Biarritz to Pamplona to Burgos to Santander - September 25th 2025

For many years I have hunted the bargains and extolled the virtue of Ryanair and short camino walks. So to find a flight to Biarritz for £21 on September 25th. I'll arrive thursday and head down to Irun or San Sebastian for lunch and then Pamplona. A thursday evening in Pamplona then a bus out to a dorm in Zizur Menor.

Simon and I stayed here before and from here you can walk up the hill to Monte del Perdon. Its quite simply a pilgrimage to say farewell. When John walked up this hill a long long time ago, 2018, I think he galloped up it while Jimmy with his dodgy knees moved at a steadfast 3km per hour.

Jimmy has good knees now but John sadly will never climb that hill again. I like the idea that we leave him at the top of this hill, so thats where I'm putting him. 

 I'll then walk down the hill to Puente La Reina and have a glass of gin and tonic, Larios obviously, in the wonderful dark bar where we went back in 2018. Update - I had a wine, gin seemed too dangerous.

They went home after that day and we would pick it up a year later. So then its off to Estella for saturday night. Sunday in my new favourite albergue in Los Arcos and then Monday night in Logrono.

So quick update, I stayed in Estella monjardin and Viana before Monday in Logroño and yes I'm needing a decision now. Update below.

Tuesday I'll have to make a decision to head to San Sebastian or Bilbao. I loved the albergue in Najera so my operating plan is tuesday in Najera with Wednesday a wander up to Santo Domingo and then a bus to Tosantos and if I've booked the small albergue just before Villafranca Montes des Oca I'll stay there. If I do then I'll walk from there to Cardenuela Rio Pico or stop at San Juan at that fantastic albergue. Frankly I'm spoilt for choice. Ideally I stop and have lunch at the albergue and then walk on for a lete arrival at Cardenuela on thursday. Then I can get to Burgos Friday morning and bus up after lunch to have Friday afternoon in Cafe Iruna in Bilbao, followed by dinner in Santander. Everything leans towards flying back Saturday October 4th. Back for a bit then back over for a trip to Malaga on October 28th scouting Janaury options in Almunecar, before returning November 6th. We plan to stay in Malaga on the first night then 6 nights in Almunecar before heading up to Granada for 2 nights. We're on a tight budget but it seems we can get a place in Malaga for under £80, then £220 for 6 nights and £75 for two nights in Granada. The place in Malaga is by the train station which is handy for the bus to Almunecar. Almunecar is a longer walk but not too bad to the bus station, less than 1km. The bus trips and trains are not too long except the last one when we will get the 9:45 from Granada which arrives at the airport at 11:45 or the 10:15 that arrives 12:30 for our flight at 14:35. The train is the other option but involves a bit of getting off and on and will not be $13.76 a head. £25 for two is a good uber price for 2 hours. Coming in from the airport is simple and we will juump the first train. The next day there are slow and fast buses to Almunecar. The fast bus is at 9 and takes 1 hour 15, while the slower buses are at 11.20 and 12:45 and take an extra 30 minutes stopping at nerja, torre etc. The usual thing is there are options and St Jacques provides. The same applies to the bus on tuesday from almunecar to granada. The fast buses are 1 hour 20 with stops at 9am and 13:00. The 10:45 bus leaves at the best time and arrives probably a good time for getting into the apartment, although the 1pm arriving at 14:20 is probably even better. Leaving the apartment at 10:30-11:30 appeals for a last stroll or a cafe. Then a cafe by the station for the 1pm bus. If however the flat is as superb as we expect we may just stay the entire 10 days and have a day trip to granada. Then we can get up early get the fast bus at 9am and trundle around Granada from 10:20 to 4pm. Being in the mountains the temperature will be lower which may be good or bad. If its 30 at the coast then its respite but if its 12 at night then we have another situation entirely. All this nonsense is about me having too much time to get excited about controlling or managing variables. I often wonder why when I was younger I was so impressionable. Being prepared seemed to be drilled into me or maybe it just found a welcome host. Like the cancer talk, how much was I just a good host for the cancer and hence it developed. Similarly when I was in my rebellious phase I became a lifelong contrarian who keeps calling it out. Its so comprehinsibly off the charts in behavioural analysis is it any wonder I never committed suicide. I always had one more point to make before angrily leaving the stage. When I was younger my suicidal thoughts weren't about not giving another generation a mini me full of anxiety. My suicide was selfishly about making a point when I was backed into a corner, of the show me, I 'll show you. Nowadays with so much more experience when people leave the stage more often than not in their 40's, 50's and 60's, I can only applaud. These people have battled their mental health longer than most, but for me their truth is unique to them and their situation. Its as normal as living in the wrong skin and so ably represented as Kellie Mahoney described Ricky Hatton's career in a voice I only recognised as Frank Mahoney. I know nothing about Frankly Kellie, the book written presumably about Frank becoming Kellie. I applaud the coverage that ensured Kellie's voice was heard at a time when we were commenting on Ricky's mental health. It was hugely emblematic of our times and helped Kellie's comments resonate all the more. I hope it helps all boxing fans and wider society embrace each other. It lead me into how impressionable I was and even now how easily lead I could be into a stark binary choice. Once I was working I developed my ability to see only grey. When I was working I believed there were absolutes but in the main there were more variable than people ever imagined. Its a theory I'd promulgated at University doing Economics over 4 years. I sat the second year exam many times. I refused to let the phillips curve, Laffer curve and a few others be assumed mathematical fact. Each time I'd fail the exam I'd be told I would do that work in 4th year or explore it in a masters or a PHD. I did eventually 'lie', ie present the unexamined 'facts' to pass the exam and get my degree. In truth