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Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Get outta town on the Camino… Adios Pontevedra

2nd October 20262nd October 2026 funtime65

Stage 4: And we get outta town on the Camino … Adios Pontevedra and we’re back in the country.

In truth, we’ve never really stopped walking, that’s Big Brother and me, as Pontevedra is known as the Pedestrian City.

Now because of my notorious sense of misdirection I double back on myself.

Around the big tree roundabout near our billet, the Galicia Palace, until I get on the main drag.

Shelling out

I am headed for the noted Church of the Pilgrim Virgin and its floor plan in the shape of a scallop shell in honour of the symbol of the Camino.

I bless myself with the holy water from the mollusc shaped fount.

And beseech Him for guidance for the last 60kms of our Camino Portugues from the Portuguese/Spanish border.

And I throw some on the floor for those on fire below.

They’re playing our tune: The Literary Circle in Modern Coffee outside Cafe Moderno

We break bread off the Praza da Peregrina and wrestle with barcodes to get our menu.

Before pointing out impatiently that the next table has a paper one, only to be told they are children and it’s colouring-in paper.

The only Way

Have boots, will travel: And I’m still holding up

I am now reunited with brother Ed after he had gone walkabout on our route in from O Porriño.

But I will not lose sight of him again, particularly as today’s leg is a 22km trek into Caldas de Reis.

And nor will I stop meeting new peregrinos pals and pussies, and greeting old ones.

Like American dad and lad Jim and Jamie and Aussies Alan and Peter.

It is the Camino and it is the only Way.

At a crossroads

The Way, the Truth and the Life: Of a pilgrim

Dutch Ria does her best to separate us when she flags up the beauty of the left fork in the road which some are taking.

Until an experienced peregrino asks how long extra that might take and smilingly she tells us three days.

Which would double our journey.

Who knows what the next, our last three days before we reach Santiago de Compostella.

But as the sign says God loves you.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Pilgrimage

As Chivas regal and we’re drinking in the Camino

1st October 20266th October 2026 funtime65

Day 3: And the bottle tops are mounting up on Alan & Peter’s table… As Chivas regal and we’re drinking in the Camino.

As Chivas being our rural idyll billet for the night, just up the hill and off the Way.

And the Spanish name for the farmhouse’s permanent residents, the guests.

That Alan and Peter are Australian is unsurprising.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: The Aussies, me and Big Brother

And takes me back to Top Deck days on a repurposed double decker bus to the Oktoberfest in Munich.

When Rambo would bite the tops off the bottles when we lost the bottle opener.

We pass the late afternoon in the sun sharing war stories of this trek and others.

Hakes and hikes

Julio and Davide run an easy, informal tab, where you mount up bottle caps into a mountain and pay on departure.

I feast in the evening on two hakes, patates (chips) and green veg with Brusssel sprouts.

And the next day roll back down the hill to rejoin the Camino Portugues.

A couple of kilometres down into the village of Arcade and then back into the woods en route to Pontevedra.

Big Brother is watching

There will be more Aussies, Americans, South Americans and ten likely lassies from my hometown of Glasgow.

With whom I spend far too much time for Big Brother’s liking and he marches ahead.

Each time their own and every Camino is your own.

I form more attachments along the Way including a lucky black cat.

Out of puff: The ascent takes it out of you

And fill a second page on my Camino passport and splash on the holy water in a Wayside chapel dating back to the 1690s.

We will meet up again at the Galicia Palace in Pontevedra at the end of our 16kms stretch.

Only 70kms to go to Santiago de Compostella and, yes, we’ll…

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Goaaaaaal… our Camino Portugues Arcade Game

30th September 20266th October 2026 funtime65

Day 2: And we’ll get there, it’s the day after the Spain game and this is our goaaaaal… our Camino Portugues Arcade Game.

The biblical deluge did arrive last night and gracias Dios it was when we were safely off the Way.

And in our billet at Hotel Azul in O Porriño in Spanish Galicia.

But anxious about our next leg, the 23km undulating and longest stretch yet, to hilltop Arcade.

A sports hack half my career and a football fan all my life I didn’t expect.

To be trudging through the puddles to find a bar for the game.

Or giving up on the mission to watch Lamine Yamal and the world champs beat Croatia 4-1.

