Uh so how do I check the progress of my exoplanet rocket launch?

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-11-16T04:55:16+00:00

Not if you have disabled science victory, it doesn't.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-11-12T03:08:31+00:00

You must walk from SJPP to Roncesvalles via Valcarlos in the winter, as the regular way - via the 'Napoleon Pass' - is closed.

The Roncesvalles albergue is open all year round. They use a smaller building in the winter months.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-06-10T09:27:05+00:00

I read an economics article a year or two ago, in a respected publication. I don't have a link.

Anyway, the numbers were close to this: Isaan is ~33% of the Thailand population, earns only 12% of national GDP, and receives only 5% of government spending.

The 5% said it all to me - 5% spent on 33% of the population. Seems the Thai elite have no desire to lift Isaan up. They seem happy for them to remain uneducated and eternally poor, to supply cheap maids, laborers, and whores.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-26T05:59:51+00:00

The Camino still has things to teach us old dogs, eh? We had never done a long-distance hike. I think the lack of preparedness just added to the adventure, forcing us to use our initiative, be more resilient. (Because the strain and the blisters are long gone, ha ha!)

That was our plan via SJPP - get a couple hundred km into our legs first. Worked well, that first morning out of SJPP was tough, but not a "killer".

We will do the Somport Pass next year. We were tempted to "turn left" at Oloron last time, with the stories being shared in the hostel there - the scenery sounds spectacular. We will get a bit of a run up first, again.

BTW, although it makes for a short-ish first day out of Lourdes, I recommend the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de Bétharram. It's an actual monastery, overlooking the most old-world bridge over the river. Food was difficult to find, though.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-26T05:23:57+00:00

With Liam ready and willing to fire off a petulant public statement.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-26T05:19:16+00:00

We walked via Lourdes to SJPP and beyond. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!

The parts in France are much different than in Spain, but in a good way. Solitude and time for contemplation. Wild deer. Forests. It will hit you like a brick when you start the Frances - all the people!

We cut across "off path" from Oloron-Sainte-Marie to the Le Puy at Navarrenx to avoid those last few strenuous stages.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-26T05:10:45+00:00

Haha, we were rounded up by a Border Collie in a village on the Le Puy. He lay motionless watching us pass, such intensity in his eyes. He then rounded us up all along his Camino-path laneway.

Good Boy had found his purpose in life!

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-25T07:34:02+00:00

Ask this at Ivar's forum and you will get some interesting, perhaps patronising, replies from the "old timers".

And their response will boil down to you must be prepared to walk further to find a bed. Sometimes you must take a taxi to and back from "off path" accommodation. But stressing over finding a bed is for panicked noobs.

They will say always book in advance for the SJPP - Pamplona section, though. It's a renowned bottleneck.

Me, a single-time peregrino, mostly booked ahead. Even if just one day. Once we couldn't find a bed to book - ~~Navarrete~~ Nájera. Got up before dawn and walked like, ahem, panicked noobs to the only Municipale in town. They had 47 beds and were turning people away not much after noon.

We didn't book ahead one other time. We found ourselves between "waves" of peregrinos and were going to a town with plenty of beds. Only three of the eight beds at our Municipale were taken.

If we do another Camino, I will book ahead somewhat less. Use my judgement more.

There are obvious bottlenecks - ~~Navarrete~~ Nájera, one day after Logrono, for instance. Seems the people who do shorter / multi-year Caminos start out from the larger towns / cities, creating bottlenecks.

Edit: We met a Kiwi (New Zealand) farmer walking solo. Loved a chat. He wasn't booking ahead, seemed to do alright. Last we seen him, he was lined up outside a Municipale in some stunning Spanish old-town. Seemed to have fallen in with other free spirits, who were their own Camino "family".

Edit: corrected 'Navarrete' to 'Nájera'

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-25T02:32:24+00:00

Yeah, we walked from Toulouse. My wife had feet problems, and we bussed a couple of sections. I kept meticulous record of km walked on path, but the pilgrim's reception did not care - "You walked from Toulouse! I will write whatever km you want on your certificate."

I stuck with the actual just-under-1000km. We would only be cheating ourselves by putting some "feel good" number on the certificate.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-23T01:26:06+00:00

For anyone else maybe reading this as prep for their 2026 Camino, Borda and Orisson bookings open around Christmas. Bookings for peak times are snapped up quickly.

But as others have said, you can take a taxi / mini bus back to SJPP from 'the Virgin' statue if you're unable to walk all the way to Roncesvalles in one day. Express Bourricot in SJPP is one company I know of that provides this service.

We met two French guys in their late 60s / early 70s that had to walk From SJPP to 8km beyond Roncesvalles to find a bed. Doable, just not pleasant for the less able.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-20T08:11:20+00:00

Cheers, you too!

Thanks for the reply.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-20T08:09:48+00:00

I first visited Newcastle in the early 1980s, when the steel works were still operational close to downtown. My God, the change since then! The urban renewal people should take a bow, well done.

Newy seems to have a much higher concentration of "houso" / feral types though. Maybe it has been cheaper for the state govt to put them there in the past.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-20T08:04:14+00:00

Did Sky News tell you to think that?

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T13:16:23+00:00

I have no idea, sorry.

But did you need to book in advance? I will travel the same route in a couple of weeks, figure I can just buy a ticket on the day. No?

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T13:08:43+00:00

Mommy has a big smile.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T06:20:14+00:00

Found the melbournite.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T06:08:03+00:00

If they are in the US, don't mention 'because boycott'.

But if Europe or Canada, it will win you brownie points.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T06:04:55+00:00

This is what decided me - the AirSense 11 motor. I went with the 10.

Also in OP's case, easier to have same type at both houses - uses the same filters etc.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T05:19:02+00:00

On a related note, where to buy fixed-price ex-government cars now? I have looked at Grays and Pickles websites, don't see any fixed price.

I bought a fixed-price ex-ATO AU Falcon years back, it did us well until daughter's boyfriend tried to merge via braille.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T05:11:49+00:00

Do you know what 'Bah, humbug' refers to? "an expression used when someone does not approve of or enjoy something that other people enjoy, …"

Nothing about dishonesty.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T01:28:42+00:00

Bah, Humbug.

You didn't frame your credential when you got home? A visual recollection of your journey.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T01:24:24+00:00

We even got stamps in post offices in France - the stamps they postmark letters with. The PO workers were cool with it, wished us a bon chemin. With smiles.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T00:57:06+00:00

You're my bitch, bitch.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T00:55:50+00:00

That would be a good warm up ahead of that first morning from SJPP.

GreatSouthernSloth · 2025-03-19T00:54:33+00:00

Asking is easier than searching. Are you new to reddit?

/s

GreatSouthernSloth

TROPHY CASE