the final straw.

A few days of rain and everything is becoming greener!

Since Sunday I've had constant stomach issues. Unable to keep anything solid. I was getting better in a private room, but it returned in the municipal albergue. It's not food? It's not water... It's the uncomfortableness of being in a humid room where people forget they don't need alarm clocks at 5am. Alarm clocks which don't just wake themselves, but also wake everyone else who is alert, half asleep in the discomfort of the disposable bedding. And I know I hate the Camino Frances for the way it's not helping me get to Santiago. I am not like other souls who sleep so deeply that a war could be going on and they wouldn't notice.

I felt bad for having to take a private room on Monday, to help me recover from the discomfort of the nights, but now I know it could be no other way. But I may never reach Santiago a second time...

Have I slept well in an albergue since I was in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port? I really don't think so. It's taking away the pleasure I usually feel when it's just me on the path and in the evenings in some Gîtes, room, monastery, priests sofa, etc.

And there is nothing of Saint James in Santiago at all. It's idolatry - some bones found in the 8th century. It's the last thing Christ would of wanted: to be worshipped like another God. What is the meaning of pilgrimage... I am beginning to question myself.

I've my own personal ideas about Christ and they don't have anything to do with relics or saints or penance or punishment. They are peace, calm, relaxation, happiness, gentleness, truth, being - being alone in nature, when eating, when observing, when sleeping.  and forgiveness! Oh yeah ... Forgiveness!

So the season changes the landscape here. The winter wheat shows. The pilgrim with Jakob said the country is dying for rain... The UK could export rain! Water is priceless. There are very few things in life which are? Including a good night's sleep without anyone snoring, farting, fidgeting, alarming, shouting or talking when they are unconscious. Sleep is a personal time. A chance to recover some of the sanity which the world tries to rip from under feet!

Spain is getting greener. Does it have a different seasonality to the UK? I noticed flowers blooming alongside the path yesterday - desperate to entice birds, insects and me to come and investigate. There is the constant sound of water trickling, but it may be a fuente and not rain...