We were woken by an alleluia chorus sung by the Albergue volunteers. Very amusing and,dare I say it, uplifting! the revolting machine sweet coffee was our only nourishment before those boots were back on and we hit the road. There was a familiar pattern beginning to emerge to our early morning departures. Fiona and Jackie chomping at the bit and resembling the horses coming out of their stalls at the National! This morning Anne fell at the first hurdle stopping...

A reasonable night's sleep in sturdier bunks. It was Anne's birthday and the hostel gave her a slice of gateau basque with a candle at breakfast and the pilgrim brotherhood sang happy birthday! She liked her buff! The sunrise was quite stunning over the mountains. Anne suffered bladder problems before we left (no connection with being 63!) and once this was sorted we hit the road at about 8 am. It was a long struggle uphill and our poles were beginning to prov...

Our first night in an Albergue had been ok with mixed reviews on sleep quality. The earplugs had cut out some noise but Sue was woken at regular intervals by all of my spam emails arriving offering me vouchers from Boots, Next, Aldi and EE as I didn't have my phone on silent. Fiona and Jacqui in the next room had apparently suffered from swaying bunks! We were all up at 6pm and after a nice breakfast made our way to the tourist office to get our pilgrims' passp...

Not a great start with the taxi arriving while I was still in the shower due to the driver wanting to get home!! But "a first world problem" as Martha would so rightly say! We all gathered at Gatwick and queued to check in the infamous pole parcel and, while doing so, I discovered useful pockets and zips on my Guacamole backpack courtesy of Sue! At Gatwick there was a little time for coffee for some but Jenny and I preferred to shop and a good job too as we were...