Gemonimo

[quote user="sweet 17"] I have hesitated to join in because I am not sure you will be in the estuary bit or the inland bit.  If the estuary, I quite like spending a morning at Blaye, to enjoy the old citadel and the ruins are just so immense you wonder how they built it.  Also lots of nice restos for lunch and I like to take a picnic if I am with the dog. If you go to the bit near Dordogne, Gemonimo, who lives there might see your thread and come on here and tell you about places near her.  [/quote] Well St. Emilion is always worth a visit but it's not flat!  As Sweets says, Blaye is worth a visit and you can take the bac across the estuary into the Medoc (although I don't know if it runs all year round).  A delightful escapade. Your friend is bound to show you around Bordeaux and if you haven't visited before, you will be enchanted.  A lot of work has been done to make it really a most wonderfully attractive city.  Enjoy your holiday, Coops! 

Well last night with my 'new' radio plugged in, I listened to the World Service until after 'Outlook'. Perfect reception. This morning the radio alarm woke me with the most g*dawful noise allowing me to start the day with palpitations[:-))]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Is reception better via the BBC website?[/quote] Yes it is but if I listen on line, my ordi doesn't have a 'doze' facility[:D]

Wooly I'll check the atmospheric pressure and see if it correlates.  Quillan, I'm flattered that you thought I might actually understand the Wikipedia link.' What really annoys me is that I thought the radio was on the blink and found the same model on Ebay for €15. It arrived today and I still can't get the cricket!

Thanks for your advice, Tim. This is really a recent problem and I haven't added any other electrical appliances.  Sometimes (rarely) the reception is as clear as a bell so perhaps it is the internal arial. 

Being an insomniac, at night I enjoy listening to the BBC World Service on 198longwave (even the cricket) but lately I've had problems hearing it.  It's not the reception, I can hear it in the background but I'm also receiving an over riding noise which makes hearing anything intelligible impossible.  Can anyone explain this and is it likely to last[:-))]

Fabulour photos, Weedon.  I did NOT like #9 but you are right, the music is wonderful.

Rose, you sound really positive.  It must be so difficult not to be able to be close to those you love but in the meantime I'm sending a cyber hug[kiss]

Cathy and Cat... will be thinking of you tomorrow and the days to come.xxxx

Cathy I'm so sorry to hear your news but as you say, the breast screening programme in France (don't know about the UK) is absolutely spot on. And you are quite right to remind us all to take up the invitation for a mammogram which is so important. You have so many people rooting for you here on the Forum and the love of your family will help you through what must be a very difficult time. xxx Gem

Three suggestions: (a) if it will fit into a tumble dryer add one or two of those sweet smelling sheets made for perfuming laundry; (b) take it to the dry cleaners; (c) sleep in it - either the duvet will smell like a banana or the banana will smell like a chicken. Seriously though, I think the odour will disappear eventually after use.

Sweets, I have Astra and had checked on arrival chez moi from Santiago to see whether I could pick up TV Galicia and yes, I can.  And did.  I've been watching it all day and it has been wonderful.  So many recent memories and to see the botafumeira was just magic.  I only wish I could have understood everything but with non existant Spanish I had to guess.  I did catch the odd word that I understood but not the most important for a pilgrim - desayunos, servicios - which wouldn't have figured in Benoit's address!  The music for the mass this evening was sublime and I'm quite emotional to the point that the Camino Aragones is calling me for May of next year..............................  And Pacha, thanks for all the links.

[quote user="sweet 17"] Go on, Gem, how many did you lose?  And how much weight?  [/quote] Toenails? three on one foot, one on the other.  One of my last walking companions was a podiatrist (?) and on the day before the arrival in Santiago she took me in hand (well, foot, actually) and trimmed and removed all the bits and pieces so I walked into town light of foot.  As for weight, four kilos which no doubt will be put back on in due course although I do quite like the new 'look'.  What I did notice, though, was that the shape of my legs had changed. I'm glad you are well rested, Sweets.  We must have a debrief at some point to see whether we stayed in the same places.  A few days after I had returned vowing never to do the Camino again. It really was a most life changing experience and pain or no pain I really will do it again and I bet you do, too!

