Tag: Camino

Thanks to Dot for her support and love. She gave me a new beginning and a new lease on life when I was at my most vulnerable and for that I am forever grateful. Love ya sweetie.

Jerry from Northern Ireland, County Down. You couldn’t ask for a better walking partner. Great craic and lots of laughs. Jerry was very generous and helped many Pilgrims, including me. He kept me safe from myself. Thanks bigly.

Sweet Lucy from South Korea. Vibrant and enthusiastic. A real fireball.

Left to right: Florence from Italy, Camille from Balogne who is doing a PhD in Utrecht. Good luck Camille. Alberto from Florence and Jerry. Alberto is one of those characters that makes our world enjoyable. A great guy. And Jerry, always smiling.

Sam from New York City. Good luck to you. Say hi to Kathlene from Vancouver.  A great gal. Not shown is James from Bristol. Good luck in Nepal James.

Our landlady in Santiago.

Debra from Tucson and Stella from Zagreb.

Steven from Hong Kong

Helen from Manchester.

And all those other pilgrims on the square who arrive here by the hundreds in Santiago every day.

Our German friends:

Margaret, Claudia, Mathias and Rienard. So much fun.

Mary Anne from Australia.

Angela and Tammy from the Muskoka region of Ontario, Canada

Pedro and Marissa from Argentina, our friends from Brazil, Anne and Robert from North Carolina, and to all the others we met.

And the shadow:

Cheers and may all your Caminos be Bien and blister free.

Thanks Dot. See you soon.

John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry  Helen and I. Helen is from Manchester, UK.

Only 16 klicks today. We were in Salcedo. Hard to get a room because all the part time Pilgrims reserved all the rooms. We think the owner took pity on us because I look disheveled as an old fart. He took pity on us and gave us a room with 50 of our closest friends. Sucks bigly.

We started out in the morning with the requisite hill and then settled out with a relatively flat surface. Terrain is still bad though. We climb 100 paces then stop to catch our breaths. This seems to work. After 8 klicks we stop for coffee and a baguette or the bread that tastes like concrete. Great for your teeth. No wonder they have so many dentists here.

We decided to take it easy and stop to regroup rather then go into Santiago.

Relax, have a few burrs as Jerry would say and then have a splash in the woods, or a piss. We meet Helen from Manchester and have a few burrs with her. Great crack as Jerry would say (conversation). Oh. what a Camino. The part timers really get to us as they book their rooms in advance taking up spaces that the real pilgrims should have. Hundreds of them and that aspect of the Camino makes me mad.

Crowds of pilgrims fron everywhere. No body talks or socializes in the least. They stay in their bunks, sleep or attach themselves to their IPhone or Ipads. Sad.

Galicia is beautiful. Lush and green. Homes are impressive. Very clean and modern. Indeed all of the villages and towns and cities are spotless. The plumbing is impressively clean. No worries here as on would find disgusting in other European places – like France. Some toilets provide a combination of pissoir and bidet. Clean at both ends, but I digress here. Sorry, pilgrims have to suffer so most of us are constipated – plugged up. Oh well.

Me and one of my Pilgrim colleagues. Notice the difference in dress styles.

Jerry, Steven and I on the trail

Steven is from Hong Kong. Great guy who speaks perfect English. We first met Stephen in Zubiri some 5 weeks ago. Wow. Time flies when you are suffering. Pilgrims have to suffer, we cannot have fun and we cannot swear. Shyte!

More pics:

We have lost so much weight we are a shadow of our former selves.

Hydrangea bushes. Wow.

Soon to be in Santiago and the end of the journey.

Happy trails. Read ya tomorrow.

 

32 klicks today in great walking weather. Lots of hills again. The guide books and apps are misleading because the elevation levels do not reveal the real story. When you go from one town to another the elevations at the two places may be the same. You get the idea th you have a flat path or a level walk. In reality you walk across one or two  valleys in between those two villages. In Galicia, which is very hilly the orientation of the valleys us north and south. As we are walking east to west we have to cross the valleys, which means going downhill on the one side,cross the valley floor and then climb out if the valley on the other side. In that sense today’s walk was brutal. we crossed 4 valleys over 25 klicks  one of which was 3 klicks long yet the elevation at the start was the same at the end. I broke the pilgrims’ third rule and cursed a great deal today. Our only saving grace was that the scenery was awesome:

Spanish lunch in the town of Azula:

God I love this country.

Read ya tomorrow. 52 klick to go.

 

My server was down for 3 days. Sorry. This will be a combined post.

