Successes and ....

... some things not quite such a success.
Arrival in Oviedo. Succes.
First full blog post from new phone. Success.
Located route out of city and it doesn't appear as tricky as the 3 or 5 guidebooks I''ve read suggest. Success.
Got a bit wet in torrential rain looking for something veggie for dinner. NSAS (not such a success).
Accidentally deleted comment from last blog post while  tryinng to find out why it fidn't show up. Sorry Hedwig. NSAS.

So here I am bedding down for the night, reading up on tomorrow's route,in a comfy hotel bed. Tomorrow Camino reality will kick in as I rise with the sun, walk and then settle down to the different luxury of an albergue..... so till tomorrow, buenas noches.

Writing and Walking

OK - catering assignment all over and sorted now this week I am concentrating on writing and walking...

This morning I spent a lot of time between the pages of 'Take Two' whilst Tony did a bit of editing and proofing - what a great team we make. By lunchtime I had written over 2200 words, and am more than happy in the way in which the story is progressing. However, there is more to the story than I first though¡, so finishing before I go away could be a bit of a BIG ask. I shall be working away diligently towards that goal, but may have to leave the final few chapters until I return in July.

This afternoon I did a bit of reading in the sunshine, and a bit of Camino research. My flight is an early one - especially after Vueling changed the time (ie. made it even earlier) and I was wondering just how to get to the airport.  I checked the RENFE website for train times, having already found out that the night buses would not get me there on time, and found a train that will get me there in perfect time. It will all mean that I have to be up and out by four o'clock in the morning, but hey ho I'll just have to have a siesta in the hotel when I get there.

Oviedo here I come - well in just over a week...

Writing and Walking...

Winner:

Today I spoke to Michael, who is doing the translations of my books into German. He has been working hard on Winner to translate it and has had some problems with some of the 'gayer' terminology, so I have enlisted the help of a dear friend off Facebook to help out with these all important words and phrases.  We chatted on Skype about the characters and the story in general. Michael is now planning to get a copy of 'The Tales of the city' by Armistead Maupin in German, to get some idea of how that translates, as the Tales are written in the same informal style which I favour.

Winner's sequel:

Today I made a commitment to write at least 1000 words a day to push my novel towards its conclusion. Today I have actually written over 1600, and am very satisfied with what I have achieved.  I am also interested (not sure if that's the right word) in how I've kept to a commitment I 'publicised' when I hadn't pushed myself before or made that commitment to myself?!

Camino:

With just twenty seven days to go till I fly off to Oviedo I have had a bit of a wobble. Firstly I was worried that I might get lost as I don't have a guidebook in English like I have had for the last two Caminos. So I found a brilliant site with loads of pictures and lo and behold there are the 'shells' and 'arrows' all clearly pointing the way- that panic over then. And, for goodness sake, I have a book on the way- in Spanish, but I read the language well!! The pictures on the site also gave me a good idea of what to expect -I just looked at the first two stages, and it got me really excited to be on my way.

Another reason I'm keen to  get going is because today, after another Friend's post on Facebook I weighed myself, and found that I am quite hefty at the moment, almost the heaviest I've ever been. I am attributing this partly to my convalescence from Sciatica recently, and overuse of the bus instead of walking, but also know I eat too much.  Walking the Camino will change all that, and I shall return more slimline, once again. 

I've also been wondering whether to update my phone to a smart phone so that I can 'tweet' whilst walking, and with wifi be able to update this blog more regularly.  Although I've spoken to both my supplier and some others I don't really feel I know any better. So Nick I could be on the messaging in the morning with questions. If anyone else can help please 'comment your two penneth'!!

Is food my life?

Most of tonight's post is about food and what I've been eating recently (perhaps I should have maintained my other 'foody' blog).
 
Last night we had one of our favourite meals - Rice,Peas and gravy. Nothing cordon blue, but something we love all the same. Last night I had it with Potato Salad and Rocket. At this point I was going to insert a photo of said dinner, but it seems the memory card wasn't properly inserted in the camera, so here's one of Xali and Vinci in an intimate moment.

 

Today we've been to Beverly Hills (an American Style restaurant on the main Rambla) with Julie for lunch, as we were both working this morning it seemed like a good plan, and indeed was. It's been an age since we lunched together.  Starters of mixed veggies fired -yummy and a pasta dish for me for main course- nice but not wild. Tony had a burger (yes he's off the veggie wagon these days) and Julie had a Californian Club Sandwich, all washed down with a  little wine. 

Tony had been round the market before meeting us and had bought a tray of strawberries (I feel a Jam making session coming on), some tangerines (Marmalade perhaps) and some tasty looking plum tomatoes.

And just this minute I've just had a delicious Cheese and Ham Toastie - Yes veggie products are getting better and better here, and more available, although the veggie ham here is not as good as the stuff I usually buy in Sainsbury's in the UK.

But to end I just want to mention the counter up in the top right of this page- yes it's now less than two month's before i set off for Oviedo an my next Camino. This week I had an e-mail from Vueling who I am flying up there with, to tell me that the flight time had changed. I'm now leaving BCN at 7.30 in the morning which means I have to be there for 5.30- now that creates a logistic problem- looks like I'll have to get the night bus, unless anyone fancies an early morning trip to the airport.

On the same/similar note my credencial arrived (forwarded by Janey) this week- This is my passport for the Camino and gets me into the albergues. Step by step things are starting to come together.... and yes one of my concerns for the walk is what will I eat....

CAMINO or BUST...

Phew -that's that sorted then!!

A couple of days ago I got a strange text from the bank saying that if there was a problem with my Spanair flights I should contact them. I thought that it was a strange message but thought no more of it.

Today in one of my classes a couple of the students were talking about changing their Spanair flights to Ryanair- I thought no more about it!

This evening I got reply through one of the Camino forum sites about the Primitivo Camino Nick and I are doing in June, so went on the site and saw a different post about Spanair going bust. I immediately went to their website and found out that yup they'd gone down the tubes. Spanair is the airline company with whom I'd booked to fly to Oviedo in June, and then back from Santiago in July.

I flew into action, checked the back statements and fired an e-mail off to our friend and Bank Manager Toni to check about getting the money back, at least I'd paid by credit card. Next I checked to see who was taking over the flights and it appeared to be RyanAir or Vueling.  Not being a great RyanAir fan I went of to the Vueling site and rebooked my flight to Oviedo, only to get a hung page at the end of the process. So I called them to find out the booking had gone through- they sent me an e-mail directly- sorted. The same happened when I tried to book a return flight for Nick and I, so I called them again, but the booking hadn't gone through. They simply confirmed it over the phone and again sent me an e-mail.

So Mr Brennan fear not you are travelling with TITS and we have everything in hand.

And just for a bit of info here's the first stage of the Camino we'll be doing in June: