I was so excited to start the day again with a hearty breakfast!  The pension where I stayed had limited breakfast options and while I appreciated their efforts, I was looking for more protein than was on their buffet. So, I packed up and headed out and stopped at the first bar that was open. No cafe con leche!  Because no aqua!! I gathered from the upset bar owner that something had happened to the town water system and there was simply no water in town.

I headed further out of town and went into another restaurant and I think I got the last cup of coffee to be had in Portomarín. Ken and Theresa were there and Ken said water was pouring down the road as they exited town. Perhaps it was a water main break?

Whatever the problem, it was clear I wouldn’t be getting my much craved for bacon and eggs. I settled for a sugar high with a pain au chocolate and was on my way motivated to get to the first cafe about 8 kilometers (about 2 hours for me at my roughly 4 kilometer an hours pace) away.

I was one of HUNDREDS leaving Portomarín this morning. I am not super-loving the influx of new pilgrims from Sarria. On top of that there was a group of what I assume were Spanish high school students that numbered 50 or 60. They travelled in packs and spread across the entire path. So, it was hard to pass them and if they were passing they completely enveloped you and then spit you out the back of their pack and continued joyously moving forward.

I appreciated youth and their boundless energy and the hope they give me for the future. And, I think it is awesome that these kids are walking the Camino. I guess I am just being a little NIMBYish about their infiltration of the Camino today. I feel the same about the hoards of pilgrims who have joined the Camino in Sarria. They haven’t been enculturated to the ways of the Way. Few say Buen Camino when passing. It feels impersonal and more like I am walking down the street in New York City than on the Camino in Spain.

But, I had a second cup of coffee I was looking forward to and perhaps even bacon and eggs so Ultreia!

The first cafe was packed with pilgrims and kids and bus loads of people (3 big tours buses to be exact including the Magic bus). I didn’t want to spend an hour waiting to be served to I walked on. The next bar I stopped at another 4km away wasn’t packed but the one person working there was very slow and it was going to waste too much time so I forged ahead. But, I was getting hungry so I decided I would tap my emergency food supply.

A half of an RX Bar did the trick and I was energized and forged ahead. I finally stopped at a bar just before noon where I was at least able to get a cup of coffee. But it took a while and the one woman working there was tired and not so nice.

The Magic Bus showed up four times over the course of the day. It is really starting to bug me.

I wish I was able to keep up my sub-12-minute/kilometer pace that I maintained during my training walks, but I have slowed down. I am walking at about 4km/hour and that makes for a long day when walking 25 kilometers. Lots of people pass me and that is demoralizing. But in fairness to me, most of them aren’t carrying their gear. In fact, I would say at this point only about 20% of people are carrying packs. The rest have small, light backpacks and ship their luggage ahead each day.

There are several companies that transport luggage including the Spanish postal service, Corrios. These little backpack transporting vans travel up and down the Way throughout the day picking up and dropping off bags. I will admit to sending my day pack ahead on a couple of heavy rain days stuffed with my sleeping bad, sandals and clothing I wanted to keep dry as a way to lighten my load.

By mid afternoon I want tired and hungry and stopped at an outside table at a bar to figure out how much linger I had to walk. A server came out and asked my what I wanted. I was shocked and encouraged and ordered a cafe con leche and a piece of fresh cheese and membrello. As I started to eat it began drizzling and the waitress suggested I go inside and she carry the food in for me. What a different experience than earlier in the day!

This snack hit the spot! The bar was warm and inviting and I got out of the rain during the only drizzle of the day! Shirley came in and joined me. She was the first person I saw since morning who I recognized. We walked the rest of the way into Palas de Rei together.

Shirley and I high-fived when we saw town. It felt like a really long day to both of us.

I chose a different overnight experience for Palas de Rei. I booked a room at a country Pensión Rural. I was instructed to call them when I arrived and they would pick me up. That worked like a charm and in less than 15 minutes I was at a beautiful estate in the countryside. It is owned by 30-something Abdul from Saudi Arabia who left his tech job with Accenture to start this business with his uncle in Spain. They have restored this property and turned it into a luxury resort. It has an exercise room, that I will not be using! It also has a theater room complete with reclining seats. I won’t be using that either. But I did have a wonderful dinner and a HUGE room with a giant bathroom and deep bathtub. I drew a hot bath and luxuriated before dinner.

Dinner was a carb-fest that ended with a crepe-like thing stuffed with Nutella and rolled and baked. It was a delicious meal and I was happy with my decision to upgrade my overnight stay at this point on the Camino.

I will be paying for this indulgence tomorrow when I stay at a €10 dorm, but I thought the balance would be important. I have two more longer days ahead of me and the forecast isn’t looking good. But, it is what it is. Just three more days to go!

It was another day of rain, but luckily it was fairly warm and it wasn’t windy so the walk wasn’t bad at all. It was on the longer side for me as will be the next two days in order to get into Santiago de Compostela on Friday. Can you believe I said that?  I will be at my destination in just four more days!!!

I have been dragging the past few days and after thinking it over, I decided I probably wasn’t getting enough energy from food to fuel my walk. I think I just fell into a bad habit of not eating something before leaving in the morning and then not wanting to take the time to stop and eat along the Way.

After a lifetime of worrying about every calorie I consume, it is so hard to think of food as a good thing and something that I need!

So I started the day with a big breakfast before heading out of Sarria and that seemed to do the trick!  I felt much stronger today walking and much happier.

As luck would have it, I stopped in the same bar that John and Ann from British Columbia were at so I sat with them and then in came Rosevitha who was waiting for the dentist to open.

The walk today was beautiful. Much of the scenery made me feel like I was in Ireland, although I have never been there so how would I know??

But, the land was green and rolling and the pastures were divided with old stone walls. Most of the walking was on country roads and dirt paths.

The rain started so I had to put on my poncho and walked in the sweat bag for the rest of the day as it rained off and on; sometimes quite hard.

