Ramblings to Santiago

I had a fine walk along the coast from Cee to Finisterre, and along the way I paddled in a secluded bay, known only to me and 2.5 million previous peregrinos. And I collected some scallop shells from the soothingly cool waters. Then I rounded off my journey in the only way possible, by having Coquille St Jaques in one of the nicest restaurants at the end of the world.

The bus trip back to Finisterre follows the coast south for 2 of the 2.5 hours, and it was a very pleasant trip indeed, allowing time for reflection and simply for watching the scenery go by without having to worry where one's next step might land.

This has been a great experience. Peregrinos will tell you that we have two stories, one that we tell everyone else, and the other that only other peregrinos will appreciate: I've shared with you most of the former and perhaps given you a flavour of the latter. I hope you've enjoyed it enough to consider doing your own Camino, one day.

Thanks for reading.

And a seagull wished me good luck, in the traditional manner.

Today I took the bus to Finisterre, to be sure of keeping my appointment for breakfast. It was great to meet up with so many Camino friends, who had arived there over the previous day or two. Most were returning home today, some are going on to Muxa (the final, final point on the Camino). After breakfast with Domingo and Karin (a Camino romance) I was given a brief conducted tour of this seaside town, before they took the bus back to Santiago and the airport.

I then made the 3k walk to the lighthouse at the true "Land´s End". After seeing marker stones over the last few weeks counting down from, in effect, 850 kilometres, it was a pretty major thing to get to marker 0.0.0 and I had my photo taken to prove that I did it. And I took pictures of the various places on the headland where people have made small pyres of their possesions, to signify ... something. There´s also a small and touching memorial in the form of a broken pilgrim boot.

I got the bus back to Cee ("is this the bus to Cee?" I asked the driver. "Si, Cee" he replied, in a small Spanish joke. Tomorrow, come hell or high water I will complete my camino by walking to Finisterre.

I couldn´t help but notice, as I returned from the headland, that on this return journey one sees the pristine reverse side of the marker stone, with no distance plate on it. So perhaps this isn´t the end of the earth after all, it is the begining. As always, it depends how you look at things.

Talk about wet, wet, wet (whatever happened to them, anyway?)

Today I made it to the coast, and frankly, I´d probably have been drier if I´d have swam. The guide book talks about this being one of the most beautiful part of the camino; frankly, it was lost on me and anyone else walking to see Cee today, it an Atlantic mix of thick mist and wind-driven rain. There wasn´t bit of me that wasn´t soaked, but that wasn´t too bad, because I wasn´t cold, but my spirits rather dropped when I felt first one boot and then the other fill, rather quickly, with water. I´m confident that it was water, because although mature, I´m still continent. It was a deeply uncomfortable feeling, the water level rising and falling with each step.

Last night had been spent in an albergue next to a cowshed, and the number of flies in the building, living and dead, testified to the fact. But notwithstanding that, it was a pleasant place and the company was good. That morning had been a rather tense start: the previous albergue had 24 beds, plus some tents with mattresses in the garden. Finally there were, officially, 48 people staying there, and at least a dozen others had been sent away ... the next village was 12k away which is a hell of a slog if you´ve already done 30k! In the event, the albergue played host to ANOTHER 10 people who arive after the hostalier (gatekeeper) had gone home, sleeping rough (hard) on the patio. The albergue we were all aimed at for the next day (yesterday - sorry if this is geting convoluted) had only 22 beds, so if youn add the 50 of us to those who were turned away, you´ll see that, potentially, there was gping to be a bit of a scrap for beds next to the cowshed. I didn´t want to sleep rough an as result i was walkking by 0500hrs, me and a couple of austrians were first out of the building, and I showed them the best way for the first 500m (which I´d surveyed the previous evening) and then was happy to follow them in the dark, lit only by our head-torches. We did the first 8k in about 110 minutes, which, frankly, is a hell of a pace, and one of the complained to the leader about it - I was impressed that I´managed to keep up!

Once dawn had done its thing I was happy to slow a bit and, cutting to the chase, arive 32k later, my longest walk to date, at the cowshed, at about 1.30, then it was wait until 15.30 until it opened. In the event the Austrians had marched on and i didn´t see too many people turned away.

Last nights dinner in the local restaurant was one of the best, Galician Soup followed by Galician stew. The discerning palate (and eye) could tel that the soup was simply the stew without the meat; i as happy having both, becasue there was cabage in there (how I crave vegetables!!!!!)

