

Re @Willd 's comments above ... yes, there are a lot less pubs in the UK than there used to be. I lived and worked in Kingston-upon-Thames in the early 1970s and there were over 60 pubs in the square mile of the town centre .. probably less than half of that now. But you could still do most of this suggested challenge in an afternoon there, were you so minded...

Please let me know what you think @All uphill ... so that I can either crack on researching - or do something else.

Sorry for the delay in replying @bluenotebob I've been out on the bike!

I swore off alcohol seven years ago buy think I will still go for an A to Z of pubs and cafes during 2024. I'll start a thread for that over the weekend.

It's a good idea of yours to use the cold dark evenings to research and plan in readiness for the odd bright day early in the new year.

This should be fun!

 

[bluenotebob]

This should be fun!

Thanks for letting me know. Glad you were out on your bike too today - the NE wind here was brutal but I managed a couple of hours outside - three of my bikes are now off the mark for December.

I'm really looking forward to this 'Pubs & Cafés' challenge too. Hopefully it'll take me to a few new destinations.

Here's an idea for 2025 .. 'Rivers & Bridges'. I'll do some research on this over the coming months.

I'll also set up a new (time unlimited) challenge for 'Crosses' when I have a moment.

 

[FrothNinja]

I know this challenge is probably over, but I think I might have a crack at it with the aim of finishing before the end of 2025.

 

[FrothNinja]

St Alkmund's, Shrewsbury

 

[Willd]

I don't think any of them are ever over I still have one more saint to go, when I can work myself up for a 100 miler

 

[All uphill]

I don't think any of them are ever over I still have one more saint to go, when I can work myself up for a 100 miler

Me too. I still have O, I and Z to get before I expire.

 

[bluenotebob]

Well, I haven't got beyond 'B' yet - so the end of 2025 would be an optimistic finish date for me...

... and 'I' is an almost impossible letter for me too. Not found a 'La Ville' 'I' anywhere - or a Saint 'I' - or a bar/café with an 'I' ..

Isn't one of the rules that the Saint's name should be in the photo @All uphill ? Shouldn't someone tell @FrothNinja to whip back to the church quickly and take another photo before he goes back to Lancashire?

 

[FrothNinja]

Well, I haven't got beyond 'B' yet - so the end of 2025 would be an optimistic finish date for me...

... and 'I' is an almost impossible letter for me too. Not found a 'La Ville' 'I' anywhere - or a Saint 'I' - or a bar/café with an 'I' ..

Isn't one of the rules that the Saint's name should be in the photo @All uphill ? Shouldn't someone tell @FrothNinja to whip back to the church quickly and take another photo before he goes back to Lancashire?

Probably not going to add that complication - however, the name, possibly illegible, is on the blue notice board thingy

 

[Willd]

Found a Q

I've also found an X, so this challenge isn't quite over for me yet

St Andrew
St Botolph
St Catherine
St Denys
St Edith
St Francis
St Giles
St Helen
St Ives
St John (the Baptist)
St Katherine
St Leonard
St Mary
St Nicholas
St Oswald
St Peter
St Quentin
St Rumbold
St Simon
St Thomas

St Vincent
St Wulfstan

 

[bluenotebob]

At last !

16 months after posting a ‘B’ in this thread, I finally made it to St Caradec .. I got to within 15km of here back at the start of June and I fully expected to have reached it by the middle of June … but illness later in June, work in July, heat in August + hordes of tourists, poor weather in September etc etc, all conspired to delay my progress.

I had a range of choices for ‘Saint C’, including St Congard (on the Nantes-to-Brest canal) and Ste Cathérine (in the hills above le Roc St André) but despite getting close to both, I never made it. I also found a street named St Columbe in Crétudel (but I didn’t have a camera with me) and an estate agent’s in la Trinité Porhoët called St Columbe Immobilier .. but the longer I left it, the more determined I became to get to St Caradec.

I’ll post full details of yesterday’s ride in the ‘Your Ride Today’ thread (with lots of photos) but, in essence, I managed to extend my journey north along the V8/rigole d’Hilvern by about 12km – and my journey south along the VAB (Voie Abbaye Beauport – one of the Compostela pilgrimage trails) by about 7km – and I finally got round to posting a ‘C’ in this thread.

I hope to get to ‘D’ before year-end – and ‘E’ and ‘F’ (both of which involve long rides) in Spring 2025. Suffice it to say, this has become a “lifetime project”…

 

[bluenotebob]

St Drédeno (about 8km NE of Pontivy) - and la chapelle de St Drédeno just around the corner

I nearly managed to get St Eloi today as well - but ran out of energy and food (and daylight)

 

[bluenotebob]

St Etienne-du-Gué-de-l’Isle this afternoon. I think St Etienne-du-Gué-de-l’Isle must be one of the longest of French place names. It’s on the river Lié south of la Chéze.

It was a 72km ride out there and back – almost all of it in mist and very low cloud. Around 23km of the ride was all new to me – and very welcome. I guess that really is the point of challenges like this – to get you to visit somewhere new.

I’m on a roll .. that’s three Saints posted in less than 3 weeks. My next one should be St Fiacre .. I’ve found two of these (but no other F’s). I’ll try and do one of them later in November (hopefully on a less misty day).