Outward Bound - Wally Tour part 1

Having been quite lazy for a couple of days following the massive clean-up that was required in the wake of Hurricane Bernadette, I was determined to make some sort of excursion at the coming weekend. I had planned to go along to Captain Alecto's Mystery Tour, but this was unfortunately postponed to a later date... I do hope all is well for the Captain. I had also received an invitation from Armand to a roof-top party to be held Saturday afternoon, which would take me quite nicely to my 'nap' time. I would, however, have to make plans for Saturday morning.

The matter was quite neatly taken out of my hands by the arrival of a letter towards the end of the week. A Council meeting for my Order had been scheduled for Saturday, which was to take place at the new Motherhouse in Winterfell. This was to be my first visit to Winterfell, as the acquisition of the property there had been dealt with by two fellow Councillors that live in the region. Although a tour of Winterfell had been promised by my colleagues, I would have to defer that to perhaps a stay-over at a more convenient time. I would hate to rush that sort of thing, as the explorer in me was itching to take in every square meter the region had to offer. I had an idea....... I would use the time BEFORE the meeting to seek my entertainment.

I pulled some charts off the shelf and started to plan my route. Normally, one can use the travel service to make a non-stop, door to door trip, but I decided that I would study the map and make the journey in short 'hops', still taking the most direct route. According to my findings, the distance from my home in New Toulouse Jardin to the Motherhouse in one of the Winterfell regions, is 73,027m, or 45 and a half miles. Bearing in mind that a region is some 256m across, this would equate to something like 285 regions. Now a lot of that distance is purely water, but there are quite a few regions to be found. Dragging my finger across the map from NT, northeasterly to Winterfell, there were a couple of regions known to me, and some interesting clusters unknown too. I plotted my route and got quite excited at the prospect.... it seems that in the absence of Captain Alecto's Mystery Tour, I was going to make my own 'Wally Tour'.

I awoke early on Saturday, in fact it could still be classed as 'night time'. I often think my body clock is out of kilter with the rest of my neighbours, as I do seem to be awake at the strangest times... and conversely, can fall asleep dashed early too! As I was getting dressed, I heard my name being called in the street. I rushed out onto the balcony so as to stop the calling before it awoke the neighbours, and laughed as I saw two of the neighbours sitting astride their horses. Lady Gabrielle and Armand had just returned from a night's ride, and joining them in the street I admired their horses and joined in with their talk. After a little while, Armand left with a wave and the extraction of a promise from me that I would not forget to come to his party. Lady Gabrielle similarly bade me a good day, and said she would see me at the party.

Returning inside, I made sure my fires were doused, put on my hat and coat, picked up my valise, and started the first leg of the 'Wally Tour'....

... by walking from NT Jardin to NT Algiers station.

I lit my pipe and had a few puffs while I waited for transportation to my next stop, as I didn't think I would get to smoke it again until at my destination... unless there were some unforeseen delays.

Mont Saint Michel was my next stop. I really can't recommend this place highly enough. I have visited before, as a younger man making a pilgrimage of some of this world's religious sites.

The streets and walkways are beautifully narrow, and there are plenty of shops for those wishing to browse their goods.

The place really does deserve extensive exploration in its own right, rather than merely being a leg of a larger tour. I loved walking into darkened alcoves only to reappear on the other side in a blaze of light, which really does dazzle at first.

Making my way to my departure point, which took some back tracking I must say, my next port of call was to be South Charleston, a place to which I had never been before, but the name proved to be enticing, plus the fact that it was situated in a group of six regions, albeit two of the regions' names had the unimaginative repetition of two of the others, but with the added suffix of 'II'.

It boasts a pristine shopping area......

... and some large attractive homes, but seemed to lack any 'heart'. Perhaps I'm doing it a disservice, bearing in mind the time of day, but somehow, I think not.

Continued in part 2