A rebel without a clue.

What have I learnt from the last ten years of the experiences on el Camino? So many ... A list? Determination Willingness Hopefulness Resilience Endurance Stamina Bloody mindedness Sufferance Happiness Joy Sadness Being Lonesomeness Tranquility Never knowing Going forward, never back Trying again Strength Tiredness Speaking tongues Smiling Laughing Incredulity Insanity Pain Stimulation Going without True necessity The Truth ... Glimpses Acceptance Trust It is just around the corner The answer is so elusive Life is immaterial Being alone is OK Prayer? Ask and it will be given Preferring watercourses The monotony of agriculture The multitude of deaths (large and small) taken by passing feet, wheels, tires No news is good news Not needing to know The dawn chorus The patter of gentle rain The chim of bells Going home is nice Planning another walk is obligatory... Too many photos can be taken It's easy to say the wrong thing when tired, frustrated, anxious or arrogant. The list is endle...

A peaceful slumber. And the food poisoning is past, but so too is el Camino de Santiago for this season - autumn is thoroughly here in northern Spain, with heavy rain this morning and gales yesterday, on Meseta Central. Coming out from the albergue municipal for a coffee in the corner café where the clientele is only locals. As the hostess gets her day ready, with tortilla on the bar, serving those clustered closer to the televisual quiz (where it looks like three dimwits are playing for pennies: the answer is coloso, a giant of an answer!) and considering my one night in Santander. There were flights last night to Stansted at €14.99, but now it's €120. Probably for the best as the journey from Stansted to Leeds in 2023 is too expensive and, although I love Cambridge, it's been seen too often. The BlaBlaCar host(€13) picked me up opposite the Iglesia de San Pedro, Frómista, where I was under the porch of a Caja Rural way from the deluge. Now we are an hour away from the airport...

After packing away in the municipal albergue I came down to Café Jacobus, Castrojeriz, in an attempt to rebalance my body after another terrible evening of the 'damned' food poisoning and it accompanying broken night's sleep. Orange, juice, coffee, aqua con gas and tosados con aceite and I will see where I am as the sun reaches it's zenith on this rainy Wednesday ... But there is also another way out along the main road heading to Palencia if I were to hitchhike away from the Camino Frances and leave it. Along the Canal de Castille I come to Fromista to the final night in the final albergue municipal - Albergue Municipal Frómista €14. I explained to the hostelera my stomach pain since Burgos so she put me in the smaller dorm: just 4 beds on my own for now. None of the awful disposable bedding sets and I was the first to step over the threshold as an amigo, with a guitar outside the albergue, gave me one of his three apples and smoked a cigarette as I stumble...

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 rea...

Fresh socks! The joy of freshly laundered socks! Simple but lush?! As I breathed in the soapy freshness those around me laughed at the absurdity of the act and also knew the deeper meaning! Today is ... Today. Pilgrims admire churches, however I use them purely as a shortcut in the north door out the west; so cynical am I? To me it is a building, which cost a lot of time and energy, to effectively control the populace when the seeds were sown. To declare that there is just one way, when there are billions of ways, during harvest. Cup of tea, yogurt and a lovely croissant; shoes and socks of for a feet refreshment. The sun is shining down on Hontanas.

From a good to a bad pilgrim: a private room in a private albergue. It's a single, but I still have the room without all the moving, grumbling, sighing, screaming, talking or walking in the night. I also went for supper and breakfast: demi-pension, but lunch was from a can: beans and sausage with bread and the water I made the effort to pour from Fuente de Prao Torre using the hand pump. Finally I bought some soap! I'd managed without for the whole time as I 'found' stuff along the way. The stomach ache is subsiding too. Shower and siesta ... The fountain/spring water at Fuente de Prao Torre was wonderful! The sweetest yet from the various fountains on offer ... Although the one up in the Pyrenees is so long ago it might have also been as excellent... In a cupboard I swapped Plato: The Laws for 4321  by Paul Aster as I wasn't sure ancient Greek philosophy is my bag on this tiring journey. The 'other' Camino individual appears in me, as I know none of the ...

If I fly back to England today the same 99 problems will still be there to cause me to come off the waggon once more. If it's not Gaza, Ukraine or some other war it'll be Halloween! But if I continue walking I will only have to contend with pain, exhaustion and my mind, but the camaraderie, freedom and peace... Yesterday I was really poorly. I went out for lunch(veggie noodles) and returned directly to continue my relationship with the bidet: what was it which poisoned and poleaxed me? Other than physical exhaustion... I collected a pack of natural yogurt too to help my bowels recover. Otherwise I slept almost since 10am, after the bath, with the toilet visits. After breakfast I get it together, but I am still loose. And clammy. Oh well. I've a packet of Kleenex at the ready for along the road! So I carry on! It's another day, week, future?