A pair of bald eagles observe us from a snag, as we ghost past under sail. Of course they're not really bald: those are white feathers on the head. Their call is a high-pitched twittering that you don't expect from such fierce-looking birds.

Early a.m. heading deep into Rivers Inlet. It's easy to do your own local weather forecasting here. On a rare clear morning like this, land heats up quickly; hot air rises; cold air is drawn in from the ocean to replace it = inflow winds, starting late a.m. & dying late evening.

The only place resembling a settlement between Port Hardy and Bella Bella on BC's central coast (110 miles) is Dawson's Landing, Rivers Inlet. Permanent pop. 2- 4, it has a post office and fuel. Now on the brink of closure it once served 19 salmon canneries; today there are none

Making new friends, Rivers Inlet (from the safety of our cockpit). This grizzly is feasting on mussels on an old log boom while her two cubs (last year's, from the size) get up to mischief. Bears can swim well, but she only looks occasionally to check us out.

Here in the inlets of the central coast, it's preternaturally still; the only sounds are crows calling to each other, the occasional twittering of a bald eagle. We can only occasionally pick up the CBC; it's difficult to believe BC is burning; here it's rain and fog every day.

This unexciting headland, marked with a small concrete beacon, marks the greatest challenge on the Inside Passage: Cape Caution. On the only stretch fully exposed to the Pacific, it attracts heavy winds, currents & fog. Vancouver came close to losing HMS Discovery here in 1792.

As we move north up BC's coast, we're seeing more and more sea otters, usually lounging on their backs like this one. What a wonderful conservation success story they are! Once almost extirpated in these waters,a few were reintroduced in the 1960s; the population is now thriving.

The lighthouse at tiny, wave-battered Pine Island BC. If you're coming in from the open Pacific, the light welcomes you to the protected waters of Queen Charlotte Strait. If (like us) you're headed out, it says "You're on your own now."

As we leave Vancouver Island behind us on a misty morning, the Pilot boat zips past - he'll be headed to a rendezvous with a cruise ship coming in from the open Pacific to transit the trickier waters of the Inside Passage.

Small-town BC: in Port McNeill (northern Vancouver Island), home of the World's Largest Burl, and the kind of place where every High School Grad gets a banner on Main Street. The last town we'll see for five weeks.

At Port McNeill, we're tied up next to two contestants who, discouraged, have just bailed out of the 750 mile (Victoria-Ketchikan) Race to Alaska. The rules are no engine, no support (hence the cycling contraptions/oars). Winner gets $10k, 2nd place a set of steak knives (😃)

An enormous Steller's sea lion has a scratch as he watches us sail past. The spelling is correct. Like the jay, he is named after an 18th C German naturalist who discovered/named a phenomenal number of species then unknown in the west. He sailed with Vitus Bering (1733-1743)

Working boats (rightly) always have priority over pleasure craft in the waters of northern BC. Most common are slow-moving tugs that tow enormous, ungainly km-long log booms ("islands" of logs enclosed by 100 or more logs chained end-to-end) from remote inlets to mills.

We're headed north through deceptively calm Gillard Passage, part of a sequence known as the Yuculta Rapids. You must take these at slack water (3 or 4 times a day, lasting 7-10 mins) or risk the Devil's Hole whirlpool that has been known to suck in incautious 40ft fishing boats

We're passing the entrance to Desolation Sound, BC's favoured sailing destination 100 miles north of Vancouver. Captain George Vancouver named it in June 1792, noting "this is a stark and dreary place, with nothing pleasing to the eye" (he was having a bad day, it seems)

We're just back from eight weeks almost incommunicado, #sailing to BC's Central Coast. It's a long haul north but the Salish Sea affords wonderful views on sunny days: the Comox Glacier (Vancouver Island) from Lund, on the mainland.

Another sign of the times in Spain - we're doing 298kph en route from Santiago to Madrid; in the 1970s this trip would take 15 hours - now just 3.5

Seeking the Santiago of my youth (L- 1975 R- 2026), we look for one of the 70+ bars that used to serve cheap vinho verde to dissolute students, from the barrel with abundant free tapas. Gone. A waiter laughed: "Today's students don't drink. And it was rotgut." You Can't Go Back🙄

At last, and the sun is out: Santiago's magnificent Plaza del Obradoiro and the cathedral (construction began 1075 CE) that - according to legend - houses the remains of St James the Apostle. One of the Great Squares of Europe, the culmination of pilgrimages for a thousand years

After 310km, and with sore feet, journey's end for my fellow-peregrina at the Hostal de los Reis Catolicos, Santiago 🇪🇸. One of the oldest hotels in the world (1501), it still provides free meals - but only to the first ten pilgrims of the day. Alas we are too late 🙄

Santiago de Compostela 🇪🇸as it was in the snowy winter of 1975-6 (L), when as a student I would walk to the University though the Alameda. And (R) approaching today, after walking 310km on the Camino Primitivo.

50 years ago I spent a year in Santiago 🇪🇸 as a student - it turned out to be the most consequential year in 🇪🇸 since the Civil War. I never saw a single tourist; the Camino wasn't A Thing. I'm thinking things may have changed a little - arriving soon on the Camino Primitivo.

At every junction on the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸 there's a marker with the exact distance remaining (L). But 18km west of Lugo there's a reminder you are on an ancient path that pre-dates the pilgrimage: Roman Road XIX; this milestone (R) is dedicated to Caesar Augustus.

On the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸 foot-traffic really starts to pick up after Lugo, even more so when you converge with the Camino Frances (which accounts for 50% of the 1.5m who attempt at least part of a Camino each year)

The biggest place by far on the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸: Lugo. This is the oldest intact set of Roman walls anywhere, completely encircling the old city; we're not really up for unnecessary walking, but it's hard to resist making the circuit.

A sign of the times on the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸...The old oak door on this Romanesque church seems to be permanently locked. But if you put 1E in the slot, the light will come on and you can peek in. Supposedly. It's not clear how I get my 1E back: in the afterlife?🙄

Abandoned church in the mist, on the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸

On the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸: it's a long descent to the lake at Grandas de Salime, and another big climb up again. Fortunately there's a cafe for refuelling at the bottom: cafe con leche, con tortilla española 😊

On the Camino Primitivo a Santiago🇪🇸. At 1100m, we've just crossed from Asturias into Galicia and the sun is ready to break through the morning fog

Another early start on the Camino Primitivo a Santiago 🇪🇸. We usually aim for 20k to 30k per day; the walking's not hard but the stretches on paved road are tough on the feet. Unlike long-distance trekking in 🇨🇦🇺🇸 there are many opportunities for a croissant/Spanish omelette...