Wednesday, 4th October.
Bring it on, Spain

I've never been big on dogs, but I've always liked cats. Cats are largely self-cleaning, they bury their own crap, they don't need to be taken for a walk.

The sun rose behind us as we set off this morning. It was all going so well. We stopped at a bar in a village, well I call it a village, it consisted of three houses and a bar. We dumped our backpacks on the ground and sat outside. Just as we were about to set off again, It Happened.

A black cat had been sniffing about my socks, which were hanging on the back of my pack to dry. My socks don't smell too great. In fact none of my gear smells too flash. Perhaps that's what attracted the cat's interest. I leaned over and yelled out "Get away from my socks!" I didn't want the cat to start sharpening its claws on my backpack. It did far worse.

The cat turned around, I thought it was going to walk away, instead it LIFTED ITS TAIL AND SPRAYED MY BACKPACK! I was livid! The others couldn't stop laughing. I started screaming at the cat: "You bastard! You little bastard!" As I got up from the table the cat sensed the danger and ran off. I grabbed my water bottle and attempted to rinse my bag where the little bastard had left its mark. "You pissed on my backpack! You little bastard!" Dave, Barb and Noelle were still laughing.

They laughed for a week.

Well this was just dandy. "Bring it on Spain!" I yelled at the skies, shaking my fists, "I can take it!" The girl from the bar came out, and sat on the step, no doubt attracted by all the commotion. "Does anyone know the Spanish for 'your cat pissed on my bag'?" I asked. I think she worked out what was going on, because she left about a second later, we assumed to find the cat before I found it. The others, in the meantime, have hardly been able to speak a word, because they've been paralysed with laughter.

(Later on the Camino, Noelle rang her family. Her Dad asked her if she'd had any problems or disasters. "Oh no," replied Noelle, "we have this guy travelling with us, and all the bad stuff happens to him!")

Other things that happened today:

• Shit Town - now today we walked through the shittiest town of them all. The road was literally covered with cowshit - it was simply unavoidable. No dodging of shit.

• I crashed another computer at an internet cafe.