I felt there were many more unqiue situations when those laws would not apply and over the last 40+ years we've had plenty. I think analysis of the minimum wage encourages a bimodal distribution assessment. There is a squeeze as the lowest paid migrate up and the higher paid migrate down to the minimum wage. The higher paid know they have to get up to the next level or they risk having their wages frozen and being dragged back towards the minimum wage. As I say there are smarter people who studied the subject longer and would be able to postulate more coherent arguments for this growing confusion our society finds itself financially in. The problem with a developing bimodal income distribution means that the wealth concentration just accelerates. Wealth concentration particularly when the passive income from that wealth is not taxed correctly. Whether you're a jobbing contractor or a family trust fund you should pay tax not corporation tax. Ultimately we are all individuals, whether we own a small one person business, run a huge bookies or a few bilion in a family inherited tax wrapper. Its not my job to influence tax policy and I certainly wish it was but I believe there are more qualified voices. I do know back in the day how much I enjoyed it. Explaining simple truths and getting things changed. CREST is the UK's security settlement system. ITs a massive piece of digital infrastructure. Its responsible for £trilliions every year and probably settles £400 million every day. THat's quite a small amount of money changing hands but the whole industry relies on it. Compared to 1984 when there was no infrastructure and the privatisation programme had ground the city's settlement to a halt. I wont bore myself again by recounting how Counterpary risk requirement legislation was brought in to ensure firms like County Nat West with £600million missing needed to have that collateral to continue trading. I tell that story so often. In short, it resulted in the NatWest bank needing to give the broking arm County NatWest the daily shortfall to allow it to trade. The board of Nat West bought Wood Mackenzie as we were the best at settlement. I know as I was there, both before and after university but the story I want to tell today is later. I took a job and a random 10 years later got to explore my economic theories during CREST with the boffins at the Bank of England. They had a user pays mentality and that fitted my psyche. What I needed to do was explain who the hidden users were. It was the first time I'd been involved in the taxation of users for a system. I explored what all the industry participants would benefit from. It was fascinating seeing how easy their heads were being turned from the inital strict criteria they had. Users should pay for the design build and maintenance of the system. That was clear and I agreed non negotiable. What happened next was I introduced who will benefit from the system. Those who benefit are indeed the users but whose gaining most. Who are the chief beneficiaries. Who is price sensitive and who has their hands tied and might indeed be too small to survive. Was the system being designed to get rid of small users who had a build cost of their own to comply. This was one time when I got to fight the corner of the small industry participants whether they be brokers, market makers or registrars. It was a given that the biggest particpants could pay for their interface, from infrastructure build to transaction charging. The crux of the issue for me however was I was now just doing my masters and PHD in front of the Bank of England and the industry. I was asking questions from the audience with banter, and receiving the answer 'you should be up here'. I felt my whole contrarian world of digging deeper than my 2nd year course would let me had finally paid off. It would only be a few years later I would meet the Treasury minister at the Mansionhouse to tell her to sack her speech writer. Angela Knight was not best pleased but she'd been sold a pup by whoever she was briefed. Eddie George had done a much better job at outlining the securuty risk to the UK if the financial system could be so easily corrupted as it had been. I use corrupted when a better description is grind to a halt, but utimately if you want to corrupt a system, grinding it to a halt is good thing. Talisman was a fine system but the users were identical to the users of the Horse Racing industry. They will never come together and agree a way forward. There is far too many ingrained with the belief that the system shouold be bent to them. I suppose that's iherent corruption within the system. I invited the shadow treasury spokesman Alistair Darling a week later to discuss what his constituents would like their employer to be able to do to help divert more wealth to the masses. That's when I realised this New Labour venture was about looking after a new bimodal whilst keeping the wealthy wealthy. A far cry from what I thought he'd done back in his LRC days under Thatcher. I never knew him in those days and I knew already I didn't want to know him now. I passed him onto our traders and let him look at the screens as they went red and blue. The Socialist republic of Stocktrade would have to look elsewhere if they wanted to hand over the factors of production to the workers. That was some couple of weeks and we'd go on to grow organically the firm. Did it improved life for a few or ticked a few boxes, I doubt history will even bother to judge. We enjoyed trying and by the time I'd finished with the city I'd comfortably paid my £1m in tax and was very smug about it. Perhaps my ambition shouldve been to pay £100m in tax. I'm a communist in my thinking. I want to contribute to the pot. I want to maximise the input and output of everyone from their health to their happiness. You dont need wealth, you need a wealthy society. I love that by making Stocktrade grow from £300k to £3m profit we went from paying NI of £40k to £400k, our tax at the end exceeded £1m and personally many of the employees would pay huge sums. I believe strongly in putting money in the kitty in the country I live in. I have never liked when it gets spent on wars and that always results in taxation, getting a bad name. I just wish we had a better word. I enjoyed knowing I had access to use and develop my economic theory. I dont think I'd ever write a book about it, I just keep going of on tangents. So after Pamplona I will climb a hill and witter nonsense to John.

