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Three Letters From Santiago
Insomnia. Lying here in my single bed, in our Spartan Nun’s cell in the former Convent on the square. I move my feet to feel the cold part of the starched white linen sheets. The thick ancient...
Solidago Santiago
We’d heard on the grapevine that there would be thousands of Pilgrims flooding into Santiago de Compostello from all four corners of Europe. We had to make haste unless we were prepared to...
Butch Bites The Bullet
Like much in life, unless one is 100% committed to a task it is sure to be a failure or at worst a disappointment. I know that if asked 5 years ago whether he’d attempt to walk halfway across...
Overweight Honey Badger Must Streamline
The Honey Badger is on a crash diet. No more heavy metals. On the spur of the moment it was decided to weigh the truck and huge was the collective surprise when she came in weighing a few hundred...
Big Butch Battles Bravely
Like two pom-pom girls we stood ready to welcome our Butch at Vigo airport. We caught a glimpse of him way down the passage coming through customs long before he spotted us. He looked exhausted, thin...
Vigo Splish Splash And Get Sun-Kissed
It’s raining. If one’s lucky to be there when the first drops fall you will get the smell of rain on dusty tar and it’s just amazing. In Redondela we took deep breaths of rainy air,...
Kick-Ass Heroes For A Day
Although we were quite content with each other’s company and had no need of hooking up with other Peregrinoes we did meet and chat to a father and son walking alongside us. The attraction was...
A Flip-Flopping Peregrino On Camino
My friend sent a photograph of her amazing knitted patchwork blanket, a gift to her grandson, the other day. I am in awe. You see, I started one too. Years ago. On all our wanderings I’d sit in...
There's No Snoozin' With Susan
Camping with my sister-in-law Sue is a treat. She’s organised and runs a tight ship. She has to, with her family of 3 plus 2, plus all the friends and extended family members who make...
A Sucker For Punishment
Is exactly what I must be, when I agreed to repeat my 2016 performance of hiking the Fish River Canyon. Needless to say I couldn’t go back on my word so I saddled up the old back pack, loaded...
Lise, My Camino CompaƱero
We have made it to Barcelos in one piece, a little bruised and battle weary. We could lament the state of our toes until the cows come home, but we’re braver than that. We'll dust overselves...
Scoring 100% On Her First Test Drive
Our pet project, the Honey Badger lives up to all expectations and passes her first test drive with flying colours. She didn't put a gear out of place and with all the confidence in the world revved...
Mood Swings, Puffy Feet and Cobblestones
Right from the start this day did not auger well. Lise’s jet-lag was settling in nicely and with it came a few gremlins. The madam she was moody, she’d lost the spring in her...
Board Not Bored Walking - Setting off
This I know is true. Just as we had to take those first uncertain steps into the unknown and blindly take one step at a time to do our Camino, I know that unless I type my first words and just get on...
Bon Camino Peregrino - Introduction
18 months ago I grabbed the bull by the horns and sent the family an invitation-slash-announcement. I was setting my sights on doing the Camino Portuguese before I turned 60 and they were welcome to...
Picture Perfect Oporto
Four nights in Porto is all I could squeeze into my itinerary. My love for Portugal is a genetic thing. It’s not skin deep, I’m wired to love that slip of a Mediterranean country hemmed...
We've got to talk about THAT
I sigh, (I do that a lot when I’m sad or depressed) as I open the fridge door after weeks away. Not because it’s a shambles. It’s because we “save for rainy days”. Why...
Driving Dirt Roads, Dunes And Deserts
Twenty years ago my life was a shambles. I was scared, insecure and I cried every day for almost 2 and a half years. I do believe I could’ve filled buckets with tears. Friends can only take so...
Five Fabulous Friends
It was written in the stars that I would board a steam train and shunt about for two years, making my way from Nelspruit, across the Crocodile River wending my way from the Lowveld to...
The Honey Badger Shenanigans
Hallo! It's been a while. I've not updated on the progress of our Honey Badger. I couldn't. Things weren't going as I thought they would. I had to dampen my enthusiasm and realise a few home truths....
Good, Better, Idiom
Packing up and traipsing all over the countryside is not the only way to relax after a busy year. We stayed at home. It was different, and, interesting. Our home was our base for making day trips. We...
Bang! My Bubble Burst
Like a shot in the dark. Unexpected, frightening and loud. That’s how 2017 set the standard. And look! A twelfth has almost gone, right before our very eyes. Fortunately I have no guilt...
Don't Get Me Wrong
It’s been a busy month since my last scribbling, an exciting time it’s been too. On the day it rained I set off at the appointed hour, very early, to meet them at the airport. It was...
We Can Die Without Food
That’s a fact. We know it. They don’t, really. On this wall it’s a statement, a slogan, a cry for help, a prayer, but it’s also part of life. SINETEMBA means HOPE...