05/12/22 – 11/12/22 224 km I spent the first twenty minutes of Week 15 taping my feet up. When I finished I was finally able to force them into my boots and escape the chill of the Albergue. It was still pitch black when I left, but fortunately the path was easy to follow without …
28/11/22 – 04/12/22 235 km I woke up too early at the start of week 14. I was freezing, I couldn’t sleep and as a result I was keen to leave Valverde de Valdelacasa as soon as possible. I was out of the Albergue before 8am, the bar wasn’t even open yet, but I knew …
21/10/22 – 27/11/22 230 km Week 13 started with another act of kindness that saw me leave Mérida with a spring in my step, despite the rain. Before leaving the city I had to double back on myself and pass through the centre in order to run a few errands. As it was still really …
14/10/22 – 20/11/22 212 km Week 12 marked my transition to ‘Peregrino’. The remainder of ‘Mi Vuelta’ will see me follow no fewer than five separate ‘Caminos’ (Pilgrimages to Santiago) as I aim to arrive in Barcelona, my new finish line, before the end of February. Initially I had planned to finish the walk by …
07/10/22 – 13/11/22 253 km Even though I’d taken the Monday off, I was seriously lacking in motivation at the start of Week 11. I had worked so hard to arrive in Tarifa, towards that one specific goal, that I hadn’t taken time to consider what would come next. It was only when I started …
31/10/22 – 06/11/22 242 km As I left Antequera on the first morning of November, temperatures still roasting, I only had one thought. After nine consecutive weeks of walking, surely I was due one without incident? The walk out of town was dull however things started to improve after I had reached a series of …
24/10/22 – 30/10/22 223 km Monday was a godsend, it was the first time I’d had two consecutive day’s rest and I hadn’t realised how much my body needed it. I only left the hotel once, to stock up ready for the next day’s ascent of Mulhacén. It was bliss! I woke up on Day …
17/10/22 – 23/10/22 222 km Despite revelling in the familiarity of walking so close to the place I consider my home in Spain, I hadn’t really enjoyed the past two weeks. The GR7 had become repetitive. For the most part I felt like I was marching through an endless field of produce in its various …
10/10/22 – 16/10/22 185 km I must have woken up a thousand times during the night. Although my reclaimed sun lounger was a godsend, the flickering security light on the disused restaurant and passing traffic were a nightmare! So at 5am we gave up and made our way to Cieza where Armand would catch a …
03/10/22 – 09/10/22 207 km I had an appalling night’s sleep in the tent. Partly because I could hear shots going off in the distance but more significantly due to the fact I had pitched in such a way that I kept rolling off the mattress. I was certain it was level when I had …