UPDATE FROM LOGROÑO 

I've properly been toiling to eat and also think clearly. I booked Estella for Saturday in my head and Friday in reality. I walked over to puente la Reina then got a bus. I let St Jacques decide and as I rolled into town I knew it would be very tight for the 4pm bus. As I passed the Jakey aka hotel Jakue, I heard it behind me and thought 5:30 it is then. It enabled me to go to the largest ever Larios bar.

I took a few photos had a wine then some tapas in the cafe next to the bus stop. At least at Jacques is feeding me.

The Agora was a good hostel and I'd recommend it. Beds were comfortable and price reasonable. I met a Czechia guy who lives in the Netherlands screwing the bolts on the many solar farms. He liked a drink and I thought I'd lost my key so he let me in. The next morning I found my purse in my pocket. As chilled as I think I am I still know I'm only a moment from a panic. I checked the pocket so many times but these shorts have two pockets and clearly I'd been drinking.

It took me an hour to eat the huevos rotos and chistorra. I am the slowest exhausting eater now.

The next day I again let St Jacques decide via the bus whether I would bus to Los Arcos and walk to sansol or not.

I arrived in Azcueta literally even closer to the bus time and was 20 yards from the stop when I saw the bus hare by. I had had an interesting morning with an American nutter who was missing a stick.

With the decision being up to Monjardin I immediately thought, superb, I won't see the nutter again. Ana the host at the albergue was one of those beautiful old women who just care for you. The more stupid you are, the more she cares. Thanks for a lower bunk, great food and everything including the local guide suggestions.

I got a great picture at the fat end of the town before I got my washing back to hang it up outside where it dried in 40 minutes.

What a vista.

Obviously a few pints while the football was on and after the washing dried.

We had pumpkin soup for dinner lots of it, then I had eggs and sausages. Finally quince with cheese and a walnut. Simple tasty fare washed down with the local Monjardin wine, a joven not a reservation so my throat was fine.