I chatted a bit with a French social worker who is here with her teenage charge, a kind of outward bound cure for young people who might need some help. And I walked a bit with them both today, and witnesed "the kindnes of strangers" that can characterise one element of the camino. We arrived at Cee, on the coast, at the same time, and dived into the first cafe for something to eat. The social charity that these two are involved in doesn´t run to a big budget, so this teen has to make do with some very basic clothing. A guy in the bar, an ordinary working man, sporting a fine mullet haircut, simply gave her his waterproof jacket and trousers when we were about to leave. He might have been a bit pissed, but it was still deeply moving. These two have a combined catering budget each day of 15Euros. I bought them lunch and will buy them dinner, seems only right, somehow.

Finisterre tomorrow! I have a breakfast date with a couple I met three weeks ago or more. If the weather continues to be rough I´ll take the bus, and walk there the day after instead.

I arrived even earlier than I thought, yesterday (Sunday 6th, I think). Fought my way through the cheatin´ tourists to get here. We "true" peregrinos are so disdainful of those who only walk the last 100k, very often having their luggage couriered between stops.

I saw lots of people that I knew yesterday, and heard about more. I´m not staying in the refugio, staying in a hostal instead, so I miss the camraderie ... but on the other hand I got a good nights sleep. I bumped into Marianne again (not seen her for 10 days or so) and we had dinner and caught up. The French Canadian couple Denis & Fran and Margaret the inspirational New Zealander are taking the bus to Finisterre today. I´m not completely sure of my plans, but I do have an invitation to breakfast with another couple in Finisterre on the 11th, and I should be able to make that date if I leave here tomorrow and walk 10k before breakfast on the 11th ... its a 75k walk and will be far less crowded than just about any other part of the Camino. I´m then at a lose end until my return flight, so I might wel take the bus back to Santiago on the 11th and then catch another one down to Portugal, for the simple reason that the weather is likely to be better, and that English is the official second language. However, none of this is setled at the moment, I´m going to do some checking about transport and accomodation (and weather forecasts) shortly.

I have to admit to going against my original intent - this morning I went and got my Compostela, the official document from the cathedral authorities that says I´ve completed the pilgrimage.

I saw the group of young Valencians to whom i´d tought "Always look on the bright side of life" - it was good to speak with them. One of them had managed to get here yesterday in time for the midday Mass, and had taken a video of the swinging censer (is that the right name and spelling?) and showed it to me. You know, the big smokin´ ball that takes away sins and smells. Its massive ... makes you think, somehow, of Indiana Jones, great big metal ball on the end of a rope, whooshing down the aisle and over the heads of the congregation. And it was quite nice afterwards to bump into a Frenchman, in front of the cathdral, who I´d first met on the train from Bayonne to St Jean Pied de Port on the eve of the camino. We wished each other well, but it was quite strange not to wish each other, as we and all the other peregrinos have for the last 4-5 weeks "Buon Camino". Because we´ve done it. We´ve done our Camino ... and it was, indeed, "buon".

I was pleased when my blogname initially proved to be false, my feet held up very well. But latterly the name has become true, and my feet and legs have been complaining a bit. The last few days have been sore and slow, but I have paced myself ... I am still ahead of schedule, and have forced myself to do relatively few k´s per day, and it seems to be paying off.

Day before yesterday I did just 17k to Eirexa, yesterday I did 23k to Melide, and today a mere 14k to Arzua.

Today I am using a washing machine for the first time! No, not ever, just on the camino. Previously I´ve washed my clothes by hand, but today, seeing as how its raining and most of my "change into when finished walking" clothes haven´t been washed in a while, I´m washing them and my walking clothes (wet after a day of prolonged drizzle) and will risk putting them in the dryer afterwards. But I´d hate for my new Haglofs walking shirt to get damaged by too much heat.

Tomorrow´s walk should take me the 15.5k to Santa Irene, then its 19k to Monte del Gozo (¿wasn´t he one of the Muppets?) which boasts a massive 2800 places for pilgrims, 800 of them being free. Its the last stop before Santiago de Compostela. I aim to spend two nights, perhaps three in Santiago before pushing on to Finisterre.

Its interesting seeing some of the "pilgrims" on the last 100k. Many of them are so cynical! In order to get your compostela, your certificate from the cathedral authorities that you have done the pilgrimage and thus can have your time in pergatory cut by half (¿who the f**k invented this sh*t?), you have to show that you have walked, as a minimum, the last 100k to Santiago. Thus you get your pilgrims passport stamped along the way. Most of us long distance walkers get ours stamped wherever we spend the night, but the 100k pilgrims have to show a stamp from two places every day, in order to crack down on people who simply drive from one albergue to another. But these canny cheats aren´t put off, they simply get cars or taxis to pick them up and ferry them to the next stop, having walked (say) 5k after breakfast, to a cafe or church which has a stello (stamp) they get their passport stamped, and then you see the taxi come and pick them up top take them on to the next albergue. You can usually tell who they are, they carry very small packs, or maybe nothing much other than a bottle of water.

