BW23: June sojourn by bike and barge

Purple Tulip by Ozugun 

Welcome to our June sojourn by bike and barge through the western Europe's low countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.  We are going to take our time and explore literary landmarks in Amsterdam, literary treasures in Belgium, and the voices and literature of writers in Luxembourg.  Plus cycle in the footsteps of Georges Simenon's fictional detective Jules Maigret and look into the heads of characters with Renate Dorrestein who recently passed away on May 4th.

We missed the beginning of the 49th Poetry International Festival in Rotterdam. However, we'll begin our literary adventures in Trompenburg Gardens for the last day listening to the poetry of Joost Baars and more.  Jump on your bike and check out  Expatica's Guide to Dutch Literature, Owlcation's Belgian Literature: Some Classic Authors and Works You Might Wish to Know, Literary Institutions of Luxembourg, as well as Goodread's Best Dutch Literature,  Popular Belgian authors, and Around the World in 80 Day's Books set in Luxembourg discussion.  

Our Blossom Bookology flower of the month are Tulips which are the national flower of the Netherlands. There are a number of directions to go for this month's challenge.    Read one book per letter using either the title and/or the first or last name of the author.  Yes, you can mix it up.  You may read a book with the name of the flower, color of the flower in the title, or on the cover.  Another possibility is a book which takes place in the time period or flower's country of origin or has some cultural significance and/or symbolism of the flower.  The choices are unlimited.

Our Brit Trip on  Ichnield Way is taking us to Hertfordshire.  Some fun literary tie-ins to Hertforshire include: Pride and Prejudice, Howards End, and Animal Farm.  

Not Hertfordshire specific but an interesting article on famous houses inspiring literary works. 

Have fun armchair traveling and following rabbit trails as you travel through the low  countries on the Rebels bus or Hertfordshire if you are on the Detective Bus.

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BW5: Brit Tripping

Photo © Richard Croft (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Next week, the Great Mysterious British road trip will begin and and will affectionately be called Brit Tripping from here on.  The trip is hosted by Sandy and Amy and they are here to explain all about the rules, the ranks, trips, and the schedule.

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This year we’ll be following the Roman roads through England with the intent of reading a book from each of the 45 counties with a few extra trips to London. At the beginning of the week we’ll check in with our route and we’ll post what we’ve read. Pack your bags and kindles and audiobooks and get ready to Brit Trip!

One of the challenges we discovered in planning was that the counties change frequently and in many places overlap with other counties and then there’s some disagreement on what is and isn’t a county.

Here’s an interesting article on the confusion of English counties!

General rules:

• Join in for as much as you want. This is supposed to be fun.
• Let us know if you are in so we know who we are caravanning with!
• Rereads are allowed.
• No page number minimum.
• Please follow us on Goodreads. We’ll be shelving our Brit Tripping reads on their own shelf. To see what counties are included you need to go MumtoTwo’s page and click on SETTINGS next to the search box and check the box for RECOMMENDER. Then at the bottom of the beige box click on CLOSE.
• Our expected itinerary will be posted every Sunday.
• The complete schedule for the year is available in the England Mystery road trip link above. 

  

Join a bus:

• The Detectives (Mystery reading)
• The Rebels (Mixed genre reading)

All those who joined us for our adventures will earn a rank based on number of counties completed.

And the final level is The Bertram Wooster. That is earned by reading one book set in England of any genre but failing spectacularly at all other challenges. A good attitude must be maintained despite numerous hardships. Employing a Gentleman’s Gentleman is optional but encouraged. Bonus points awarded if you are accidentally engaged multiple times during the year.

Schedule:

Ermine Street

• 2/04 - London (Scotland Yard)
• 2/11 – Cambridgeshire
• 2/18 – Huntingdonshire
• 2/25 – Bedfordshire
• 3/04 – Northampton shire and Rutland
• 3/11 - Nottinghamshire
• 3/18 - East and West Riding of Yorkshire
• 3/25 – York

Dere Street

• 4/01 – North Yorkshire
• 4/08 – Durham
• 4/15 – Tyne and Wear
• 4/22 – Northumbria

Ichnield Way

• 4/29 – Isle of Wight
• 5/06 – Dorset
• 5/13 – Hampshire
• 5/20 – Berkshire
• 5/27 – Buckinghamshire
• 6/03 – Herefordshire
• 6/10 – Essex
• 6/17 – Suffolk
• 6/24 - Norfolk

Fosse Way

• 7/01 – Cornwall
• 7/08 – Devon
• 7/15 – Dorset
• 7/22 – Gloucestershire
• 7/29 – Derbyshire
• 8/12 – Lincolnshire

Akemam Street

• 8/19 – London
• 8/26 – Oxfordshire
• 9/02 – Wiltshire
• 9/09 – Somerset

Watling Way

• 09/16 – Kent
• 09/23 – Sussex
• 09/30 – Surrey
• 10/07 – Spooky London
• 10/14 – Worcestershire
• 10/21 – Warwickshire
• 10/28 – West Midlands
• 11/04 – Staffordshire
• 11/11 – Shropshire
• 11/18 – Cheshire
• 11/25 – Merseyside
• 12/02 – Manchester
• 12/09 – Lancashire
• 12/16 – Cumbria

Christmas in London

We hope you enjoy traveling around England with us!

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Please link to your specific post and not your general blog link. In the Your Name field, type in your name and the name of the book in parenthesis. In the Your URL field leave a link to your specific post. If you don't have a blog, leave a comment telling us what you have been reading.   Every week I will put up  Mr. Linky which will close at the end of each book week.  No matter what book you are reading or reviewing at the time, whether it be # 1 or # 5 or so on, link or comment on the current week's post.