Only there may have been an insight on how the locals view the national team in this graffito on the wall.

Now our own wee team Scotland, the last to beat Spain a whole two years ago, have found it uphill ever since.

Like today’s 12km climb on my Camino Ways odyssey.

Thankfully Hotel Azul have served us, that’s me and Big Brother Ed, the breakfast of champions.

The first supper: To set me up for the day

You see, the beauty, of course, in a longer leg on the Camino is more time to take in the beauty.

Although I could certainly do with longer legs for those steep inclines.

And the bigger distance affords more chance to spend time with fellow peregrinos.

Where’s the little donkey? At the bottom of As Chivas

Like American brother and sister Mark and Mary who bookend this stretch down from our farmhouse billet As Chivas

With Mark offering to adopt the name Joseph temporarily for this money shot coastal picture over the valley.

Mark billing me as Jesus on account of my ‘Jesus is my Home Boy’ T-shirt.

The thing is though as a James Joseph I offer to double job.

It’s a family affair

I am walking 11 years after my first Camino.

This time with my big brother, the third of the Three Wise Men, the other brother is back in England.

Caminos have always been familial affairs and Ed and I break bread with American dad and lad Jim and Jamie… well, it is St James’s Way.

Sheltering from the morning’s delayed showers in a path side cafe.

Where naturally we get another stamp for our Camino passports which will qualify us for a certificate.

When we get to the end of our 100-mile trek to Santiago di Compostella.

Peregrinos, or pilgrims, will be lucky if their walk is in gentle breeze as opposed to blistering sun or pelting rain.

Carmen and the Hunchback of Rotterdam

God is watering his garden today but we are prepared with foldaway waterproofs.

While Dutch Nonda is covered too with a poncho covering both her and her rucksack.

The Hunchback of Rotterdam Filipino Carmen calls her… she’ll cut herself one of these days, she’s so sharp.

And despite rolling her ankle on an early leg Carmen is off now at a fair lick.

We’ll see her again, God willing, like we have Mark and Mary.

That’s the Camino for you.

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

El Niño Camino the rain in Spain… but I won’t complain

29th September 20266th October 2026 funtime65

Day 1: Starts with a splash. El Niño Camino the rain in Spain… but I won’t complain.

Because I’ve said my decade of the rosary, just as Mum would do in the driveway at the start of our annual pilgrimage to Ireland.

And the predicted storms have stayed away which is just as well as we trek through the woods.

Jimmy the conkerer

The only threat from the skies is from the conkers and acorns being blown off the trees and round my head.

Our walk to the woods from Tui has been, in truth, seamless bar for a left turn (isn’t there always?).

Where a kind driver interrupts his journey.

To point us back in the right direction.

We could, of course, have trusted in our other senses.

With the skirl of the pipes a familiar sound to Scottish type people like us.

Galicians being, of course, fellow Gaels, and fond of a rendition of Amazing Grace.

For a token of appreciation for which you’ll also get a stamp for your Camino passport.

Food for thought

We picked up another earlier on, and randomly a banana.

And by now, and still early on, I have a front page filled.

From our first night billet, the local pharmacy, and the second stop, 18kms that way, in O Porriño.

We take shelter from the first droplets of rain in Tapas y Vinos to refuel.

The Way, The Truth and the Life: The Big Je has your back

And for my walking companion, Big Brother Ed, to shake his head in appreciation.

At two doorsteps of a beefy ham sandwich and two Americanos for under €12.

We are, unexpectedly, further along the way than we’d imagined… on the apron off Azur Hotel in O Porriño.

Candles in the wind and rain

I feel compelled to thank Him for keeping us dry and safe.

And say a prayer at the first church in town, it looks like there’s one on every corner.

And light a candle and pray for all the requests I’ve been given ahead of my 100 mile Camino Portugues to Santiago with CaminoWays.

The candle stand is clearly well thumbed and suggests a 20c donation.

I fluff my pockets and find a 10c but there’s no cutting corners in the House of God.

And the candle only comes on when I put in a 20c which puts the Church in profit.

And me with another sin to walk off en route to Santiago.

Countries, Europe, Pilgrimage

Old the border for 720 years

28th September 2026 funtime65

And while the rest of the world has been trying to keep each other out here’s where they decided to old the border for 720 years.

