HANKS TRAVEL BLOG

This was an awsome experience. A very old building tastefully modernised. Thankfully Jason, our IT man was in charge of proceedings, otherwise we might have slept out on the pavement. It was all  too technical for me. Once in, we chambered up the old staircase to the fourth floor and inside found this gem. Three bedrooms with double beds. Jason and Amy shared  the ensuite room, Jeff and I had the other two rooms. After a hot shower, the very large TV was showing sixty year old spaghetti westerns. Talking about spaghetti, Jason and Amy went food shopping and Jason made the most incredible spaghetti bol. Allister, staying near by joined us for dinner. Washed down with beer and wine, I didn’t need any rocking to get to sleep. Before I left the next morning, I was able to phone Gayle to say hi and by the time the others dropped their luggage off, we were walking by 8.30. The first four ks, not much fun walking away from a big city. Too much pavement, cars and people. Once on the edge of town, I welcmed the gravel paths even though we had a big climb for about ten ks to reach the big white windmills at the top of the mountain. Here we had an enjoyable break. Helen and Mark found us here, and finally we walked the rest of the day with them. The day started at 14 degrees, but warmed up quickly. By the time we reached our destination, with a three kilometre detour to a hexagonal church in the middle of nowhere, it was 30 plus. Although a dry heat,and feeling good, I was happy to remove my back pack and enjoyed my hot then icy cold shower immensely. A very modern albergue, jeff and I shared a room with two single beds, Jason and Amy our neighbours. We had a couple at the bar before joining others for dinner. Allister joined us, as did Helen and Mark. At the bar, we also met up with Sammy from Yorkshire, and Jed. At 21 years of age, he is the baby. A very fine young man. I’d be proud to call him mine. I spoke to his girlfriend on the phone and told her hang onto this bloke, he’s unique. Not long after dinner, I thought I would rest a bit and do my blog. I lasted long enough to write the title. Talking about titles, I must explain the wham Bam Exuse me ma’am title. I don’t proof read my blogs sometimes and left out the sentence that said, when walking out of the albergue that morning, the Pyrenees look stunning under a cloudy frosty morning, however when you see the climb ahead, wham Bam Exuse me ma’am, let’s do it.

We have now left the Pyrenees and travelling through  Basque.  country in Spain. Many pilgrims about but definitely not over crowded. Last night we had dinner at the albergue, which was good as I had no energy to walk anywhere. In fact yesterday afternoon I was that knackered, I saw a young lady walking her horse. Through broken english, I offered to buy the horse, but she wasn’t interested. The pilgrim’s meal last night was very thick vegetable soup roast chicken and roast potato slices. Dessert was a chocolate moose and washed down with the local vino. I didn’t need any rocking to get to sleep. Breakfast this morning was a picnic put together by the albergue. Five euro, and it consisted of a banana, a fruit juice, a fruit bar,a crosaint and a ham and cheese sandwich. I bought a nice egg and curitzo baguette for lunch. The walk today was very peaceful and not to strenuous until we got about five kms from Pampolona. Before then mainly through forest. The last five ks was walking through traffic om concrete pavement and 30 plus degrees. Also Jason had to walk extremely slow as he has developed a number of blisters. Jeff managed ok with his back, but was grateful not to have his back pack. We saw Helen and Mark for a fleeting moment, and Allister was with us for part of today’s section. I also met many other pilgrims. Tonight we are in an apartment organised by Jeff prior to the trip, so that will be a nice change from the albergues. Touch wood,so far the albergues haven’t been crowded and all nice and  clean. It is rather early in the season.

