Thursday 24 October 2013

Last in line - what's the rush

With 40 minutes to go I figure I can sit on my fat arse for a change. I have been standing walking and jogging far too long. Last night I net Stuart Donald off his ship. We got mangled. For expats that means, we got mangled. Thanks be to God and St James - it means when I see queues like this I say, last on first off!

Love to John melon - I left him at cruz de ferro but like many people I will carry him in my heart until I join him

1 hour 55 to go from 24 degrees to 14 degrees. Hmmm

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Harp

These are large bottles of pierola and artadi nice Rioja and Gais vinos

Santander at 7pm

Great views if they would shut the motorway and stop all the development. Stu is coming in aboard a ship so he will get the mountains with the sun reflecting, he might even get the sun setting as his boat was held up in choppy seas through the bay of biscay. That bus I got from oviedo was going on at 16:00 to Zaragoza via Bilbao then via logrono. For pilgrims that's a good shout. Coming into Bilbao it's probably 6pm and arrive logrono about 8.30 and Pamplona 20:30. I watched a film and apart from wearing my PVC shirt in the luxurious PVC would be leather chairs the journey passed way too quick

Santander GPO

The cash is piling in thank you everyone - but £5.27 is more than enough

Page ownerAlan McEwan

Finisterre the end of my Camino to Santiago

Event: The Camino to Santiago on 31/10/2013
In memory ofJohn Melon
Raised:6%
 
£36.62raised of £540.00 target
4donations

Rolling into Santander

It's glorious

Another sunny day in Cantabria - I love Galicia but the rain can stop play!

Poor old Oviedo as fat Al eats in publico

Oh yea and it was superb - ensaladilla rusa - I wanted fabad - the bean stew with meat but I wanted a wee portion and everyone explained I was too big for a wee portion - grandais they said -

I do love the bars in Spain and their attitude to smoking. Some open big patio doors and therefore the whole pub is outdoors, some just leave the door open! It's brilliant. There's no getting away from it. Even if there is an outside curfew they usually leave the windows and doors open to let the bar smell like the good old days. Personally I always choose to eat outside as the other smells blend in better and the flies are all indoors. They hate the acetate and scent of petrol that blows through the air. Like Paris, Oviedo enjoys some masterly 3 lane motorways in the centre of town that come to a crashing halt every 5 minutes when the green man appears and Oviedors Scarper from one side to the other. I joined this running stuff as I'm training for a 10k. I don't know if I'll ever run 10k but I'm keeping the carbs going in just in case. I think I'm on that training downtime just before the run. I do short jogs 10-20m depending if it's a dual carriageway or a tripler

Clearly after 5 of these you need to reload the carbs which is why I'm typing again, munching a little ham sandwich you get given with every glass of wine. I'm also due a siesta. Apparently a big part of 10k right through to marathons is that you need to rest the muscles. I've hardly spoken since I got here so someone will need earplugs when I get back. A wee sleep from 2-4 is fairly mandatory here and with another 6 vino tintos I'll be good until 5pm. I'm off to Santander this afternoon. It's a 140k so I've decided not to jog it, not when there's a bus with my name on it - well not literally, no one in their right mind would call a bus company fatal - it's not really a strap-line that could ever work. Get there quicker with fatal. Rest easy with Fatal, bus that does what it says on the van. I'm sure there are better examples but more importantly I need another wine if I'm to sustain that rest period this afternoon.

I am on bus now and was just singing away. It sounded a bit like, I never felt more like singing the blues - but the words were I never felt more like GerArd DepArdieu, but I probably smell like Danny la rue, I've been shopping .... J'ai chercher parfum, pour vous ..... It goes on a bit, like I do - right siesta!

1/2 fat Al = 4 ballerina

Ballerina sculpture Oviedo

And from another angle

Freddie sculpture

Freddie mercury inspiration

Woman and child Bronze Oviedo

Bronze & fat Al

Oviedo bronze

Look pal you can't do the camino unless you bring a Sherpa

Bronzes in Oviedo

Oviedo's main cathedral - yes locked as usual big gates

Big church squeezed into small space

Clearly there is room for everyone but it's like a tardis. You can walk around the perimeter and the apartment blocks joined on either end in less time than it takes inside. That's cause the stain glass windaes are superb man!

They might be poor but 2kg of clementines 1.50

It's a good price. I bought 10kg to take home as my baggage allowance is so low I've had to ditch Caitlin's 21st present!

Manoli linares' suscripcion popular

When d luis riera posada sat for this

He had taken his teeth out - clearly the sculptor loved the idea of a happy toothless laugh so the gummy grinner is my favourite statue in Oviedo

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Fat Al helps out in La Coruna after an afternoon on Estrella Galicia

London hibs in la coruna it's gotta be the Harp

Now it's not that bad a bar too. It has wifi tapas and with beer under two euro. Not quite the 1 euro of ponferrada or Leon but it saves buying a meal and it's called the arpa. Our gaelic cousins the galegos - I love it

Yes it's true. The sun is shining at la coruna and people swimming

Camarinas - what a beautiful place - 10am Camarinas Bus from Cee- Muxia - Ponte de Porte - Camarinas Ponte de Porte - Viximianzo

Muxia sun melts rain

Muxia as sun peeps through rain clouds

Will the rain stop pouring in Muxia?

