We have about 120 km left so keep your fingers crossed for us especially as Alexis had hospital treatment today

This isn´t the image that Alexis imagined in sunny (?) Spain We have completed 22km today in torrential rain and winds but at least we had very few hills. Unfortunately Alexis had some very bad blisters and could hardly walk but he was very brave and we managed to finish in just over 5 hours. We went straight to the hospital who were fantastic and treated his feet which are now covered with bandages and also had two injections. He has been allowed to continue tomorrow but we´ll have to be careful and take it easy. We have seen the sun for the first time after 4 days but the rain seems non stop. At least we are having some great meals - for 8 euros you get a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine and trust me, just the starters is enough for most people but not when you are walking so much. We have just been informed that on Saturday we completed just over 32 miles when you take the ascent in to consideration. We went from 500m up to 1,300m in terrential rain so you can now call us the marathon men.

This isn't what I was expecting

Here is a photo from the early days Another long hard and tiring walk in the continuos rain wasn't exactly what I was hoping for in Spain. To top it all the washing machine broke a few miins from the end and the tumble dryer isn't working well either. All our clothes are wet and our walk is planned for 6:30 am and te forecast is for more rain. Apart from that all is great, apparently

continue from last post due to mobile problems

I am having major formattiing problems with my mobile so I'll be very brief. The walk was a nightmare as it lasted 11.5 hours in the rain and walking to one of the highest mountains I have been to. We arrived soaked wet and very tired but feel very proud of our achievement. I especially feel very proud of Alexis who was clearly very frustrated but at the same time he kept saying 'we have to do it for The Ark'.

Today was the hardest day of my life

Hardly slept last night and our walk started at 6:30 am in the rain that unfortunately for us only got worse during the day. Our first target was Villafranca Del Bierzo which where we should have been yesterday and we thought was just a few miles away turned out to be a 2 hour walk but very good one as we were forced to walk through the vine plants and cherries fields. We had breakfast at Villafranca and staryed our walk with our target Cebreiro which turned in to a nightmare.

Bad news - terrible thunderstorm stops us from reaching our target

this means that we are forced to walk 24 miles each of the next 4 days in to get back on schedule Unfortunately tomorrow our task is one of the hardest as we are walking up one of the highest mountains Its 2:10 in the morning and I can't sleep because of the rain My mobile battery is almost flat and I am in trouble as we don't have power points in this place. Keep your fingers crossed for us as we have to our walk at # :30 am

what an amazing walk

first of all apologies for lack updates but as I mentioned before, internet access is almost impossible I'll start with yesterday's walk but don't be surprised if I stop halfway through as I am using my mobile and there is a thunderstorm outside Thursday 4th June We left Rabanal just before 7:00 am and during the 8 hours walk we went from an altitude of 3,900 feet up to 5,300 and then down to 1,968 feet. You need to be fit to do this walk and I guess our three months training has helped but in no way have I ever imagined the difficulties we faced. I have to say that Alexis was superb. Not only he has several blisters but his training was a lot less than mide due to work commitments but he managed it all. Going up those mountains was difficult enough but going down was a killer But lets get the bad stuff out of the way as this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I guess my ignorance is showing but like most people you imagine Spain as a place for holidays with its superb beaches and great food but if you want to see the real Spain then doing this walk wil go a long way to answer your question. The scenary was absolutely breathtaking, the different coulours of the wild flowers that seemed to go for miles but always in the distance you see the high mountains that still have some snow left. I guess the best way for you to understand my feelings would be to see my photos and video clips and I promise that as soon as I return I'll make them available on the web for anyone interested to see. Its simply impossible to do so now as I have very little access to internet and when I do there are always people waiting in the queue. My favouriye village today was El Acebo with its beautiful balconies and most colourful flowers. In leaving the village we walked through the gorge. There seemed thousands of birds singing and you must watch one of my video clips to appreciate it. It was amazing at the top of the mountain as we were above the clouds but very cold and breathless at that altitude. I have to say that the last couple of miles were the toughest as we never trained walking down mountains especially on rocky paths and it seemed to last for ever. It was such a relief to see Molineseca from about 1 mile away and then just then it started to rain. At least we didn´t have a thunderstorm like last night while at the hotel which caused a powercut for a couple of hours. Damn it, I am pressurised to come of internet so I better go More updates tomorrow I hope

Now the real tough work starts

I woke up in the middle of the night and felt like an ice cube, so strange as the temperatures during the day is in the mid 30s. I had to wear socks and jumper and it doesn´t really help when I caught a cold on the day we started our walk. Today we started at 6:30 am and the walk lasted about 8 hours but went through some fields with thousands of wild flowers nainly lavender and heather. The last 3-4 miles was all up hill and very tiring but I guess is all good preparation for tomorrow when we face our toughest task in walking up the highest mountain (about 5,000 feet) of our trip and then even worse, the next day we have to start the walk downhill which apparently isn´t very good for your legs. I have already taken some photos of the mountain from about 30 miles away and it clearly still has snow and of course all we have is summer clothes and a jumper so it better not be too cold. I´ll srart up a link of our photos ASAP My daughter Elena has made me aware that there are lots of spelling / grammatical erros in my posts but I guess this is what you get when you only have a few minutes to post these messages - apologies for that