In the meet and greet, I love to watch people as they explain their reasons for walking. Some can hardly speak English, but you can see the passion in their faces. Some are grieving from the death of loved ones,even pets, or looking where their lives are at,religion, spiritual is a common one, comradiry and,looking beyond retirement, and lots other reasons. It’s very addictive, as many pilgrims have done more than one, including myself. Me?spiritual comes in for me, comradely, also time to reflect on my parents who have passed many years ago. Also I reflect  about our grandson Teddy, how he was taken away from us at only three weeks old and I walk for Ashleigh and pray that she can keep the strength to guide Willa, Teddy’s twin to build her body to be able to live as a normal child. At two and a half she is slowly punching above her weight. Now, back to the way. Last night’s pilgrim’s meal was a delicious salad entree, fish and chips, some sort of cream and chocolate cake, beer and wine. Can’t complain. As my stomach muscles and knees, add in thighs,calves were now aching from two days of mainly climbing, I was happy to have an early night. This morning I didn’t exactly bounce out of bed, but left the albergue to get some miles in before breakfast. Started off quite cold, great for walking, but got considerably warmer as the day wore on. After about four kms we stopped, had brekky, and caught up with the welsh man. Those first few kms were pleasant gravel paths,the smell of cow shit going through my nostrils,I was sore but feeling good. Long day today,about twenty five kms.Some road work, a number of ups and downs over rocky ground, quite steep, but not as bad as yesterday. My body not recovered completely so at times had to stop as legs feeling like jelly. Jeff went missing and later on in the afternoon, we found out he had hurt his back,so he slowed down, but finally made it to the albergue about 5pm. Tomorrow he will use the luggage transport and walk without his pack

Last night we joined around 40 other pilgrims in a communal three course dinner. A nice bowl of veggie type soup, sliced meat with a mixed beans. Don’t know what it was called, obviously washed down with some red. Every body had to stand up and introduce themselves and their reasons for being on the camino. I always love this bit. Just remember there are thousands on the track at the one time,and here we are a number of 40 odd,and there are Australians, Irish, poms,welsh,Dutch, yanks,Chinese, tiawanese, and probably four or five other nations,in one room, all enjoying our meal together after a killer climb. Bring it on again tomorrow. And I spoke too soon. This morning wearing my fav old singlet and shorts, ready for breakfast and another slog up the mountain, a huge thunderstorm hit. Beautiful sound of thunder rolling across the hills and lightning 🌩 and pouring with rain. By the time I ate my cornflakes, a baguette with jam and a cup of tea, also making my flask of tea for the journey, the rain had stopped, and by 8 am when we started walking, the day just got better. Although it was quite cold, I was happy walking in my singlet and shorts, whilst everyone else was wrapped up like eskimos.The next 15kms were again like yesterday, but maybe not as steep. Yesterday we climbed 900 metres in 8 kms,today another 500 in 15 kms. Guess what?what goes up, must come down, an appropriate song by Blood Sweat and Tears, and that’s what happened. Five ks of steep down hill on a track where 4wd vehicles would have struggled,the blood sweat and tears were alive. Half way down, we stopped to assist Amy as she had a hot spot turning into a blister, and I suggested if she didn’t sort it straight away, it could get a lot worse. By the time we reached the bottom, my knees were screaming, and I had to sit down for at least an hour before continuing. We arrived at the albergue after 4pm, washed my clothes, had a shower and relaxing before going to dinner. We added to the family today, on and off we walked with Allister, a welsh man, and Scott from California. Also ran into Helen and Mark. This sunny Sunday afternoon will continue into tomorrow we hope.

