Just to let you know..... 26 07 2010

Yes, we are back in England. I am still a bit shell shocked, I suppose, and Alison is back at work dealing with auditors, the world and everything while I get to do house work, write stuff and play with grand children – life is tough, believe me!

We arrived in Santiago on the 19th and got our compostellas after a long argument with the women who give them out. We kept saying that we had walked from England and they refused to believe us/understand us/listen to us. I ended up showing them the map in the back of our pilgrim passports and showing how they correlated with the stamps in the book (we got a stamp every night at the place we stayed at). Eventually they gave in and accepted that we were telling enough of the truth to warrant giving us the certificates.

We stayed our first night in the city at the refugio run by the Francisans (a well kept secret) and I ended up encountering the last ghost of our walk and being bitten several times on both arms, neck and head by the dreaded bed bugs. Our second night was in a hostal booked for us by Dougald and Betty (God bless them).

We had several celebratory drinks/meals/etc with David and Christina, with Dougald and Betty and even met up with Anne and her friend Elizabeth, too. We encountered some of the rudest Spaniards of our whole walk in Santiago and some of the nicest people, too. We also went to the Pilgrim Mass which I hated and Alison thoroughly enjoyed and was moved by. It also featured the huge swinging incense burner that is controlled and swung by a team of men as it shoots back and forth across the width of the cathedral – total madness on a chain and encased in silver. Oh, and we gave St James a cuddle, too. At the back of the high altar in the cathedral there is a very grand and elaborate statue of St James and if you queue up at the right door you can follow the line through the back of the church, up into a high room behind the altar and stand on a little pedestal so that you can put you arms around the statue. We did this and whispered sweet nothings in his ear (yes it was quite a weird experience but no stranger than walking 1600 miles to get there, I suppose).

Finally, we left the city on a bus which left on the 21st in the morning. We travelled across Northern Spain in a slightly indirect but beautiful route and entered France just south of Bayonne. By mid day of the 22nd we arrived in Paris and headed on another bus towards the Channel Tunnel where we spent a very long time being held up by French Customs (one of our fellow passengers tried to go to England using her driving license and could not understand why it was not acceptable – after all, the UK is supposed to be part of the EU, isn’t it?) sadly, Britain is not very welcoming even to its own citizens! Our party was then delayed by UK Passport control who managed to find another couple of passengers who didn’t meet their exacting standards for entry. Finally, we boarded the Channel train, waited for a while and then had to get off and get on another one as that one had decided to break down! What joy!

Our arrival in London was untroubled and gentle and our welcome from Kirsty, Rosalind and the twins was great. We celebrated with Champagne and fish and chips – happy days!

Other delights of our return included the car battery being totally flat and having to wait a long time to charge it up (it started for the first time this morning (hurray) – yes, the book said it would take 24hrs to charge and that’s probably how long it took – with breaks when we went out, went to sleep, etc... Rosalind and the girls stayed over as Paul’s mother was having a birthday party on the Saturday and things go very complicated with relatives staying at their flat, etc. We went down with her and the girls to wish Yvonne a happy birthday.

Then yesterday was my turn at having a birthday (I generally have one a year, I think), and it was a great day (one that would have been even better if we had also enjoyed the company of Dominique, who is at Warwick Uni doing a course, and Ewan and Dylan who couldn’t make it so we will see them during the week if we can organise it...) I made some food for the day, which was part of the day’s fun. I made a very large Paella, an empanada and some bbqed chicken, too. We also enjoyed a lovely bottle of wine which was a present from our very good friend Mike (thank you Mike!). My presents included a DVD of Dancer in the Dark which is excellent and the DVD of the TV series from the eighties called Tutti Fruity which is also excellent!!! And, a lovely bottle of Caol Ila which is an excellent Malt Whisky, if you didn’t know what it was.

So now I am sitting here in New Malden thinking where do I start? I have so much to do/write it is mindboggling but all good stuff, really. I have also made a policy decision – I will write a book on the walk but it will be quite different from any of the others I have seen. Well, very different, actually because in order for me to enjoy writing it I will have to do it my way...... It will not take long to do but I will have to start looking for a suitable publisher – always the hardest thing to sort out.

Sorry it has taken a while to get this bit written but I have just been doing normal things, like making and eating food that I like, playing with granddaughters and chatting to family and friends, walking to places then coming back, cutting the grass and tidying the garden, sitting on a comfortable seat, staying up later than ten thirty without resorting to reading by head torch, sleeping beyond five in the morning, etc....

Life, don’t talk to me about life......