We walked through probably a dozen villages or so over the course of the day. Some had pilgrim services such as a bar or Alburgue and others seemed more like a sprawling farm than a village with nothing but tractors, a house or two and some animals. But just about every little hamlet had a church.

The “Magic Bus” as I call it that keeps showing up to cart “pilgrims” on tour from one highlight stop to another, appeared a few times today.

The Way was also more crowed with many new pilgrims who started their walks in Sarria, just 115km from Santiago de Compostela. There is a strict rule that pilgrims must walk the last 100 kilometers (or 200 kilometers on bike) in order to receive their Compostela, a certificate awarded to those who walk the way for religious or spiritual reasons. More important than the piece of paper one receives with his or her name on it is the plenary indulgence that comes with it.

Here in Galicia the kilometer markers are annoying. Elsewhere on the Way kilometer markers appear infrequently and it is always exciting to read the distance to Santiago de Compostela; they could be every 7-10 kilometers apart. Here in Galicia sometimes there is less than a 10th of a kilometer between markers, and the distance is displayed to three decimal points!

I have just started ignoring the distance readings on the markers because I find them to be TMI.

But there was one marker I was eager to see today and that is the 100 kilometer marker!  I walked with Shirley from New Brunswick most of the day so we took some pictures of each other at that monumental point.

So far on my Camino 2.0 I have walked 406 kilometers by the Camino markers (and more of you add in all the times I have taken the longer alternative paths or gotten lost and had to retrace my steps). That is 252 miles over 20 days!

We went past more beautiful fields and lots of gardens that are mostly put to bed for the winter except for winter squash, pumpkins and kale – so much kale! This is a main ingredient in Caldo Gallego, a delicious soup that is a staple in the Galician diet. It is potato and Kale soup.  Humble, filling and soul satisfying.

Look at how they keep their kale plants picked!

It is always great to see a town in the distance at the end of the day and Portomarín was no different.

This is a road. They haven’t left themselves much margin for widening it if necessary.

The structure above is called a horreo. It is used to store grains and keep rodents out. Maybe mice and rats aren’t as smart as they are in the US, but the mice that cleverly get into our house in the winter, could easily scale this thing. We saw many of these in different sizes yesterday and I expect we will be seeing more in the coming days.

Portamarin didn’t give itself up easily  there were three challenges to get into the town.  The first was the original pilgrim path that now has safer alternatives, but thinking I was choosing one of those easier routes, I brought myself and several others no doubt impressed with my confidence and google mapping skills blindly followed me to a treacherous downhill  the one my Buen Camino app says to avoid at all times; especially in the rain!

This path was like a narrow chute with a very uneven and rocky floor. A woman several people ahead of me didn’t have poles and was going down very slowly basically on her butt.

The second of the three challenges was crossing the wide and deep Rio Mino. There was a very long and very high bridge and while I would have loved to have gotten photos from there, I was just plain nervous and didn’t want to do anything other than get to the other side

The final challenge was a huge set of steps to get up and into the main area of the city.

I have guarded my solitude the past several days, but in Portomarín I enjoyed a drink with Theresa and Ken while I was waiting for my clothes to dry. Ken is a tall serious looking guy and Theresa is a petite little firecracker of Asian descent who is always laughing. She walks listening to music from the 60’s and 70’s playing; and not through earbuds. I walked behind her several days ago and just loved her playlist that ranged from disco to Neil Young – my era! They live in Denver and are both retired – they don’t look old enough!

After I rescued my clothes from the dryer including my wool tops that could use a little shrinking, I headed back to the same restaurant where I had the drink with Ken and Theresa. I was plotting to have dinner on my own by sitting at the bar and just as my soup was being I saw John and Ann and joined them at their table. Dinner was pretty good – all home cooked and at the amazing pilgrim meal price of €10.

I really enjoyed the conversation with John and Ann which was wide-ranging. They have three twenty-something kids; all are impressive. John and Ann aren’t the types to brag about their kids so I had to ask a lot of questions about what their kids are doing. They have a daughter who just graduated from law school and is in British Columbia working all kinds of crazy hours at a law firm. Their youngest daughter decided she wanted to work and live in London after she graduated so she got a work VISA and applied for jobs, landing the first she interviewed for. John and Ann will be visiting her after their Camino.

Their son is in a master’s program at the Sorbonne in Paris focused on Consumer Economics. I admit I cringed a bit when I heard the name of the program. I imagined it was something sponsored by Jeff Bezos and Amazon.

But in fact, the focus of the program is very interesting. Each year the program accepts 30 students from around the world. 15 of the students have undergrad degrees in economics and 15 have degrees in psychology (as is the case with John and Ann’s son). The first year the economic major students get intensive training in psychology and the psychology majors get intensive training in economics. You can imagine the students in both cohorts are challenged. In the second year the two groups come together and focus on consumer economics.

I am fascinated with what Consumer Economics is all about. It is about how people make purchase decisions. But it sounds like the focus of the program is on how policies can shape those decisions for public good. So, let’s say you want people to sign up for a government healthcare option. You can require them to complete forms to sign up for it or you can require them to complete forms to opt out of it.

John and Ann referenced the book Nudge as a great example of Consumer Economics. I might download and listen to it on the upcoming long Camiño days.

Reflections

Despite my self-imposed solitude, I really enjoyed the company of others today. Shirley was a wonderful walking companion. She is such as gracious and caring person. Ken and Theresa are a great team and they are always welcoming when I see them and Theresa is just freakin’ funny.  I have come to really like spending time with John and Ann. They are no-nonsense, down to earth people with a core belief system I value. Thanks to all who helped me feel a little more human today!

I woke up and little before 6am today and I could hear the wind howling outside. Thinking it wasn’t as bad as it sounds, I poked my head out the front door of Casa Olga and quickly shut it. “I am screwed,” I thought. I was convinced the gale force winds were going to grab hold of my poncho and rip it right off of me.