After the war cancelled the flight through Qatar, I didn’t think I would be making the journey to London and Europe this year. Gayle decided not to renegotiate the trip we had planned and stayed home. Emily was very disappointed. I then   organised a flight through China and touched down in London last Tuesday. After a 5 minute stint through customs, I waited half an hour for my luggage. I normally don’t have luggage in the hold of the aeroplane, as I just carry a backpack. Because the family had heaps of goodies for Emily, our daughter who lives in London, I dragged the dreaded suit case. Then came the first shock. Sixteen quid for a forty minute train ride to Clapham Junction in London. I arrived at Emily’s about 9 am. We had a great time hanging out ,and Thursday night I was very proud to see her at work at a function raising money for Just a drop, a very important organisation,who she works for, raising money for the poor people that have no running water.  On Friday after a teary farewell, I caught a train back to gatwick airport and stayed at a local hotel, as I had a 6 am flight to Biarritz in France near the Pyrenees mountains. By now my body clock is not far from being engaged with the local time. I went to a local Italian restaurant and ate the best lasagne and in bed by 8 as I had to get up at 3 in the morning to walk the 3 kms back to the airport. Why would I walk you ask?don’t trust cabs that time of the morning. When I almost arrived at the airport in pitch darkness, I thought I was trapped by a locked gate. I felt a bit tense at that stage wondering whether I would make it to the airport in time. Luckily a security guard happened to be on his round and assisted me to safely find my way. Whilst waiting for my flight, I met some english folks also on their way to St Jean pied de porte and funnily enough we were seated next to each other. Incredible coincidence. We went to SJPDP together and finished the first day by walking the first eight kilometres. There is  good reason for this, as otherwise tomorrow  would have been 28 kms. The Pyrenees are very beautiful, but also very cruel. The bulk of this short walk is a steep uphill battle. Even under a cloudy sky, and temperatures of around 14 degrees celcius, my shirt was saturated with sweat by the time we reached Orrison, out in the middle of nowhere. There is one albergue here. Nothing else. At 3 pm after checking in, I had a shower and zonked out for at least two hours. Apart from the hickup near the airport this morning, it has been one incredible day. Meeting Helen and Mark from Bristol, and Amy, husband Jason, and their good friend Jeff, I felt the camino has already provided me with a brand new family. Beun camino.

Photo of my new shoes,and Jason, Amy and me having a well deserved rest.

A couple of final things I would like to share. On Sunday, after people watching in the hospital for almost three hours, an asian,friendly short man calling himself Paul finally called out my name from the sick and injured masses in the waiting room. This doctor who apologised for me having to wait so long, explained that he had three complicated jobs before mine, hence the length of time it took before he could get to me. He first had to ask me if I was on any medication, in which I replied confidently, 4 mg blood pressure tablets daily. Which one? was the next question, dunno, came the reply. We need to know, and he rattled off some names. I don’t recognise any of those, I said, so Emily phoned Australia to speak to her mum to get the answer, as Paul could not continue without knowing. Gayle found the box of medication, took a photo and bingo, we could now continue. Anything else wrong with you?no not really I replied, and at the same time, an emphatic yes, my daughter replied. Paul, with a funny smile and look on his face replied, one of you is lying. So after Emily told him about two of my health issues, and I always wrapped gaffer tape around my wounds when ever I cut myself till it stunk and then remove the tape,as now the wounds are healing, he said, I have learnt something today, and looked at me as if I was Mick Dundee. He said I was a real bushman, and I  have a good immune system, which is quite rare these days, as everyone one relies on tablets. The aussie myth for these Londoners lives on.He then went on to do the repairs to my arm, wrapped it up in bandages, and sent me down the hall for some exrays, which came back in my favour. When I finally arrived back on australian soil strolling through duty free on my way to pass port control,I couldn’t help but notice a two, one litre box of Jamieson Irish whisky and automatically picked one up by the handle. I walked about ten metres towards the cash register, when all of a sudden,my box became a lot lighter. Yep,both the bottles jumped straight through the bottom and smashed on the tiled floor. As I stopped to inspect what happened, everyone else within cooee also stopped and were gazing their eyes on me. I looked at the lady operating the cash register and lifted my empty box and confidently said I was holding the box by the handle. She replied leave the box there and get another one. I dropped the box as requested and grabbed another one, making sure to hold the underneath. My cash register lady asked if I wanted to pay an extra twenty cents for a plastic bag, I replied,that would be good insurance and left watching some poor soul cleaning up the mess. After leaving the airport,I caught a train to Eagle Junction to swap for a Caboolture connection. By now its night time. As the train arrived at Eagle Junction, someone pushed the door button, but the door would not open. Mild panic began as the train took off, so I pressed the emergency. The train came to a second halt, and a voice appeared asking if there was an emergency. I  replied, people wanting to get off at this station, but doors not opening. Please wait was the answer. Two or three minutes later, an announcement came over the loud speaker system apologising for the delay, that someone had activated the emergency, and the train will be moving as soon as this was resolved. My fault. Welcome back to Australia I thought. More minutes ticked by when finally the doors opened, and a few of the punters relieved to leave the train. So now having changed platforms, I waited for the next Caboolture train. When it came to a complete stop, I pressed the door button, and not again, the train started moving backwards. I laughed and waved to the people trying to get off. Thankfully the train stopped and the door opened. By now I’m on the phone talking to Emily and reliving my entry back to the land down under with a captive audience also living the moment with me as they were listening in and seemingly enjoying every moment. I even answered questions. I was having fun. Never a dull moment, except for the next few days trying to get my body backto australian time clock.

