A rebel without a clue.

A glass of Saint-Veran in the Saltire lounge: £12.99... what was I thinking? It's French and will be less than €12.99 a bottle, but I struggle to connect with anything at all in Leeds Bradford Airport. In several minutes I can attend the gate queue, but I thought, because it's quiet in the airport, I'd have a fashionably expensive drink. Only one. It aids digestion. And is high in antioxidants. And it's helping the economy (in France)! ... There has to be another way? Yes there is and from Tillé to the Gîtes on Rue Paris that's The Way. *** Losing my baggage. Lost in transit. Not on the airplane and not in Beauvais. Back in Leeds or on a beach in Tenerife, as that was the other flight leaving LBA. *** What a day! It's not as warm this evening as most of the evenings I witnessed in Tarragona/Costa Dorada, but it is still a bit silly. Oh and it's Bastille Day on Thursday! During the decadent 4th Republic they still pretend 1794 has any meaningful existence in ...

It's going to be a hot one. Not ideal for dog walking or working on the allotment unless I do both at the tail ends of the day: a nice swim down the Ings with Ruby and Lola before 10. And perhaps head to the allotment when the shadows increase around 5. Yesterday I watered the plot comprehensively for about an hour, almost emptying the water butt. Didn't go crazy yesterday - popped to The Mews for 3 hours. Tony called while I was there to ask me to put on the dishwashers. I asked him if, in this weather, I had to restrict Ruby to the crate when I am out? He was OK to let her stay downstairs and be able to get to her water and lounge around on the sofas. Although I always close the curtains across the patio doors, to keep it darker and cooler, it can't be nice for a dog to spend too long in the small space they have in the corner. Last night she was flaked out on the lounge sofa - we walked around Millennium Field around 8pm. At 4, when I needed paracetamol, because I really...

Early breakfast before 7. Want to adjust our walks prior to Tuesday, when I have to leave early to catch the bus back to Leeds as I think I need to change the backpack? Exchanging it for a lighter one and taking out waterproofs, etc, (as it's looking like I will arrive in Northern France in a heatwave, again, second one of the summer). At this point I really wish I still had the KarrimorSF Sabre 35 litre day pack, which had been a reliable companion, and not given it away when I upgraded to a faulty 45 litre KarrimorSF Sabre - which went back after only 2 weeks due to tue stitching around the neck. On Tuesday I will go without breakfast until I reach Leeds. Coffee is really adequate. This morning we're heading up the river to Collingham and probably back through the Golf Course in Linton. Ruby was outside for quite a while just now so I guarantee she's found something dodgy to eat? And she's such a sensitive bowels that you'd think she'd have learned not to snuf...

Just chimed 7pm on the lounge clock bringing to an end a pretty tiring day. Just about to hit the sack on this warm evening. Last night was a similar heat and I left the patio door and the first floor balcony door open to allow a breeze to follow Ruby and I into the rooms upstairs. Finished off a lovely pork meatball sweet and sour which I ate with so slightly over steamed Charlotte potatoes. Still it went down well for lunch and the small portion for dinner. Took me a while to realise but Maureen has a shelf in the freezer for me... It's the one next to Ruby's! Before this sitting I hadn't thought she meant it exactly. But I get the feeling I've been blind... Ruby and I managed a two hour walk from 3. I took water with me and we clung to the shade or shadows as often as was possible. She's away now. After her sprat and meat dinner... There is a breeze: the one ruffling the leaves on the sycamore at the bottom of their garden, on the Old Railway lines, and making th...

I didn't have much time to write anything yesterday as I set off with Lola early to collect Ruby, catch the number 7 bus the Rudding Lane and walk into Harrogate via the showground, Hornbeam and Hookstone. Once on the Stray we stopped a moment to relax then headed along to the Prince of Wales roundabout and West Park. Catching the bus back without any 'distractions' and getting back to Ruby's just as Maureen and Tony had left for Kilburn. Some kind of fundamental falling out with mother occurred yesterday and I realise I have forgotten all the miracles of the previous ten years so I am facing the same individual I left in 2013. The new miracle is seeing it. As I lay on the grass beneath the blue sky, as the clouds drifted by, I listened to a couple of songs, relaxed and went to bed. In the wee hours some noises woke me and I had to locate a high frequency sound so I could return to another two hours slumber. And I returned to the breath, as I'd switched off the culp...

Yesterday morning I booked a flight to Beauvais, again, with the intention of walking the Chemin Saint Jacques from there for a few days before I have to return and be in Wetherby almost everyday from the 23rd until the 3rd September. There is a Gîtes d'Etape in Beauvais and the town is very close to the airport so I should walk to the accommodation and depart as usual on the following day. I could walk to Amiens and the coast or from Beauvais to Paris and Oreleans/Chartres again. Whichever route I choose to depart from on Wednesday I will need to return on or before the 23rd, at the latest, as Emma (sister) flies to Ibiza on Saturday, very early (I assumed she'd be getting going at a reasonable time, but Emma's not reasonable)! On the way south from Carlisle I looked at the desolation around Settle, where all the hills stand barren and unloved, and decided I couldn't walk the Pennine Way - who cut down all the trees? Times have changed and the forests need reseeding!

When did flan become quiche? Anyway I ate one on the train back to Leeds from the day trip to Carlisle. Interesting city and possibly a place I'd visit again, but passing through the Eden valley and then the Ribble coming south the views were 'stunning' and it made me think about next week and the week afterwards... I definitely need to walk and forget the drink. Because that is all I am otherwise? And I am definitely putting on some weight. Yesterday, in Carlisle, prior to walking along the Eden eastwards, crossing the Victorian footbridge and coming back through Stanwix and down Scotland Road, I had eaten a pork pie and a sausage roll from an established butcher opposite the Market Hall on Fisher Street, but it's the wrong food! What's happening Daniel? Why are you managing that fine line less and less well. The road to hell is littered with good intentions! It was a day out. But the trip on the train was quite tiring in itself. And I couldn't just come straig...