Thursday 1st August 2019

We awake after a deep, deep sleep. I look at the time on my phone. It says 6.50 a.m. I had set the alarm for 6.00! We had been sleeping so soundly that we simply hadn’t heard it! No matter. Things are not urgent today as we have to arrive at the wine fountain at

Wednesday 31st July 2019

Night of deep, uninterrupted sleep my big, fat hairy arse! I have been kept awake all night by a noisy French family in the adjacent room. No idea what they were arguing so vehemently about, but I could hear that there were three of them, furious father, tearful, conciliatory mother and small child who seemed

Tuesday 30th July 2019

After a night of deep, blissful sleep, during which I had forgotten all about the camino – forgotten, in fact that I even existed – we wake up and head off for Puenta La Reina. As we head out of the town, we meet another pilgrim, Michele, from Bari and spend the day walking with

Monday 29th July 2019

I wake with a start when the light is rudely turned on by the Frenchman, one half of the bickering couple from last night. He sees it as his job to make sure we are all out of bed. There are two washrooms, one for men and one for women. The women, of course, spend

Sunday 28th July 2019

The weather is dry when we awake but the sky is overcast. Better than yesterday, at least. Back in La Posada, where we “enjoyed” the pea soup and pescado just a few hours previously, we find ourselves sitting next to the foul-mouthed photographer from Basingstoke and his travelling companion. The “big” breakfast that we have

Saturday 27th July 2019

We awake to the sound of pissing rain! I can’t believe it! The hottest summer on record! Yesterday in Toulouse it was hotter than 40°C and now the temperature has plummeted and it is raining horribly! This is just my luck, I tell myself. Outside it is pitch black. I pull on my camouflage rain

Friday 26th July 2019

Toulouse is even more beautiful this morning. I am annoyed to find that the bathroom door in the hotel doesn’t even shut, let alone lock. After a rather disappointing breakfast we head out to find the station and take the train to Bayonne. On the street corner we pull out a map and an old

Thursday 25th July 2019

I wake up to the sound of messages arriving, one of them from university friend Antony, someone I haven’t heard from for a long time. I can’t get back to sleep so I go out onto the terrace to say the Rosary. Just as I am finishing there is a knock at the door. It

Wednesday 24th July 2019

Uncharacteristically, we lie around in bed for some time. This is probably one of the last chances we’re going to get for a lie-in for many weeks and we are determined to make the most of it. We get up at around 8 and have a sizeable breakfast in the Biancagiulia’s colourful kitchen, before heading

Tuesday 23rd July 2019

Sitting on the bus heading for Rome, I am transported back to a time over thirty years ago, when my best friend Paul and I decided to spend the summer inter-railing in Germany. I have taken the bus to Rome several times before but this time the feeling is entirely different. For the first time