Day 1: Greeted at Santiago airport by the wieredy very beardy and one stone lighter boys!- needless to say Ho looks amazing and no beard!!!

Had coffee outside cathedral with the gang and Libby and lucy handed over the batton to a very scared us!!!

Survived 1st night in old monostary with 30 other pilgrims in same room- ear plugs very much needed.Started first book Emma-pilgrimage, Clary cold mountain(very apt for what lay ahead).

Day2:

Up at6 -25k walk to somewhere which included a 5k up hill hike & a wonderful lady gave us plums at the top.Emma found us all  4 leaf clovers which we definately needed as imediately before Clary´s waist strap snapped on her pack.!Disaster number 1. Lucky Mr T was there and Emma had packed celotape!Anyway we made it even though we begrudgingly declined a lift on tractor trailer by local farmer.Very proud of our first day attempt little did we know what lay ahead!

Day 3:

all gung ho and ready for action, clary and em marched up the hill very excited about the prospect of camping that evening!!! em had to stop again to shed a layer, and so will, ho, and clary went on ahead and we vaguely planned to meet/catch up shortly.

after 30mins of em literally running up the hill with t to try and catch them up, it dawned on em, that clary could surely not possibly be keeping sed pace with a very heavy and cumbersom pack, which is held together with selotape!!!

and so the phones came out, and sure enough, a wrong turn and some misguided and lying yellow arrows took them pretty much back to where we started!!! in short- they were lost!!!

an hour of confusion past, and we were eventually reunited and all had chips and egg together- except for t of course who once again ate a crust of bread!-how does he do it we wonder??!!

leaving will and jo to stay at the scarry orphanage, we had a gruelling 15k to the next village! just about to leave after another cafe con leche and cafe solo con 3 azucre, when to our surprise will and ho came racing round the corner and rejoined us in the attept to make the next 15k-due to orphanage being similar to squat/something from a horror movie!. we sang our way up the first mountain and played games untill red team started to fade- clarys blister count brewing steadily! will and ho went on, & we planted our weary selves in a field of cows, and watch some eagles soaring over the mountain ahead, recouped a bit of energy, ate the last rations of crispy sweetcorn-our dinner- and decided to proceed to the next town. reaslising after another 5k that this might not be an option-little did we know that will and jo were lost again, we settled down for the night of camping in a field!

3am day 4.

drips of rain start pouring through clarys 9.99 tent whilest wild dogs scare em and t!! definatly time to move on and find the lovely hostel that will and jo are in!! 2 hours of trapsing through the rain, with wet socks, shoes, packs, hair, everything – a local spanish farmer greeted us with “ola chicas- what a sight!!!” rescued once again by sneaking into w&ho´s albergue and having hot shower and inhaling 5 coffees!

not too keen on the day ahead, as em has developed the lergy, and clary´s blister count is in full swing with blisters on blisters!!! clary somehow convinced em to continue and take on the mountain ahead- which she later regretted-big time!!!

another 15k and even heavier in wet shoes, w, ho & t, have all kept good pace and we have lagged behind limping and singing the sound of music through the rainforest! we all met up and had the last coffee for the next 15k throught the mountains.We set off together but it soon became clear that our trench foot was starting to set in so let the others march on asuring them that we would be fine and we would absolutely meet them for a bottle of port at the other end.

Long story short both our feet came close to amputation and we had a few stops along the path-to say the least,- quite embarassing when people twice our age are marching past!!! and ordering cups of tea!!!

Dear T waited for us further down the line and after an hour an elderly northern couple told him that if he was waiting for the two english girls they were heading back the OTHER way with two spanish Carlos´´s or Pedros!!!

So we made it 4 hours later, a bunch of flowers each from t, and lovely red team go messages written in the path from will and Ho.after a few tears and an alphabet of camino ailments we arrived at Cee safely. -covered in plasters, compede and bound with micro pore!

Found the most wonderful free alburgue with clean sheets, & a mother teresa and wonderful hot curry and red wine-all was going to be ok.

Woke up to gregorian chanting and lots more coffee- upwards and onwards equiped with cold and flu tablets and compede we head for Finistaire! This is where we are now Emma on her last legs with flu with one foot between us.We are so very proud of ourselves amd have huge respect for the professional pilgrims. Have been in the sea and it has healed all open wounds, saw dolphins, ate icecreams and had picnic on beautiful little beach.

Now getting ready for walk to end of world with champagne and pizza for sunset.Despite foot rot and gangreen we are very happy and excited to be here and it is the most wonderful experince- Clary already planning to do the whole thing although she might be doing it alone as Ems not too convinced!

we´re sure they are are so pleased to have the wonderful support team that is us!!! villa pluge pool-here we come!!!!

love to you all, clary and em xxxxxxxxxxx 

The last few days have been fun with lots of great food.  A couple of days ago we went to a Pulperia (bar/cafe specialising in boiled octopus) for a large lunch of… octopus.  This was delicious but perhaps not something you eat in large quantities.  We all went to the bar due to Aunty Libby´s recent obsession with eating ocopus after trying it in another bar.  Unfortunately Aunty Libby had a nightmare the night before involving an octopus and was unable to eat any leaving all of us to eat plates of the stuff.   Accompanied with a local white wine it was fantastic though and the town we were in, Melide, is apparently the best place for Octopus in Spain.