But, the good news is that it wasn’t raining and at 8am there was just a 30% chance of rain. I sped up my departure and left Casa Olga’s around 7am. By the time I got into town (Olga’s Place is about 1/3 km up a hill from the town) it had started raining so I had to duck into a bar, ordered a cafe con leche and put on my poncho. It felt silly until I went out and saw five people walking toward me all with similar ponchos headed for the Camino. I stepped in behind them and off we went.

There were two options today. The northern variant involved a 300 meter hill, but was shorter and through the woodland. That is the route I took and so I missed seeing the famous Benedictine Monastery in Samos but also avoided walking on the road and saved almost 7km. When it is raining, shorter is better. Actually, usually, for me, shorter is better.

With the steady downpour, I only took a few pictures.

I hadn’t eaten anything before I left Triacastella as is my typical routine. So when this donativo stand at a hippy-like Alburgue presented itself, I was grateful to be able to have a couple of bananas.

In better weather conditions I might have stopped for an hour on this rather short day to create some art as pilgrims were invited to do. But I really just wanted to put this day behind me.

Shortly before noon I caught sight of Sarria and was checked into my pension by 12:30.

After stripping off my soaking wet clothing (the poncho is basically like a heavy-duty plastic garbage bag so rain doesn’t get in, but sweat doesn’t get out) and took a shower and then headed out in search of a big bowl of pasta which I was craving.

I have learned to be wary of spaghetti and sauce in Spain since I ordered some early on my Camino last year and got what seemed to me to be pasta (good) sauced with ketchup (bad). So, I don’t typically order this comfort food on the Way. But I looked up an Italian restaurant and hoped they could do the pasta justice.

It turns out they did and it was exactly what I wanted. The problem is that I once again ordered salad to go with my main course and barely touched it. Just plain stupid of me this time. Next time I must wait to order the salad until AFTER I finish my main course. Chances are, I will not need it.

That spaghetti was sooooooo good.

I was surprised to see Rosevitha from Germany sitting in the restaurant. She had bad news. The crown she had glued on a few days ago in Ponferrada had fallen off again and so she has to go to another dentist tomorrow morning and have it reglued. She is such a positive person, but seemed very down when I saw her. I hope she can get the tooth fixed for good and finish out her Camino without any more problems.

She was talking with a couple from San Francisco who are biking the Camino. They had left from O Cebreiro this morning in the rain which they said was pelting and cold. In Triacastella, where I was last night, they stumbled into a bar on the verge of hypothermia and the people wrapped the woman up in blankets until she warmed up. Soon they were back on their way and had stopped in Sarria for lunch and left before 3pm to finish up the day’s ride with another 22 kilometers to Portomarín.

Talking with bikers, I have learned that most do about 3 walking stages a day. This couple said they aim for about 75km, but that depends on the challenge level of the ride. They do a lot of riding in the US and they said when the guide book for biking the Camino says something is going to be steep, it really is. They had left Leon three days ago, I left Leon 9 days ago on Friday, October 4th.

Where I am staying is just at the beginning of town which is great at the end of the day, but in a larger city as Sarria is, it means a longer walk in the morning just to get out of town. The restaurant I went to is right on the Camino in the historic center of Sarria so I got to pre-walk what I will be doing in the morning. There was some nice artwork along the route.

I was cash poor and needed to find an ATM which I reasoned should be easy to do in a larger city, but it wasn’t. My hunt took me off the Camino path and into a more commercial area of the town. While the street was closed off allowing only pedestrian traffic, there were hardly any people there. Couple that with the rain and absolutely no shops open and it gave me a creepy feeling about Sarria. This is probably an unfair judgement given the weather and the fact that it is the Sunday of a holiday weekend. But I don’t feel the need to come back here any time soon.

John and Ann from British Columbia who I first saw touring the Cathedral in Astorga, are staying at the same place I am at tonight. They reported that the Monastery here in Sarria was beautiful and an interesting place to see, but I was already back at the Pension and didn’t want to wander across town again as I am trying to reduce the extra kilometers on my feet.

With the humidity nothing was drying out. The last thing I want to do is put on wet clothes tomorrow morning. Lucky for me, this pension has towel warming racks AND blow dryers! Both worked great and are enabling me to go to sleep knowing I will at least start the day dry in the morning tomorrow.

Reflections

As I write this the rains is pounding down outside. I feel so confident with many of the challenges I have encountered on the Camino because I had similar situations in my training at home. Whether it is a high climb, a steep downhill or a long hot day, I know what to expect from all of them. But I hadn’t had opportunities to train in the rain; they simply didn’t present themselves during my early morning walks. I put on my poncho once or twice when it was drizzling, but never really got to road test my rain gear.

So, I find the rain a little scary. Everything is obviously more slippery, so I have to be extra careful and go slower. That means a longer day.  And with the rain, I can’t take the pictures I usually would snap so I am a little bummed that I might be missing some scenes that could be beautiful subjects to paint.

Bottom line, the rain is a bit of a downer. But it wasn’t really so bad today. At least it hasn’t been cold also. I won’t go so far as to say it was a pleasant walk today, but it was ok. And, I know that tomorrow, with the forecast for a 90% chance of rain every hour until it turns to 100% chance of rain at 4pm will be ok as well.

It was tough leaving O Cebreiro. It is a special place and probably one of my favorite on the Camino. It was beautiful weather when I was there and still, when I woke up this morning the wind was howling and it just felt raw when I went outside. It is the first morning I have worn my lightweight puffy jacket.

But, the jacket was off before the first hour was up. I generate massive amounts of heat when I exert energy and that I was doing!  Everyone else was still bundled up two or three hours into walking and I was in my shirt sleeves.

The bulk of the day was spent traversing the spine of the mountain and then at the very end we descended nearly 600 meters – the downhills are always the worst!

There are many pilgrim statues along the way. This one was quite large and stands at the top of Alto San Roque.

Every town, regardless of how small it is, has a church. Most are locked so it isn’t possible to see the inside but the exteriors are beautiful and rugged.

