In Feb, Martin Sheen (one of my Favourite actors and the wonderful President Bartlet in the ‘West Wing’) is staring in a drama called ‘The Way’. It’s described as an intimate drama set on The Camino de Santiago where Sheen plays an American Doctor who comes to France to collect the remains of his estranged son who was killed walking the trail in the Pyrenees. He then decides to complete the trail himself. To get a flavour have a look at http://www.theway-themovie.com This is the route Teresa and I are doing. However, this is only the section that starts in [...]
Look out Camino, here we come.
The next section is now booked, how exciting is that? Teresa and I head out (from Gatwick this time) to fly to Toulouse on May 5th to walk the next part of this fabulous trail. Our trip sees us start with an overnight in Toulouse and much of the next day there too due to plane and train times but this gives us a chance to relax and explore a new city for both of us. No doubt wine, food and coffee will play it’s part as we wander the streets of this Southern French city. Then in the late [...]
Food for thought….
This blog has sporadic postings mainly because much as Teresa and I would love to be walking it continuously, life dictates that we do it in sections and at present that means once a year. So as the next section beckons, I fund myself re-reading all the past postings and experiencing many emotions. There was relief that 3 sections in we have never had to drown each other out with those ipods mentioned in blog number one. Joy and hilarity as just reading words and looking at photos reminded me of the great times and the funny things that had [...]
New blog but not quite up to date yet!
Have finally managed to set up a separate blog for Teresa and my adventures on the Camino. It took a while to do as all blog posts of all my interests were on one blog so a lot of exporting and importing needed to be done but at last I’ve got there. Would love to hear what you think so please do comment below and do follow too. I’m really pleased with it but of course now realise how incomplete it is. Bear with me but I do promise to update it bringing you all the wonderful stories etc from [...]
Balance paid
The balance of the trip is paid and Chris, Teresa and I talked about this walking adventure as we made our way along the Grand Union Canal yesterday. Little did we know as we walked, that the weather in the UK is currently better than that of the southern part of France and Spain where the Camino goes. I’ve told Ann from World Walks to please get things sorted for June 23rd. It feels good to be this close as now we can get excited. Really looking forward to showing Chris around Conques, such a pretty place. Only taxis to [...]
Should we change plans?
It’s perfect weather for the Camino but I’m so glad we’re not supposed to be out there now as we’d never have made it due to the fact that we are flying. June 23rd seems a long way off but I can’t help wondering whether we sit back trusting that everything will be OK or change plans and look to training it instead. For those of you following this blog though, you’ll know that we’ve already exhausted that option as very expensive and long and not ideal. I’ll trust to the Universe and see myself walking those wonderful paths with [...]
Bus, not sure, taxi???
At the moment all is organised except getting from Cahors at the end of the walk back to Rodez for the flight. Now, I’ve been told that there’s one bus at 3.00 so if we get that, the flight is long gone especially as it takes over 2 hours!! Teresa has been given so other information, although as I write, I’m not sure what. Fingers crossed. I’ve been told that we need to go the night before but of course we can’t and I suppose had we known this, we could have booked an extra day but too late now [...]
It’s booked
At last, it’s booked. We’re flying to and from Rodez. It’s the quickest way and means we arrive in plenty of time for Christine to explore the beautiful Conques before we have to head out the next morning. I tell you, this small town, more like a village is just like a wonderful film set. You expect to walk round the back and see that it’s not real…but it is. If I close my eyes, I’m back there, enjoying a beer in the sun just like Teresa below.
I need some direction
Took some time out this morning to go into central London so that I could visit the Rail Europe Offices and talk to a real person about my options regarding travel in France, yes, this is a follow on from yesterdays post…or was it a rant? Anyhow, found it no problem and there were no queues, yes, this was going my way. Ten minutes later and it was all over and I had little more info than when I’d looked on the net. You can’t book tickets until 90 days before you travel but that also means that you can’t [...]
Frustration.
World Walks - http://www.worldwalks.com/france.aspx have confirmed dates etc and deposit is paid but both Teresa and I are finding organising the travel a nightmare and it’s amazing how quickly you forget as Teresa has just reminded me that this is exactly what happened last time. The trip on Eurostar to Paris is fine but getting South to our destination takes both a long time and is very expensive and at the moment the timetables we want aren’t up. The other option is flying to Rodez which is what we did last time and it’s looking likely again, just need to [...]