Hi Robin,
Will contnue to send pics when I can. although i do forget many thanks for keeping this thing together. It is much appreciated. I will send a postcard. I promise.
Sharon – Write. It was supposed to be every day…………
Sadie – U can write too!
Love Simon X
Easy day. Maybe too easy.
Awoke late. 7.30am.
Breakfat 8.30am – Must tell Alan that a hearty breakfast does not mean eating so much you cant move!
We only have 11k to walk today. This should be a breeze.
What can i tell you about Spain. Beer is cheaper. Food is too die for. Restaurant service is brilliant. Cigs cost nothing. They love basketball! Alan is still large. I am still large. If you like churches there are thousands of them. You get cheap wine with lunch and its miles better than anything that the Abbotsford would ever contemplate serving( Remember this Neil)
Anyway today. As I said easy walk. Dead easy walk. Too easy. Left Lograno at 10am. Reached Navarette by 1pm. Found Refuge. Seems very good. Showered then went out for food. Alan is on a roll. Haven´t walked him far enough today so he has energy to burn…oh shit!!
Found excellent restaurant. 3 courses plus vino for fiver each! Had beers after. Went to find internet cafe. Had another beer on way. And another. And another. And three more. Its five and Internet place is finally open!
Unfortunatley I have forgotten most of what I was gonna say……
Never mind. Please keep giving and happy birthday Ava!!!
am away to drink more…………………………
This is the way of the Camino.
Adois Amigos.
Longest walk yet – 30k. Left in the dark at 6.30am. Cos we got a wee torch (no giggling) we followed a group of Spanish. After 2 k the trail bears right. They missed it! We with our night vision didn´t. To be friendly we screamed our only Spanish a them ´dos beers pour favor´. Despite wondering who was ordering drink at 7.00 they turned around and followed us. When they passed us ( Alan needed a pee) it was ´mucho gracias´all round. Now that alan has remember the phrase he uses at every opportunity….
I ain´t gonna dwell to much on today as it was a slog. Keeping Al going is hard work at times although the thought of a hotel room and a real bath in Lograno spurred him on.
The romans could teach the pilgrims who first walked this route a thing about straight lines!
We got within spitting distance of Lograno then spent 2 bloody hours walking away from it before finally turning in the right direction!
1.30pm. Reached the hotel! and yes it was I who guided us there. Great room. Big bath. TV, the works.
Showered, slept, went drinking at 5.
Personally I am now drinking more than I ever did in Edinburgh. Is this because I have the time?…….
The plan was to get a meal somewhere and then hit the sack. Because we knew we had an easy day tomorrow we sodded the plan and spent the next 5 hours on a drinking spree around Lograno. Sunday is a well busy night here! 19 pints later we stumbled into the hotel and managed to find our room. Sleep…
A good day. Lots of walking. Lots of drink. Just how life should be.
Adios Amigos.
Aye – That’ll be Duck in Flight!
So today we got up at 5.45am and headed off in the dark for the first hour.
I tripped over a few pilgrims who had set off earlier – this was handy as I may have fallen down the pot holes they were covering. Not that handy, neither peregrinos were Si.
The thing about walking is you can regain your balance tripping over things like peregrinos as you use your stick and as long as you don’t stab another you’ll find it a helpful implement.
Pot holes off course are another thing all together – one minute your standing up – the next minute all your pride at having walked harm free for 2 minutes in the dark is wiped as your stick carves a ‘Z’ in the air, your elbow attacks the path and your ankle tries in vain to accomodate your new dance routine.
Think about it if you trip over a kerb your ok but when you miss a step down – ouch if you’re lucky there’s a ricochet through your hips and your standing – if not – I rest my case.
But back to my pal Michael Collins. The big fella, he decides, let’s push on while we’re healthy. That’s like Jackie spending the money while its in the bank. That’s like Jimmy getting a new car because the last car loan had just been squared! That’s like, so many things that I call irony.
Why have you blisters? Well I had none until some lardy I fell out with 7 days ago said let’s now run a marathon because there’s no chance we’ll succeed at that!
News Flash – Simon’s just realised we could’ve driven this in two hours. I don’t want to break his heart by saying we left the car at home. I can sense a moment brewing – “Al, we could get to Santiago faster if ….”
“If what Si, if we flew, we got the bus, if we hitched a ride, if we stole a bike, if we threw our back packs away, if we just ran naked through the streets and got lifted by the policia and explained our plight?”
“Yes, any of those!” He replied
“But our cultural homage to irony. Two fat boys who had never found hill walking anything other than a bad choice of pub.”
“Ok, we’ll walk then” Si replied “but don’t start whining at me when we start doing 50km days.”
And as those thoughts hung in the air, I resigned myself to phoning Jackie for some solace. I’m delighted Caitlin was in!
Just kidding of course, as Caitlin said tonight, she’s a fine little woman getting smaller all the time, ‘no I think that was Milligan, Al’.
Spike once said about his mother – she’s a fine little woman getting smaller all the time – as she dug the foundations for their Anderson shelter.
That’s right – yes - Caitlin said that her mother was the best mother in the world and I was lucky to have had her as a bride. I said I had been, very lucky to have had her as a bride, but enough of the Les Dawson jokes – I must put a stone down tomorrow for him.
Stones – yes stones. There are cairns scattered along the route, and the deal is simple. You pick up a stone, take a moment and move on.
Today was funny. You place stones daily and think about the person or people, but you don’t want to mention them on a blog as – well – it feels not quite right. Today though I was thinking about a guy I knew called Paul Wynne, probably only 26 when he died 17 years ago. I’d known him through Wood Mac and spent time in London with him when he lived in Hitchin and golfed at Letchworth. I never got that game of golf with him. Just as well – he was good – and I was’nae.
He was a great person to have known and whilst I last kipped on his floor in 1989 – I can picture it like yesterday.
Talking of yesterday, we had the best meal yet. It was 10 euro and I’m sure this guy must have a michelin star. The food was unbelievable. We’ve had a few dodgy ‘peregrinos’ meals where you felt a big mac had produced the salad whilst bun and burger were sliced up and served as the main.
We had tuna salad starters – I hadn’t even finished – because of my new eating technique – when the mains arrived.
Si had steak with the piquillos or whatever they call the red peppers that are flattened and soaked in an olive oil type dressing. I had salmon and mayonnaise. It was fantastic as was pudding.
If you have a spare 10 euro left over from your summer hols – head to los Arcos for a meal – you won’t be disappointed!
We have now completed the first week.
The mileage is over 100
The weight loss is over 100 ounces
The steps taken have been 197263 so cangratulations to all of you who selected those numbers in the lottery!
The money raised for CHAS is nearly 1200
And we also have pledges from people for a wee bit more once we complete.
Thank you everybody and please forward the address for the blog to anyone and everyone.
I’ve got my way for tomorrow – it is a rest day and we only walk 12km – just far enough to sweat off breakfast at our hotel – our second hotel of the trip!
Back to the dorms tomorrow – washing socks in sinks and other ridiculously stupid pastimes.
“Si, who’s idea was this??!!!”
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