There are lots of these fall crocuses growing wild along the path.

The views throughout the day were beautiful as we walked along a meandering path that often made me feel like I was in Vermont.  

I had only had a really bad packaged pastry when I stopped for coffee around 10 so around noon I stopped for a jamon bocadillo and an Aquarius. As is usually the case, I ate half the sandwich and took the other half to go.

Ray, my ever-present virtual tour guide tipped me off that I would be coming to the smallest church on the Camino in Biduedo right before the decent. It indeed is tiny, but from the looks inside (I had to take picture through a grated window since it was locked) it could still be actively used.

The downhill was far from the worst and the views were spectacular. I could stop taking pictures.

How could I pass up the “best apple tart on the Camino?”

I haven’t had many pastries on the Camino, but as they go, I have to say this is the best I have had. First, it was homemade, a stark contrast to the horrible chocolate covered packaged thing I had for breakfast. But that isn’t a fair comparison. The apple tarte is in a completely different category. It is food with integrity. With the coffee it provided the perfect fuel to get me into Triacastella where I would be staying for the night.

I finally arrived in Triacastella shortly after 3. Then I had to climb up the hill to Casa Olga where Olga was out on the street waiting for me. The sheep helped guide me to her house.

Olga gave me a beer when I got into her pension. Boy that hit the spot!

I took a short nap and headed back down the hill for dinner. I had an OK pilgrim menu and was entertained by three cats as I ate (for many people, I know this would be a huge turn off!).

Dinner was unremarkable, but dessert was delicious. It was some of the fresh O Cebreiro cheese with membreillo and honey.

The Mystery Bus

Several times throughout the day a huge “tourisimo” coach bus was sitting as I completed a section of the trail. I believe this is the same group of Canadian “Peregrinos” who we saw a few days ago. In order to provide exposure to the Camino without overtaxing the guests, travel company’s run what I will call “Taste of Pilgrimage” tours. I have seen the bus stop are key points, drop off a load of pilgrims and then pick them up 5-6 kilometers later.

I checked out the local church on my way back to Olga’s  instead of the cemetery being in a separate part of town, it is right at the church. Another surprise is that all of the burial sites are above ground as you would see in New Orleans

Reflections: A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall

It was inevitable; I could not escape the Camino without some rain stories. For the past week rain has been in the forecast for Sunday and here we are in Saturday night.

I will be honest, I am shipping my little day pack ahead to Sarria where I will be tomorrow night. This plan reduces the weight of my pack a little and also hopefully provides me with dry clothes at the end of the day.

I haven’t been able to train much in the rain so this is new territory for me. Some Pilgrims actually say they enjoy walking in the rain. I am hoping that will happen for me!

What a difference a day makes!  Today was amazing from beginning to end! While I am claiming credit for 11 kilometers, the reality is that I walked 3 of those kilometers and Paula did the rest; she was my horse!

I walked the 3 kilometers to where I would meet up with the horse guy, Hector, in Las Herrerías. It was a wonderful walk because I had to send my pack ahead since I would be riding the horse. I just had my little backpack and my poles and I felt like I had lost 18 pounds…because I had without my pack!

I walked with a young man from Florence Italy and a young woman from Modena Italy; Danny and Elisa. Their English was excellent. They had just met in Leon and had been walking together since. Danny seemed to have a chip on his shoulder and as a vegetarian was upset that they “put fucking meat in everything in Spain.” The night before he had ordered a bean dish that was called vegetarian and when he pointed out the meat to the restaurant staff, the waiter said, “it isn’t meat, it’s just Chorizo.”

I think Danny had a right to be upset, but to calm him down I said how meat isn’t necessary when you think about the amazing dishes of Tuscany like Robolita (Twice cooked bread soup). With the same intensity and passion, Danny went on and told me, as any good Tuscan would, the ONLY way to make Robolita. He finished the recipe with an important note, “don’t put any fucking cheese in it.” 

The two stopped in a bar because all the talk of food made Danny hungry.

The highway system here is pretty amazing. It seems like rather than building the roads along the contours of the mountains, they just connect the mountains from peak to peak with huge bridges.

Today’s posse to ride up the mountain to O Cebreiro was 6 women; I knew all but one of them. I am not sure how Hector assigned horses, but I was the first rider up and I got Paula, a white horse who was so docile she didn’t even have a bridle with a bit; instead she wore a halter.

It took a while for every one to get up and as we were all getting set, several pilgrims we knew came by wishing us well.

Finally we were on our way. Despite having owned a horse and doing a lot of riding when I was young, I was petrified for about the first half hour.

About halfway up we stopped to water the horses. They were very thirsty!

As we passed pilgrims walking up they cheered us on. Ruth was incredibly enthusiastic for us (just as you would expect this bubbly, super positive woman to be) as were the three women from Burlington Vermont who were walking together – a first that I have seen since I met them!

The higher we we went to more stunning the scenery.

Just 166 kilometers to go!!

Loretta led the way and was well ahead of her daughter Claudia and I who were bringing up the rear

Just as we were almost at the top, we passed a sign telling us we are now in Galicia (Ga-lee-thee-a) the final Spanish region on our journey.

Hector, walked along side us to give you an idea of how slowly we went, but we still passed most walker and in less than 2 hours we were at the top of the mountain in O Cebreiro without breaking a sweat.

We went to a bar and had a delicious lunch of garlic soup, local fresh cheese with honey, garlicky pulpo and Tinto de Verano or summer wine that is red wine and lemonade (surprisingly delicious!).

Pulpo! Octopus. Yum

I was the only one of our horse-riding group staying in O Cebreiro for the night and I was questioning the wisdom of that decision when I could have gotten another 10km under my feet. But it turns out this was one of my best decisions.

This little village is charming and has a rich history. It has some of the harshest weather in all of Spain. In fact, had I continued my Camino last fall, I would have not gotten to see O Cebreiro because the trail up to here was closed for a week in late October due to an early snow storm. Hector told us that he finally plowed a small path all the way up the trail so he could continue his horseback rides and that enabled pilgrims to start walking up to O Cebreiro again as well.

