A rebel without a clue.

That feels like the end of Christmas for me. Andy Stoney didn't have his Christmas jumpers on... And he didn't acknowledge me. Lola to my right and Archie too my left... The fire on. A warm bath... Peace. Peaceful. I won't be long going to Lalaland... 29th December. Can you be more loved?  *** Good night's sleep, minor issue in that Lola fell out of the bed... That's never happened before. She must've been in a dream running away and wriggled to the border land of Mattress and Space? Today I want another peaceful day. I have it inside, but it struggles to get heard amongst the frenetic pace of Christmas; where everything is noisy, busy, extremely bad for my sanity - although it's in me to forgive. *** Andy had his Christmas jumper on again yesterday. I saw him across the street after I'd been shopping for New Year's Eve supper... Great food. Laurel and Hardy. Easy... I heard no fireworks. Lola went out around 2 and around 4 and around 6. Probably all...

Christmas Day. A bit of gurgling from young Archie, but it was well passed 6am. As I switched on the smartphone it's already 6:45! Finally I slept in ... The wind has subsided, for today and tomorrow, before the next autumn storm rolls in on from the Atlantic on Wednesday. Where's winter? It's lost in the far north and is keeping away. There is a fallen tree across the footpath which runs passed the allotment, and covering a portion of the space where kale was growing. Spent yesterday sober. Bad night's sleep on Saturday. Thought that Archie would wake me during the evening to ask me to take him for a crap. Stupidly I didn't get him out in the evening before I went to bed, after watching Wayne's World... Breakfast television. toast for breakfast. Banal magazine fill on the box. Fat people preparing food for more fat people who haven't eaten this week ... The number of people wedged into the pubs as I walked down to the overflowing river with Lola for her sol...

Monday morning. Seems windy, but still dry. Good walk from Roundhay Park to Wetherby, over the original bridge crossing the Wharfe, via Shadwell, Wike, East Keswick and Collingham. Tuesday morning... Less to say. Still windy yesterday but a bit sunny in spells. Meh. Nothing to say. Uninspired. Oh dear. Cuddled up with Lola pre six am. She decided she wanted to get up... I just hope mother stays asleep until 7... Otherwise tensions will arise? *** Relocated to Caffé Nero on the Market Place in Wby. Which opens at 6:30am. There you go. The girl is at work by 5:30am. I am an early bird too. Had one half in BarTurd (barthree) and three Bavarian beers in The Meh (The Mews) and returned to mothers' as she went shopping for a little while. This meant I could eat my pasta bake in peace - sharing garlic, onions and the chipolatas which were in it with Lola. *** Thursday morning. Just awaiting the all clear from Archie's paw-rents. They're heading to Kaiserslautern for Christmas. It...

Monday morning. Awake early so decided to wash my bed linen. Should be coming back this way this evening as Lola will be at my mum's and she says there is too much mess for me to sleep on the floor with Lola nestled in alongside me. But that's the way of my mother. To accept her... That's all I need. My cousin Robert, and his son Eddie, had the best news possible. He's cured of the terrible disease (cholesteatoma) he'd had growing into his brain from his ear for years. With laser treatment it appears all of the bad cells have been zapped away(hurrah)! *** On my quest I have been searching for some Truth which is an Ultimate final/thing which will set me free. The thing at the core of all the many layers which are aspects of untruth in my experience and in my mind? But I think I've realised it's a goal I can't possibly reach; and perhaps it's out of reach of beings so incomplete as homo sapiens? And I have to let go of this desperate search? *** From ...

After the big exhale when I departed from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the 4th October, I am now, finally, about to breath in once more as I return home for the winter season. It's been quite a while in which I've been away. The longest since Lola was a puppy ... As she's crossed over into senior dog, and now no longer needs those long adventures we once shared (which is so sad), I know I can leave her content on mother's sofa. But they're the same beautiful eyes I see into when I am by her side. There is no malice in them. There are times when I get so lonely on el Camino, as I always get lonely in Blighty, when I wish she was by my side: but she's always been a bit of a provocative bitch so that it's not sensible for her the keep coming across local farm dogs and those chained up protecting 'property' if she were by my side. Those few dogs I saw on the Camino Frances were pretty easy going: especially Jacob the Mastiff... Queued up for the emptying o...

So back to bed? The gentleman(Korean, Japanese or an other) who is in the bed next to me is away walking for the day, but coming back here later, so I've a chance to unwind a couple of hours prior to the cleaning of the albergue? The weather is back to inclement. Yesterday was an illusion. It's winter on the Atlantic Ocean coast. The room I am in faces the garden at the back of the house, so it's sufficiently quiet for another night here - at the front the revellers pass by. And I got being a tourist out of my system. But the blinking cat is not going to let me chill, with its broken meow out in the corridor (poor mite wants something I can't give it) ... Time to resurrect and discover a Delta café? Stepped out into more rain. But I have a coffee. Once I return to the Albergue I doubt I will leave it again ... Freshly squeezed orange juice and a cheese toastie this morning. They're cleaning up the albergue. They let me stay again and I can go to the room once they h...

