Finally, I'm heading West and aboard the Orient Express - not the expensive American Tourist version, rather the cheap local version, no red velvet curtains, lino rather than carpet and a surprising lack of female travellers. I'm not sure why this is...? Following a VERY full 5 days in London including ingesting amazing amounts of food and drink, catching up with as many people as possible (Helga only got 8 minutes between buses on Monday...sorry!), a fight with the bank who kindly informed me that they'd closed my Visa account rather than canceling my lost card, a 4 hour wait at [View Full Entry]

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In medieval times pilgrims who got to Santiago and still wanted to do some walking (before they walked all the way home again; I´m so glad we have planes now) walked to Finisterre, which was the end of the known world and pretty special because you could see the sun disappearing into the ocean at the end of the day and apparently the waves crashing masked the sound of the water pouring off the end of the earth. I decided to do a test on my boots that had carried me all the way to Santiago, and see if I could [View Full Entry]

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I made it!! 10.30am yesterday, after 25 days of walking and 800km I walked into Santiago with Elin, the fastest Peregrina on the Camino! We had agreed that we´d find a private hospedaje, and in true camino style we were stopped on the way to the Cathedral by a woman who offered an (obviously illegal) room in her house. We even got TOWELS! Some camino highlights. - The walled garden in Trinidad del Arre - Meeting Jamie (the crazy Scotsman) and being led to the only spare space in Los Arcos where we could sleep (garage floor) - Sleeping in the [View Full Entry]

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These and other questions have been at the forefront of my mind for the last week! I left you in Leon, where I was recovering from food poisoning - blah (literally). Tip from the road: When you order paella in a restaurant and they start rooting around in the freezer next to you, take that opportunity to leave! Really! I said bye to Michael (belated thanks for an awesome 400km, drink more milk, don´t do drugs and may all the pretty girls look at you the longest), met up with Jamie the crazy scotsman again - though his feet were too [View Full Entry]

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Hey everyone Once again I´ve left myself 8 minutes to get a blog together, so I thought I´d give you a day in the life...and many of you may wonder why the hell anyone does this crazy camino. 5.30am - The first pilgrims (usually german but more about that later) get up. They have lots of plastic bags, but are gone by 5.45am. Its OK really because the 'quiet' time between 4-5am when the snorers (and there are lots, and a vast majority are wet snorers who I either worry will drown, or HOPE that they actually will drown) 6am - [View Full Entry]

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- Even if a toe LOOKS dead, it probably isn´t and it would hurt more to cut it off - The difference between wheat and barley - It is possible to sleep quite comfortably on a garage floor (when you liberate some garden furniture cushions from the flashy terrace upstairs) - Snoring echos MUCH louder in a church - You shouldn´t just randomly pick a country to come from because the next person you meet will ACTUALLY be from there (Finland, Iceland, Lichtenstein) - How to speak with a much better french accent (in English of course) - Its OK to [View Full Entry]

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I kinda promise this will be a quick entry (well as much as I can write in 14 minutes) Arrived in St Jean Pied-de-Port along with about 150 other pilgrims who all swarmed the pilgrim office, although everyone got beds! They stamp your credential (like a passport) along the way to prove that you have been walking the entire time. Then in Santiago they give you a Compostela which, if you´re Catholic, I think means that you get all of your sins forgiven. I met 3 Camino dudes (also walking), Hans (German, 67)- who had just handed over the reins of [View Full Entry]

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VERY quick update to say a proper hello, and tell you where I'm going to be for the next month! Following 3 leaving parties in as many days, and an amazing London send-off, its hard to believe that I'm actually flying out. Tomorrow afternoon, I'm flying to Bordeaux - then getting the train to Bayonne and then on to St John Pied de Port (which literally means St John at the foot of the mountain pass). I start my 30ish day walk on the Camino de Santiago (Camino Frances) by heading up that mountain pass (1200m climb on the first day) [View Full Entry]

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.....last day at work.... First blog post to prove that I'm actually writing a blog! (stupid blogs) Check back in a couple of days - everything is manic at the moment!!! Next stop...SPAIN! [View Full Entry]

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