Start of the Journey

 My week leading up to the start of the walk has not been promising

I am experiencing a new and sharp pain in my big toe when I walk. Cause unknown, but not what you want when day one is going to be a long if seemingly gentle 17 miles

The stiffness of walking boots helps, less flex on the joint, and I opt to take walking shoes in addition to walking sandals as back-up footwear. These are bulky items however, and means I must be extremely selective in what I pack 

There doesn't seem to be enough room in my bag for everything I think I need. It takes several attempts at packing until I have a result that seems close enough to qualify as a small underseat cabin bag. Maybe I should have just paid the fee for a larger bag, but I have a certain stubbornness when faced with additional charges for optional extras

The day of departure dawns. Or not quite, as I wake at 02:45 and sunrise isn't for another four hours. So time for a leisurely cup of tea before walking out to my pickup point on Palatine Road. Lisa's son Joe is giving us a lift to the airport, which makes for an easy start to the day

A couple of minor hiccups at security, my boots have to be scanned separately and Lisa's bag has to be inspected because all of her liquids are clustered together. I have doubts as to whether her case will ever close again, but Lisa is determined and wrestles the case into submission

Walking to the departure gate I attempt to fit my bag into the appropriately sized baggage checker. It is too long and doesn't fit. This was not the dimension I thought would give problems, so I need to do a few and violent adjustments and eventually manage to force it into the template. I have read scary stories of Easyjet staff checking all bags and the extortionate fees that apply to anything oversized. I am ready to argue my case, saying it might be a tight squeeze but it does fit, but in the end no checks are made. I think that this is a small victory

Smooth flight with a thud of a landing at Madrid, then it's a bus to the station at terminal 4 plus two metro trains to Charmartin station where we have a three hour wait before our four hour high speed train journey to A Coruna. There is only a 15 minute connection time to make the local train to Ferrol, and the possibility of missing this has been a nagging concern. I have plans B and C, two busses or a train at 11pm, ready for this eventuality but LAneedn't have worried: all of the trains were running bang on time

The small regional train to Ferrol is a delight, snaking its way around the estuaries towards our starting point. The countryside is looking very green and rolling and we are excited at the prospect of walking through this landscape over the next few days

Our hotel is a short walk from the station, and there is an unexpected information pack waiting for us. This contains our Credencials and a scallop shell, the symbol of our pilgrimage route, to attach to each of our rucksacks. How sweet

Time for some beers and food in the hotel bar

I then have a quest to buy a local SIM for my phone, as I didn't want to pay the somewhat extortionate price for this at the airport . There is a Movistar store one mile away that closes at 10pm. I arrive only to find that they have sold out of SIM cards. Seems very unlikely, and it is a wasted journey through the dark streets of Ferrol, thinking I should simply have bought a SIM at the airport and saved all of this hassle 

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