Needed to leave the warmth of Ideas Peregrinas Albergue for the warmth of the Cafe attached below and a large mug of Tilla tea, oat biscuit and chestnut cake. Three substances I know provoke sleepiness. I was a bit restless even in the comfortable bottom bunk in room 204. Hops also do that don't they. A hop pillow ... My only concern is whether my boots will have dried by the morning. The rain was running rivers everywhere. Newspaper... In the 21st century these are less common than the ubiquity they were prior to the digital age? Annoyed with the weather. Tui is a nice city, perched on the top of a hill, overlooking the Minho river...but I didn't make it all the way on foot! I feel a bit of 'guilt' because I caught a train. But I am not a fool. I recall the downpour which kept me in Óbidos in 2021 - around about the same time of year too. The gentleman behind the counter in the Eco-Café suggests tomorrow will same. Perhaps I stay put, chill out and then catch the bus o...

Full blown cold! Makes me even more weary. 7:30am for breakfast, but I am not coping well this morning. It's also tanking it down. Walking? Good question... Second coffee across the street and it's not working. I feel dry as a bone too. Hasty breakfast and catching the train to Valença... The weather abysmal. Torrential and wind. With a cold I'd be making things much worse? *** Soaked by the time I reached Ideas Albergue in Tui. Showered and went next door for a hasty lunch. Unlikely to leave the warm and dry. The Páramo Halcon coat is wet out! Nothing stays dry on a day like today unless it's a poncho, but I don't like how they make me sweat beneath! This albergue has a tumble dryer so I should chuck the coat in the bring it back to repellent? Later later: siesta? Well almost! In stumbles a Russian who lives in NYC. Just as I was getting a little warmer too. Hastily made a brew from a solitary Chamomile bag. I think I will go find a cash machine and read a book? Th...

On the way with waves crashing and Amazona making me tearful: oh Roxy Music - that was probably too loud for the tranquility of the Caminho coming out of Viana, below the Santuário de Santa Luzia, and find my way again?! For the second day running I'd found bliss in the morning, but I just wish I could have it in the afternoon when I am just too fatigued to care for the cobble stones I bounced along without any consideration prior to lunch. And after lunch I thought about catching a train rather than follow the litoral - along the decking and dunes. And I saw only two other pilgrims, apart from the other one who was up with me around 6am in the cold damp albergue. Tom from Melbourne, Australia, who I briefly exchanged pleasantries with before I went to being in the 'now' surrounded by the glory of nature and just now, prior to the turn to Âncora, coming south from Spain a fraulein heading to Porto from Santiago. She'd only spent a night in Santiago, as it wa...

At Saõ Roque, in Póvoa de Varzim, with his loyal companion, is my saint of 'choice': at least he probably existed, is the only church I've set foot in so far on the journey. And to see him showing the same wound on his leg as Jesus's ... He wears the attributes of a pilgrim, with the scallop shell adornments, but was he a pilgrim? Today the only pilgrim I saw until Viana del Castelo was going to Fatima. He had a dog. It was in Esposende - perhaps he was Saint Roch? Seems ages ago since I left the coast for inland, and, after an enjoyable meander alongside the river, it's up through the eucalyptus tree plantation until, in some desperation and a little fatigued, I've stopped opposite Saõ Sebastião(Pão Quente) for lunch around one. Now it's a little over 8 Kms to finish the day? Chafé. As I run out of energy I do get stupidly hungry! Wednesday already: day 5. Yesterday I was 'seeing' very clearly for the first time, but this morning I a...

Last night I went to the sack early (just as the hostess was preparing ribs for supper (the divine smells of garlic wafting upstairs)) because I was feeling something in my head, nose and throat (and a slight ache in my bones), but I can't imagine where I have caught another ague from?!? Recently, on the Camino Frances, I had a wee sniffle - but there I was in mainly Municipal Albergues where there wasn't much separate between bodies... Something was going around, but it was'nee the Plague. ... Back in late February of 2020 I was heading out to the Jakobsweg between Fulda and Metz, just as COVID19 was rearing it's head. After flying late to Köln and then heading to Frankfurt on a packed Flixbus, where I had to share with some very unhealthy sounding people who were returning from a ski trip in Italy, my film maker friend Michael (The Walk) took me to Bad Vibel for a couple of nights. After I had set out from Fulda (3 days after the coach trip) I was already ...

The only pilgrim I saw today was on the opposite side of the track and heading to Fatima... Stopped for lunch, but my first objection is the music is all cover versions ... Just now Lithium ... It shouldn't be done. The soup was too salty so I worry about the fayre to come! And the faces of the other diners are well 'crispy' - I smiled loads but they di'nee - is this just Portugues? However the wine, Malvasia I feel, has that gentle salinity in that Vinho Verde fashion (with its subtle petilliance too) and was wonderful. But the best thing to about the current song is it is 'not' Guns and Roses ((a very overrated 'rock' band) and please give me AC/DC before Bon Scott's demise!)) and the cover version is more tolerable than the sickening original. And I am left wondering what makes the owner tick as it just makes me tick tick boom... The last few steps were fatigued indeed. So any port in a storm. Manjar de Praia: the olives are lovely, so is the brea...