Galicia was inhabited by the Celts over 1500 years ago which explains the Irish feel you get from this area.

This Palloza is a museum so I got to go inside to see how people lived back in the day…actually not so long ago and in my lifetime!

The round buildings are Pallozas which Hector explained people lived in less than 60 years ago. Their entire family would live in one of these buildings with thatched roofs and they would have their animals in there as well for warmth.

The church is believed to be the oldest on the French Way with the original construction dating back to the 800’s!

It is a beautiful church that is quite simple compared to many of the other gothic Roman cathedrals along the way. I can’t wait to be able to paint it in watercolor!

Reflections

I attended the mass tonight. It was very moving. The priest was amazing. He was a young guy with an assistant who was even younger. Some parts of the ceremony were in various languages as he had pilgrims read prayers in their native tongue.

He spoke of the importance of love and how our pilgrimages are about love and that when we return from the Camino we are to share the love of the Camino with others. He very effectively used his iPhone to play beautiful music at key times in the ceremony.

When he was giving communion he played Ave María. As a young girl, I remember seeing my dad sit back on Christmas Eve after we opened our gifts, listening to Ave María with a tear in his eye. He told me it was his favorite song.

A few days ago, my cousin Jeanne Mascheri sent me a picture of my father as a young man with his sister (my aunt) Jeanne. I realized in the 11 years since my dad passed away, I had only really thought of him as the person he was in the last few years of his life.  I am so grateful to cousin Jeanne for sending me this photo at the perfect time.

My dad in the middle with Aunt Jeanne and I believe my uncle Joe.

I felt my father’s presence so strongly in the church while Ave María was playing and people were taking communion. It was very moving.

The priest then called all pilgrims (probably around 40-50 people) up to the alter and blessed us for a safe journey to Santiago. Then, he went to each one of us, hugged us and told us Buen Camino. The younger assistant followed him and gave each pilgrim a stone with a yellow arrow painted on it.  This is the most treasured physical item I will take from the Camino and I will carry it with me for the rest of my life.

When I looked at the stone later, I noticed that part of the arrow was missing; it had chipped off. What a beautiful reminder of my two-part Camino!

Today was the toughest yet for me. No more Easy Peasy. I suspect it started to go wrong when I spent most of the night in the bathroom. I pride myself in having an iron stomach, but not in Spain this time. So I was starting a long day on very little sleep. Over the course of the day there were two optional routes that I decided I would not take and all I had to do was make sure I didn’t get onto them. But, just outside of Cacabelos I found myself ON the first option I wanted to stay off of. It turned out OK kind of.

The route was through vineyards; some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Lots of pinch me moments.

But, before I saw this beautiful scenery, I came upon a French couple. The woman had just tripped on a rock and fell face first. Her lower lip was gashed and she was shaken.

We were in the middle of no where and all I could think to do was offer to call a cab even though I didn’t have a nearby cab number. I looked on my Buen Camino app and was able to tell them that the next village was “peutetra une ou deux kilometers” (apparently my French is a little rusty, but they got the point). I waited until she was calmed down and started walking again and then moved on ahead of them.

Until I was distracted by those beautiful vineyards once the sun rose, all I could think about was if that was me. I was walking alone and I am a master of tripping. So much for shaking my fear of the unknown.

The good news is that I arrived at a town a couple of hours later and the couple was there having lunch! When they reached the village I told them about, they stopped to ask for help and the local person called the emergency number in Spain – 112. An ambulance came, the woman got stitches in her lip and they were having lunch before continuing on.

So it was OK that I ended up on that detour because I think I was a little helpful, but I did not want to climb the mountain that was on the next detour.

The alternative was flat, but it was on the road. For the most part, it felt safe, but there were some sketchy moments where trucks were flying off the highway and didn’t seem like they would be stopping should a pilgrim wander into their path.

Still, it was a pretty walk right along the river and on the road that parallels the highway (for Vermonters, I was on the equivalent of Route 2 with I89 usually in sight).

I did hear someone calling my name as I was getting into Villafranca. It was Rosevitha who I met the first day out of Burgos. She was a little behind because she had spent the morning in Ponferrada getting a cap glued back on the had fallen off the night before.

It was great to see her. She is an artist and we enjoy talking about the scenes we pass and how the light is hitting the objects or how we might treat the scene with our art.

Rosevitha and I both fell in love with this kitty who wouldn’t stop following us. She game him a piece of salami and much to my surprise, that did the trick. The kitty stopped following us.

Walnuts drying.

Another kitty. I could probably create a boo, Cat of the Camino. There are LOTS of cats!!

If you have done the Camino you will know what I mean when I say it was just one of those days.  I never thought it would end.  It was hot, mostly on pavement and while the river on the left was nice, the road on the right was not.

Then I get into my town for the night and discover there are only two restaurants and I missed the lunch service and dinner isn’t until 7. I just wanted to go to bed so I had another (not as wonderful) in-room picnic.

Reflections

Just when you are feeling confident, the Camino smacks you down (at least that is how it felt today!). It was my “why am I here,” homesick day. To make it worse, I knew my cell service wasn’t working and that Ray would be worried about me. I didn’t want to eat anything because I feared I would regret it so I had three bananas, two Aquarius’ and my first NUUN tablet of the trek.  I was probably running on reserves, but I reasoned I have a lot of them.

I hoped that getting to bed at 7pm after popping an Imodium would work wonders. Spoiler alert: it did!

Every day is different on the Camino and today I was all about embracing the differences; starting with breakfast and ending with dinner.

I started the morning with breakfast at the amazing Brazilian Hostel I stayed at last night. I don’t always take advantage of the cheap breakfasts offered where I am staying, but I did this morning because it felt right.

