Day 2 Grado to Salas.

The walk started with a steep ascent to San Juan de Villapanda. I am walking without sticks and my thighs certainly felt it! There’s an interesting mix of pilgrims as per usual. Ida is a teacher from the Netherlands and Heather is from Sydney via Romford. Heather is a year older than my father but out walks me each day! Sarah is from Ireland and is walking with her mother Siobahn. Sarah is about to graduate from Edinburgh and I’ve tried to persuade her to apply to the JET programme. Meg and Mark are from Cairns and have been walking Caminos for many years. Last year they even did the European Peace Walk. Meg says that her sixties have been her best decade. If mine are anything like hers I think I will enjoy it too!

Day 1- leaving Oviedo.

Forcing myself out of my hotel room I started on the rather difficult route out of Oviedo. Cities on the Camino are notoriously tricky to get out of and Oviedo was not exception. I spent about an hour wandering through suburbs and construction sites before starting my first climb.My first break was at Escamplero. It was then I noticed the other pilgrims, or rather how many there were. This was supposed to be the quiet Camino! My fears were realised when I arrived on Grado. The albergue was already ‘completo’ and I couldn’t handle another 4.7 k to the next albergue. Luckily I ran in to a couple of fellow pilgrims in a small hotel. They had booked ahead and kindly changed their twin to a triple!

Day one was complete and I was happy to be back on the Camino!

Oviedo.

Most holidays don’t start with a feeling of dread. Most holidays shouldn’t start with, to quote the tenth doctor, “I don’t want to go.” But that’s how I felt on Monday. Oviedo is beautiful and full of the things I love: tapas, wine and sunshine; I would have loved to have spent more than a day there. Yet on Monday morning my alarm went and I found myself putting on my hiking boots and loading up my backpack and heading out for my fourth Camino. The undeniable question was why was I doing something I really didn’t want to do?

Any questions?

Apparently this part of a blogger challenge but I’m a bit out of it so I’m not sure what the challenge is called or what it is about! However the important thing is that Emma http://channelislandsblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/26/the-liebster-award-sort-of/ posed some questions that I have to answer. So here goes!

1) If you could have a superpower what would it be and why?
Time travel. I have done many stupid things that I would like to re-do. Post Japan I should have used my savings to buy a house in Swindon for about 30 grand and then sell it five years later for three times the price. Obviously I am very selfish. A friend once posed the time travel question about killing Hitler. I explained that without WW2 my Nan would not have been widowed and would not have married my grandfather. If I travelled back in time and killed Hitler I would then cease to exist, a bit like Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies. At this point it was suggested that I was being a bit self-centred and selfish, which to be fair I am!

2) What smells take you back to your childhood and why?
Rid. Anti-mosquito lotion that we wore at the beach in Papua New Guinea. It was rather chemical!

3) What is the most played song on your iPod?
There is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths

4) If you could witness any event, past, present or future, what would it be?
The final season of Game of Thrones or the humiliating defeat of the current government. I’m not fussy but I am impatient.

5) If you could be any fictional character what would you be?
As a child I used to like playing Beth from Little Women. My death scene was very moving. Nowadays I’m not sure I would actually like to be a fictional character. Nobody seems to be happy for very long! Maybe Atticus Finch, very wise but banned from English classrooms…

6) 5 songs to have on the soundtrack to your life.
There is a light… The Smiths
Don’t Stop Believing (cast of Glee!)
For Good (from Wicked)
Girls and Boys – Blur
Songbird- Fleetwood Mac

7) You have won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?
Write my resignation letter!
Actually I would see out the school year but I would spend a lot of time booking flights to exotic places for my friends and family. I would take Lucy, Laura and Emma from work to New York and we would see musicals, shop and drink cocktails. After finishing work I would bring my friend Guy over from America so we could walk another Camino and drink some vino tinto. To soften the blow of me leaving I might even buy my students some Haribo.

8) What is the last TV movie, show or book that made you cry?
The last episode of 24. Kim Raver is such an amazing actress. She made me sob in the last episode of Greys Anatomy and then in 24…. Well I can’t say any more than that because of spoilers.

9) If you were a secret international spy what name would you give yourself?
I’ve cheated and used a spy name generator. I am The Pharmacist! This quite apt as I am know as source of pharmaceuticals for those who are inflicted with various complaints!

10) What is your idea of a perfect day.
Something like today. Walking around a Spanish town, eating patatas bravas, drinking a beer with old friends and then getting a little sunburnt at the beach. And any day that I get to spend with my friend Guy-even when we are lost on our bikes or trying to get on the right train we still manage to have fun!

And those are my answers! Thanks Emma! I think Lucy http://movinginwithaboy.wordpress.com/ should answer these questions now!

The Sign

All I had planned for this summer was a little trip to Spain. I had sworn off any more long distance walks, the nail on my little toe was yet to grow back but- there was a sign.
The first sign came on my birthday. An old Camino friend Therese posted a video about a walk she intended to do. I remembered that sometime ago she had posted a link about a European Peace Walk; then I had given it a quick glance but suddenly I was compelled to investigate further.
550 kilometres, six countries and 23 days of walking. I was sold. I read on. The walk is a ‘peace’ walk to commentate the start of WW1 100 years ago. As someone who was educated in a Quaker school, I have always had an interest in international education and the concept of ‘peace’. I read more. Each day, fifty walkers would leave Vienna to start the walk to Italy. I hesitated for a few seconds and then I hit the register button.
So that’s it. I’m spending another summer walking. Most of my friends, colleagues and students have said that I am mad, but I think it’s the sanest thing I’ve ever done.
And the came the final sign.

