- Friday was our last day in Provence so we headed for more “plus beaux villages de Provence”. First stop was Gordes, obviously another artists town



- From here it was back to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue where the main entertainment was two of the young waiters at our restaurant having an egg fight, but we had found a Vietnamese restaurant and the opportunity for some different food was too much to resist.
- Apologies to Carolyn but quote of the day after I expressed the need for a nutella crepe – “No worries, there’s a toilet inside ….” – is my French accent that bad???


- And finally we headed for Saignon – Phil and Lorraine – these photos are for you




- Saturday we packed, took the car back to Nice, flew to Madrid, collected the hire car and drove to Salamanca – and at the risk of hyperbole – this Spanish university town is stunning. Not only does it have the oldest university in Spain and the Cathedral is one of the most impressive buildings I have ever seen – but Saturday night and the town square was pumping. The next morning we wandered over to the Cathedral and took in a local triathlon bike leg on the cobblestones.





- From Salamanca we headed for Santiago de Compostela and the Camino de Santiago. Monday morning we transferred to Monforte de Lemos near our starting point. And just to get us warmed up our night accommodation was in a Parador hotel – the paradors are protected and must be restored to a high standard – no unsympathetic or crass renovations



- Tuesday morning the day finally arrived for our Camino de Santiago adventure to begin. We are walking the last 122 kms of the Camino pilgrimage trail, (about 800kms full length), from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain.
LTR: Richard, Adrienne, Grant, Carolyn on a slightly damp morning at the start point The first bridge out of Sarria, and this is typical of the scenery we have walked through About 500 people a day jump off in Sarria but it never feels too crowded, and everybody has this instant bond of being on the Camino – anyone passing by wishes you “Buon Camino” And vistas over the rolling hills of hay The Camino distance markers are at every junction with an arrow to point you on your way. The scallop shell is the ubiquitous sign of the Camino Our accommodation on the first night – authentic stone house – good 3 course meal with beer and wine -11 euros each!! We are required to get two stamps at waypoints along the way to prove we have done the walking - We walked about 12 kms on Day 1 and finished about 1.00pm, so sat in the sun with a nice cold beer and got to know a number of our fellow Caministas – couple of Poms and Maria from Oatley, Sydney.
- Wednesday, (Day 2), and we walked another 11 kms but we could be walking 15+ kms each day. We were done by midday. Perhaps we did not know how well all our training in Puglia was setting us up 😊.




- Thursday we headed out about 9.15am. The day started fine and we had a quite steep assent to start with, but after that it was gentle ups and downs as we followed the main road for quite a distance.
First kilometre and it was steep – heartbreak hill is kiddy stuff by comparison Adrienne goes weak over willow trees - We are gathering quite a group of friends – 3 ladies from the UK, 2 from New York, and at least 5 other Aussies, so lunches and dinners are becoming quite raucous with the addition of rioja and cerveza.
- We walked 13.5 kms, but after a couple of hours the weather closed right in and started to rain. It was quite interesting that the chat diminished and most of us just put our hoods up and walked “in our own heads”.
It was quite windy as well as raining and it didn’t matter that we were passing a 5th Century BC citadel – we were within minutes of beer and chips and that’s all that mattered - Tomorrow there is a 5.4 km deviation to a Knights Templar castle so we are going to do it on top of the scheduled 12.8 km. If we don’t do some extra walking we will end up alcoholics 😊 because there is not much to do after a quick spin around the village square in the small towns we are passing through.
One of the stop off points closer to Santiago is run by an Australian lady.
Hope you find it.
Wow wow and wow stunning pics amazing journey
I just love reading every part of your trip Grant, truly fabulous love Jen