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From my many years traveling the world, I've learned that the key to a good road trip is not only making stops to refresh and refuel,

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but also to discover unique experiences.

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On my previous podcast episode we began a road trip from Montreal to Quebec City,

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traveling along the Chemin du Roy or the King’s Road.

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As we drive along this historic route, I've decided to venture off the beaten path to take a historic walking tour.

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It's the perfect strolling city. Taste local delicacies. Always a pizza and always a poutine.

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Toast to sustainability. Sante! Sante!

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And see the changing leaves from above in a seaplane.

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It's amazing. Only in Quebec.

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Join us as we uncover Quebec's fascinating history, culture, nature and great food with passionate local experts guiding the way.

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It's the Travels with Darley podcast, where we bring you along for our exciting adventures on the road.

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[Music]

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We're continuing our road trip along the Kings Road, stopping in a city of great importance to the history of Quebec, 

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Trois-Rivieres.

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Founded in 1634, it was the second permanent French settlement after Quebec City, 

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and prior to that, it was a fur trading hub.

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Local tour guide Jean-Philippe Marcotte, who grew up here, leads me on a walking tour.

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So very pedestrian friendly around here.

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Oh, it's the perfect strolling city.

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Trois-Rivieres is known for its history, picturesque scenery and European charm.

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All the circle landmark are pretty much ten, 15 minutes away from one another.

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So park your car, don't touch it for the rest of the weekend Perfect. 

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and you'll be good.

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Trois-Rivieres is three rivers. 

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Yes. We have the St. Lawrence. 

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Oh. That’s a typical English speaking mistake 

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because in French, the St. Lawrence is not a river, okay. 

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In French, the St. Lawrence is a fleuve. A fleuve. 

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A fleuve. What is a fleuve? It’s a river that goes to the ocean. Okay. 

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But the three rivers of three rivers are the Saint-Maurice, 
the Saint-Maurice and the Saint-Maurice. 

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One river is three? 

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Almost.

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The river, Saint-Maurice, arriving to the St. Lawrence ends in the delta.

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You have island at the end giving you the impression it's three different rivers,

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but it's actually all the same.

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Interesting. So many fun facts we’re learning this morning.

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And the stairs is pretty much the best way to gather fun facts.

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Jean-Philippe points to a grand staircase engraved with significant dates and milestone events

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in the development of the city.

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History lovers are sure to enjoy tracing this interactive timeline with each step.

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They built the town on top of the stairs and that's how Trois-Rivieres was officially established. 

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Because yeah, before that there's really a lot of activity already going on.

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The Abenaki on the South shore, the Atikamekw back to the North, it was hunting ground for the Anishinaabe.  

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All of them together would come here even before the French arrived to the area.

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So it only made sense for the French to establish a city here as a trading post.

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So where we're standing up here, this would have been where the fort was located. 

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Yeah. You would have the fort that would have been built right here.

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And just behind you would have the palisade where you would have all the houses.

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After that you would have everybody's house inside the fortification.

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The area where the fort once stood is now a public space decorated with commemorative plaques,

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trees, flowers, and benches, where visitors can learn the history behind this landmark area.

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And one park in the middle was where the native would come and tent when they were coming to, 

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to trade their pelt. And even today that portion of ground that was dedicated to them is still a park. 

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So there's no building that has ever been on that parcel of land.

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We stroll down a picturesque street lined with quaint, French Canadian architecture.

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In the distance, my eyes are drawn to a collection of stunning white and gray buildings

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with grand domes.

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You have the Anglican’s church to the right. The two old church and the

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Ursuline Monastery in the back.  

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So beautiful. The architecture is really nice.

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So yeah, The Ursuline, they arrived in 1697.

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Obviously, the building was not that big from the start.

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If you go from the chapel, count five windows, 

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that was the size of the monastery

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and then they expand throughout the years. 

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So the Ursulines came over here from France?

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Yeah, from France to Quebec City and from Quebec City

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they spread out throughout the province of Quebec.

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Such a beautiful building.

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And I see it says on here foundation 1697, restoration 1897.

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Yeah. They had a few fires over the years.

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1897 was the 200 years anniversary of the monastery.

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So they have expand the chapel going up top, 

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that's when they build the dome. 

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This part of town is really neat.

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It's great that you can walk so easily from where we were staying,

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where there's the restaurants and the shops

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up to this old part of the city and really step back in time.

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If you're wondering what to eat when you visit Trois-Rivieres, 

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pizza is a big thing in Trois-Rivieres.

