Needless to say, for the second night running, I had no sleep. Rip Van Winkle couldn’t have slept at the camp site. It would be a good place to bring patients out of comas. There is no gap between my tent, the two either side, and the three behind. The row opposite is barely a metre away. When I sneezed a disembodied voice said “Bless you!” Continue reading “Benicassim 3: It’s only Rock ‘n’ Roll But I Like It.”
Monday morning. The Little Nurse went to the lobby for coffee. She came back empty handed defeated by the coffee machine. These things are our life long adversaries. We have had trouble with these ridiculous machines all over the world. We have ruined lobby carpets, taken the polish off tables and scalded other guests. In Lisbon, every morning for a week, a six year old got coffee for us. I was tempted to kidnap him he was so useful. I asked her to describe the machine. It was one of those a little pellet of coffee needs to be inserted into. Somewhere. No one knows where. Except George Clooney. I asked her if Clooney was hanging around the lobby but she didn’t think so. I thought that was a bit of a long shot before I asked but I needed coffee. She pushed off to the bar next door and soon returned with the good stuff. One cup was enough to get me in and out of the lift, through the front door and into the bar next door for the second hit. Continue reading “Feria de Abril Seville 2:”
After a night in Malaga we caught the 10.30 train to Seville. It got in an hour late. We had about a half hour walk to the hotel. We swapped wheelie cases because the Little Nurse was struggling with hers. Too heavy she said. In reality one of the wheels was jammed. It might as well have been an anchor. Dragging it for half an hour killed the case completely so a new one would be obtained later. Continue reading “Feria de Abril Seville 1:”
I left Nathan to his breakfast. Although mine was in the price of the accom it was too early and the buffet did not excite me, so I gave it a swerve. I set away before sunrise. In the twilight. Funny word twilight. Good name for a car. The Toyota Twilight. This is what the Camino does to you when you walk alone. Makes you think. Well it does to me anyway. I don’t ponder the meaning of life or search for the ‘truth’. Nothing too profound. I’m much more likely to wonder who was the guy who first ate a banana and what made him do it. I’m as shallow as a kids paddling pool. Continue reading “Camino 9: Sunrise and The Devil Dogs of El Acerbo”
Continuing my slant on the idiosyncracies of Spanish life.
The opposite of Multi Tasking is, naturally enough, Single Tasking and that’s the way they roll in Spain. A Spanish man never does more than one thing at a time. In fact major tasks like buying a stamp or going for a haircut could very well be the only accomplishment in a whole day. A major task, like filling up with petrol, Continue reading “Life in Spain 2: Car Parking, Extreme Single Tasking and Random Windows.”
The Don Suero Hotel Leon, my home for the last two nights is right on the Camino route, so I sat outside with my morning coffee watching dozens of pilgrims continuing on their way. As I had taken the extra day in Leon I didn’t recognise many of them. People I had met earlier had mostly rolled out the day before. Continue reading “Camino 8: Ghost Town.”
The Spanish do things differently. Here’s a few things I’ve noticed about the idiosyncrasies of Spanish life.
Street Names.
Almost all Spanish Street Names are named after people. Not things or places. There is no Spanish equivalent of Acacia Avenue or Thames Road. It’s all people. They start off with the great and the good. Kings are definitely top of the list. Continue reading “Life in Spain 1: Waiters, what can you do?”
The original plan called for Castrojeriz as my next overnight destination. Yesterdays destination had been changed to Hotanas from Hornillos so I was out of sync already. No bad thing on the Camino. Looking back, no plan is the best plan. I stopped for breakfast at San Anton and was joined by a fellow peregrino, Nathan. He was a young guy and widely travelled and, although a scientist by profession, he told me that when he ran out of money Continue reading “Camino 3: Party Town”
The Camino de Santiago has a few different routes. El Camino Frances (the French Way) is considered the classic route. It starts in St Jean Pied De Port on the French side of the Pyrenees. It takes 30 to 32 walking days and covers 780km to Santiago de Compostella. I had decided, due to time constraints to start at Burgos, a few days in, leaving me with 500km to cover over about 22 days.
I had obtained a Credencial on an earlier trip to Santiago. Continue reading “Camino 2: Burgos, The Start”
‘Down in the treme’ is a line from the opening music from a TV show about New Orleans, Specifically about the Treme district. It is set in that district just after hurricane Katrina and follows the struggle of the people who live there. Amongst the cast, and playing himself, is Kermit Ruffins a local virtuoso trumpeter often referred to as the new Louis Armstrong. Although very successful and made more famous by the show Kermit is very much a local and has never lost touch with his roots. He still plays gigs and Bullets Bar is one of his regulars.
So we had planned to go. Continue reading “Down In The Treme”
Man Walks Into An Airport... 