The De-Caff Camino: A 500 Mile Cycling Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela - Tapa blanda

Charlie's introduction to his blog put it best: "A lifetime in marketing actually equips a man for very little... Now pushing 58, I realise with some horror that it is a full half century since I last took cycling remotely seriously. If this trip does not go well, I might leave it as long until my next attempt. In September 2012, seven friends of varying fitness and circumference, accompanied by an elderly camper-wagon and driver, are cycling from France to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain." Despite being well past their prime they cycled up the equivalent of Mount Everest plus a bit as they crossed the Pyrenees, the Montes de Oca, the Montes de Léon, and the Cantabrian Mountains, in the process expending over 20,000 calories each (according to Susie's iPhone App), most of which were put back on each evening. They cycled in the footsteps of 1,000 years of history, marveled at the art and architecture accumulated over the centuries, and at times crashed into it. They visited the sites of miracles and pondered their meaning, and crossed the 200 meter bridge at Hospital de Orbigo which in 1434 was the site of a month long jousting tournament. They experienced the highs and lows of triumph and disaster, and felt compelled to test the efficiency of the Spanish medical system. Comment on the blog from Barnaby: "God, troops...it is epic reading and I am on the edge of my seat as I follow your progress on my map". The De-Caff Camino is in turn amusing, informative, easy reading and irreverent, and yet is imbued throughout with the greatest respect for the history and traditions of the Camino and those who have written their names into its lore. Improbably arriving at their destination after two weeks and 500 miles on the road, the author offers some forthright advice to the Vatican on how to enhance the experience for pilgrims at last achieving their goal after so much exertion, self-sacrifice and denial. The De-Caff Camino is an essential and most entertaining addition to the body of knowledge of The Way of St James.

Jonathan Beardsworth spent 15 years in the British Army sitting in his Chieftain tank in Germany waiting for the Russians to invade. When the Berlin Wall fell down and it became apparent there would not be a decent tank battle in his lifetime he left the Army to try his luck in civilian life. Ten days later Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait leading to the biggest tank battle since the Second World War, and which he missed. In the 20+ years since leaving the Army his various attempts to earn enough to afford his dream of a yacht in the Caribbean have seen him exploring for gold in the Philippines as Managing Director of a London listed gold exploration company, and as an investment banker specializing in the mining industry. He lives in Hong Kong with his wife Joanna, trying to earn enough to support his two daughters through university in England and Scotland. With the years advancing this book is his final attempt to get that yacht . . .