Yay. Hälf way ? Not. They say it is but we are well past half way. As I said before there is the camino kilometer and then the real world kilometer. Road to Leon was boring as can be. 28 klicks today but mainly through the industrial area of the city. But then we were rewarded with this:

 

There are no words to describe the beauty of this place. The city was alive. Fantastic architecture, wonderful food, beer was refreshing and the wine plentiful and cheap. Spaniards are super friendly but one should know that nobody speaks English…no body. Not that they should but just a warning for future travelers. The larger cities do not seem to have a homeless problem like we do. If they do it is hidden. And,i heaven forbid, they clean their streets in the early morning hours. I love this country.

What is truely amazing is that the Spaniards put a great deal of detail to the facades of their buildings. Fantastic.

16 September.

Walk out of Leon was tough and slow and lots of hills. The landscape was flat and non descript. Clear skies and hot. Headed to Villadangos, which resembled  a truck stop. Passed a school and yes moms were waiting outside for their children, just like us. We ended up in a religious residential school where we only had to pay a donation. The place looked very clean but on closer inspection the place was lacking on planned maintenance. Plumbing was bad, light fixtures didn’t work, dryer was broken. Oh well. It did remind me of our roundtable the óther night about why we do the Camino. So I asked Jerry about that and did he feel there was an out of this world, out of body existential feeling about the Camino. He looked at me kind of funny like with his head slightly askew: “ you mean this walk?” he says. “None of that shyte. Its a great way to lose weight!!”

And there you have it.

17 September.

Walked to Astrioga. About 27 klicks. It was a hard slog. We did not follow valleys but crossed them. Up and down, up and down. Getting hilly again. Y,know the hills are okay. Going down is hard on the knees. We have started the hill climbing now.

 

Yes Jerry. Life is good.

A Jerryism

Jerry has a tendency to belch and pass wind a great deal in the morning. So I said to him:

“Gee Jerry,one of those farts are going to have lumps in them.”

” No worries,” he says “If yer ankles aren,t brown then your ok mate.”

And there you have it. Astrioga:

Astrioga – the chocolate capital of Spain. Yummy.

A hard slog but worth it. Hard core thunderstorms this afternoon and evening. Loved it. I love this country.

A hard slog tomorrow.

Read ya tomorrow.

Cheers.

 

Tough day on the range. Wifi is spotty. Bruce from San Diego having a short respite from the walk. That s what we call it now: The Walk. He is a Padres fan.

So what is our daily routine then:

Hoping to be up at 6 but wide awake at 4am. Toss and turn and curse the snorer beside you until around 6am. Then the keeners get up. They get out on The Walk while it is still dark.  Bad idea as the terrain underfoot is terrible. Then the fighting starts for the single shitter and  shower stall and that is when those walking sticks come in handy. I was here first. No you weren’t. Yes I was, no you weren’t and on and on it goes just like it says in the ” So You Want To Be A  Pilgrim Do You? Handbook. I know, I know. A real classic it is.

Jerry and I wait until the morning mayhem ceases. Then we get up and dobie (wash), get dressed and hit the trail. Usually around 730. Civil twilight is good until sunrise,which is around 8am. We try to put on 5-10 kicks before we find a cantina to have our morning coffee and beps (bun). Then off we go. We always meet up with those early risers so you see,getting up early doesn’t  pay.

That,s a me. Yay. Directing Pilgrim traffic.

A usual craic (conversation with Jerry) normally starts like this:

“Hey bye”

” Yeah Jerry

” Do ya have a hankering for burrs where you live?”

“Burrs?” I say

” Yeah. Burrs?”

” What,s a burr Jerry?”

” Ya know, those big black tings in the bush. You know, does a burr shyte in da woods bye?”

” Oh, you mean bears?” I say.

” Yeah burrs.”

” Yeah. We have burrs Jerry. In da woods Jerry and da pope is catholic.” I add for effect.

“Whew.” He adds.

Northern Ireland word of the day:

“Dinky”-  means posh, la di da

We walk until about 12 noon. 2pm if covering off more than 25 kicks

Then we play ” Find the Alberque” which is a real game of chance I can tell you. Check in, find your bunk. Then a shower cause we stink and no bar or cafe is going to let us in. We are the unwashed, the unclean. Hey. We’ re even mentioned in the bible. And while the majority of the pilgrims lie down for a few winks Jerry.and I are off for a few pints. Back, find a restaurant, have a meal then back to our bunks and start the routine all over again.

After a dobie that is. I also ĺìķe to walk around the town, village or city  to get a feel for the place I am at.

One of the more frustrating things about this journey is that the majority of the pilgrims keep to themselves and will not socialize.

I miss the German group snd Alberto the Italian and his girlfriend.

All for now. Read ya later.

In Leon tomorrow.