Back up to the pub to leave my hat overnight. Thankfully the danish guys Nikolag, and Frederick, had me covered. While they ate breakfast and I started to grow a panic, they suggested try the bar.

Very easy for them and so difficult for me. I walked up and there it was on the table. 

Honest villamayor monjardin. To be fair they probably just wanted me to collect my rubbish.

It was dark when I walked out. Quickly the sun rose and my legs said run.

I didn't run, I just walked fast like a wee startled rabbit. It was a short trip over and we'll under 3 hours.

One year on from diagnosis

It's been a funny old year.

I walked into the doctor in brougham place and next thing I was off on a year long Camino.

About late June last year I came out of the meeting with the consultant having been advised that next up is tonsils and teeth out at Livingston.

I stopped here on the bench and took in the views. Lovely it was, just like today.

I sat for 10 minutes to let it all sink in. I think my brain works better when I let it digest most kinds of information.

I sat here and thought of nothing. I just felt the warmth of the air, listening to the breeze, the birds, an incessant owl who finally stopped. I knew my brain, it didn't need assistance except for me to be calm, background processing and all that.

I remembered the parting words of the consultant about it being a gruelling journey but we have a lot of success with this type of cancer.

Today he put a camera down my nostril and had a look at my throat. Declared himself happy and I was too.

It's funny how the little confirmations that come post treatment provide reliable reinforcement to a general feeling of well being, albeit now distinctly different from before.

In the back of my mind I heard the party starting. I only had two blood uncles,  both died before 60. Not sure if both were throat cancers, one was. Luck is everything but like me they were both alcoholics and who knows what the granddads died of 20 years before I was born. The both died in the 1940's.

The consultant kept chatting.

No saliva, just get used to it. You notice it less and as a diet aid it's undoubtedly useful. You were quite heavy when you arrived so for your knees in layer life best you keep it off as I see you're already 2kgs heavier. I laughed as soon as I can stop force feeding myself I'll be delighted. He said yes, stop, you couldve stopped in February. I really wanted to kiss him. This was the best news yet. I just need to have enough to tick the fuel box. Trust me, I'm delighted I said. I'm off to Spain and I'll be 3kgs lighter when I get back. I'll eat tapas and largely avoid the 3 course meals. I never did snack, I just ate constantly. Nowadays I just don't want to eat.

I explained how red wine goes down. I'll persevere, but the truth is, my lack of saliva makes a drunk's drouth at daybreak splash like Niagara falls in comparison. A wee tippy Tapa will be chewed for 20 minutes and that is more than enough for me.

When I'd first been advised I let them know about my alcohol intake. On most scales I'd qualify for alcoholic status. I'm a daily habitual drinker. The only aspect of my alcoholism that separates me since 1986 seems to be how open I am about it. However, I honestly rank it, in my head, behind giving the NHS a decent patient to deal with, sadly behind preventative diseases like cirrhosis of the liver. A warped but conventional common issue. I do enjoy going out for a few, it's great craic, I just need to do it less than I do. In Spain you can be really happy drinking coffee.

I had a genuine reason to curtail my drinking, so guess what, I did. I joked about finishing my wine cellar before treatment but the truth is, my cellar never really got full. The closest I ever got to a full cellar was when I got a delivery from Spain of 12 unique and magnificent Mencia from the Bierzo.

Like having 12, hidden in a drawer, 50g pouches of tobacco, it proved false economy. Like the wine, I think the tobacco lasted 10 days.

So, last year, when I went to drain the swamp, that was my cellar, there were only two bottles. I made them last two weeks but that was that. Well, until the albergue in Los Arcos this week.

I know my drinking is now different, like everything else. I'm embarking, like many before me, as I did without my 50g pouches of Drum tobacco, on another Camino, another new journey.

I've had to kiss another moustache'eod auntie. For family members, yes it's Noreen. She's an inspiration for withdrawing from anything you enjoy doing.

It's an adventure and St Jacques will provide. Jackie always does. 

Government is trying to get busy on another subject that involves a lot less people than regarding poverty, looking after workers in health and education, never mind reforming the local electricity pricing, upping the tax threshold, to name a few. Like the transgender issue, it's very important, it's a very detailed and difficult devate. I do think governments are elected to create mechanisms to resolve issues, not to park the bus and talk about one thing.