On my walk to the train station, I finally met an aussie. A young woman who was in England doing work for the university of New South Wales. It was nice to hear a familiar accent. The train trip was going well for the first three hours, and then the announcement came, due to problems, this train will terminate at Plymouth. Everyone will need to take all your belongings, and another train will be waiting on the opposite platform. Hundreds got off to no awaiting train. After fifteen minutes a train coming from the opposite direction finally arrived. We then waited for all the people on this train to disembark, and watched them get on the train we had just abandoned. After reboarding, our train headed towards London and the other back towards Falmouth. Seems crazy to most people, but probably suits the crew as they go back to where they came from. The train then went at half speed as the announcement came the train was limping to London because of some other problems. They also announced if your journey has been delayed by more than one hour, you can make a claim and receive a full refund. The delay was fifty four minutes, so bad luck for the punters. I finally arrived at Emily’s at five pm. We  had a quiet one with Emily cooking a lovely pasta. Saturday morning rain. We ventured out later in the morning,  but lots of buses cancelled due to road closures,for the huge orgaised protest against Israel. When we finally found out way to covent gardens, we saw it first hand. Huge, must have been ten deep, and a mile long. The rain by now was intermittent. We walked a bit and went to the Huntigton museum. Very interesting, the man had thousands of exhibits of human and animal bits of body parts saved in bottles. There were also lots of bones. After checking out a few other places, we rode bikes through London back to Emily’s, which ended in tragedy. At about twenty five kms per hour, and successfully getting through London traffic and roundabouts,  including traffic lights,my front wheel caught the kirb,  and I went flying. I did some damage, mainly to my right arm. We abandoned the bikes and got to a pharmacy just on closing time. The pharmacist suggested the hospital, but I didn’t think it was that bad. Caught the bus home where Emily did a great job cleaning up the mess and bandaged me up. I then inpain,sauced out the local for some medication. Finally out of pain, I slept well. My final day in London was five hours at the hospital, getting sorted medically, which included exrays for any chips or breakages. I came through ok. We then bought bagels and went for a walk in an ancient cemetery in Chelsea. Not finding a spare plot,  we headed home by bus. I thought, no more bikes for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow morning I’m flying home with a bashed up right arm. I have had a great time and hope to do some more next year. Cheers, and thanks for joining me.

The first bus going my way wasn’t due to eleven o’clock, so I had a very relaxing morning at my favourite accommodation of my whole trip. Breakfast was self serve, so I boiled a couple of eggs and made some toast 😋. Went and sat at the harbour drinking my cuppa watching the fishermen going out for the day. It was very cloudy, but the rain was holding off. A long stint on my double decker was relaxing and enjoyable from the top deck. When I finally arrived at Falmouth, I was ready for my last taste of a Cornish pasty. I stumbled upon this nice little pastry shop that made them on the premises. I opted for a medium one, and it was that big, I struggled to eat it all. It was awsome. I then walked around and familirised myself with this lovely village. When I decided to find Jacob’s ladder inn, I had to walk up one hundred and thirty steps up Jacob’s ladder to get there. Quite a surprise. The inn was up on  higher ground overlooking the bay. Another great find. Later in the day, I met up with a couple of younger blokes from Devon, who left their families at home to spend the evening drinking Cornish ales. My friend Tina also came to drop me my stuff back and have a drink before heading the hour drive back to her village. She is a sweetie and I am very grateful to  to call her a friend. The people down here in Cornwall are so helpful,it really warms my heart. After a few drinks, some aussie banter, and the attempted throwing of a few darts, I was happy to say goodbye to my new friends, knowing I had to be on a train to London early the next morning.