Instead of the usual €3-4 price, today’s was €5, but I went for it. It was super sweet to watch the Hostel owners work together to put out breakfast for 8 of us, all expecting breakfast at different times. Unlike most Camino breakfasts that are just juice, toast and church-urn style coffee, this one also included scrambled eggs, yogurt and a variety of beverage options.

It was also a chance to talk with fellow pilgrims. Two (a very young couple) were from Denmark, there were two women Aussies, and two 20-something girls from Minnesota. Breakfast was delicious and a great start to day. I normally start walking before eating, but this worked out well.

The big difference with eating first is that by the time I got my act together after breakfast, I didn’t leave until 8:15, a full hour past my normal start time. That’s ok. I had about 24km ahead of me and it was mostly flat.  

A large part of the day was walking on sidewalks and roads so it was easy, but not a trek that forces you to stop every few minutes to take a picture as was the case yesterday.

I love meeting and talking with people along the way.  Today I met Dave who is walking the Camino with his wife, but she has been bussing ahead some days leaving him to walk on his own at his own pace which is very fast!  But, when he got ahead of me, he stopped to shed a clothing layer and there I was; caught up with him! Dave and I probably walked together for 8-9km. We walked in and out of Ponferrada together which was great to have two of us watching out for arrows.

I know I call a lot of places on the Camino sweet, but that word doesn’t work with Ponferrada.  It is a larger city with a population of 65k residents. Perhaps it is a place to go back to next Camino?? But I wasn’t feeling the love when I was there today.

Dave and I moved through the town quickly snapping just a few photos. I was sorry to learn later that today it was free for pilgrims to tour the Templar castle. I guess that will be on my next visit.

Castillo de los Templarios

There is a nice history of the castle here, which I am going to let you read on your own. This pilgrim is racing to finish this post before she finishes a bottle of wine! Unlike our programmer Peter who does his finest work between the first and second bottle, I rarely have more than a couple of glasses of wine so this is an exception and could prove a problem for my nightly blog!

I guess I should also confess that I stopped at a winery around 12:30 for a little wine tasting.  I NEVER drink alcohol during the day on the Camino, but I figured…when in Spain.

I walked the remaining 6 or so km with Janet of team Burlington.

So, for what it is worth, I have now walked about 300km since starting in Burgos three weeks ago.  You may remember that I started at 501km out of Burgos. This of officially more than I walked last year… we are in new territory!

When I arrived at my reserved hostel for the night I was thrilled to see that I had a private “terrace.”  I am on the second floor (in the US add a 1 to that number as the ground level floor is 0) overlooking the church in the center of town. The setting told me that I would be having a wine and cheese dinner right there, washing it down with a bottle of local wine.

After my shower, I found the grocery store (the best so far on the Camino) and stocked up with local cheese, sausage, Iberico jamon, almonds roasted in the shell, bread, clementine oranges and a bottle of Albariño wine from this region (Berios).  Oh, and I also got a corkscrew!

And, here is the result.

I told a little white lie in the bar downstairs from my room that I needed ice for my knee and was able to chill the wine.

Please don’t be at all concerned about my knee; it is doing GREAT!!! Now I am feeling guilty about that white lie!

Before I headed back up to my room, I popped into the church which was really…yep, sweet.

Tile half-cylinder roofs in Spain are the norm here,but I haven’t seen many slate roofs. Yet they seem to be the standard in this upscale town of Cacabelos.  You just can’t appreciate them unless you see them with your own eyes

Reflections: Solitude

I was an extrovert before I met Ray. I got my energy from interacting with lots of other people. But in the past 10-15 years I have become more of a recluse and introvert. I don’t just enjoy my private time, I need it to rest and recharge. After an great day on the Camino connecting with other pilgrims, I often crave solitude. Tonight gave me just what I needed. I had my wine and cheese dinner, wrote my blog post which I love doing and will get to bed early thanks to all the wine I have enjoyed.

I know I will probably wake up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep but that’s ok rvery now and then :-). It has been a wonderful evening.

Buen Camino and Ultreia!!!

Today was a HARD 20 kilometers! It reminded me that not all 20k are the same. The first part of the day was the rest of the climb to the tallest point on the Camino and it was all downhill from there! I mean steep, loose rock, challenging downhill. But of course, it was great. But, I must remember that 20km takes different amounts of time depending on the terrain. I certainly wasn’t doing my normal 5km/hour pace.

The day started in the dark. I wanted to be at Cruz de Ferro before sunrise (which is now after 8:30am here in Spain).

I left shortly after 7am in the pitch dark with my trusty headlamp shining the way. There were several headlamps ahead of me and behind me as well. Dawn was breaking as I crested the hill and saw the Iron Cross, an Iconic Landmark on the Camino. It took my breath away.

This is one of the major steps in the pilgrimage to Santiago. Here you leave the stone you have carried throughout your pilgrimage as a token of the burdens you are releasing from yourself. I told Ray I have such an amazing life, I didn’t know what burdens I had to let go of. He said I would think of something as I walked up there, and of course, I did.

As I got nearer the cross with a huge pile of rocks mounded around it, I saw a dozen or more bodies of people sitting very quietly on the mound up toward to base of the cross. Other than the stones tumbling beneath my feet as I climbed up the mound, there wasn’t a sound. I couldn’t see anyone, just their silhouettes all facing the east. It was amazingly peaceful.

But then, more and more people came and this meditative moment turned into Disney World.

This is what you imagine your Cruz de Ferro moment would be be like.

And, this what it actually is.

Still, it is memorable and once I got up the guts to climb down the mound of rocks with my pack on in the dark, I moved to a quiet space and thought about the “burdens” I was going to shed. I left Cruz de Ferro before the sun rose. And up the trail went. I didn’t think we had that much further up to go, but I was wrong. And then we started going down; luckily by then it was light.

The terrain reminded me of the Pyrenees. And there was even a herd of cows with bells ringing.

Natashia from Holland and I struck up a conversation. She is very outgoing and super positive. When I expressed concern about the downhill, she said, “we can do it, just take one step at a time.”

We took several fun photos as we were walking.