Politicians on the other hand see a job to get the country talking about stuff they never realised they had a strong opinion on.

The assisted dying debate will rage and another test for the fine work of Dr Kaitlyn Regehr's theories regarding polarisation. Personally I think her theory will be proved right again. I think this debate is currently calm. I think it will slowly become toxic. If it does, it proves that along with the DK theory I'm always mentioning, we don't have enough to stem the tide. Happily the planet will look after itself while we the species do migrate, possibly even vibrate to the loudest noises, the strongest hands while morphing beautifully into that ugly likeness, cue fat Al on his NotSo FatSo Camino look, begging for your cash.

I was singing away on the Camino today, London Calling, it was. I thought how brilliant the marketing of the cold war fear, that artist started to rebel and sing songs. I wrote the "penny drops as the mushroom rises" as a metaphor "for my failure to recognise my behaviour" until it was too late. To use the metaphor of a nuclear bomb was fairly standard in 1982. We all believed it to be a real threat. We were preoccupied with it and many movements from CND, greenham common etc allowed people to find their voice. Disappearing down rabbit holes isn't new for humanity. From religious wars to the bigotry of an old firm derby, we find it easy to join a party. Nowadays you could argue stop oil are fighting for the planet but the truth is, we know the planet is fine. It will evolve and humans won't. We'll be the catalyst to destroy so much of the living globe, as we see it, from mountain top to sea bed.  From sea bed to mountain top is what I did the other day, that was really too tough to mention again, but I have.

So today I am out again on the Camino. I have to rediscover my fitness. To put it more accurately, I have to start at the beginning again. My paternal role model is now 92 and closing in on 93. He's clearly evidence of a genetic disorder, in Spain it's called manana.

I know I can't be bothered doing anything to build my fitness up again. My Dad could've done two rounds of golf at 80, by 85 he was struggling to climb stairs and by 90 found it best not to. It's an inspiring role model as we all know its just around the corner. 

We build fitness over a long period and can lose it in 6 short weeks. Physios know this but we don't ever acknowledge how quickly it really is to ourselves.

My Dad got a new hip in 2018/19. It was the financial year when many hips were replaced in Edinburgh and preceded the one when a lot less were done. Hindsight let's you see how things pan out and I know I lost my fitness really quick during treatment. I'd imagine if I'd been 85 not 61 it would have been terminal. Many cancer patients find it difficult to find it inside themselves to go through the rehab. I'm just another lazy guy thinking he's had a tough year.

Luckily I have my Dad as an inspiration. I know if I don't get out I'll stop. 

Luckily Stuart has inspired me to do it. Considering how much he and Ian shared a love of lying in the sun, he doesn't always lie down. Stu displays a powerful truculence that I admire. It's not just difficult, it's seemingly impossibly hard. You have to summon up courage from the deepest depths. It's not easy, it is inspirational.

Luckily I've been instructed by people to say, "aye, you lie in your bed if you want to....."

When I was in Assynt with Rich and Fran, I found nothing in my legs. I had to stop regularly. It was enough to make me want to take up drinking full time again and start the cheerio messages. 

I can't thank them enough for being so brilliant in putting up with me.

On the way up to see them, on my free bus pass, I'd stopped at pitlochry to see Tom and Sandra. Likewise they put up with me. I got to record my Cancer song, I'm not standing still. Truth is, I really wanted to stand still. I just knew I was a dead man walking. People suspected the worst when I was neither walking nor talking. Couldn't really be bothered with either to be fair. You stop looking for inspiration and roll effortlessly into self pity. You hear yourself shouting give yourself a shake, but it's not happening.

You can hear the clock ticking and see the lights on the runway. You're ready for take off, no doubt about it, until you realise where you're going.

I've a album of songs I call the rabbit hole experiment. Caitlin inspired it with one of her plays and it leans right into Dr Kaitlyn Regehr's work which I caught 15 minutes of.

It's got a song I do twice, like Caroline says on Berlin. I love it. Relax, it will never be heard or forced on anyone.

It's from the dawn of time about how we are all thrown down the rabbit hole. From the Nature v Nurture debate, spoiler alert nature wins on side one but nurture triumphs on side two.

Evolution tracks the old media of the stage, through the films of the 20's-40's and sets the scene for side two.