Well done!!!!!  When you were 'off the radar' I was a bit worried, but now you're home, mission accompli, you must be feeling just great. Will email you.xxx

[quote user="Bob T"]Yahoo.fr is a website and not a program. Openoffice writer is a program and not a document. [/quote] All this goes to prove just what a cyber virgin I am and why I need help!

My email program is yahoo.fr and I'm trying to attach OpenOffice.orgWriter.

Can anyone tell me why all of a sudden I can't attach docs to my emails?  Actually they attach but won't open.  Thanks

GG A few nights in my own bed, not having to share showering facilities with millions of people has certainly refreshed me.  Having said that I'd never do the Camino again, I really miss it!!!!

Coops, don't worry about the attacks.  I think it was a one (actually, two) off and probably perpetrated by an itinerant worker in the vines.  When Sweets last posted she was in Sarria on the home leg and she may well hold off posting until she has arrived.  I know the last hundred kilos I was pretty much single minded about getting to Santiago and posting was actually secondary to that goal.  Sweets is a remarkable person, full of courage and I know she will be posting when the moment presents itself.  My guess is that we'll be opening the champagne before the end of the week!

Sweets, I'm so glad you got out of Cacabelos in one piece.  A lovely German girl I have been walking with was attacked in the vines as she left the village but only reported it at her next stop which was La Faba.  Apparently she wasn't the only person to have been attacked (it was more of a sexual attack) as we were told of a Canadian lady who had also been approached.  Let's hope the local Guardia Civil have caught the guy. Each stop is a new and fabulous experience and each encounter enriching.  I arrived inSantiago with an Australian lady (very devout) and Iris, the German girl (who thinks she met you, Sweets, in Pamplona). Lovely people and it was altogether rather emotional saying goodbye. We also remet the lovely Dutch man who had fallen hopelessly in love with a french lady and was leaving notes to her on branches of trees for her to read as she made her way towards Santiago.  They met up and are now 'officially' and item!!! Aaahhh. Sweets, I don't know what time you aim to arrive in Santiago, but if you can get to Mongte de Gozo the night before, you will only have an hour of walking into Santiago and the possibility of a bed for the night. Arriving late in the afternoon reduces the possibilities enormously. I had been able to stick to my budget of €20/day up to Santiago and then it all went to pot as the Albergues are very expensive and I ended up paying €30 for a room in a hostal (clean and equipped) but not my normal price range.  At the Pilgrims Office where you get your certificate, you can get a 20percent reduction coupon for the train ride back to Hendaye - total price€39 I think.  However, the train journey start at9.25amandfinishes (if you are lucky) at 8.40pm that evening.  It was a long, long, loooong journey and there were no connections on to Bdx, thus blowing my budget completely when I had to spring for a hotel at €79 in Hendaye. I walked to the station from the hotel and then another 2 and a half hour train ride to Bdx where my son and heir met me. I'm thinking of you every step of the way, Sweets and agree entirely that the Camino is a journey best made alone. My objective has been achieved - my little church here will have a stained glass window (with a St. Jacques shell design) thanks to my sponsors; I've sort of put my life in order and now I move forward with new people to meet, people to help and people to love. So, my little catalyst, keep walking and we'll get together when our feet have recovered. 

Arrived this am... Went to the Mass, kissed the apostle, made a train reservation for tomorrow morning (12hours Santiago to Hendaye but at least I´ll see where I´ve been walking). Emotional goodbyes to some wonderful companions de route.Too tired to post more but when I'm home I'll do a little better. Sweets, keep going! You are doing just great but take care in the rain.

