Day 16 Sunday 15th May - Airexe to Palas de Rei

Due to the shenanigans of Mrs McGaskill, today's walk was a mere 5 mile stroll. Readers of yesterday's rubbish will recall that we added in some walking yesterday in order to shorten things today. This of course was to lessen the amount of rain induced misery today. "100% likelihood of rain all day".

Well the local lad Manuel McGaskill will have to be answering some pretty testing questions from me, because it actually rained properly for about 10 minutes of our amble to Palas de Rei. Yes, the weather was threatening the whole way. Like the 100's of the dogs we've encountered on our travels, it was definitely threatening, but failed to get off the leash. All mouth and no trousers!!

Now I'm irritated by the weather for two reasons. 1) our change of plan made me miss the Iberian Peninsula's Premier beer festival in Portomarin, and 2) we still felt the need to have to wear our super sexy poncho's all the way. Judge for yourselves from the pics below. It is not a good look!!

Nothing happened at all on the walk to Palas. Just 2 coffee stops, which were as much to kill time as anything. We did have 3 Guardia Civil vans go past in a 5 minute period, prompting thoughts of misdemeanors going on somewhere. Shades of the Monty Python sketch with Mr Mellish going to work at his office in Peterborough......."No masked murderer, no severed head in a bag etc.........nothing". And Python aficionados, no; on arrival "the new paperclips" were not in yet!

            New Dutch goalkeeper!

For about the 5th day running we have seen the most ridiculous graffiti imaginable. Seriously, what kind of a loon would daub the words "Michael Jackson" on walls all along the Camino? We must have seen it over 50 times. Just mental.

Palas de Rei is frankly, a bit faceless. A bit like Didcot on a Sunday morning 😴. Again killing time, we bought bread and cheese in a surprisingly open Supermercado. It certainly wasn't "super". With such narrow aisles the Fascist in charge made Cate take her backpack off for fear of her clearing the shelves every time she turned around. Miserable killjoys. That would have hilarious.........the sort of thing you could imagine bumbling Boris doing!

We sat in the market square looking like old people on holiday in Bognor. A ripped open baguette with pre-sliced cheese shoved in it. Luxury! Then a tall woman walked passed and we did the usual "Buen Camino's" and smiled (unlike a Bognor holiday-maker). She clearly recognised that we weren't Spanish and stopped to chat. This turned out to be Karen the "Oma from Alkmaar". She sat and had lunch with us, and was just lovely. In her late 50's, walking the whole way from St. Jean in France to Santiago. She was looking forward to getting home as she was so missing her 18 month old Grandson, and husband. She gushed about how much she loved her Grandson. That, of course set Cate off about how she's feeling about the expected arrival of a Grand-daughter in late August for her. Karen was just like a younger version of Cate's late Mum, who, of course, was "Oma" to our children.

The Oma of Alkmaar!

So with little else to tell about today, I'll indulge in some random jottings.

Firstly, M & S undies. The Pride of Britain! The real sign of our united island nation. Everyone wears them, don't they? Well, shockingly I have a serious complaint. Inside the back of my M & S thongs it says "cool and fresh". Well I can tell you, good people, that there have been numerous times in the last 15 days when they have not done "what it is says on the tin". Is this the another impact of more Tory cuts? Does Her Maj have the same issues? I am bereft. This is akin to the Bolsheviks taking over Buckingham Palace! I would write to my local MP Steve "the climate change denying Christian" Baker. although the chances are that he's an "underwear denyer". What shall I do.....go commando? Any advice would be welcome.

What a con!

I've actually had people complaining about the lack of blisters this time around. Well for that, you have Mrs B and Nurse N from Penn to thank. Nurse N has treated any issues arising almost before they happened. But the stars of the show have been these.....

A little gift from Mrs B before we left. They have been my absolute saviour. It looked like I'd be blighted by a repeat of the 2019 horrors on my little toe. But these beauties have made the world of difference. Thank you Mrs B!

There have been loads of cyclists doing the Camino too. Most are friendly and courteous. Part of the Camino family. But a small minority have been thoughtless selfish dickheads. The routes for them are clearly marked, but all too often the lycra clad morons choose to hurtle unnecessarily along the footpaths when there is a more smooth and more suitable option 1 metre to their left. I believe they are called roads! Obviously, none of them would stretch to buying a €3 bell, when they'd rather waste their money on expensive figure hugging lycra. Now I have to say that I do find their actions mildly irritating. However, Mrs Zen herself, aka Cate really gets the rage on over it. Fortunately, my laid back relaxed demeanor usually helps to soothe things; and she's back to banging on about me doing my stretches in no time.

Selfish prats!

One small issue I will be writing to King Juan Carlos about is toilet doors. At least 3 times I've stood crossed legged doing the "I'm desperate for a wee dance" outside an Iberian Powder Room, only to suffer the ultimate embarrassment. It was a bloody sliding door. Not your traditional push/pull affair. If the King can't help, I'll try our very own Spaniard Michael Portaloo.

Lastly, and this is a bit self indulgent (and none of my other ramblings are!!), a photo. The sign reminded me of one of the most horrifying memories of my childhood. The sound of James Derek Sparling yet again demanding rent off me as I fell to another crushing defeat at Monopoly. Bloody git!

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67 Kilometres to Santiago!!