It was Politic, tells the gentle story of control using the "voice of choice"

Fuel is full of fun and the wonderful way "we welcome to the feast, our..... new year beast"

Let's face it, everyone needs a new entity to hate, well at least that's what you think it is.

"Healthy body, corrupted mind" is an old style discussion on atrophy in the brain. Spoiler alert again, it's not genetic.

"The mushroom treatment" closes the album. We all now wish we were mushrooms is the sentiment.

I'm sure it's all old hat but it keeps me walking and talking.

Last night in the albergue in Los Arcos was fantastic.

One of the things the Cancer has given me is perspective. I've always looked at things from funny angles.

In fact some of my pictures are extremely strange.

Today's lightbulb moment was history.

Why do we get nothing but this king did this and that.

We have had a go at telling the soldier's tale and we occasionally get a workers movement but very little history related to the vast majority of us. It pertains to hand picked celebrities from the past.

I'm not sure what my point is but it's about marketing really. We only know what we are taught. If we are taught about good kings or bad ones we are not taught about our role in it. Revolution is largely ignored as you don't want that on the curriculum of your serfs. It's bad enough they even go to school.once there it's important we control what they learn.

Jimmy and I have had long discussions on his schooling during the 60's as people were bred for the factory gate.

The curriculum really reflected the skills shortages.

I suppose if I read books I would've discovered it before. I do wonder how much those who commission work for TV, films and the stage just play to this narrative.

Maybe in amongst Shakespeare's works there's more about the ordinary lives than I knew but I can't help thinking his plays were written for an audience.

During the 80's we had so many auf weidersein pets but maybe there is a lot more and I'm just blind. I like a detective story but we now have about 100 celebrity series where the star status is duly awarded. I just know what I like and sometimes find myself explaining why I like the Camino. It really is an every person story.

I say this largely when I know what I like happens. I know with Caitlin's play about the victims of Bible John, the voice of "I just love the dancing" resonated for me. Know what ah mean.

I like Vera, sandy dramas, Shetland etc but really, can we not do something creative with real people. Does it take the post office scandal to produce an every person tale.

Alphonse X put that beautiful cathedral up😂.

 

Camino 23 - Pamplona to Burgos

A plan is forming which will help as I fly in 3 days.....update fly back in 3 days🤣this note is largely for me so it's a mix of plan and what happened.

I arrive Santander on Saturday so will wander to Laredo or Castro Urdiales.

And so it came to pass. My flight was delayed and so while I was waiting at the airport I bought a ticket to Laredo from the airport. It was a win win as it's only €3 from the airport and €5 from the following stop.... The city. Our plane did depart and I got off it in time to squeeze onto the 2:40 shuttle bus but for a change listened to the wee voices saying patience, charged my phone, then took the 3:15 bus.

I stayed in casa Loopez in Laredo again and still heartily recommend it. My single room was €44 and I think the €18 for the dorm is the value gig. Inflation on the Camino is clearly impacting the dorms where 4-5€ at the beginning and nearer 8-10 around Sarria in 2007 whereas now it's €14-20, except Burgos central dorm which is €10 with the pilgrim passport. Rooms on the other hand have largely stood still or doubled at the most. I've got a €33 ensuite in Cardenuela Rio Pico and it was probably €25 back in the day. Menu del dia has clearly risen from roughly €8-10 to €20-25, largely in line with beer and wine, between double and triple. In relative terms going back 40 years to the 80's since when it's gone up 10 fold. Inflation really does eke away your savings. A £100,000 wage 20 years ago would be nearer £300,000 today. Choose houses, digs or beer, it's just mental.

I'd bought a few beers and happily sat in the roof terrace drinking them in Laredo either side of stretching the legs while visiting a few bars.

Champions league was on so I caught the second half in la cabana. It's a great bar, especially for food. Lots of others worthy of note. I wanted to go back for the Tapa tasting week, I may yet do so.

Next up was the bus to Logroño a tour of the tapas bars then back for the 16:30 to Los Arcos. It's a new albergue, only 6 weeks old and the hopitalero is amazing. Sold me the €15 dinner and I was very happy. Great table camaraderie

The Japanese guy tried to air drop the picture but taking a picture of his phone was as quick. We don't need a detailed picture to share the laughter.....and don't worry I won't tell the table jokes. Camino humour rarely travels as well as it does across the table. It's the epitome of a location joke. They work beautifully in the moment, the best humour does. One day I'll learn that.

Usual drill, smelly pilgrims loving the experience. Opposite me were Newcastle in Australia, Kansas, Missouri, Denmark with Denmark jnr, Germany then my side was France, Ohio, Ohio, Scotland and Japan.

It was the G8 with a few moonlighting.

Next day I will get to Viana, which I have now.

I plan tomorrow to get to Navarette but have to share the weather luck today.

I was very happy it was overcast even if it did mean the pictures would be less vibrant.

There are many paths on the Camino and I took the high one here as I danced around the puddles. You think Spain is largely dry, it's frequently sold that way. The rain is often torrential when it comes, ensuring the wheat grows well and the flowers light up the trail.

Overcast means less sweat and more walk. It also means you can maintain your pace, which on the stretch after Torres del Rio, can be challenging. Jarv, stay at home just now, but we will get you out. It's like walking up from the burn to the tiger bar then walking back down to the burn, constantly. 

The two stop strategy turned out to be a tale of one pit stop then an enforced stop. 

The weather closed in very quickly. I was only 3km from the gleaming spires of Viana but the thick grey clouds suggested it was pretty heavy rain there.

The puddles would be growing in no time at all. 

As every plumber will tell you, water just obeys the science of gravity and well, I certainly believe in "Gravity". My song on the subject is now up to 10 minutes and it's hard to cut a verse. It's more like a ridiculously long poem.

I suppose Burns got away with Tam O'Shanter although I doubt I'm in the same league never mind century as Burns.

I am however a Hibs supporter so when I came across this bar in Logroño I couldn't help thinking the game would've been superb here. 

Who knew Logroño, so far from Seville would have a supporters club.

They do like Real Betis here. Before I leave the subject of Viana I must give St Jacques the nod. Heavens opened while I entered town so I went to the hotel Jimmy John and I stayed in, probably 2019, and asked if they had a room.

€42 ensuite with bath and I just thought, superb. How lucky was I that an electrical storm should appear just as I entered town. 

After the usual tidy up, unpack, make a mess, I went out for a couple before siesta.

Simon and I stopped here for some morcilla in 2007, it may have changed, I may even repeat myself later in this blog but it was even better than 18 years ago and I also spied through the arch a few more places.

One was an old man's boozer, one a  rock'n'roll bar and I sampled both. I lingered longest in the rock'n'roll bar.

The beer was superb, the sounds were right up my action strassa, oh and there was a darts board.

It was time to get home and so I did. I even woke up reasonably early and so Tuesday was Logroño. I chatted with two guys from Missouri and then, on going into town, bumped into Dunfermline renegade Gareth, a music dude with a wizard's beard, unlike his wife Clare who looked like a diminutive tough kiwi. A very short day indeed. It was to do with a thunderstorm and I found a place Pension Berceo which was €40 for a private room with shared facilities. A bit like the hotel in the picture which was Viana, which also had a bathroom.

Spotless and a really comfortable bed. Ah yes, that's the right photo

They also owned the launderette I would find out later. It was a good siesta and a good rest. A bit of admin housekeeping and not too much drink and tapas. I keep having to remember about fuel but in the main if I have a short day I try to add a little pub crawl with extra steps. So it was the launderette, the heavens opening again and then back out via the flat to get me to the desired number of km.

I met Dunfermline Gareth, and Clare, now of Dunedin, going into Logroño and would see them again in Navarette on the Wednesday. I did that foolish thing of not going up to chat thinking I'd go to the bar and get my elevenses first. I never saw them again. Typical of the Camino.

So Wednesday morning I was off to Navarette. I got to kick the ball slowly going out of town and after I got to the lake I checked the steps out of interest. Funny how restarting the phone doesn't always restart the steps. So annoying that from 8pm to 10am my steps were not on the machine. Luckily I measure Caminos in happiness and general fitness or wellbeing, so I wasn't really bugged for longer than five long friggin minutes.

I stopped at ventosa as usual. It's such a lovely walk with the art on the way.

As you leave Ventosa you pass a bodegas. I've still not bought a bottle in a sheepskin flask, but never say never.

