An Epic E-Bike Eclipse Excursion in Espana?

 For the past couple of years I've had my mind on a possible adventure on the continent - more specifically I've been looking at the prospects of travelling a route along the ancient pilgrim trails that lead to Santiago de Compostela. In short I'm aiming to do the Camino de Santiago or in English, the Way of St. James.

The Camino in case you didn't know is a network of pilgrimage trails that leade to a church in northwest Spain. It has been a journey (I wouldn't call it a destination, as any person with an ounce of spiritual enlightenment will tel you that pilgramage is never solely about the destination), since medieval times. However here in the uk, it has found a new lease of life since the Camino adventures of some celebrities have been televised on the BBC, and even more recently the former children's TV presenter and accompilshed artist -Timmy Mallett, went on his own Camino and documented it in his book. You can read about it and his motivations behind his pilgrimage briefly on his website, or even better buy his book and get the full "Utterly Brilliant" lowdown. It is Timmy's journey that has provided me with a lot of my recent drive,,, largely because he used an E-Bike and as I'm not the most active person (at present), and if my current plan bears fruit, I'll be off on my intended journey in the height of summer... and as we have seen this year the climate in Europe in August has proven to be capable of being deadly. I have had to conclude that to avoid becoming barbecued and dessicated, I'll need to make my own journey a two wheeled one.

So why do I want to go in August when the height of Camino seasons tend to be in May and October?

Well, my plan is to travel on the Camino in 2026, because this is a year of total eclipse. It will also be in the week of my late father's 86th birthday and 30th year in my employment in my current job (in fact fate has so far been kind to me in my planning as the days of annual leave entitlement I have accumulated due to COVID lockdowns in the past two years have led me to having so many that I have been afforded the opportunity to use them in a one-off sabbatical (which is kind of fitting, given the old tradition that a 30th year in employment somewhere is something to celebrate).

However I'll obviously need to make preparations.

Where am I going to start; how long will it take to get there and back again; where will I stay; what budget shall I set for an appropriate bike; what spec will I need; finally, how should I go about training (terrain and length of bike journeys preceding to increase fitness and route readiness?

All of these questions and more, I hope to explore in the months and years leading up to what I hope will by *my* Camino.

Watch this space.

"You Never Knew"

You never knew...
How dark was my night;
When you extinguished a torch held too long and crushed childhood dreams.

You never knew...
How disappointed I was in you;
When I had grown a little and gained self respect, but a moment's flirtation at an inappropriate moment surprised and annoyed me.

You never knew...
How proud I was of you;
When you had willingly contemplated a much harder path for a divine purpose, even though it seemedto my mortal mind to be a waste of temporal material.

You never knew...
How happy I was for you;
When in backing down from the most extreme aspect of that path, you carved out a new road for yourself, filled with hope and promise of future blessing.

You'll never know...
How I have watched from a distance;
Your harsh struggles with the brokenness that has accompanied those blessings, you have come to be respected in my eyes.

Until that Day before Almighty God to whom all thoughts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden, when we all know fully - even as we are fully known...

You'll never know.

Cobwebs

Revisiting my blog after what seems like an eternity, is a surreal experience. Even logging into the platform that hosts it reveals much has changed  (although thankfully the fundamentals seem intuitive enough and the editor visuals seem largely cosmetic).

I'm minded to think of my childhood haunts on the edge of Cold Comfort Woods in Alcester - they too, were sanctuaries of mine.  I'd usually find a place alongside the Spittlebrook that ran alongside the dirt track leading to the woods that was lined by trees. The gentle flow of the stream coupled with the wind softly blowing the btanches were a  source of tranquility and a place for me to mull over my thoughts... much like this place was when I first set it up.

Here's the thing though; from time to time I neglected those places for one reason or another (busy school or work schedule, places to go and people to see), but I always came back... I never forgot them.  Sometimes I'd have to clear the place out and make them accessible by pushing through thorns and brambles, or occasionally get a helping hand from mother nature where deer had crossed the stream from the other side and forged new places I could use.

I guess that sometimes this place can be like that. I may go away for long periods be it through distraction, priorities or being lost in my thoughts.... but it always here.  My reasons when I come back are diverse (on this occasion I want to voice my thoughts  on a topic and I want to see where it will end up if I just push the big red button and publish it.

Sometimes when I do, like an archeologist it feels like I've stumbled through a cavern or underground tunnel that breaks open into the works I have fashioned in this place... the whispers of words I have spoken or pondered in the past... the treasury of memories and dreams long forgotten, and the echo of hopes resounding off the walls.

But they aren't forgotten... they are always waiting for me and whoever wonders among them, only slightly veiled beneath the surface and awaiting rediscovery.

Even now I'm reminded about a piece I wrote several years ago concerning digital footprints and how what we write online might be here long after our time in some format... and that our words are a witness to our thoughts and feelings... that how we may think time and tide erase those things and consign them to the shades of lost memory... science has proven that even prehistoric footprints can be recovered.

So here I am again weilding my machete and chopping dow overgrown roots and branches, brushing off the dust and uncovering all the things that went before... thinking what needs to be added next. Sometimes I think a refit helps these processes, like the Doctor's TARDIS having different "scrensaver" modes.

Let's see what the future holds.