Happy Anniversary to my brother Bill and SIL Jane on their 54th wedding anniversary!!

I woke in the night with a pain on the joint of my big toe. It seems I am developing a bunion or in French oignon de pie, an onion on the foot. It’s very early but enough painful that we made a trip to the pharmacy to start treating it. Oh the joys of age!! Thankfully I swapped wearing uncomfortably high heels 10 years ago for chacos and hiking boots. 

We had great aspirations this morning for getting some more hill training, exercises and a couple of 5 km hikes in but the weather and errands had other ideas. We still did some light exercises and our hill training and a brief walk. Still a good day. 

It’s a reminder that life doesn’t really go in a straight line but weaves its way around obstacles, follows the detours, makes the most of whatever comes your way. Even a heart shaped tomato!!🍅

And tomorrow is another day!!

Oh and check out our beautiful basil plants!!

Saint Germain de Confolens 21 August, 2026

So here we are less than two weeks away from starting on Camino del Norte. There are a lot of emotions happening for me. This is a new camino for us. We planned to do it two years ago but the timing was bad because of Spanish holidays. So we walked part of the Frances and the Primitivo. 

Now we are going to try again. There’s excitement and apprehension, but mostly excitement. We are planning to be more spontaneous with this camino. The apprehension comes from a brand new path.

My thoughts travel back to my very first camino, 11 years ago. I didn’t overthink, I didn’t overplan, and I was probably very naive. But what an adventure!! It was totally life changing. 

Our training has ramped up since the weather has improved. We are still planning on going slow and not taking long days we simply want enjoy each day as it comes and see what happens. This is a bit of a tall order for a control freak and a semi-control freak. You can figure out who’s who!!

As you can tell I am very excited about this adventure!! I hope you will join us as we enjoy Camino del Norte!!

So we have been busy galavanting around the area. It’s been fun. 

We found a Gallic Village that gives tours and reenactments. We stopped by to ask some questions and will be heading back on Monday to experience it fully. They are having a four day festival for the holiday weekend. 14 July is Bastille Day. 

On Saturday we went to Confolens for another market day. It was a bit bigger than what they have on Wednesdays. We stocked up on fruits and vegetables and local honey. 

While we were walking a wedding party pulled through town with horns thinking and the bride and groom in a cart being pulled by a tractor. It was great fun. 

We finally ate at Turtle Pizza. It is outstanding!! Apparently one of the owners was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. 

Hard to believe but we have done a lot of cooking. I do believe cooking and walking Caminos are our love languages!!

After our visit to the Gallic Village I will share some more

We are still finding new routes up to the castle. And exploring the area around.

We visited another town, Rochechouart and even looked at a house that’s for sale. It’s 400 years old and a good price but it needs a bit of work which is out of our price range. Unless we set up a go fund me page. 😂😂😂

This city also has a castle. It was closed the day we were there. It doesn’t really appear to be open for exploring. It does have a modern art gallery. The castle is from the 13th century.

Another day we went to Confolens to visit their weekday market. It is small but had a vast assortment of fruits and vegetables, cheese and oil and nut carts. The oil cart had oils from France and Spain and the biggest bag of pistachios I’ve ever seen. I will let you know how yummy they are. 

The last few days have still been hot. So we are still acclimating, trying to get out but also being smart. 

Another walk around Saint Germain de Confolens brought us to an outdoor cafe (all seating is outside) with tables, chairs, loungers and umbrellas. There is a nice breeze off the river but it’s still hot!! We will go back and eat dinner one day. 

Again really enjoying our time in this area. 

We decided to go for a walk up to the castle ruins. There are several ways to get to the castle. So far we have taken five different routes.  The castle is no longer open to walk inside but you can walk around the perimeter. One of the interesting features of the castle is the round towers on the outside are square on the inside. But alas I can’t confirm that.

There is a church and cemetery next door. They both sit just above Saint Germain de Confolens. There are signs along the river and around the walk to the castle telling about all the wildlife which include otters and bats, hoping to spot some. 

We haven’t really ventured out in the heat too much other than to shop in air conditioned stores. It’s just too hot. But the training has begun so we will get out in the heat next week, but be sensible. I will use my sun umbrella fondly called my sunbrella and we will drink lots of water and use sunscreen. 

We are really enjoying being here.