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Last Word

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All of a sudden and as if by magic,  HIDDEN is available on Amazon, as paperback and on Kindle. Here is the blurb:- It’s 1988 in England, and Florence has decided to retire from her longtime nursing career. Fancying herself a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, she takes a job as assistant in a one-man private investigator’s office. Tired of answering the phone and filing, she’s desperate to solve a real case. The opportunity finally arrives when her friend Andrea suspects her husband, Geoffrey, is having an affair.  Florence works diligently to get to the bottom of Geoffrey’s strange behaviour and disappearing acts, even involving her reluctant boss, but comes up empty. However, Geoffrey’s secret is revealed to Andrea following a shocking event that changes both their lives forever.  Hidden is equal parts cosy mystery and domestic drama, and explores the secrets we keep from others—and ourselves—and how much we allow others to see, even those closest to us.    I feel that this blog has draw
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Trust

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 Sending my manuscript to someone that I didn't know, on the other side of the world, felt like a leap of faith. What was to stop him claiming it as his own and publishing it? But sometimes, you just have to trust.  Like the time in 2006, when I transferred several thousand pounds of my own and other peoples’ money to an office in Bangalore. I was organising a trip for six of us to travel to India the following year.  The trip that had started out as mahseer fishing on the Cauvery, morphed into an adventure that included a spa in Coorg (while the men fished), before travelling by car to Trivandrum via Mysore, Bandipar National Park, Niligri, Coonor, Ooty, Cochin, Kumarakom, and Thekady.  With trepidation I transferred the money for accommodation and transport to an office whose address in Bangalore included phrases like,  down the alley and behind the shop. ..  I was understandably a little worried when, after a few days, I had not received any acknowledgement.   When Stuart found
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Last few words on the Camino

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I’m back home now. With feedback on the blog, it felt as though you were all walking with me. Thank you for your company. I felt very sad putting my rucksack away. I left a few essentials inside ready for the next adventure. The washing took very little time and of course, in glorious sunshine it dried in no time at all. I can't believe how quickly the trip has gone. Who would believe that I could walk 107.4 miles in a week?  It feels as though I’ve been away for ages. There were certainly a lot of emails to go through and the garden has taken on a slightly neglected appearance. Walking the Camino was a great experience. The weather was wet but it couldn’t dampen our spirits or drown our laughter. Thank you to all my Camino buddies and to everyone who sponsored me.  
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Final Day- Santiago de Compostela

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Early start, early breakfast with hundreds of other walkers, cyclists…Rain was pouring down. The walk was through woods and hamlets, no major hills or challenges. A brief coffee stop, when we finally found a cafe that was open.    The last 24kilometres disappeared. We took a tiny detour off the Camino for further sustenance (in my case coffee and the biggest pain au chocolat I’ve ever seen - more of a loaf). It was still raining when we got our  first glimpse of the cathedral, at about 8km away. You perhaps won’t be able to identify it on the photo, but it’s there. As we reached the outskirts of Santiago de Compostela the rain stopped, as did the signs and arrows guiding us on our way.    More by luck than judgement we found the cathedral and after obtaining our certificates - all computerised, no monks in a scriptorum any more, we finally stopped walking and relaxed.  I will probably write more about my experiences on the Camino but for now, I will just rest and celebrate the fact tha
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Day 6

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W e left Caldas de Reis without finding the promised hot springs. As ever we were dressed for rain with sunglasses optimistically to hand . A gentle 22km walk along a river, through woods and it didn’t rain until lunchtime.    Perfect.  Just one long hill (up and down) and one very heavy rainstorm. Pilgrims lunch - meatballs, rice, bread, drink and coffee- all for 6.50€. We seem to have this down to a fine art now. The rain came down after lunch and the views became more industrial as we got to the outskirts of Padron- our stop for the night.   Just one more day to Santiago. Sadly two of the group couldn’t join us today having lost the battle against burgeoning blisters but hopefully the rest will have helped.  (It was interesting to hear how many Camino pilgrims were on the bus with them). Finished the day with set menu dinner for 12.50€ including wine. Stuffed  Padrón peppers, steak and chips, Grandma's pudding, a (custardy chocolatey thing). They certainly look after the pilgrim
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