And along the way we picked up a handful of Natasia’s closest friends and five of us stopped for breakfast after a town finally presented itself.  It was THE BEST BREAKFAST on the Camino so far!

A jamon omelet and toasted baguette with olive oil and a tomato smeared on top.

Ruth, who was part of our group, was really hurting and she said she needed protein. She ordered three sunny side up eggs, bacon, ham and lomo (pork loin) and potatoes. And a chocolate croissant and bread. It was all gone  by the time Ruth was finished eating! Walking clearly works up a hunger and petite Ruth had earned her morning meal!

When I left the bar, I saw Janet, one of the three women from Burlington and we walked together the rest of the way into our stop for the night, Molinaseca.  I appreciated having her footsteps to follow and the conversation took my mind off of the tough decent. I hope I didn’t slow her down too much.

We passed through a sweet little village, Riego de Ambrose, and saw some super cute goats and some beautiful buildings.

Finally we reached Molinaseca which is a lovely town. I checked into my Alburgue, the second in three nights owned and run by Brazilians.

I had linner after taking a shower. It was delicious and all homemade for just €12 including, of course, bread, wine and dessert.

Chickpea soup with some kind of smoked pork. I suspect of was some type of offal. It was delicious!

Whole Dorado, a flat fish, the obligatory potatoes and Perron peppers!!

I had plenty of time after linner to explore town and went to the church and met Tim. He was sitting in the church entrance welcoming pilgrims and answering questions they had.

Tim, from the US, walked the Camino three years ago, returned home, sold all of his possessions and now lives in Spain 8 months and the US 4 months each year. Tim volunteers his time to this church and thanks to him, it is open for Pilgrims to visit.

The bridge into the town is beautiful and well-maintained so I went down there for another look at it before sunset.

As I was sitting out on the upstairs deck that looks out to the street, I recognized Patricia, the owner of the Brazilian hostel I stayed at a couple of nights ago  I waved to her an she threw me big kisses. This Camino is a small world!

Here is the deck I was sitting on when I saw Patricia and yes, those are my clothes hanging out to dry. 🙂

Reflections: Death on the Camino

Death happens. And it happens on the Camino too. The story I have most often heard is of the pilgrim who went to sleep and never woke up. But as in life, there are all kinds of ways people see their last day here on the Camino.

Today I met a woman from Holland. I believe her name in Holland is Tinka, but in Spain it translates to Christina. She is here walking in honor of her friend who died on the Camino on her way into Leon in June. She and the pilgrim she was walking with were hit by a car driven by a young man who had only had his license to a few months.

The other woman in the accident is still in critical condition here in Spain. The dead woman’s son is also in Spain now walking the Camino appealing to pilgrims to leave a rememberence when they pass the accident scene.

Shortly after I started walking in Burgos, I read about a male pilgrim dying of a heart attack at the entrance of the Alburgue in Roncesvalles.  He had successfully made it up and over the Pyrenees and his heart just gave out.

A few days later, a 30-something male pilgrim jumped into the Atlantic Ocean at Finisterre and died. There was little info on what happened, but I have heard suspicion that he went into cardiac arrest when he jumped into the cool ocean water.

Just a day after I walked through Terradillos de la Templarios, a man from Virginia on his third Camino with his wife just didn’t wake up in the morning. I spoke with someone who had dinner with him the night before and she said he was happy and having a great time. Then he was gone.

I don’t mention these deaths to be morbid. First, the reality is that the Camino isn’t something that you do every day. It taxes your body like probably nothing else you have ever done. But, more important, the Camino is a metaphor for life and death is a part of that. Three years ago an aquaintence passed away somewhat unexpectedly and the light turned on for me when the minister said, all we are guaranteed it right now. That is when I made the decision to walk the Camino. If not now, when? I reasoned.

So, when you are trying to decide if you should do something or does it make more sense to hold off and do it another day, ask yourself, if not now, When?

Today was my longest walk so far on the Camino, and it included a nearly 2000’ climb, a good chunk at the end of the day. As a reference point for my Mad River Valley friends, from the Mad River Glen basebox to General Stark’s Peak is 2036 vertical feet. This walk felt easier than that hike, which Ray and I traditionally do each fall.

A miracle happened last night and I slept like a baby in the same room with nine others! I am so happy I stayed at Por se Hoge, which is Portuguese for Just One Night. After a couple of pieces of buttered toast and coffee (the breakfast of Champions in Spain) I took off before sunrise.

The exit from Astorga was relatively short for a big city and soon we were on a gravel path. The Camino rush hour was quite busy.

Two Camino routes converge in Astorga; the Camino Francés, which I am on, and the Via de la Plata, the longest Camino Route in Spain that originates in Sevilla in the southern region known as Andalusia. I have a couple of friends eyeing that route for their next Camino.

I had heard several days ago that there is someone from Vermont on the Camino Francés now and his name is Connor and he has red hair.  I had kind of forgotten about him.

So, today I had a woman walking in front of me in a red hiking skirt and I was soon next to her as she slowed down to take off a layer of clothing. With her obvious US accent, I asked where she was from and she said Vermont! Deborah is walking with two other women also from the Burlington VT area. They were both ahead of Deborah. So we walked for a while and she told me about Connor too. And, I kid you not, within 5 minutes, Connor went walking past us!

We snapped a selfie. And within a few more minutes, we entered a village and Deborah’s friends were there. All three are educators in the Burlington and I knew at least one had to know my friend Zelda who worked in the Chittenden South school system for many years. Sure enough Joan knows Zelda!

The three women went off and I continued the trek on my own. Today was a kind of Camino landmark day because we would be walking past the famous Cowboy Bar.

It is a quirky place with all kinds of memorabilia.

So, it only makes sense I would bump into this character again at the Cowboy Bar.

Allyson!!