The thing that gets me about these people, is that presumably they are Catholics who feel a need to get their compostela, in which case one might also presume that they believe that stuff about "god" being aware of their sins, and thus seeing them as they cheat. My presumption is that they don´t believe in god and sins as much as they like to pretend they do ... two-faced or what?

Today, sitting in a cafe alongside some young Spaniards, who were looking damp and down, I taught them to sing "Always look on the bright side of life" and another couple of people joined in as well. It was fun, especially considering the origin of the song (The Life of Brian).

Its tough, but I´m still enjoying it. The camino is life in microcosm.

Having walked some sections of the camino, the meseta, where the path is arrow-straight for 5 or 10k, Galicia is a bit of a pain. The route winds through more small farmyards, and around the perimeters of more fields and pastures that you can shake a cow-pat at. Today I passed the 100k-to-Santiago marker, meaning I´ve travelled 700 kilometres, and have 150 to go to Finisterre.

I managed 22k today, and my leg is managing to hold up, but I´m making sure to take regular breaks and travelling slowly. Once I´d checked into the albergue here in Portomarin I bumped into Jason and Laura, the Australian couple that I last saw over a week ago, on the meseta Laura is the blonde who we sold to the waiter for an extra bottle of wine at dinner. Apparently not having learned her lesson we´ve arrnged to have dinner again tonight.

Off for a siesta again now.

I´ve spent more on physiotherapy and massage in the last week than I have on food and accomodation!

I just went through a very painful session, but the guy told me, in Spanish, that this should make things a lot better in a couple of days At least I think that´s what he told me. It might have been "youre a deamn fool if you carry on walking and if you don´t stop your foot will drop off in two days."

My ankle is now bandaged, with the wrappings containing two ointments, liberally applied, one being a homeopathic cure, the other an arnica paste. Then the whole lot was sprayed with freezer spray and he´s given me a can to take away with me and apply three times a day. As I sat having dinner the gloop was oozing out between the bandages. What fun! It promises to make an interesting mess of my footwear.

But he was quite confident I´ll be able to walk 20k tomorrow. We´ll see.

I left Villafranca in the cold dawn, and managed to find the high route without difficulty. Almost immediately it angled itself at an apparent 45 degrees and continued like that for a long way. I´m sorry if I can´t be more acurate regarding angles and distance, but frankly I hurt too much to take proper measurements. I was alone on the track climbing up and up, for ever, it seemed, and watched the rising sun paint the sillhouette of the ridge that I was on onto the mountains on the other side of the valley. Having taken an hour or more to get to the more exposed and more gently sloping upper ridge, this was the first time in my whole camino that I put on an extra layer, for warmth, over my short sleeved shirt.

Eventually, having crossed under some buzzing power lines, the route took me out into some chestnet groves, ancient trees fenced in a way that few other parts of the walk had been - a potential valuable crop, i guess.

The descent was less pleasant, for themost part zig-zagging down an old road, cutting out the hiapins of the new one. then the route joined the easier road route from Vilafranca, and it was on then to Ruitelan, about 22k. Here I stayed at an albergue with a disctinct Buddhist touch, including the offer of Shiatsu massage, which I took up to compliment the Reiki massage I´d had yesterday. They were both effective.

Here I met up again with John, a 67 year old Londoner, who walks faster than most people - aided by his 5-iron as a walking stick. He had a hip replacement a couple of years ago and hasn´t looked back since. He came on the camino thinking that he´d be pleased if he managed to do the first 80k to Pamplona, as far as he´s concrned anything more than that is a bonus ... and it looks like he´s going to go all the way to Santiago. He´s out-walked most of the poepl he´s been with, the only way that he and i met again is becasue I gained that 50k by train to Leon. he walked it. What an inspiration!

John and I walked most of the next day "together", in reality like most of the camino partnerships, you might start out together but after a while you separate, catching up at the next cafe of break area, or perhaps onl at night, at the next albergue, or if there is an option of accommodation you might miss each other altogether at this place and not meet up until the next day, or later .. or never. That´s the camino.