Monday morning... And there is no feeling better than being heckled by someone in the Santiago group on FB? Of course it's fine... They don't actually know anything about the Camino if they thinks it's meant to be a smiley happy thing. I repeat it: it's never a smiley happy thing! But obviously it also a smiley happy thing! This morning the news is featuring on the snow in Northern Europe, slightly less stressful than Gaza or Ukraine! My mum sent me a photo of the snow: it made me laugh as it looked like pretend snow. Some places it must be more widespread? And obviously the kids are off school and out on their sledges and toboggans; constructing snow persons? I recall we used a black polythene bag if we were caught with snow and no sledge. Last night a thought came to me: walk to Valença and then back to Porto, via Braga... Am I really interested in reaching Santiago so soon after the previous visit? And now I have to return to Porto to get back for young A...

My meat free Sunday failed at breakfast, but lunch was so beyond meat it was going into ears and other parts seldom eaten: pigs tail. I've a solid mass of carne sat in my digestive juices as I sit opposite the Albergue de peregrinos São José de Ribamar pondering the Vinho Verde which is saline and about to assist with the meat load overdose: in badly translated English it was either 1/2 dose or 1 dose of roasted meats. I went for half a 'dose' and it has brought my mortality closer or set me back years in purgatory? Unusual for me but I have a calf strain on my right one. It was obvious coming from Vila do Conde into Póvoa de Varzim. I believe I got it after the decking petered put, back in amongst those cobbles. I can't just walk ahead as every step the angle changes and it's so easy to misstep! But all is good. The restaurant opposite the albergue is calm. Póvoa de Varzim is quite large. From some distance away I thought it was too far for today, but ...

The end of day one and I am in a cabin on the campsite, here in Angeiras (Camping Orbitur - Angeiras 18€), which is for the third time on some part of the coastal Caminho - which I have followed since leaving Lisbon in 2021; and so It's another silence I have to myself beneath the pines. Another December too. I just know the weather of today won't last, as it didn't before I was semi stranded in Óbidos for three days during a deluge and curfew, but the weather broke then too as I arrived to Figueira do Foz on a glorious evening (when I'd walked for ever; for ever without respite passed the huge Aviator paper facility). It isn't 2021 though, is it??? Caldo for soup. Fine. Lovely bread (Restaurante Lima)! If this was from the bakery, which opens at 6:30am, all will be good. Tomorrow I've to switch to modo peregrinos from the 'semi-pilgrim/semi-tourist' mode I simply had to be in since walking out of Porto along the estuary to that gorgeous, but...

Like that morning back in 2021(when I left 'Se' in Lisboa to go to the mouth of the Targa) I am following the mouth of the Douro out of Porto along the Camino Portugués de la Costa, but I've downed tools for Ovos Benedict and a cup of white tea from the Azores. Where am I going today? I simply don't know. Yes I've seen two other pilgrims on this way, but one was catching a bus and the other just said I am going that way; let it be? Walking on the cobbles is a little difficult. I forgot about cobbles. You've got to watch your step?

The cry 'duty free spirits and cigarettes' follows on from the same half dozen of so lottery scratch cards they flog, following on from gift ideas and food and snacks. The book end of the safety features and demonstration of all the means which could save us if the airplane lands on a body of water - which does happen, but pretty rarely at 28,000 feet and traveling at 500 miles per hour... Then to be prepared to land with armrests down, window blinds open and tray tables away ... But it's nearly over as they bring fragrance trolley along the cabin and clear away litter which isn't littering the floors and aisles. My guilty pleasure is a liberal spray of Hermes  passing through the duty free section - there is no escape! At £90 per bottle it's well beyond my wallet (even if it does smell lovely)? So a strange night's sleep. And awake at 5:30am. Quite a lot of snoring and a lot of movement - especially a legion of revel makers surging passed the windows (even with...

The day is here. First of December and it is cold. There was a little snow cover leaving my apartment yesterday morning, and a few flurries while out with Lola, but the chill is continuing The day is here . The final Occupational Health Appointment @ The Light Surgery (the light surgery - I always thought it was heavy man!) Setting off from here in Wby at 7:30-ish and back to Leeds. The day is here? The final backwards and forth doing only one thing? X99, X98 or number 7, to Leeds or Wetherby, daily(once or twice daily). Lola no longer needs me like she did. She's the love of my life, but she's now a senior girl and it's obvious! She's even decided she wants to be in her basket where it was on the sofa or seat in the living room before; bless her? She loves to be nestled and warm. She loves to be tucked up with a throw over her. Once I return really have to connect with the people in England who are there for other 'potential' pilgrims? Through the FB groups, bu...