We have, of course, the 1297 Treaty of Alcañicas to thank for the Portuguese-Spanish border, weas if we need to tell you that.

But we reckoned that milestone needed marking.

Which is why you see me stood here on the Valença International Bridge or Friendship Bridge.

Taking my first steps from Portuguese Valença over to Spanish Tui on my Portugués Camino.

Which conveniently for us, that’ll be me and Big Brother Ed, is 116kms to Santiago de Compostella.

Long enough to qualify for another Camino passport to go with my Frances Way one from 11 years ago.

A day in Portugal’s fortress town

Now, seeing we’ll only be in Portugal overnight we’d best have a look around.

Where we find a horde of Spaniards from just over the Minho trawling along Rua de Mousinho de Albuquerque for cheaper linen.

For all that the two countries have been at peace for 620 years.

There is a visible reminder that the Portuguese protect themselves ably.

And visitors will want to scale the Valença Fortress for the best views to Galicia.

While we’re advised that O Faz Figuras is best for traditional Minho dishes like bacalhau cod.

CaminoWays do the heavy lifting

We’re staying at the A Torre Do Xudes hotel in Tui.

Our first billet on our CaminoWays odyssey to Santiago de Compostella.

Where the bones of St James the Greater are venerated in the Cathedral.

Which is why pilgrims, or peregrinos, have been walking there for hundreds of years from all over Europe.

To earn grace and penitence and get time off Purgatory, the holding bay for Heaven.

Now back then in the Middle Ages, Michael O’Leary was just a twinkle in a great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather’s eye.

So you would have to leave from your own doorstep and walk across land and sea to get here.

While I saved myself the guts of a few weeks extra walking by taking a two-hour 50 minutes Ryanair flight from Edinburgh to Porto.

And while many peregrinos still carry their full backpacks and stay in hostels, or albergued, along the way.

CaminoWays do the heavy lifting for you, taxiing you to your first stop in TUI from Porto or Santiago.

Putting you up in your hotel and transporting your luggage to your next stay, all in your package.

The Way of James

Now the Way of St James will always mean something unique to everyone who travels it.

And for this James it is following in the footsteps of James the Elder.

James Gerard Murty, who would have been 100 but is gone 18 years now.

And although he will have found his way to Heaven, with only limited time in the Purgatory holding bay.

He continues to guide my path, and no doubt will lead me back on track when I undoubtedly go off course this week.

So come this Way with us and…

MEET YOU ON THE ROAD

America, Countries, Sport, UK

Paws for thought… let’s have a British mascot hall of fame

27th September 202627th September 2026 funtime65

And on the back of a night at the ice hockey, here’s a paws for thought… let’s have a British mascot hall of fame.

Paws, as I ought to have known, but do now is Edinburgh Capitals’ lion mascot.

In a pride of big cats, the symbols of sporting teams the length and breadth of this island of Britain.

With Edinburgh’s two football teams, Hearts and Hibs adopting Tynie Tiger and Sunshine the Leith Lynx.

And Scotland represented by Roary the Lion.

Whisper it, we probably owe our southern neighbours for kicking it all off.

With their World Cup Willie for their World Cup in 1966.

Cats and mouse game

And yes, behind many of the mascots’ name is a giggling overgrown school kid, although sometimes it’s accidental.

Or because we are separated by a common language.

As we discovered as an Irish party visiting the Los Angeles Angels baseball team in Anaheim.

And our Angels guide proudly announced they like nothing better than getting their Mickeys out.

Which a man will be arrested for in Ireland.

Hall of Famers

All good fun and banter which, of course, drives fans everywhere.

And which our American friends recognise and mark in their Mascot Hall of Fame.

Wild World: With Anaheim Ducks’ Wild Wing

All the brainchild of Philly Phanatic, David Redmond, who held the position and costume from 1978-1993.

Now the Hall of Fame, like much else these days, is an online site.

After a spell between 2018-24 as an interactive children’s’ museum in Indiana.

Now should you or your mascot feel they belong in the Hall of Fame then you need to persuade the committee.

That you have been going for a minimum of ten years.

And that you have impacted your sport and community.

Inspired fans, and consistently given memorable and groundbreaking performances.

Meet the Mascots

You’ll only join a magical mascots membership.