Sweets, I was afraid they would be bed bugs. Robin had them badly, all blistered and itchy and the only thing that did any good was an antihistamine cream and pills. They did go down but looked very painful for a while. I think you both must have had an allergic reaction to them as I was bitten but they just sort of did nothing. Different people have different reactions. But they do pass, so don´t despair. As for getting rid of them, either the contents of the bag have to be washed for two hours at 60 degrees or they have to be put in the freezer for a few days. But there is hope! A Dutch lady I met (who had been horrendously bitten) had been advised to wrap her pack in a huge black bin bag and leave it in the sunshine for 12 hours. The heat generated apparently kills the little bu**ars and also the eggs. People are so good and so kind, especially when it is obvious one needs help and I guess it is all part of the pilgrim experience. I only hope you don´t have stomach problems. I´m now in Molinaseca having made a couple of errors and have now learned my lesson. I don´t walk after 12-1.00 having started at 7.00. It´s just not worth it. Stay well, Sweets. xxxx

It´s the FATIGUE! Sweets, take care of yourself! It´s when one is really tired that the acidents happen although mine was in the morning and if I were really honest, I´d confess that I had been distracted by a toned little rear end as it sailed by me on two wheels! It would be great to meet up at Santiago if at all possible. A voir. Right now I´m off to bed with my ear plugs ready to get up at 6.00am tomorrow to get to Hospital de Ortega by 2,00p. Thanks, as usual to everyone for all your good wishes which certainly put wings on our feet (rather than blisters). xxxx Gemonimo

Well, Sweets, you aren´t far behind me - tonight I´m in Mansilla de las Mulas after a very, very boring walk. And long, too. I have been walking with a lovely french lady who had a mega fall last year and ended up in hospital and decided to carry on this year. Manque de peau, she now has tendonitis and is leaving from Leon tomorrow and will finish next year. We are just off out for a pilgrim´s meal which will be predictably mediocre but, hey, this isn´t france! Thanks everyone for your ongoing thoughts and prayers. God knows we need them as it is tough, really tough but having passed the halfway mark, it should all be downhill from now on (lol, O Cebreiro is coming up!). With a little luck I´ll be arriving on the 9th September but if I need to rest more, it is more likely to be the 10th/11th October. Thanks, GG for cutting and pasting. I find I´m just toooooo tired to post after having kept my sponsors up to date. xxxx to all. Gemonimo

Hello all.  I am SO glad Sweets has been in contact as I had been a bit concerned but now I know she is well, I am much relieved. So, Sweets cherie, if you want me to wait in Burgos, let me know and thanks for the ear plugs which I am guarding with my life.  Last night I had a man sleeping on top of me (bunk bed speak) and his snores vibrated the bed.  Not amusing. And another pilgrim was wearing one of those apnea masks but it didn´t do too much good. It really is lovely in the Rioja and the wine is not bad although the stuff they plonk in front of the pilgrims is probably not the top du top but it comes with the meal.  When Robin leaves I´ll probably get into cooking from time to time when there is a kitchen in an Albergue, otherwise it will be a communal meal with the pilgrims in the parish churches.  An evening with the holy rollers, prayers, grace, benediction compris. Lunch is usually a tin of tuna, chunk of bread and some fruit and a yoghurt and as the caloric expenditure is so great, I´m eating anything that passes in front of my nose.  Tonight we are in Azorfa, a neat little town with a fabulous new Albergue giving double acommodation instead of rooms catering from 8 to 180 pilgrims. As of Friday I´ll be alone, like Sweets, and if she doesn´t want me to wait for her, I´ll be heading into the Meseta, the idea of which makes me shake in my boots - very hot, very flat and very demanding. Yesterday I lost (actually, I forgot) the only long sleeved cool shirt I had for the Meseta but now that a sort of pilgrims peace has decended upon me I´m happy that someone else has it as no doubt they need it more than me. Sweets, you said that the Camino gives you what you need, not what you want and that is so true.  On arrival in Viana I saw a shoe shop with exactly the sandals I needed and decided to go back and get them to replace the useless ones I had.  On arrival the the Albergue, I discovered that one of the useless ones had dropped off my pack and that without the shoe shop I would have been in trouble. Thanks to everyone for your good wishes.  Sweets, je t'adore and I'll see you between here and Santiago.  Now I'm off for more Rioja[Www]