Only Misplaced

Two hundred miles on, am I glad I started? Yes. That’s the simple question out of the way. Now let’s go through a few negatives and the many positives - and a few 'hard to classify' impressions. Negatives It’s crowded. You rarely have the path to yourself. We may have had a few hours with nobody in view in front or behind, but that is 10 hours or less out of perhaps 100 on the Way (though I wrote this two days before having hours of empty Camino walking on two consecutive days - the buses must be crowded). It bothers me less than it did at the start but, if one of your major criteria for enjoying a good walk is ‘hardly saw a soul’, this might not be for you. Working out accommodation and meals is fraught. Recommended places to stay are often cute but lack facilities. I have spent a lot of time thinking ‘I wish I had stayed there’ when viewing the nicer looking places that were not on our list but it’s always been too late – we were booked elsewhere. One effect o...

I had walked only one day of the Camino Frances when the miracle of Anfield occurred (though as they are only my third favourite team, it might not be cause and effect). I have now done two and confidently expect/vaguely hope Brexit to have been abandoned by this evening. Two days of lovely walking. It really is very green here and today we found out why as the rain fell for half the journey. The first day involved a short walk - 7 miles or so - from St Jean to Valcarlos. It had to be a short walk as we had arrived in St Jean only that afternoon and the lady in the Pilgrim Office was very doubtful of our ability to get to Valcarlos safely before nightfall. I can only think that she thought  we looked even older and more decrepit than we actually are because we were in Valcarlos before 6. The route was mainly on the backroads. We saw only a handful of cars and the roadside was studded with beautiful wildflowers. Any occasional house always had a lovely garden. It is a walk  ...

The preparation for walking the Camino Frances has suffered a major setback. I have been playing walking football regularly for a couple of years and greatly enjoy it - I get a real buzz from my successes (especially goals) and enjoy the banter; it might not quite be the real thing but most of the differences are improvements. However, my participation on Monday went less well than usual. As I turned tightly and stretched for the ball, a lightning strike of pain hit my calf and I tumbled to the ground (probably slightly overdoing it). Ten seconds of 'I'll just run it off' was enough and I retired from the fray - though I noticed that my absence seemed to make little difference to my team's level of success. Five days later, the calf still hurts. But I am going anyway and will now be limping the Camino rather than walking it. Since I understand that most people limp much of the way, whether because of blisters or sore joints, I could argue that I am now even better p...