A rebel without a clue.

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...