Oh, given in to temptation!

[Al the optimist]

Don't you just hate being near a computer on a dark winter's day? With all those flights whispering their "come hither"! Well temptation got the better of me today and shekels have been dispensed with. Off to Asturias airport then Leon on Sunday 16th April. Starting next day for Oviedo (hopefully by Friday).

Excited about travelling it again as I loved it last time (well apart from the dog biting me).
Hope the weather is kind to me though. Last time as I arrived in Polodura Ender asked if the snow had disappeared and it was May 31st!

So optimism abounds and fingers are crossed.

 

[Bradypus]

Sounds all too familiar Al! I've been sitting here in wild west Wales plotting fantasy caminos for days Haven't summoned up the courage to settle on one yet. The front runner at the moment is the Sanabres. Got a few days lined up in the summer in north Wales with @andy.d and another friend too. I do love Oviedo. All that sidra and fabada. Then with luck a comfy bed in a well-ventilated room afterwards

 

[C clearly]

Me too. I am not fighting temptation; I am just playing with dates.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Hubby has murmured something about a Road Trip around our very own South Island next summer so that was as good as a green light for me to preoccupy myself with routes and bookings for the rest of the year! It's supposed to be summer here right now and traditionally not camino-thinking time! But we had a 30cm dump of snow at the weekend in the far south and we've just had a storm blow through that toppled trees and left us without power for a day - more wintery than winter.
The only temptation I am having to resist is the ignoble one of feeling jealousy at Al's freedom and proximity to Spain!

 

[peregrina2000]

Don't you just hate being near a computer on a dark winter's day? With all those flights whispering their "come hither"! Well temptation got the better of me today and shekels have been dispensed with. Off to Asturias airport then Leon on Sunday 16th April. Starting next day for Oviedo (hopefully by Friday).

Excited about travelling it again as I loved it last time (well apart from the dog biting me).
Hope the weather is kind to me though. Last time as I arrived in Polodura Ender asked if the snow had disappeared and it was May 31st!

So optimism abounds and fingers are crossed.

Al,

So glad to hear that!

I think that since your last walk on the Salvador, the dog has been taken care of and the new albergue in Bendueños has opened -- this is a MUST STOP kind of place.

 

[Mike Savage]

Way to go Al!
I must confess I have not looked at flights for at least an hour now.

 

[WildPlace]

Excellent decision @Al the optimist are you flying from Brum? I can't get away until September but booking flights etc to walk again definitely had something to do with the long dark nights of winter (and equally dreary days) here in the Outer Hebrides!

I look forward to reading all about your walk in due course

 

[Anemone del Camino]

You are an optimist. I wouldn't buy a trans-Atlantic flight to walk the Salvador so early in the season.

Best of luck!

 

[Al the optimist]

Excellent decision @Al the optimist are you flying from Brum? I can't get away until September but booking flights etc to walk again definitely had something to do with the long dark nights of winter (and equally dreary days) here in the Outer Hebrides!

I look forward to reading all about your walk in due course

 

[Al the optimist]

I wish. But Brum is useless! So I have to schlep to Stanstead overnight for a 7am flight. On return I take longer to get home fromthere than I do from Spain!

 

[WildPlace]

I wish. But Brum is useless! So I have to schlep to Stanstead overnight for a 7am flight. On return I take longer to get home from there than I do from Spain!

Oh dear! Yes, funny old place to get to and from Stanstead unless you live down south - it's kind of handy for me if i'm coming back to Scotland because I fly Santiago to Stanstead then pick up the flight to Glasgow and onwards the next day to home but if i'm returning to my parents (near Telford) it's a pain. Anyways - enjoy the walking!

 

[timr]

I wish. But Brum is useless! So I have to schlep to Stanstead overnight for a 7am flight. On return I take longer to get home fromthere than I do from Spain!

Excellent. I have booked to Madrid in May to walk from there to Sahagun, Leon then Salvador.
I took that flight from Stansted last year to Asturias to walk Primitivo in May.
I took last flight from Dublin, arriving about 11pm. I found Stansted not a bad place to pass the night. Plenty of shops and cafes open and a number of places where it was obviously quite the thing to lie down and have a sleep (which I did for a couple of hours). We were allowed to check in quite early as I recall, possibly as early as 3:30 or 4am.

 

[Al the optimist]

A get to Stansted at 4am having hopefully slept on the 1 am bus from Brum (after leaving Wolves at 11:45). Plenty of time to go through security, eat and wait, wait, wait until 7! A nice comfortable hour after landing before bus to Leon arriving there at timely 2 o'clock. Over 14 hours is a long trip for someone so close geographically.

