A rebel without a clue.

Tuesday* 6am. Got pinto beans on simmer. Cuddled Ruby and she's gone back to sleep. Made coffee Read lesson 30 ... (God Is In Everything I See Because God Is In My Mind). Everything is only in my mind... Boiled eggs (for me and Ruby) Ruby has come to ask for her Breakfast. She'll return to sleep afterwards? Demanding more - she's got a duck neck. She uses more energy with me? Her poos are so minute though... Apparently a raw diet does that... She's nugging her toy now and then back to rest. Added tomatoes, puree, capers Tabasco and Lea & Perrin's, and half a can of water to simmer away once more. Brewed another coffee as the Kappow blend is a bit lean for my pallet... I prefer French roast. Leaving for Portugal on the 5th, but school holidays from the 9th. So I must be over the hills (Algarve) and far away (Alentejo) by then. Beginning to feel I should set off once more the route from Faro. Not hitch. And give myself 2 weeks this occasion to reach Lisbon and bey...

Saturday. Awake at 5:45am. Let Ruby outside. Made a cafetiere of coffee. Letting it brew. Cuddled Ruby and watched her relax and rebuild her bed besides me on her sofa in the kitchen dining room. Podcast time. But I am finding them tedious now...  Lesson of the day: no 27 Above all else I want to see. Time to clear away last night's washing up. Full moon. Running a bath... Sorted out the box fresh boots I collected yesterday afternoon. Eating breakfast. 7:35. Avocado on brown. Cup of lemon verbena 9:30 walking across Crowcroft Bank with Lola and Ruby... A 'good' hour. Back alongside the A1 to the underpass at Freeman's Way Beans on toast and then an hour meditation. Took Ruby back to 14  Chestnut Avenue and heading to the allotment for a couple of hours Did a lot of digging and covered up the sections. Walking Ruby into town for a couple of jars. Things are a growing... Exhausted. Ruby too. Dinner and then bed. Tomorrow is Sunday. She signs. *** Sunday. Ruby barks at 5a...

It's just Ruby and me and the wind. A gale was blowing outside and scattering rain against the wall of the bedroom I was trying to sleep in... She barked at something around midnight and again around 5 and asked to go out for toilet, but now she's back asleep on the other sofa. It's early. Yesterday we went to Harrogate and walked through a very muddy Yorkshire Show Ground and Hornbeam Park to the Stray and finished up at Harlow Hill before heading through Valley Gardens and then back to Chestnut Avenue by 13:40 for lunch and siesta. A giant of a beech tree had collapsed in the storm down across the stream which feeds into the Crimple Beck. I've Lola to collect and take out with Ruby after sunrise. Perhaps I can get to the allotment this afternoon as I am sure Ruby will be easy today after yesterday's long one? Combination of things. It's a lovely morning, but am exhausted. Dropped Lola off, had a 15 cuddle as she descended into snooze. No onion sets at Touchwoo...

Made coffee, listened to a podcast, ran a bath, did a woollen wash, walked the long way to catch the bus, via Sainsbury's for two bananas and a bottle of kefir (need it after the beer in Meanwood Friday afternoon), sat on the X99 and read a chapter of Nomad Century ... Walking to mum's to take merry legs for a walk. Chilling out with her today? Allotment tomorrow if the storm blows passed by then? Nice walk along the riverside with a very excited Lola: sand! She was spinning and nipping my wrists - signs she's super happy. Tried to unwind next to her after elevensies, but at the moment we can't switch off next to one another - she prefers to chill on her own on the sofa or armchair now anyway (bless)! Allotment this afternoon. Just walked into town to see Jason for a couple of beers. Too many yesterday so only two. Not seen Jason since November. Had a coffee at the cinema (Darkwoods) with a biscotti. A couple became 3. Jason hurried off his final one to meet Katherine i...

Oranges are not the only fruit, but when one falls from the tree directly in front of me, cracks itself open and tastes so luxurious just as the Igreja struck oito , why shouldn't they be? Coming to the first village I was hopeful of a true coffee. 10am and the taberna was just opening. Three welcoming dogs, one mumbling patron and one happier peregrino I carry on to what maybe was an old monastery on the crest of hill ... Aldeia dos Elvas. This morning I've eaten the remainder of the Portuguese Christmas cake ( bolo Rei) which I purchased in Almodôvar for 5€. Full of nuts, fruit and other goodies ... It's keeping me going! Away to my right a bull roars, bellowing with all its larynx can bear, and it's the warmest morning so far on this el Camino... Although I have been on my own for seven solid days walking, and only had locals as background noise, the voices from the past still manage to stir up a hornets hive so that a beautifully sunny morning has be...

So far so good. At the crossroads I get a beer as the gentlemen and women of the village bring a giant of a pig to the conclusion of its life. It's a communal project. I've two more biscuits down until the next village after Almeirim in a couple more hours. The butcher sharpens his knives as the set about the carcass. It's Sagres cerveja. I can't escape a beer ... At 10:30am this Saturday morning. These plains remind me of Meseta and how lonely I get walking through grasslands. To break up the monotony there are millions of caterpillars coming out of their winter cocoons and solitary slugs looking to pair up, if they don't get run over by the very occasional farm vehicle passing along to the field or back again. Those hills north of Faro are memories now! Lunch time is hopefully ahead in Casével: but I refused the pork sandwich I was offered back at the carcass crossroads because I really need a meat free day today... Is it possible? The non-white church tower signa...

Things which happen on the way... Sour faces in O Rosário Café. Such mean visage and I couldn't walk on! *** I struggled a lot this morning. For some reason I am feeling broken ... weary five days in on the Way... But this evening! I am in a bungalow on the campsite at the edge of town. I followed my fortune (€30 Parque de Campismo). Sorry I hitched half way, but there was no place to eat at all in Rosário. And the old war wound(left foot) is playing up - because it was straight ahead along farm tracks with no variation. Nothing feels quite right even though I slept pretty well. Now I seek a beer in the sun and another early evening? Guilt! 18 kilometres from breakfast until all was done, but now its nectar! It is Vinho, but I am tired. It's a shame I had to complain about two glasses of wine before I realised then it was the glassware (going back in time to the wine geek me) I am wino and am I walking tomorrow? So two fantastic pies and I think the fourth wine is also sufferin...