That includes Cosmo, Miles, Goldy, Mrs Met and in the best tradition of these things, yes, Cocky.

We reckon Paws would be a worthy addition.

Not least because we can reveal that’s where Ed Sheeran has been hiding these past few days.

America, Countries

Vegas baby at Compston’s Palms Hotel

26th September 202626th September 2026 funtime65

Now none of us would settle for anything less than a room with a basketball court… it’s Vegas baby at Compston’s Palms Hotel.

The Scots actor giving us a whistlestop tour of his adopted town for Channel 4… all in the line of duty, of course.

Martin brings his earthy Scots schtick to Neon City and reminds us of this Scot’s unfinished business in Neon City.

Particularly with Las Vegas’s 5-Day Sale ending tonight, September 28, including the iconic Palms Hotel.

Half the fun and half as dear

Now assuming, which makes an ass of you and me, that you don’t have a spare $25,000 for a night’s stay.

And whisper it, Martin has, after dropping and flopping $20k on the Pontoon table.

Then the Palms has a range of 50% off suites.

From a Fantasy King for two from an average $158.74 including $21.99 resort fees per night.

To the Ivory Penthouse at from $358.74 average per night and including resort fees per night.

A tale of two Martins

Now Vegas still remains new to Martin as he explains, despite living eight years there with his wife Tianna and their son.

Because you could spend a lifetime there and never get to know it all.

Which is why you’re always best to tap up the locals who do live their lives there.

Like those who keep the rooms, run the tables, curate the Mob Museum, the Neon Museum and much more besides.

Miss America: Meets Mr Scotland in Vegas

And visit the Xxx Off Strip every weekend, like Cami from Utah.

To listen to Eighties-covers burlesque troupe The Whip Its at Harrah’s and get unsuspecting Scots up on the dance floor.

Now depending on how far you go you could even end up up the aisle at the Graceland Wedding Chapel.

As colleagues in our party, Martin and Peter did, just for the story you understand.

Caribbean, Countries

400 years… and a Hole new Barbados

25th September 202625th September 2026 funtime65

And they do it differently in the Caribbean where Bajans are preparing to mark 400 years… and a Hole new Barbados.

With next year the 400th anniversary of English settlement on the island.

Holetown is, well, a whole different place from the stream, or hole, the first permanent colonists encountered in 1627.

And christened Jamestown, for King James VI of Scotland and First of the UK.

Today’s Holetown, which it became a couple of years into the interlopers’ stay, is among the most sought-after spots in the island.

The hub of the Platinum Coast, a playground for the rich and famous, particularly around the exclusive Sandy Lane resort.

Hot spot for celebs

And celeb spotters can easily bag the rich and famous from Cliff Richard through to Simon Cowell, the Beckhams, Rooneys and Oprah.

Shopping at the elegant Limegrove Lifestyle Centre, with its over one hundred cafés, restaurants, boutiques and stores.

And bag Louis Vuitton, Tag Hauer, Ralph Loren, Hugo Boss, Bvlgari, Michael Kors and countless more.

And for you and me, duty-free prices,

We Gatherin’

Because the Platinum Coast should not be beyond you with couples hotel Club Barbados more in your reach than Sandy Lane.

Holetown and Barbados will, of course, be marking the 400th anniversary in their own inimitable Bajan style.

With a carnival.

The We Gatherin’ initiative and the annual festival cycle centred around The Holetown Festival Remixed from February 15-22.

Now as anyone who has ever jumped at Barbados’s international spectacle, Crop Over, will know.

Mottley’s crew

Carnivals are a year-long event in the planning and execution and it’s even longer with the We Gatherin’ initiative.

With the exact quadricentennial of the English merchant ship Olive Blossom arriving at the island occurred on May 14, 2025.

And the ever-popular President Mia Mottley calling on Bajans to actively ‘reclaim national destiny’

With next year’s the 400th anniversary of the original permanent settlers aboard the William and John next February.

Limin’ essence

Me-me and Dee-Dee: At Crop Over in Barbados

Now Bajans being Bajans it’s not all heavy though.

With the event throbbing to the background log the iconic Tuk Band accompanied by folklore characters like Mother Sally, Shaggy Bear, and the Stiltman.

New to us too.

