Too tired

I am just getting too tired of moving around, of changing countries, jobs, regions...it used to be exciting but now it's becoming too taxing. I am looking forward to some serious settling down here in Fife!
But nevertheless, on our way this weekend for a trip round Loch Ness. On Saturday we'll have to cycle 70k, and I've bought a down sleeping bag for this purpose.
Here is a picture of me getting in the mood:




And of course, I will also be using it in Espagna. Ole. No time for language lessons so far, I have not even started playing the flute again - feel v guilty. The people here still great, must be the nippy, clear air from the mountains.

And here is a picture of my ol' bike with new, snazzy drop-bar handles. I am suddenly cycling much faster!

Anticipation and constipation

What does one call the preparations before the preparations? That is what I am currently busy with, the thing before the real thing.
Equipment for the great pilgrimage:

1. Literature
* General:
Edwin Mullin's The Pilgrimage to Santiago, Tim Moore's Travels with my Donkey
* Travel specific:
Davies and Cole's Walking the Camino de Santiago, The Teach Yourself Spanish language book and cd

2. Information
* Visa: It's going to cost us £101 each to get a Schengen visa, since we are unfortunate enough not to be living close to London in order to cue at the embassy

3. Lack of clarity
* Starting point: Do we fly to France and start at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, cycling over the epic Pyrenees in order to meditate on endurance and suffering, or do we take the ferry to Bilbao and start in Pamplona or elsewhere in Spain?
* Accommodation: Do we bargain on finding places to stay in the albergues(since we will be doing it "decaf" by cycling rather than walking, we might not be able to find spaces in these hostels, they prefers walkers...) or do we camp the entire way and give in to occasional temptations of comfortable B&Bs?

4. Worries
Who is going to look after my cats!?!

I can just about imagine a Celt fretting over the same things a few thousand years ago. Although one friendly Scot told us the pilgrimage in those days could be likened to today's package tours.

But this is the joy of the journey, the anticipation being as much part of the process as the going itself. Adios!

PS: Please follow the link for a good laugh about a pub and a fart here

The beginnings of a pilgrimage

I have had another long and hard think about this blog. It needs to go somewhere, do something - which is one of the reasons I'm writing it. But now we're settled in Fife, a few things are falling in place, and one of them is our prospective trip to Spain. Ever since I've read Gerard Hughes' In Search of a Way, I've wanted to do the Camino de Santiago. And finally this year, it's going to happen.

We are going to do it decaf, meaning with bicycles, and I guess the journey might not be as spiritual as Gerry's. But isn't everything we do spiritual? I have a feeling every single thing that we think, do, say, or act, resonates somewhere, in some mysterious way. With God, or in God. How, I don't know, and that is also not important.

I seem especially spiritual tonight, possibly due to the wine we've had with supper. Slainte!!

To come back to the point, I want to bog, oops, blog about the preparation for the trip, and then publish a book (in Afrikaans?) about it. I can already imagine the title:
"The journey before the Journey", or
"A pilgrimage in perspective: what to take and what to leave behind"
And so forth.

Good night, and good luck!