You made it! How was the challenge?

Well it certainly was a challenge. I’ve said before that I haven’t written this much since school but as an English teacher I think this is a good thing. However I’m not going to miss the Sunday night not done my homework feeling that I got every day!

To finish off the challenge, my fellow blogger Emma set me some questions to answer about blogging so here we go!

Who/what encouraged you to start blogging?
My students. About two years ago I walked my first Camino. It was 500 miles and it took most of the summer. Some of them were interested in following my progress and the majority of them, I believe, thought I was mad. I actually had to go to the head-teacher’s office to ask permission to blog! On my first Camino I met Kara who writes an amazing travel blog which you can read here

How did you choose what topics to blog about?
In the past it’s always been about travel but doing the BEDM challenge has forced me to widen my range of topics. I’ve actually enjoying finding ways to think outside the box when it came to topics I wasn’t really interested in. Yes date night I’m talking about you!

What is something that most people don’t know about you?
I am a blagger- a really good one. I accompanied a friend to an open day at a local hospital. We were at sixth form and other Claire wanted to become a nurse. I didn’t want to be a nurse but there was a free lunch. Unfortunately it was a bit more formal and I ended up having an interview. I sailed through it and even thought of questions to ask. I didn’t follow it up and patients everywhere gave a collective sigh of relief. I also blagged my way into a very good university despite having some very poor exam results. The downside was I spent the next four years feeling I was a fraud next to my more academic friends. I was convinced there was going to be an Emperor’s new clothes moment and that I would be kicked out.

What three words describe your style?
Completely style challenged.

What do you like to do when you are not blogging?
Travel, plan more travel, mark books/ essays, daydream about travel, panic about blogging, marking.

Talent – tell us what makes you awesome

This is a statement to make my toes curl. I’m with my friend Emma here, it’s just not very British to shout about what you’re good at.
If I could sum myself up it would be ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’ I am pretty ordinary at lots of things, particularly at the start. When I started horse-riding, I mastered the trot and a basic canter without too much bother. Fast forward a month later and the instructor decided we were ready to start jumping. I couldn’t stay in my seat, even jumping over a little log. The final straw was when the horse decided we were ready for a gallop. He was- I wasn’t. Off the side I went and it was nearly twenty years before I got on a horse again.
This pattern was repeated again and again. In tap I quickly learnt hop shuffle stamp; in ballet- good toe, bad toe. But that was it. Anything more complicated caused much confusion and a red face.
So I think the talents I have are not the ones you can boast about. I certainly couldn’t go on a TV talent show with them! But here are what I consider my talents: I can give a killer evil look that can reduce an average year 7 to jelly. The power wains as the child grows older but by then I have other forms of torture.
I can tell over a buffet lunch whether somebody will get a job or not. I can also spot who shouldn’t get it! When I worked as a team leader for an exam board I could spot from the basic introductions who was going to be trouble for the next month.
Sadly these talents are unlikely to bring me fame or fortune, but I couldn’t do without them!

Bonnie Langford was exactly the type of talented child I would have killed to be or would like to have killed.

Wish List

I have been pondering over today’s BEDM challenge for a while. I started to make a list of wishes but quickly realised that my list of wishes was becoming a list of regrets. I wish I’d worked harder at school; I wish I’d said yes when he asked me out and I wish I’d been more patient with my nan as old age turned her into exactly what she had feared.
Then there are the implausible wishes. I wish I could marry George Clooney; I wish I was taller/skinnier/prettier- these are time wasters and life-suckers because they are highly unlikely to come true. There’s no pointing in wishing I could win the lottery if I don’t buy a ticket.
So I have a new wish list- positive wishes only and they have to be realistic.
1. Visit India- specifically Jaipur and Agra.

2. Go back to Papua New Guinea. This is a tough one, PNG isn’t the easiest place to get to or get around in. It’s also very dangerous. But one day I will get back there.

 

 

3. I wish never to waste any moments. Losing a friend this year in the most bizarre, ludicrous and pointless accident has made me realise you can never take anything for granted. I wish to make every moment count. I don’t need to have an adventure every holiday but I will not waste them.

 

 

Share the blog love.

Maya Angelou died today. She had been a distinguished visiting at Exeter University for a short while. Sadly I wasn’t studying there at that point but my professors had some interesting stories. They were all slightly intimidated by her; they’d taken Angelou for a curry and she’d spent the evening trying to incite the waiters to throw off their colonial shackles. They too were intimidated by Dr. Angelou.

My friend and fellow blogger Emma http://channelislandsblog.wordpress.com alerted me to this blog or rather ‘Snow Blog’. It tells of a very lovely but unlikely friendship.

http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/friend-maya-angelou-americas-great-warrior/23993

 

 

National BBQ Week

We never had a barbecue until we moved abroad. It just wasn’t British. Barbecues in Papua New Guinea were held at the beach. My mum would make hamburgers and bring homemade bread rolls. For ‘afters’ we would put slices of pineapple on the grill. The food was always well-done with added sand for texture! On the way to the beach we would stop and buy baby coconuts and drink the juice fresh from the shell. It makes me laugh to see the likes of Gwyneth and other Hollywood celebrities extolling the virtue of something the Pacific people have celebrated for centuries!
At some point the barbecue became popular in the UK. It just takes a couple of days of sunshine for the smell of roasting meat to permeate the neighbourhood. Before you know it, the local co-op is selling disposable barbecues and sacks of charcoal. And everyone in the village has its collective fingers crossed that it won’t rain.

Out in the sea at Wewak. The only thing that would bring us in was food!