Last night I had a very funny experience. When I walked in to the local, a young lady around Emily’s age was standing at the bar, while her black dog kept barking with her tail wagging, seeking attention. When I was the only one that took the action to pat her, she wouldn’t leave my side. I’m talking about the dog, yeah?Any way, Sarah the one holding the leash explained that poppy was her partner’s dog. A pint later and Sarah asking about my travels, she insisted we go meet her partner Kev who worked in the other pub. I said cool,let’s go. She then asked if I could take poppy the two hundred metres, as she needed to run home and grab something. So I did. As I walked, I started singing the rolling stones song walking the dog, and poppy and I were having a fun time.When I arrived at the pub, this guy walked up to me and said, why have you got my dog?I  answered your dog?no mate this is my dog called mate. You should have seen the look on his face. Luckily at that moment, Sarah walked in and told Kev what happened. We all then had a great laugh  and enjoyed the rest of the night. After raining all night and forcast not to stop today, the fog thick as a white brick wall,I’ve decided to just enjoy my last two days in Cornwall. I can’t see the point in breaking my neck on the slippery slopes. Next time I’ll start from the Lizard. I had a later breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs on toast, and a cuppa. The bus ride took about two and a half hours to Coverack, my next destination, which suited me fine. The reason being, it travels on an inland road and goes down a winding country lane to stop at each seaside village,then turns around and back to the main road. The rain didn’t stop all day. At Coverack, I had a fifteen minute walk to get to my bnb called the old post office. A house built on the side of a cliff back in 1660. The host was quite happy at me turning up at 1 pm, and I was happy relaxing in the lounge room gazing at the harbour and surrounds. The afternoon was drizzle and much cooler,as the weather has returned to normal Cornwall weather. I enjoyed the evening pint with the locals and chicken wrapped in bacon and cheese,chippies and salad for dinner before venturing back to the Post office for a cup of tea talking with one of the other guests.

Last night after some rest,I went next door to my bnb to the Blue Anchor a late medieval inn,which is still brewing ales on site that the monks used to brew. There is nothing fancy to the brewery as the barman was proud to show me the setup. Very ancient and not much to it really. The ale was very palatable. With it’s thatched roof and low timber beams, it dates back to 1380. The opening hours are from twelve midday to twelve midnight and doesn’t serve food. However, you are allowed to bring your own. My comment to Matthew the bar man,was, a pub in Australia would not survive just supplying beer and ales and other alchohol drinks to customers drinking on the premises. I will admit,it is probably the cosiest inn I have ever been in,and the locals were very friendly and accepted their new aussie friend with open arms. I then went across the road and had some lovely greek food for dinner. This morning, after an English breakfast, I caught a bus back to Porthleven to start walking to Lizard Point. When I started walking, the weather was much cooler than it has been. The wind became more like gale force, and very cold. Most locals walking their dogs wore jackets. I was content in my tee shirt. The path started reasonably even through valleys and a beach crossing with heavy sand walking. Later, like usual, the cliffs got higher,which meant bigger uppers and downers. It was awsome except for the extra strong winds. Not fun when walking near the edge. I tried to make myself shorter when cliff walking was the path to go. I was happy to reach my destination, and only one km to my farm house at The Lizard. After discussing the accommodation problems last week with my wife, we have decided that I will come home and come back next year in autumn or spring. I had thought of returning to Spain,but this time of year is crazy. Forty degrees and too many people trying for the accommodation available. I’m not unhappy as six months ago, I wasn’t even sure whether I would ever be able to do this kind of walking ever again. I’ve had a wonderful time. I’ve covered more than half the path, but the problems with accommodation and not knowing how I would get to start points and back to accommodation with the prices as high as they’ve become, has taken me away from why I’m here. I have two more days walking, then I will catch a train to London for one final weekend with Emily and fly back to the land down under.