We both ate half a boccadillo and I washed it down with an Aquarius and we took off together along with Angie from California. Angie is insightful and smart and the conversation with these two women was interesting. Both decided when we got to Rabinal Del Camino that they would go the extra 7km today to get to Foncebaden. This plan would leave a very short 2 km-100 meter climb to get to the famous Cruz de Ferro, the iron cross where pilgrims leave a small stone representing the burdens they want to leave behind. It is also THE HIGHEST point on the Camino.

Last year before my first Camino, I put a stone from our property into the pocket of my backpack and it has been there since. Through the winter it sat in the closet and it was with me on all of my training walks this summer. Tomorrow I say goodbye to the stone.

I am hoping to get to Cruz de Ferro to see the sunrise. That will mean hiking on a rocky trail with a headlamp.

This is what we walked on today for much of the climb and I suspect that is what it will be like tomorrow morning. I will definitely wait for full light to start walking down.

Allyson strongly believes that the best pilgrim experience includes staying in Alburgue dorms and not having a reservation; you show up and ask for a bed. I had really hoped that would be my Camino experience, but I have had too much fun micromanaging my overnight accommodations. I guess this is one lesson I will not get from the Camino.

When we passed this building-ish on the way into town, we kidded that was where Allyson would be staying tonight with her no reservation, dorm-life Camino principles.

But, the truth is that Allyson and Angie got a bed in the municipal Alburgue and when I went to visit them after I ate, it was clear that is where the action was in town.

A young Spanish man was playing the guitar and singing, lots of people were out on the front porch listening to him, drinking wine and chilling out.

I had a wonderful dinner tonight. I started with a Caesar Salad (with lots of salad dressing!)

And then Hake with vegetables.

It was yummy, but too much. I should have started with the hake and as Ray says, if I was still hungry I could have had the salad for dessert.

Heading back to my Alburgue, I had a pinch me moment, am I really here?  Such beauty!

Reflections

Today was a long distance with a challenging climb after days of flat flat. It was relatively easy for me. I am not going to say I ran up the hill, and I was definitely sucking wind, but I really think all of the work I have done preparing for this year’s Camino has helped. It also really helped to be walking with two other women, Allyson and Angie. I am grateful for the time I got to spend with the two of them.

As of today, I have officially graduated from the Meseta! Many people complain that the Meseta is boring and often will skip it all together. I don’t feel that way. It was really beautiful, expansive countryside. I am sure that more than other sections of the Camino Francés, it takes on a completely different personality with each season. There are the reported fields of poppies in the late spring, the green grains such as wheat in the summer and the bright cheery sunflowers in late August. The time of year when I am here the earth is being turned under and prepared for next spring’s planting.

This field has been cut and is awaiting plowing.

The first clue that the Meseta was behind me was the beginning of gently rolling terrain. I actually look forward to some variety in the walking, both ups and downs.

I really need a rear view mirror when I am walking here in Spain. I don’t want to miss anything and in the morning, with the sunrise behind me, most of the excitement is at my back. That results in my slowest kilometers of the day with constant turning around like a junkie needing just one more fix. “I swear, this is the LAST time I will turn around.” That promise lasts but a few minutes until I have to peek again.  

Today I bumped into Claudia and her mom from Toronto. I hadn’t seen them since I got sick. They were headed to a town ahead of me tonight. However, I think we will be heading up to O Cebreiro on the same day and we are both planning to ride horses up to the top. (More on this option next Friday after my ride.)

I stopped for breakfast after 8km or so and had a piece of amazing apple cake.  It was super moist and there was custard woven throughout it. While it wasn’t a protein forward breakfast like I try to have when I am walking, it was delicious.

I walked a little further and came upon a woman sitting at a small rest area that had a cross and a mannequin of a pilgrim.

I started talking with her; she is very interesting. She is from Ukraine, but now lives in Finland (oh, if we had the time the things I would like to have asked her!). Her name is Polina and she calls herself Polina Nomad.

Polina often volunteers at pilgrim hostels and currently is serving at a hostel in Hospital de Orbigo. Today she didn’t have to report for her shift until 4 so she was walking to Astorga and would be taking a bus back to Hospital de Orbigo.

Her English is excellent and I suspect she is fluent in many languages.  She is a graphic artist, but doesn’t like being in Finland in the winter because of the cold. So last year she came to the Camino in December and walked the Camino Francés. She saw no more than 5 other pilgrims on any given day. You might think the weather could be a challenge, but she said it was in the 50’s during the day and the whole time she had only 2 hours of rain. She celebrated the New Year at Fisterre, the end of the world!

Polina pointed out some “street art” she had done a couple of years ago. I have seen her work before and look forward to finding more later on the way.

There was a sweet little donativo stand that had all types of fruit and juice available. I took a banana for a donation of 50 cents.

Astorga came into sight, but it is always hard to judge the distance of a town. One thing is for sure, it is always further than you think!

Getting into Astorga required conquering the Pilgrim Torture Trap.

All this to cross two active railroad tracks. Easily 10 times the steps it takes just to walk across. Henry sent me the workaround for this beast, and I saw the secret path, but I couldn’t bring myself to defy authority.  Besides, I am sure tens of thousands of dollars when into designing and constructing this to protect pilgrims so I took the safe way.  Of course, many pilgrims coming into Astorga are on their 30th kilometer for the day when they hit this contraption, so I can understand the desire to circumvent it.

Dorm Living Again for me Tonight

I am staying tonight in a 10-bed dormitory Alburgue. We will see how it goes. This place doesn’t have any separate rooms, but what they do have is an amazing authentic Brazilian dinner.  So, in this case the promise of good food won over a private room.

After checking in and showering I toured around Astorga. Unfortunately the Famous Chocolate Museum was only open 10-2 today so I missed that opportunity, but I did get to explore the Astorga Cathedral, which like those in Leon and Burgos, is huge and beautiful. I thin my favorite is the Leon Cathedral. I think it has more stained glass.  

After a beer and a glass of wine (with a walk in between) I head back to my Hostel for a little rest

Then it was dinner time we were served black beans, rice, pork and a salad. This meal hit the spot.