This day John and I climbed to O Cebreiro, the steepest climb of the camino. Frankly, it was less steep than yesterday, but John leapt ahead of me like a mountain goat. The view from the top was phenominal, looking down over a sea of clouds. I shall post some pictures eventually.

whilst the tendonitis in my right leg is a whole lot better, my left foot and leg is now playing up - I don´t know if its simply a recurrance of the problem i had before leaving home, or something else. The pain has spread to the back of my calf, above my achilles tendon. I´ll just have to keep taking the pills, and the ointment, and the spray, and the ice ....

Last nights albergue, at Hospital de la Condesa, the first in Galicia, wasn´t very good, with a distinct lack of empathy on the part of the hospitalier, who tuend away a very tearful woman and 8 at night, who had nowhere else to go. The rooms were crowded and stuffy, with beds far too close together. however dinner at a nearby bar was excellent, and John and I had the company of a Swedish nuclear engineer, Chistine, whose Eglish was excellent - as it is for most of the northern Europeans. Puts us to shame.

Next day I walked some of trhe way with John and some with Christine, ending up in the old monastary town of Samos. I treated myself to a night in an hotel, and had a good sleep.

Although due a rest day, this wasn´t the right place, and Iwalked on again today. however the discomfort of my leg underlined the rightness of my decision to make is a short walk. I started at 10.00am, but trhe supposed 12k to Sarria seemd an awful lot longer. Perhaps it was the heat. I am in what seems to be a very pleasant albergue in an old property at the top of the town, fountain and jaccuzi in the garden, no less. And still just 7 Euros. Having washed meyself and my clothes and caught up here, I shall now have a siesta, and contemplate another short walk tomorrow, but this time starting early (which you hgave to do in the albergues) and avoiding the worst of the heat.

Galicia is composed, largely, of lots of small farms. The route takes you past many cowsheds, and through many cowpats on the road. It all smells very agricultural.

According to my schedule, I should be in Astorga at the moment, however I´m about 4/5 days ahead of myself, plus another day in hand. I´m at Villafranca, at the foot of the steepest climb on the Camino. I will take a resat day here, to recover from a particulary demanding day yesterday and to prepare for the climb over the next couple of days. Yesterday was 29, very hot kilometres, but in my narrative, as in my camino, I´m getting ahead of myself.

I´ll hop back to Leon, for a bit, where the route out was rather horrible, I too the shorter one, by the main road, and its was hot and noisy. But I ended up in a very nice albergue, in the company of the three Dutch people I´d met some 100k earlier. Ana, the owner, was happy to provide as much ice as I needed, and she also provided the best diner and breakfast on the camino to date. I paid a massive 17Euros for dinner bed and breakfast. I met a Danish lady, Marianne, who was finding her camino very moving, she was touched (as we all are) by "the kindness of strangers". One small example being the old man who left biscuits outside his front door to help fortify the passing pelgrinos. It would be a betterb world if we saw more of such kindness.

Then it was on to Astorga, a mere 15k. Again I opted to do the road route in order to minimise the pressure on my shin. Of course, if I was sensible, I´d get rid of the half-hundredweight of lead I´m carrying, for fun, in my rucsac. The Gaudi church in Astorga is famous, but it sits uneasily beside the traditional catholic cathedral. We had to hunt round to find a quiet bar for dinner - Spain was playing their football cup match.

The best treatment for this tendonitis is ice, and so i have good reason to rest up in bars at the end of the walking day, and after regular application of ice the swelling drops down again. Bars are very accommodating in filling my ziploc bag, it is a pretty common request from similarly afflicted peregrinos. However the most teeth clenching element of the inflamation isn´t pain, its the creaking noise the muscle makes when it is manipulated! We are all adept at helping each other with massages to back, shoulders, feet and legs - its part of the camraderie of the camino. It is nice, if one is having a break, and another walker passes, when they call out, in one language or another, to ask if you are ok. And if you have met before they´ll probably come over to just make sure. And everyone wishes each other "Buon Camino" whenever we pass. And we lift each other sometimes with a light touch on the shoulder or arm.

After Astorga it was another 22k to Rabanal del Camino, a hot, steady climb from 870m to 1149m. Here i stayed at the albergue run the the UK Confraternity of st James, and I have to say it was the best yet, very hospitable to the extent that they carried your rucsac to the dormitory for you, and provided afternoon tea and biccies! And its a true refugio, with no charge, you are merely asked to make a donation. The building has a large garden and a wonderfully cool courtyard.

Here I met again with Tobias, who was staying in the mini monastery next door to the albergue (his education was with the Dominicans) and with his encouragement and with Marianne´s, I attended the service held in the Romanesque church. Neither god nor I were particulary impressed with each other. But at least I wasn´t struck with a thunderbolt as soon as I set foot over the threshold!

