It’s that time of year again…..

Hello …..is anyone still there? Just checking!!It has been far too long since I last put pen to paper ( well you know what I mean …finger tip to keyboard 🥴🥴…) at least I can still put pen to paper , I have to say I do fear for the future of humble pen ….

Anyway, I hope Dear Reader you haven’t forgotten me …I am still here . My last blog was dedicated to our Golden Retriever, Millie…and I confess her loss affected me far more than I had expected it would . However, time is a wonderful healer and despite her memory being very much alive, hopefully by the end of the year we will have her successor in our lives …watch this space !!!

Well what a Summer we have had ! I was treated to the Abba Voyage experience for my birthday with the DB ( come on now, you can’t have forgotten him…the Dearly Beloved or present Mr Harding !) and our eldest, Emma . What a fabulous show ! Even though you know they are holograms, it is really hard to believe they aren’t the real deal…very clever!!

Then followed a string of visits from and trips out with our UK grandchildren ..culminating in a two week visit from the Spanish contingent …..interspersed with training walks with Kathleen my Camino Buddy and her trusty Labrador, Bert !

Of course two of the days we had earmarked to do long walks, turned out to be the hottest of the Summer 🙄🙄 Anyway undeterred, on day 1 we managed a walk incorporating mostly shade and plenty of river play !

As an aside you may realise my technology skills are not top of the range – to put it mildly! I wanted to post the video of Bert here, but try as I might , I failed 🙈 Then I had a brainwave…take a snapshot of him in the water …success … but now I can’t get rid of the video but at the bottom 🙈🙈🙈🥴🥴🥴

This is me ……

The second day wasn’t forecast to be so warm so we set off , again with Bert’s safety in mind ( the two of us may well have to walk in the heat and will manage it ourselves appropriately.. but Bert doesn’t )

We came across a triple trough with lovely clear water …and Bert was straight in !

So by now you will understand the title of the blog …we leave tomorrow for the fourth leg of our Camino Frances from Logroño where we finished last year, to Burgos!

In my last epistle, I seem to remember regaling you with the DB’s and my attempts at garage clearance – particularly difficult as the DB does not like throwing anything away ! It might come in useful you see!! I told you about the antiquated mole traps I found …and had decided to give them to someone we knew who could make good use of them . Within hours of me mentioning donating said traps , an entire family of moles made their home under our front lawn 🙈🙈🙈 Needless to say the DB had his “ I told you they’d come in useful look” on his face , pleased as punch to show me the evidence !

This brought back to mind an episode with a barbecue many years ago …. we, like many others had purchased a gas barbecue … to be honest I’m not sure why we bothered because in truth, the DB and barbecues go together like chalk and cheese ….but anyway as usual I digress !

So one Summer’s evening I decided we would have a barbecue and asked the DB to get the by now, slightly rusty one from the garage …for some reason he was adamant he was going to use a disposable one that we had lurking in the garage . He would not budge on using the gas machine so the foil tray effort it was. He placed it on the soil in one of our planters ( made of wood as it happens 🙄) and cooked whatever we had . All windows were shut to avoid smoke pollution in the house whilst cooking, and after we’d eaten he sprinkled water over the coals and left them to cool down .

Sometime between midnight and dawn , I got up to use the loo and was struck by the smell of barbecue . I remember thinking “Crikey, he’s right , the smell of smoke gets everywhere”, went back to bed and thought no more of it . An hour or so later I got up thinking the smell of smoke was increasing not decreasing ..looked out of the bedroom to see to my horror, the planter in flames 🔥 Without consideration of my attire 🙈🙈🙈 ( the DB says I was scantily clad 😂😂) I ran down the stairs , out of the house to get the hosepipe to douse the flames …fortunately I succeeded and the fire service was not required!

However, the next day … you may imagine I was a little miffed … clearly we no longer had need for the gas affair so as I was doing a trip to the tip , it accompanied me! Now the DB wasn’t at all bothered about the barbecue but asked me what I had done with the tube and gas cylinder fitting !! Whoops ..that had gone with it !!! No matter, without hesitation , the DB got straight in the car, drove to the tip and retrieved said tube and fitting 🙈I can only imagine what the staff at the tip thought !!!

I found this on Facebook ..,,,

Back to the here and now …as I said we have both been training (together and separately) for this next leg of our Camino, though recently with visitors I have been slacking . I feel sure nothing we face will be as hard as our climb over the Pyrenees on Day 1 of our last Camino, however there are certainly some cheeky hills to look forward too 🥴🥴🥴 We learnt the hard way if you remember, on our second Camino from Santiago to the coast, and Kathleen’s words still ring in my ears …” Jane, where did you get the idea it was flat and we’d be doing 10 miles a day?”

Answer “ I have no idea, but clearly someone has put a mountain range in the way since I said that!”

I was out yesterday morning with two friends and came across someone I’ve met before ..the Owlman of Stocksbridge. I first met him about two years ago when I was walking Millie around a local reservoir ..he was walking his two black labradors and to my astonishment had a barn owl ( Lola) in tow . I remember he was picking up dog poo at the time (or trying too!) and I offered to hold the dogs to make it easier. We then got into a long conversation about owls etc and I have followed him (not literally you understand!) ever since .

Anyway, yesterday we met him as we were walking home …still two labradors but this time he had Bobow with him !

Before I knew what was happening he had given me the glove, and the picture tells the story!! I have to say after we’d said goodbye he once again had to get the poo bags out – my comment was that if he can pick up after his dogs whilst holding both dogs and an owl, no dog owner has an excuse for not clearing up after their dog!

I’ll leave you now …phew I hear you say …but those of you who know me know I like to leave you with a little chuckle so ….

Until tomorrow Dear Reader ….