A rebel without a clue.

Don't tanneries use urine to nap or cure leather ..  it seems pissing on my size 10.5s is a good thing to do to the material, but the metal does not like this form of abuse. During this sleet I'm going to keep it up and sort out the rust a little later. Like when there isn't gusts, rain and snow flying into my face? Mad weather to remind me where I am: Auvergne, no room at the various Inns(Accueil Jacquaire) for the penultimate night's rest & tomorrow the same. The lady of this Gîte d'Etape is drying my jacket and boots ready for tomorrow. Currently I only have €9 left so I'll have to send her €26 in the morning. My budget is €40 per day and any I have left I've sent straight back to Mum and Glenn. Mum's cleared but I'll still owe Glenn some, however he's OK to wait until the dog sitting weekend. As long as I get to Le Puy tomorrow: a 36kms day I am assured a bed in the same place this bonkers idea of mine began in May 2013. If I make it tomo...

Both of you have Parkinson's disease? Oh the humanity. The body or mind. Which one rules within and without. The body is powerless and the mind is relentlessly all conquering. Another woodpecker and a stiff corpse of a cat, then up into the woods for a last trepidicous climb to the high point on the Via Geb before straight ahead to Le Puy. Eating must surely be a question of trial and error. The minimum error is sustenance and the maximum is death. Mushrooms ... There is not much room for a mistake there? Is knowledge of danger an inheritance in our genes? But if one individual died as a result of ingesting the wrong grub how would the collect organism know this? Is heredity fully aware? I've read certain lichen is very good eating but, even though I'm sure what I see up here is Icelandic moss or something used in beer preparation and mead construction, I dare not try incase the ergot is present and I'm sent tripping onto another plane of existence? A drippy nose, ti...

The dogs have begun barking. Earlier the hounds were howling. You never need an alarm clock in rural France. When I went out to sit with them they all sniffed me again, one licked my hands, but mainly they wanted to keep warm in the sun. A garçon, of about 7, who came passed early yesterday evening, told me the one who didn't move had a problem with its breathing and was sure to die - 'mort' he spake - I continued to stroke it behind the ears a little tearful. He passed this comment with little emotion, although I could see something was working deeper inside. When I asked what the dog was called he said it had no name. Nothing has a name it is always just itself without an appellation - indeed a dog is not a dog really. Sometimes I see dogs as an extension of me, the ones who grasp my baby talk and Yorkshire tongue as never a threat. It is 5:52am on Saturday the sixth of April 2019 and I have more than 30kms ahead of me, to reach Le Puy for Sunday evening, today. Bloody do...

Another pilgrim. I saw him ahead and thought he was the guy who comes from Prague who has walked out of Copenhagen, when I caught him up he's another German Swiss, but not as dark or as glum as the one I saw in Beaumont. It was interesting to walk with someone who could keep up with me. He's sixty six this year and was in the army as part of the Swiss system of national service until he was 42 which means he's also really used to carrying a pack and yomping. Bernard has being paying quite a lot for his quarters on a night but has had the occasional massage to compensate the out lay: I've just got sore shoulders. Today was the main climb of the route: from Bourg-Argental to Coirolles over the border into Auvergne from Rhônes-de-Alpes at around 1300 metres, where snow lied heavy on the track side. It was up all the way until a lumber yard, with trees felled to be taken away at some point, then a down hiccup to be followed by a final up to the Gîte. At the top I stopped f...

That meat feast conjured up a mixed up night's dreaming. I'm going to have to refuse any meat regardless today. I could open a butchers in my arse. Fruit, beans and lentils it must be today. The family here speaks zero English and can't understand much of my French. Most couples I've stayed with fairly get what I am saying, even when I had to resort to sign language to get a coat hanger the night before last. Tonight's etape (stage stop) is sorted out already and I think she can speak a little English. Mainly I hope the family are a little more vigorous and do hearty food which won't bust my arteries! This part of France used to be the heart of a mining area but now all the mines are gone and the metals come from the East. Same story as northern England and Walloonia. Banks care not for people. They are simply filled with greed. They want more and more of everything, but simply do not realise there is nothing that can be bought that will appease the Ego and it...

The first cuckoo of spring and the neighing of a stallion as I do not dally up this pass to repase around one thirty, or I get there just in time? Jeane d'Arc the lass in the restaurant was definitely a dark Jeane in more ways than one. This town is dark. Everything is closed until 3. The one restaurant is open but won't serve me so I'm sat on the crossroads hopeful that articulated lorries don't squish me. Batteries died. It's like they're trying to kill me with meat. Tonight I had a 9 inch sausage and a faggot/ducks egg ... And a quiche Lorraine and with some wine. Maybe I offended the mother of the house because I could eat no more. I've a mountain to climb tomorrow ... But it's only 600 metres further on. And I was trying to stay away from meat today. The bastard's I never stood a chance. Please forgive me...

Two hours gone and time to stop this moment and take a coffee. Make a sandwich, perhaps buy one too? No. Only 18kms to go. Stop around 10kms for repase(lunch), however I've decided to go vegetarian again as of this morning. Once the cheese has finished I'll move onto beans and/or lentils. It's a bit cooler today, and I'm heading upwards continually, which means it is time to don the pink tasselled affair, which is blatantly female, but is warm and obviously visible for miles around (I'm such a whoopsie)! My waterproofs are on, but as yet these are just sweat boxes, with the sun pouring amber from it's globular majesty I go upwards and onwards!