Day 1: Arrival

I don't usually sleep well the night before a camino. Nervous excitement tends to keep me awake, but I slept for 7 hours, and woke up refreshed. We got to the airport in plenty of time, and the reasonably long queue at the baggage drop off moved quickly, as did the queue at security.

After a light breakfast, we settled in at Gate 14. Time passed as it does. We never heard any announcements for our flight, and no one turned up at the gate. It was passed time when i thought we should be boarding, but there were no Ryanair staff at the Gate. So, I went to check the board and noticed a final call for our flight at Gate 1F, a gate that is as far away from gate 14 as it is possible to be and still be in the airport.

We ran like I have not run since I played rugby at high school - and back then, I was running from some very large players from the other team whose mission in life at that moment was to puliverise me into the ground.

We made it just in time. I had assumed, correctly, that Carol was much fitter than me. She wasn't even breathing hard, and i was desperately pretending that I didn't need a paramedic. It took me ages to feel like I wasn't about to ruin the camino by dying before we even got there.

Lesson learned, always check the departures board.Read more