My Back Pages - One of my favourite Dylan songs. Those particular lyrics '...I'm younger than that now'. have always struck me. Recognised them straight away as I read your post. Mr Tambourine Man is my absolute favourite - once again it's all in his lyrics. I was 12 yrs old at the time when these came out - and feel privileged to have grown up in an era that gave us such fantastic music.
I'm commencing the
Camino Frances from SJPP on Sat 22 Sept. I'm travelling from the UK too - but via ferry! I just got fed up looking at the list of restrictions that you have to comply with if you fly added to which was the small but finite risk of the rucksack (too big to go as cabin luggage) ending up in Adelaide or wherever. French rail strikes put me off the idea of any kind of transit through France. I live just 3 miles from Portsmouth so it's Brittany Ferries for me. A leisurely 25 hr crossing to Santander, arrive 18:15 local time which should allow me to sort out a Spanish SIM card before the Vodafone shop closes at 20:00, then stay overnight. Then on Thurs 20 Sept take bus to Pamplona, stay overnight and continue to SJPP on Friday 21 Sept arriving 12:30. Plenty of time to soak up the atmosphere of the place prior to the Big Off next day Saturday 22 Sept.
I've given quite a lot of thought to opening up a communication channel between myself and relatives as being away fro 5-6 weeks is quite some time. Also being from the 'older generation' smartphone technology has been slowly passing me by. So I've coopted my daughter as technical expert on such matters and I'm the proud possessor of the Samsung phone that she used prior to the one she currently uses. I'm now more aware of WiFi, Whatsapp, Data usage, Phone chargers etc than I was at the start of the year. Obtaining a Spanish SIM card is the first objective/obstacle upon arrival in Santander. Very luckily I'm reasonably fluent in Spanish. Having said that I find the problem is the rapidity with which they speak back to you if they decide to continue the conversation in Spanish. Additionally there are many local dialects in Spain and it sometimes takes a little while to 'tune in' the ears adjust to how it varies from the grammar book Spanish. I'm hopeful that this first encounter at the Vodafone shop doesn't prove too embarrassing.
In contrast to the preparations for getting out there I have nothing at all planned for getting back, other than the expectation that I'll be coming back at some stage in the first week of November (I'm intending to do the final bit to Finisterre). I'll play it by ear as I go along.
I hope you make your decision to go as given your timings we may well bump into each other at some stage.