 

[Peregrinopaul]

A get to Stansted at 4am having hopefully slept on the 1 am bus from Brum (after leaving Wolves at 11:45). Plenty of time to go through security, eat and wait, wait, wait until 7! A nice comfortable hour after landing before bus to Leon arriving there at timely 2 o'clock. Over 14 hours is a long trip for someone so close geographically.

Best laid plans, Al? Ha! You reminded me of my first trip in 2012. To over-paraphrase your post, my much anticipated, and I thought well-planned scenario went like this:
12:30 plane to Perth, arriving 14:50. Lots of time for 22:00 flight to Madrid; (2 stops: cheap fare but big mistake!) arriving 23:00 next day. Clear immigration etc, then metro to Atocha station. Long wait for first train out to Sevilla at around 06:30 I think it was ....but lots of cups of lovely Spanish coffee to keep me awake, right. Wrong. As most of you will know, Atocha closes from midnight to 06:00. Miserable 5 hours on a bench outside, bored out of my brain, and it was cold. Missed out on the unbelievable AVE experience, because predictably I slept through the entire journey to to Sevilla, which really annoyed me.
Must have been around 40 hours all up.
Nuts.

 

[Sixwheeler]

Is there anywhere on earth more dismal than Stansted Airport?

 

[Al the optimist]

Sixwheeler - No.

 

[Waka]

Heathrow and Gatwick

 

[Al the optimist]

Coventry used to be a candidate though.

 

[Bradypus]

Coventry used to be a candidate though.

Never understood why being "sent to Coventry" was such a bad thing. And then I went there....

 

[Al the optimist]

I meant the airport but I would not disagree Bradypus.

 

[laineylainey]

My annual temptation starts the minute I get off the plane at Dublin.

But at my age there is no point trying to resist most things, so I give in right away and start planning for my next trip..........Hey Ho Ho Ho Ho !!

 

[docpam]

Don't you just hate being near a computer on a dark winter's day? With all those flights whispering their "come hither"! Well temptation got the better of me today and shekels have been dispensed with. Off to Asturias airport then Leon on Sunday 16th April. Starting next day for Oviedo (hopefully by Friday).

Excited about travelling it again as I loved it last time (well apart from the dog biting me).
Hope the weather is kind to me though. Last time as I arrived in Polodura Ender asked if the snow had disappeared and it was May 31st!

So optimism abounds and fingers are crossed.

It is a warm summer day here but I need peace so I have succumbed. I start at the end of May.

 

[Bradypus]

@Al the optimist - I decided to follow your excellent example. One damp day too many round here So yesterday I booked a flight out to Madrid this Thursday to walk the last 200km or so of the Sanabres. If the weather is kind and the feet still work I may carry on to Muxia and Finisterre. My wife is leaving me at the beginning of March for a 9-month epic overland journey to the far east. Too many ties at home while she's away so if I don't go now I probably miss my chance of a long-ish walk this year. Carpe diem!

 

[Micah26]

I'm still organizing my first CF and so far I've added several stops in southern Spain, the same for Portugal, and back through the Languedoc region of France. Looks like I might have to get an extended visa if any European country is still in diplomatic relations with US By then...

 

[Al the optimist]

I am feeling envious Bradypus. Carpe Diem buddy. Buen Camino.

 

[digger]

Hubby has murmured something about a Road Trip around our very own South Island next summer so that was as good as a green light for me to preoccupy myself with routes and bookings for the rest of the year! It's supposed to be summer here right now and traditionally not camino-thinking time! But we had a 30cm dump of snow at the weekend in the far south and we've just had a storm blow through that toppled trees and left us without power for a day - more wintery than winter.
The only temptation I am having to resist is the ignoble one of feeling jealousy at Al's freedom and proximity to Spain!

Hi Rachel et al,
Spare a thought for us roasting in 40 degrees three times already this week.
The sheep don't know where to hide.
Even the badlands weren't this bad.
Digger

 

[Bradypus]

I am feeling envious Bradypus. Carpe Diem buddy. Buen Camino.

@Al the optimist - a travel tip for you. Check where I'm heading and go somewhere else! I got off the train in Galicia at 5pm in light drizzle. By 9pm the place was being hammered by winds up to 185kph and enough rain to float an Ark Local TV news is full of it today. Seems to have settled down now but a little more forecast later today. I'm trying not to take it personally. Interesting way to start a Camino

 

[andy.d]

@Al the optimist - a travel tip for you. Check where I'm heading and go somewhere else! I got off the train in Galicia at 5pm in light drizzle. By 9pm the place was being hammered by winds up to 185kph and enough rain to float an Ark Local TV news is full of it today. Seems to have settled down now but a little more forecast later today. I'm trying not to take it personally. Interesting way to start a Camino

Jonah!