Having recently found out that I will have to pop a pill every single day of the rest of my life and realising that hoeing my vegetable patch is not as easy as it seemed to be a few years ago, I have decided that now is the right time to embark on something I've always wanted to do. Ever since my schoolboy days when, in history class or in the hundreds of novels I was avidly reading then, I have been dreaming of following Robin Hood, Roland of Ronceveau, Hannibal, Clovis, Vercingetorix, D'artagnan, Don Quixote and many other heroes on the footpaths and in the forests of Europe. Later might be too late so... action.
Since the only way to walk long distances is by using the GRs (chemins de Grande Randonnée in France) and the Es (European Footpaths), I should not have to put a foot on the tarmac for most of the way, which is just as well as Gamin's paws and Justin's hooves are not really adapted for this nasty stuff. Gamin is our seven years old Foxterrier and my best friend for the last two. We are never apart more than a few feet and he is smashing company, funny and stubborn but, as long as there are no "ladies" calling in the distance, very obedient. He never is on a lead apart from really tricky situations like walking on main roads or in towns.
Justin on the other hand has only been with me for a few days but we get on like cheese on bread and a glass of Claret... He is a cracking "black" donkey, one metre thirty three tall and a very strong lad, fourteen years old and if he only has had basic training so far, by the end of this trip he will be the perfect trekking friend. He will be carrying some fifty kilos in two side cases on his back. I am travelling light, with only a tarpaulin and a hammock for shelter and a gas stove for when fires are prohibited. Three changes of clothes, some food and water for the three of us and a few more bits and pieces for our everyday needs and, since the whole philosophy of this adventure is to make do with what we find on the way... let's go. Should be interesting... leaving all the creature's comfort behind and down to the bare essentials... On Robert L Stevenson's tracks, with the only difference being a GPS, a mobile phone and solar panels to charge them up.
But before going any further, having introduced my two mates, let me tell you a bit more about myself, even if there is not much to say really.
I am french, fifty five years old, one metre eighty two tall, eighty seven kilos, shoe size seven and a half now, but will have to check again on arrival in Santiago...
I am a shipwright by trade but a few months ago, while I was living in the UK with my partner Mandy and our two grown up children, together with our relatives, we bought a little farm in the Cotentin part of Normandy. It had been in my father's family for generations and the plan is to create a Bed and Breakfast and offer accomodation to mainly british tourists who can visit us without having to take their car across as we will provide all local transportation (a car and for around the farm and going to the village distant of five kilometres, donkey and cart...)
As a break in the renovation (funds have ran temporarily dry...), and in order to keep doing what I have done all my life, I am going to put some spice into it and live yet another dream, hence a departure sometimes in the next few days.
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