At the end of October 2016, I did part of the Camino de Santiago (also known as St James’ Way) which is a Christian pilgrimage walk in northern Spain.  I started walking from Leon all the way to Santiago de Compostela which is about 300km away.  It was a lovely walk with some challenging stretches where the terrain was quite rocky underfoot.  The mornings started off quite chilly about 8 degrees C around sunrise which was at 8am but quickly rose to the high 20’s within a few hours.The walk went through flat open fields through to little villages where we sometimes had to walk amongst cattle and on to green rolling hills with some rocky sections.  There were also times when we could hear traffic as we were walking very close to the road.  On Friday evening at the Santiago de Compostela cathedral the Pilgram’s Mass was held. The giant incense burner (butafumiero) was swung from the ceiling of the cathedral which was packed out and despite getting there an hour early, was standing room only.  This was the highlight of the trip.

 

We are very proud of Dr Elaine who recently ran the Comrades Marathon in South Africa. The race was run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, a distance of 88 km. Elaine finished the race in 10 hours and 24 minutes in unusually warm conditions.

The top temperature on the day reached 32 degrees. She came 4,890^th out of about 17,000 starters. She said the atmosphere was electric and she survived the experience with the help of spectators who cheered the runners on and also gave out salted boiled potatoes. (She says she can’t look at boiled potatoes now.) Well done Dr Elaine!