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Always a. Pizza? 

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Yeah. Greek style pizza. The crust really thick.

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A lot of garnish and meat.

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When I was a kid, every Friday it was pizza and poutine.


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Ooh, that's very decadent.

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Jean-Philippe takes me to have a local Friday night meal at a place that's been serving pizza since the 1960s.

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Ooh, look at that steam.

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Look at that pizza.

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And the poutine as well.

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This is what you would eat on a Friday night.

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On a Friday night. It was typical meal in the family.

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Always a pizza and always a poutine.

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Three simple ingredients, fries, gravy and cheese curd.

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Mm. Mm-hmm. Something about that squeaky cheese mixed with the savory gravy

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and the well saturated french fry.

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Well, I like your traditions here.

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The history is interesting, 

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the food is very tasty, and I feel like a local on your tour.

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Oh, good.

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That was pretty much the idea today.

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We may be in the city, but nature still inspires what's served in Trois-Rivieres.

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At Distillerie Mariana, located in a building that’s over a hundred years old, 

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Matthew Sigouin introduces me to gin

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made with local products.

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All the imaging that you see on our bottles that we have, with leaves, forest, trees.

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So very much inspired by Quebec, the land, the nature.

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With all the ingredients, all the different types of cereal or grains that we use to make the products

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or the gin are our local products.

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And you have located this distillery in a building that has some history.

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This building right here is 100 years old.

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In 1904, 1905, two brothers opened a business up here.

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And instead of taking down the building, it goes with the story of the forest,

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for recycling of a building instead of taking it down and rebuilding.

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The first product which was created by Mariana was the Canopee gin. 

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Canopee, which was your original forest themed gin. 

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Yeah.

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In French, say Sante!

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Sante. 

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Ooh, I feel like I'm in a forest drinking gin.

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But you really taste the spruce. 

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The sprue, yes.

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In French, it's called the epinette, but it's the black spruce that we use to make Canopee. 

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We're flying in a seaplane over La Mauricie National Park. 

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This is my first time in a seaplane and I'm gonna be your co-pilot, right?

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Yeah, so.

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Okay.

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We’re seeing the changing leaves from above with pilot Fabrice Bedu of Hydravion Aventure,

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Ready to go? 

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I'm ready.

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[Speaks in French] 

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a company which works to be sustainable in their approach to travel and gives visitors an

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appreciation for the vast beauty of Quebec's nature.

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I hop into the seaplane, ready to explore Quebec's breathtaking nature from a new perspective.

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So today we are going to the north.

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We are going over the National Park of Mauricie, which is very nice.

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And we're gonna make a loop inside the national park. 

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You will see it’s huge, and you have so much lake everywhere, water everywhere.

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So for the seaplane it’s the best place in the world.

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You can land everywhere and it's very nice.

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Looking out of the window, I'm captivated by the sparkling blue water,

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vibrant fall foliage and magnificent white birds soaring through the sky.

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We have the big St. Lawrence River with all the flat terrain and then we have the relief of

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the Canadian Shield. 

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And the Canadian Shield, it’s all the rocky soil part of the Canadian territory. 

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And this is why there is so many lakes in that part.

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So we have two different types of panorama,

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 it’s very nice. 

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Canada is the second biggest country in the world so it's amazing.

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It's so big and with only 40 million inhabitants, so,

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and all the inhabitants, they are on the south part of the country. 

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So as soon as you go to north, completely nature.

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That's very nice.

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Getting a bird's eye view really makes you appreciate the beauty of our planet.

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Wow. What a way to see the changing leaves. 

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Yeah, it's the best way to see that.

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It's a beautiful way to really understand how vast

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and forested Quebec is, and the lakes.

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Yeah. Everywhere.

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More than 500,000 lakes. So it’s amazing. 

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Only in Quebec.

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In this podcast, we've uncovered some of the most unforgettable stops along the King's Road.

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From learning the history of Trois-Rivieres on a walking tour,

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to trying local pizza with poutine, locally made gin,

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and flying in a sea plane to see the changing leaves from above,

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there's so much to discover in Quebec.

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Listen to our previous podcast,

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kicking off our road trip along the King's Road, 

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and check out other podcasts featuring Quebec, Montreal, and the Eastern Townships.

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If you need more travel inspiration, check out our other podcast episodes featuring

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road trips across the USA.

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And if you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe, 

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and stay tuned for our next episode featuring our final stop along the King's Road

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on this exciting season three of the Travels with Darley Podcast.

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[Music]

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