The end of each day´s walking is often accompanied with the same simple request from Jo which I believed she probably learnt from all at Saxton Bampfylde – “right, its time for beer and wine so now can we get pissed?”.  We then proceed to try a few bottles of the cheaper local vino tinto.  This makes for an excellent way to finish each day.

Coming down into Santiago was a time for great debate.  Tris could not decide if he should attend the Pilgrim Mass or not.  The debate focussed on if he wanted a more solitary experience on entering Santiago or wanted to join with all the other pilgrims.  Without Emma´s firm hand to guide him he swayed one way and then the other but eventually made up his mind and the debate was over.  Tris chose to attend mass.

Pilgrim´s Mass was an experience and the ceremony was certainly impressive but all quite strange.  Especially as it was all in Spanish and my command of the language only extends to ordering food and strangely enough little food ordering lingo cropped up.

Anyway out for booze, ice cream and lots to eat so better go.

I am starting to keep up with Jo and Tris now but as ever Jo is a simple soul and driven by simple things.  Tris just observed that as soon as Jo is hungry/tired/needs the loo/wants to sunbathe she suddenly speeds up the pace and leaves us behind (T follows and I usually amble on at my own pace regardless).  Both Jo and Tris are also relentlessly driven by a need to get ahead of anyone that dares to get on the track ahead of us.  As Jo has already outlined a long fought battle with ´Ze Germans´is luckily now over as we walked on for a few hours in the evening once they had stopped to ensure they were left behind in our dust.  It has become clear that both Jo and T´s competitive streak is in full force here.  Speed is often the name of the game and feel the wrath if you dare to slow them down when there are ´ze Germans´on the horizon. 

Almost a whole day today without blisters.  A small one formed on a blister which was on a blister but only a small one so I am delerious with joy at the thought of a reduced blister count tonight.  Are there any opinions on the pop it /don´t pop it debate?  The general concensus here seems to be pierce it with a needle then thread a piece of cotton through and leave it over night?

I have also discovered a new culinary delight that even beats chorizo sandwiches.  The best breakfast ever is the bocdadillo tortilla Espangnol.  This is basically a spanish omelette sandwich.  It is beyond words and at anywhere between 1.5 – 3 Euros  is great as it is usually huge and lasts me well into lunchtime.

Tonight we are staying in absolute luxury.  It feels like a 5 star hotel and has a lovely swimming pool and sun loungers.  Still in bunk beds but a pretty empty dorm so lovely.  Jo is still struggling with the cacophony of snoring each night as her earplugs don´t seem to be blocking the more persistent snorers. She usually provides a cheery review of the best snoring efforts in the morning with marks out of ten.

We are now less than 50km from Burgos and should arrive there the day after tomorrow.

Better go as the Menu del Peligrinos is calling me.

T and Me

Feeling much better and now hopefully back on track after a horrible cold that just wouldnt go away.  The last few days have been fairly eventful with much excitemement and walking (well for Jo and T anyway).  After trying to struggle on through the manflu like the brave soldier that I am it finally got the better of me and I needed to take a couple of days rest.  I stayed in the hostel room for about 36 hours and didn´t feel like eating or drinking much which probably didn´t help a great deal.  After convincing Tris and Jo that they should walk on without me and I would catch them up I was going slightly stir crazy.  I did manage to read an excellent book called Guernica (thanks Em and Barney it was excellent).  I then moved on to listening to a bio of Jim Morrison¨s life and had been listening to a rather prolonged section on him tripping and being a shaman when I thought I heard Jo´s voice.  I of course ignored this and went back to listening to the story.  It became louder and more persistent and I was starting to get worried that I was hearing voices.  I then went to the door and Jo and Tris had come back for half an hour by taxi from Estella to see I was OK.

As they came back through the door I seem to recollect they were singing Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris and were at the “do you think I would leave you dying” bit but i am assured this was not the case.  After they realised I was in fact alright and was not dead or soon to be dead they quickly went off to have some cheesecake and later admitted it was in fact the cheesecake they had come back for.

After a good nights sleep i was much better but T very kindly rewalked a section of the walk on my behalf to ensure i didnt keel over straight away.  I have now got going again and am back on track.

Other highlights include:

• Jo breaking our lovely and v expensive camera after only having to look after it for 24 hrs on her own.  I wasn´t annoyed – honestly.  Its not an issue.  Really.  We will have to find other ways of bringing you images of our trip. Microsoft Paint??
• The most beautiful landscapes and countryside all day long as we walk through the most lovely villages.  We have just left Navarra today and entered La Rioja.
• Jo has the bladder capacity of a small vole.  Major learning point here.  If your wife decides to stop for a wee break on a steep hill and sends you back to keep an eye out, don´t put the rucksacks lower down than where your wife is.  This means you hear a sudden shout of panic and need to sprint to rescue the backpacks from the downward flow.
• I love chorizo sandwiches
• Food here is amazing.
• My foot is now 60% foot 40% blister.
• Budget is proving an interesting challenge.
• I must still learn to forgive Jo for the Tabouleh Tragedy.  The Tabouleh song I had been singing to get me through my aching hunger just prior to her spilling it everywhere and rendering it inedible still runs through my head and brings tears.

All in all an amazing time.