• Alan McEwan
  • Alan McEwan

Camino de finisterre

Jimmy and Fat Al walk to the end of the world Læs mere
  • Start på rejsen
    6. juni 2023
  • Aha this is the official start of the ca

    5. juni 2023, Skotland ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    I'm glad everyone is following my tip for carrying an empty bottle through customs. Water is generally sold like gold rings at the airport and certainly cheaper than the £6.80 for a pint but as you exit the shop glance left and take a wee drop.

    Now let's start this Camino. Next stop brewdog. 17 steps and it constitutes a walk. Let's face it if you sweat up in crowds it'll feel like a big walk.
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  • Bag is down, its vino in town

    5. juni 2023, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    I stayed here 10 years ago the time Stu got the ferry over from Portsmouth. I was at the end of a short Camino from Pamplona to Leon I think and for €36 I can recommend the hostal Mexicana. It's had an upgrade yet the prices have fallen. Big double beds and that's enough I'm off to the pub. I love that bullshit seat bingo. Memorise where you want to sit, be last on and have 2 seats to yourself. Gutted about tomorrow and the flight being cancelled from Edinburgh but this one was so early I was waiting for the 19.20 bus before it was due to land. At €2.90 they need to realise €1 is what Santiago charge! DrinkLæs mere

  • When churches become bars, watch out

    5. juni 2023, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    I've often said church and crane are rarely far apart in Spain. For every bit of construction a church is rebuilt. It seems an unwritten rule that although the socialists were in power as early as our Camino in 2007 it seems the quid pro quo is for every euro spent on housing a euro fixes a church roof.

    What makes me chuckle now is that even Scotland home of the raging orders of the Scottish Rangers and Celtic - it would be lying to call them Glasgow Rangers and Celtic as they are the continental rift through which even islands like Uist are divided.

    Their power however is dwindling as one of my favourite Glasgow venues is on the Byres Road and the church in Dundee was converted in Deadbeat days, ie the 1980's.

    I'd love to ask all our celebrated Dundonians did they realise how far ahead of the times they were when religious pilgrims were tearing down these things never mind exploitative capitalism.

    I digress, as always. I get hung up on the most mundane things and humanity's slow migration from ruled by religion to being ridiculed by it has always got me square between the eyes. I was a believer and like a smoker I believed. When I gave up smoking I told all my pals to continue if they wanted but I was settled in my choice. Not so religion. When I gave that up at 17 I was stunned by how much my world caved in. I hadn't realised just how much my faith and recognition of it, had stopped me, for want of a better phrase, grow up. I was your preist on waiting, your freedom fighter etc etc.

    When I realised that the tooth fairy was porkie pies, that Santa wasn't coming in for a cup of tea I realised my world had been built on sand. Sand would be fine until the tide came in. Well probably it wouldn't unless it had been through a cement mixer!

    What makes me dream scheme and want to invent a meme is just how slowly the population are giving up on this solar deity. I love the Camino, I'm a walking Jakey who enjoys his food. This is heaven on earth if I can just borrow a term from the religious folks!

    So back to my churches chunter. The best one on the Camino is at Rabanal, falling apart and no money for a stage, while the next best is at villalcazar de Sirga just before carrion does Los condes. I tell religious pals to go there as it's so old and in a less than useful place even the moors left it. The masculine line of bishops goes back a long way and using different substances leave an indelible mark on the pillar within. That's history and why religion has lasted until Wikipedia explained god does not exist in answer to the wrong question 🤣🍺🍷🍷🍷
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  • Santander to Santiago de compostela

    6. juni 2023, Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Yes today we shorten the Camino Norte to 3 buses and 4 cities and towns.

    After coffee I head off to Oviedo on the 8.30 bus. I get 2 hours and disappear when the heat of the city rises above 25 for the coastal town of Luarca at 13.30.

    I'm hoping the heat will be modified by the beer and coastal zephyrs.

    Then it's the bus to Ribadeo, coruna and Santiago, arriving at 21.15 to stay at the hostal Centro. It seems a long way to travel just because they would refund the room 🤣 but there's a spare bed and I'll sell it cheap just to get some of Jimmy's 38€ back!
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  • Buses and patience

    6. juni 2023, Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    They rarely go together when you're an angst ridden pensioner in another country but the sign of the relief driver is always to be cherished.

    Spare a thought for the puir wee dude who will get pelters for being late when he's had to wait himself. Not only will the passengers hear explain that it's not 08:30 but further along the route sweaty pilgrims will be sitting at stops wondering WTF is going on.

    It's really quite simple as any bus from Barcelona is likely to gain or lose time in disparate proportions. Try explaining that in a language you are less proficient in, like mathematics I hear you laugh.

    I prefer to take these moments to write gibberish. A language in which I am proficient. I will stop when the bus arrives and I jump in panic to make sure I get on.

    I'll fumble for my online ticket that I bought with the Alsa app only to realise I'm offline now and I haven't saved it. Well at least I'm not trying to get into a Springsteen or Beyonce gig and crashing the network.

    Bus here
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  • Happy birthday Simon

    9. juni 2023, Spanien ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    I'm having cake on casa victoriano and another coffee on the supercharged albergue at Santa marina. I'm mixing up the fatal-bananas.blogspot with this depending on the signal I get so here's how I got here this morning. Going was so much quicker than yesterday morning to alto de pena. It was more like the afternoon with half the time for the same distance - that's road work though. It's like walking the canal.Læs mere

    Slut på rejsen
    13. juni 2023