That evening we had a very nice shared meal, with everyone contributing whatever they could by way of food. We made 5 small fishes go a heck of a long way!

A small camino story: There was a group of 4 German girls staying here, two had set out together, two others had started solo. Of the solos, one had taken into here head to do the camino when ashe was working in Leon, and had set out particularly ill prepared, but she was ok. A couple of days earlier she had taken a siesta at the side of the path and the other girl had come along and just sat beside her - watching over her - until she woke, then they walked on together, meeting the other two the day after. A sweet camino story.

After Rabanal the path climbs to the highest point on the camino, just after the iron cross (Cruz de ferro) at 1504m, the path gets to 1517. Happily, Rabanal is already at 1150m, so it isn´t a massive height gain. Cruz de ferro is traditionally where pilgrims leave the stone they brought from their home, and it is surrounded by a veritable mini-mountain of rocks, but frankly, many of them aer of such a size that i frankly doublt anyone´s ability to stagger more than a metre of teo carrying them.

We started out in a clear pre-dawn and climbed into the mist, coming out above it, finally, and briefly, before descending again. after a brief break for a toasted bocadillo (sandwich) (and an iced leg) the descent continued. All 1000 metres of it, almost all of it being very rocky. Halfway down, and now in sunshine, I came to a grove of old trees, and after eating some of the fruit I was carrying, i decided to have a siesta. It was very, very nice. I was joined later by Marianne, and then some of the others, who also found the cool shade a delightful temptation, and then we moved on ...

It was a painful descent, taxing on the muscles of thigh, hip and bum. But finally got to Molinaseca, a pretty village, but the albergue wasn´t very nice, rather grubby. The plus point is that there were only 4 of us in it. That evening I ate the best meal yet, but it was a la carte, not the pilgrims menu. The German girls arrived late and slept in the beds outside the albergue, but their noisy chatter carried through the night air, into the small hours.

Yesterday, walking here, was not good - at least in the morning. Pontferrada was noisy and confusing, I had a left foot that hurt and a right shin that hurt, and I was walking solo. I later teamed up with a German girl, Susanna and the walk became better, and bought some cherries at the side of the route from an old lady with the blackest fingernails you´d wish to see ... let´s live dangerously! We decided to take a siesta on ariving at a nice place, and who should we meet but Marianne, just waking from hers. We all went on our ways separately, a bit later. My leg felt a lot better, perhaps becasue of the wine that had been pressed upon me from a walker, in response to my offer of cherries, and i decided to walk the extra 8k here. It was incredibly hot under the afternon sun, but it has set me up for a relatively easy first day´s ascent tomorrow.

I aim to seek out a massage today, to catch up with some reading, and generally chill out. But I don´t find it easy to stay in one place, their is a pressure from the tide, pushing us all to Santiago, and some of us to Finisterre.

We are seeing more on the "tourists". People who join the Camino for the last 200 or 100k, and who carry only light day packs, having their luggage transported by van or car. Some of them are on tours, decending from their mini-buses obnly top get their passports stamped at places along the way. To them we are objects to be photographed.

If i stay so many days ahead of my schedule, I might dally on the coast, or even walk back to Santiago from Finisterre (instead of taking the bus), and thus make up the 50k that I didn´t walk a few days ago. Perhaps. Or perhaps not. We´ll see.

Hmmm. I think I might just be chilling out.

Well, I didn´t haew internet access for a couple of days, and then when I did the access time was so slow that somehow the blog entry that I´d spent 30 minutes writing didn´t get posted. So then, to update things:

Walked to Sahagun, leg very sore ... got train to Leon (saving about 50k / 2 days walking). Stayed 2 nights. Picked up package from home and sent my sleeping bag and some other items on to myself in Santiago. Bought new, lighter rucsac, which seems comfortable enough.

Walked the next day to SanMartin delCamino. Very hot day .. leg sore but responded well to an efternoon of ice application. The mountains are in sight .. which means the end - thankfully - of the meseta.

Walked today to Astorga, about 22k again, but stopped about 3k short to ice the lerg whilst having a slice of tortilla for lunch, plus two cokes and a fanta, on t of the 2 litres of water I´d drunk. It´s hot again today, in case you wondered!

Tomorrow should see us in the mountains again ... there did seem, on breakfast TV today (at 0600) a forecast of rain.

Right, I´m off to find a bar and some ice .. I have my own plastic bag to put it in.