Muxia as the sun finally takes over the sky on Tuesday 22nd October 2013

Rainclouds depart muxia

Muxia stops raining

Monday 21 October 2013

Not a lot of people know what to do with one of these

I am one!! There's detailed instructions so I bought one. Sadly they're in Spanish - Rosie are you in Ireland or USA - I could do with your language skills. If you have any fishing skills they might come in handy too. This part pf Spain is legendary for the seafood and although the Spanish trawlers that sweep the mackerel out of the Irish sea or off the top of Scotland get a deservedly bad press, these gallegos are a different bunch. They are small time artisan people, fishing in a sensible way to ensure their livelihoods today and for their children - hence they use the invention of a Neanderthal from atapuerca. Atapuerca as many know from this blog and others is my spiritual home. One day may my ashes be scattered next to that Neanderthal. I have walked a long way and yet I have done nothing. My body aches as it always has and I've spoken, written and signed more nonsense than usual but another ending has created a new beginning. As the sun sets somewhere )I ain't seen it for days) I will watch it rise and smile. Smiling is so easy!

Smiling is really so easy

I think of so many different things

Smiling is so easy!

A beach on the costa da morta

Finisterre - A mistake I didn't make!



This is my ceremonious dropping of the boots into the sea at finisterre - I dunno what stopped me - the hand of St Jacques or just the fact my socks were minging and I thought 'throw them too'.

The socks have had a hard time. I bought two pairs for the walk. I took them both out for a stroll before leaving and handwashed them for practice.

Unfortunately I only took one pair with me the other pair are still on the radiator at home. That is the only thing I forgot. On the walk itself I have left nothing at any albergue or hotel. It's quite a feat for me. After a month you usually lose a towel, two pairs of socks and at least one t-shirt. Mind you there is time yet....

You've heard the shipping forecast

Now here's the lighthouse! Finisterre check it on the map - costa de morta

Muxia - It's called god's tears in Galicia


The big man must've heard I'm on my way. He thought he'd had it bad with some of the jokes Walid John and Iain have been telling but my impending arrival has sparked serious concern! It is just pishin' down here. I feel right at home. I get the 10.45 bus put to vimioanzo tomorrow and after that I go to la coruna. It's a really cool looking town and one I have wanted to visit since it started raining. I will either spend the night there and get a 7 hour bus to Santander where I meet stu off the ferry before flying home. The option is to the bus to Oviedo and stay in the ayre hotel there. It looks good and I deserve a treat - after walking all this distance and covering the last bit in the pouring rain you gotta think so. Staying in hotels has its fridge benefits. The heating is on so I can wash my clothes and they'll dry. I wanted to buy a new t - shirt but nothing caught the eye. Sorry, not nothing, there's a nice Galician beer, Estrella, that's caught the eye a few times of late, especially accompanied by pinchos.

The great thing about finisterre was how many pilgrims were celebrating together. It's a really fitting climax after a long journey. Many had started the full forty days and nights ago, made famous by Ali baba as well as Moses and a few others. Sometimes god speaks to these people, makes a change from me I guess!

Right next pub

Honest it's Spain not Blackpool

But you could be forgiven for thinking St Jacques has heard I am coming home. If every rain drop was a grain of sand - you'd be able to see the beach. It is only 30 yards away. A beautiful big sandy expanse but sadly you can't see it. Maybe tomorrow it will be visible. I'm thinking of getting a tattoo just to keep me out of the bars but I wasn't sure whether to go for a shell or a harp.

The Gallegos language is very similar to Gaelic - well insofar as I can't understand a word. Thankfully they think I'm German so I'm not letting down Scotia, too much. Reminds me of a story about Iain Saville and Tom Morrison at the excellent do held at the castle back around 2000. I ended up doing a sword dance with Ali from the Turkish stock exchange. He didn't speak Gaelic either but it might as well have been. While I was being ushered to the dance floor with my 'see you jimmy' hat, a disguise which was very fetching on Ali but didn't work quite so well with my complexion. Iain was busy regaling Jackie about how intelligent I apparently was. Knowing me better she merely confirmed she had seen me stacking a dishwasher, putting suitcases into cars and other feats of unexceptional worth, so she shared the same vision. Unfortunately they then had to share another vision which was my kilt sliding slowly down during the sword dance with Ali. Clearly the builders bum had the onlookers rushing for the bar and very dark shades as the audience vanished pretty quick.

Lunch commences - I like a tapa or two

They told me muxia is beautiful

Aye if you like the rain horizontal and the wind getting up yer poncho

One picture won't do it justice but electronics don't mix with rain so that's your tank for now

I am half sodden. The boots which I thankfully didn't leave on the rocks at finisterre (I wasn't walking bare feet back for my trainers) are soaking but not porous just yet

They have been worn down to a crust but are just holding out the water which is half an inch deep and flowing

The town drains down to the sea and I am in the way, well I was until I came indoors for a beer and pincho

Shrimp salad I think. I will take a picture although it's nearly done. Like the beer!

2011 mcmaniac in Santiago

Last night was superb but I have a head like the bells of Burgos

Sunday 20 October 2013

Another girl another planet by the only ones

What a song - thank you Caitlin

I used to have the notion
I could swim the length of the ocean
If I knew you were waiting for me

So sang the only ones in 1979

I sang it on my way to finisterre and greeted like a bairn, priceless, my eyes had been a bit crusty, not now!

Fat Al does another girl another planet at finesterre, badly

Hello Canada !!

This is for you Iain Murray - when Stephen Hawking did the Camino

When Stephen hawking didn't walk camino

But he did get dinner in finisterre

When David Attenborough was in finisterre

Finest Finesterre - bus leaves from La Coruna or Santiago fairly regularly but its nearly 3 hours

Finisterre

I wrote 7/6 in the sand but the tide...