I did see a picture of me from 4 years earlier. Wow, this cancer really has sorted a weight issue.

The albergue in Najera was superb.

Wednesday Najera 

That was a really easy three stage journey and a great albergue. I'm up 10 times through the night so on the notes I mentioned lower bunk and near a toilet please. I also mentioned the saliva glands so later on the hopitalero patiently poured extra gravy to help me through. I foolishly eschewed the opportunity for a foot massage. I don't know if it cost anything but everybody said it was transformational. Those tendons just below the calf that Achilles found to be a bit on the weak side, yep, those ones.

My stop at Najera was quite simply the best and another reminder of how many good albergues there are. If there was a sour taste it related to the empty bed above me and to the side. The albergue was full as all the beds had been taken. It's so annoying that people with the wealth can book out the albergue and then not show. I don't know how much it messes with the economy of an albergue. On paper you're selling all you beds, however the albergue income stream involves dinner, washing machines and often a bar. 

Thursday it was a walk to Azofra first up and I got to spend time in Bar Sevilla again. 

Then it was on to the golf club.

Rioja Alta in Ciruena. €36 for a round of golf and a burger if you play after 1pm.

The course looked great and empty as usual although I did see one couple playing.

One of my favourite hours on the Camino is the gentle rise and fall to Santo Domingo de la Calzadas.

A Brazilian cyclist asked me to take a picture. 

So I did and she reciprocated.

Then 15:40 Santo Domingo bus to Espinosa where the beautiful albergue was full and big one closed, then walk to Villafranca Monte's de oca and stay in la alpargateria. 

Late arrival at 6pm, meant wash drink wander drink sleep. I had a plate of albondigas and the sandwich I'd eaten most of from Azofra breakfast.

I woke up to find my 5 trips to the toilet had cleaned the hostel out by 7am. I laughed then got up to bang my head again about 7.45 had a shower and wandered out for coffee. 

By 8:55 I headed up to the shop which opened at 9am. I sat so chilled on the bench thinking it's such a short day today.

The walk to St Juan de Ortega saw me kicking the ball, meeting Quebecois, Colorado, Taiwan and now Chris and Joe from Minnesota. 

The ball didn't always play ball.

The Taiwanese were superb. 

The three women had so much fun. They were part of a church group walking the Camino from Taiwan and I suspect they were not the pious ones in the pews.

Chatting to Chris and Joe, then later Chan and Jean Pierre there were so many ideas popping around.

Chris is a photographer and I couldn't help thinking how valuable his sight was. I didn't ask if he had specific insurance but my mind went on the beautiful journey of him taking pictures of Harley Davidson motor bikes at 5am or 10pm so that the marketing minions can discuss the latest sales figures from a glossy magazine. Surely by now all bikers know about Harley Davidson bikes. My mind wandered to how much tax he pays and whether he pays another tax to an accountant and if so, why doesn't the IRS just say you pay $5000 a year and you pay an accountant $5000 a year. How about stop doing accounts and just pay us €9000 a year. We collect taxes to pay for street lighting to pay for things in your community. If you believe in paying tax you can pay $9000 and no accounts.

The alpha male thing of running on ahead to buy 4 coffees and tortilla when a crowd looks like it might swamp the cafe is so funny. I really identify with the fear aspect of waiting. I also love being on my own as I don't over manage myself, just when I feel I'm the organiser. It's even funnier for me with someone from the USA as they are the bullies being bullied by a smaller nation. The idea of entitlement and the great US empire is never far away. Switch it on its head and realise this is out of fear and that's what drives some people in other cultures.

My mind then wandered to how you bring a product to its knees in the competitive corporate world. Well I thought, imagine if you were accused of using radioactive water in your bourbon or soft drink. How quickly would that cyber attack work.

Dinner was great tonight and an afternoon drinking and discussing nonsense was fun. Occasionally we stumbled into politics but I feel so relaxed that it's easy to see the fires but it's the fire starters we need to sort. The fun of the international community is never far away and takes of present or past Camino's lift the spirit no end.

Tomorrow 7th June Saturday Cardenuela Rio Pico 

Sunday walk in and maybe bus out of 

Tuesday bus from Burgos to Santander 

Wednesday home