The George Ullyett Memorial Classic Car Show anchors the weekend street fairs.

While we’ll all be chippin’ behind the Grand Floodlit Tattoo & Night March.

And, as if you needed to ask… there is a liming tent all week.

Where you’re bound to find my Bajan-based Trini legend Jevan.

Countries, Culture, Deals, Europe

Apocalypse then… Bayeux’s oui cousin

24th September 2026 funtime65

And if you want to get away from the tapestry rabble in London then just slip away to Angers for Apocalypse then… Bayeux’s oui cousin.

The Tapestry of the Apocalypse has less of a cut-through, of course, than Bayeux but it is bigger news.

At 103 metres, the longest in the world and 30 metres further than William of Normandy’s story.

Sew 14th Century

So let’s start at the very beginning, it’s a very good place to start… with sew, a needle pulling thread.

And the ambitious Duke of Anjou, brother of the King of France, Charles V, in the 14th century.

With apologists for the duke playing that age-old trick of setting his story in history, that of St John’s last book of the Bible.

To talk about his own political times.

With, naturellement, all those characters that still fascinate us today and make up the tapestry of the lives we amplify.

Dragons, angels, demons, fortified towns, mysterious women and knights.

And, of course, this being Normandy, the English don’t get a pass.

With references to the English enemy, this being the middle of the Hundred Years’ War.

A real curtain-raiser

Now Bibliophiles among you and certainly those with the stomach for St John’s Apocalypse will certainly point out.

That the story is incomplete.

But it has had quite the journey, like us.

Bequeathed to Angers Cathedral, it was then transformed into covers.

And it was used to protect orange trees or curtain linings.

Prepping for the Apocalypse

Now our Angers amis promise us the Apocalypse interpretation route as if you were there.

Or L’Apocalypse comme si vous y étiez, which d’accord we know you know it as.

Through six rooms and seven centuries, meet the creators of the tapestry, consider the secrets of its making and message.

And go back in time to the Middle Ages.

With videos, games, sound and touch devices.

Costumes to try on and even Playmobil diaporamas (no, we’ll have to learn that too).

All the world to us

The tapestry is housed in the 14-tower medieval fortress of Château des Ducs d’Anjou (Castle of the Dukes of Anjou),

All impressive enough but even more as UNESCO has included it among the pantheon of great documents of history.

The Memory of the World Register which boasts.

The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, the Appeal of 18 June 1940 of General de Gaulle and films of the Lumière brothers among others.

Now our Medieval forefathers and mothers didn’t have the advantage of high-speed, not their fault.

And we dare say Leonardo Da Vinci was working on it.

But we do and our go-to site Omio flag up £9 tickets from Paris.

Africa, Countries, Flying

Olympus above the Serengeti

23rd September 202623rd September 2026 funtime65

As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti we all picture what a safari in Africa might be.

Although perhaps only Eighties American soft rockers Toto would put it like that.

Because Tanzanians and Kilimanjaro or Serengeti veterans will tell you there’s 200 mile distance between them.

With it all being part of rock legend that David Paich famously never set foot foot on the continent.

Toto recall

Flying high: Your British Airways flight awaits

Toto’s Africa though blares out of the lobby of the Boardwalk Hotel in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) in South Africa.

To remind us that safari country is on our doorstep.

So Paich’s leap of imagination clearly worked in promoting the joys of African safaris.

Now in Paich’s favour it is less of a trek to get to Kilimanjaro now than in his day.

African skies

And getting easier all the time with British Airways introducing direct flights.

From London Gatwick to Kilimanjaro and on to Zanzibar, starting with three flights a week.

Now our friends at Wild Frontiers have a ten-day safari into Tanzania’s Northern parks.

Of Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire as well as the Rift Valley and Lake Natron.

Plus a chance to climb the Sacred Mountain of the Masai (Ol Doinyo Lengai), and experience real Maasai culture.

Like a Maasai warrior

The safari travels into the best areas of this game-packed region.

Where you can camp among the game with the sounds of the African bush all around.

As well as visiting some off the beaten track areas of Masailand, where few venture.

Now to take in Kilimanjaro then Wild Frontiers will tailor your package.

So we’ll just leave you with the exhortations of David Paich…

Hurry boy, she’s waiting there for you.