A rebel without a clue.

Well, no I didn't sleep well.  Firstly the bar next door was loud until early Saturday morning. The room has no Aircon or if it has it only appears to be warmer with it on. Just like on another Friday night, not so long since, I simply couldn't find a light switch or the toilet door in the pitch dark so did a pee pee on the floor! The room needed the shutters and blind down, as there is a bright street light next to the window in the passageway between two streets. Stumbling around this room, because I'd forgotten how it was orientated, I ran out of time on my bladder. Perhaps drinking too much doesn't help? I do feel tarnished. What is wrong with me? I know why I am in Spain: to leave behind the other person I dislike so much! After all I am walking for better mental health. So now I am aware of how easily I forget why I come away to throw my body at gradients, paths, dust, rocks, mud, etc because it really works. The real walk begins today. Remember this is the way ba...

 "In  Sax,  there  is  a  famous  medieval  castle…  that  I  never  visited,  because  I  was  too  lazy,  staying in  my  luxurious  hotel  room  or  eating  ice-cream  in  one  of  the  bars  in  town." After thirty odd kilometres I too won't be heading up to the Castello either! Checked into the Hotel, which is a sting at €35, this does include a proper breakfast, however I can't have it until 8am. The room has Aircon shutters and blinds so I expect I won't have a problem sleeping until the beep of my alarm, which I've set for 7:30: last night was pretty bad for an albergue as the street lights poured in, the bed was very short and the wind was intense! Tomorrow I must find a more reasonably priced option. The list of places suggests Caudete. In which case this is the way I'm heading. In Caudete there is a member of the Camin...

Walking out of Alicante gave me a slight problem breathing with sheer number of cars, trucks, etc. First thing this morning I have to get to next town for Desayuno as Orito is very small, without even a shop. Five kilometres on Asphalt to a very desolate town for breakfast - these types of towns exist fairly often on the Camino, but not as frequent as the historic ones. Monteforte del Cid. Day two is a little tedious so far as I follow the train tracks between Alicante and Madrid to my left. Soon I'm sure to leave the thundering of high speed trains behind? Finally away from asphalt to Via Pecuaria - which I think translates to drovers path? So after a lot of ups and downs, over a aqueduct where I dared not but walk straight ahead, no eyes Looking down, I'm in Petrer. Hasty Tapas and beer. Need to slow down and eat leisurely. They're doing me Menu del Dias early, thankfully, as I've another few kilometres ahead this afternoon - perhaps 10 - before I reach Sax. The touri...

Coming down from Cueva de San Pascual - 414 metres - I saw many many strips which seemed to be wrapped in plastic! The closer I got I realised this was tarpaulin/netting and these were vines. The leaves were dried but the grapes were secluded in packages. The occasional bunch had escaped so I saw massive grapes. Yet being here, near the sea, where wine is too much to ask of the grape, I thought this must be a mistake in my knowledge? Large grapes don't make Grand Cru wine. And until the lady of the Comisaria told me, and gave me a huge bunch that tasted just like honey, I didn't know they were just for eating! Heading in for repase I expected the wine must be awful here, being such a simple outlet, but the Rueda Verdejo washed down the fantastic paella, chicken and chips and copious salad, all for only €8, it felt only right and proper to sit in the shade outside and have another copa! Bed for the night turned out to be €16, not a Donativo and the beds are too short! 

Vitamin D and antidepressants, Vitamin D or antidepressants??? Guard dogs wish me luck as I follow tarmac and a mountain is deconstructed. What took millions of years to lay down at the bottom of some ocean (Cretaceous) is being gouged away in a few years: leaving our world behind is easily done. Taking away geology to build roads: the land laid flat, bare: featureless. *** After a fantastic "Menu del Dias" at Bar Nuevo in Orito I am happy to pay €16 for my bed in the Casa del Peregrino. My body really didn't like today. It fought me all the way. This is because I slept unsoundly in Alicante. Market Hostel is neat, but it is loud. Even when I actually hit real Spain ... Away from the Barros and the Gitanes at the end of town it wasn't quite far enough away. Then the huge operation deconstructing a mountain for its asphalt: I suppose it is dead, and is mainly made up from very forgotten ancestors, yet I felt slightly disturbed by this huge opera...

The second day in Alicante was beginning to bore me. Three times I had been to the Basilica de Santa María and there is literally no open door - which seems odd for the main church in the old town? For sustenance I've eaten some seafood by the Mercado, which did repeat on me slightly, and later on I had a simple dish of Patatas Bravas, which was all good. (Perhaps I will try once more at the Basilica or maybe early tomorrow? Do they do Mass around 7:30am? Forget it for now. Back in room 3, where the younger hostess won't turn down the air-conditioning, I'm going to try to chill a bit...) *** Pre-dawn day one. After a good night's kip I'm ready to start this thing! I'm so predictable. Once I touch down in a new town I end up worse for it, suffer consequently the next day and regret it. Happily now I have a means out of the trap of hedonism: setting myself up for the day when I will need to be clear headed to walk and pay attention to now. This morning is still. I...

I willingly ran into a barbed hedge and then both sheep and cows jumped upon my corpse: but I didn't move and was happy to suffer the end of my life. But it didn't come, while I circled around the horror of my past, my life felt cleared. Except I knew I couldn't go anywhere unto spirit without Snoops along. At the final moment unto death I was missing something. It was a while before his absence reminded me. Just as I was about to step out to infinity I decided to stand and wait: but he was already there. It was the best dream. And now we are waiting together for another soul.