Ramblings to Santiago

Had you been on the road here today, you´d have seen a nattily attired chap, sylish straw stetson on at a rakish angle, linen scarf draped casually round his neck. You might have thought him so good looking that you´d have had a second look, or it might have been that fact of his walking backwards that caused your double take.

The nurse who I met the day before yesterday said that one of the ways to moderate the discomfort of this shin pain is to walk backwards. Although I had a very restful day yesterday, and did lots of massaging (even bought some massage oil) and used Voltarol gel, within a few minutes of starting walking again today, the pain started up again. Hence walking backwards from time to time. It does help a little. I spoke with a norwegian woman who was stopped, airing her blisters, and she told me that she had met a guy who feels similar discomfort, to the extent that he goes downhill backwards. Frankly, a couple of times today I felt as if I was going downhill fast.

The day started a bit badly because of some roadworks which meant that the waymarks had vanished, and I had to cast around for 15 minutes before finding the path

However, even after an 8.15 start and a couple of stops en route I achieved today´s 20k by about 1.30, had a shower, washed my clothes and then went in search of a bite to eat and an internet cafe. Tonight I´m sleeping in a convent!

I walked past a podiatrists office and may try to get someone to look at my shin ... seeing as how, in a good light, its quite a fetching one. They might even want to take photos of it, to show their friends.

Or I might just go back to the convent for a nap.

Thanks for the good wishes. As fathers are entitled to, I spent a large portion of father´s day in bed.

Last evening I had dinner & pleasant chat with a group of 4 Dutch people. During which I mentioned the pain in my lower shin. The woman asked for more details and said she was a nurse, and expressed some concern. Turns out that it is (potentailly) the beginning of the inflammation that took one of the Germans out of the race walk. When I last saw him his ankles and lower shins were substantially inflamed and he was sitting with ice packs round them. This, as you might expect, caused me some concern! However, according to this lady, provided I use 3 a day of the anti-inflammatory medication that I carry for my joints (I´ve sometimes not been using all three), and massage the area ("very hard, upwards") as well as applying the Voltarol gel, I should be ok. And take a rest day. Which I´d already decided to do. And I can also get a freezer pack from the pharmacy, which I could possibly get frozen when I stop at (some of) the albergues and then apply as necessary ... but at the moment I don´t think this is necessary, and the added weight certainly isn´t wanted. After firm massage last night they do feel a bit better this morning. And I´m sure I´ll be fine tomorrow. Tomorrow´s walk is scheduled to be just 14k, so it shouldn´t be at all demanding. The Dutch group - all apparently well into their 60´s - are doing 30k / day. And they started from home, in Rotterdam, in April.

The Camino is a network of routes from all over Europe that converge at various points along the way to Santiago. Some of the most common are from Paris, via Tours and Bordeaux; from Vezelay via Limoges, and from Le Puy. Those all converge at St Jean Pied de Port, where I started; St Jean itself is one of the most common start points; some of the Dutch and Belgian people I´ve encountered have come through either Paris or Vezelay. There is another route, favoured by some of the southerners that starts in Arles, and it joins at Puente la Reina, about 70k after Roncesvalles, which is the first point on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, Roncesvalles is where many Spanish people start their walk.

There are also other favoured start points, such as Burgos and Leon, favoured because they have good public transport connections. Finally, many walkers just do the last 100k, because that is all they need to do in order to be awarded their Compostella by the cathedral authorities in Santiago, although that comment is a little bit uncharitable, perhaps - most people can fit 100k into a week or two´s holiday, whereas doing the whole thing requires an amount of time that most people will find difficult. There are other routes to Santiago as well, from Seville in southern Spain, and from Portugal. In Chaucer´s The Canterbury Tales, one of the characters, the Wife of Bath, I think, has done the Santiago pilgrimage twice. In those days pilgrimage started from one´s own front door, and still does for many people.

I have now developed a mental image of the camino, as a steady current, rolling all the way to Santiago, but if you look more clsely at it, it is made up of a series of wavelets, some stronger than others and lapping over each other from time to time, affected by side current and other streams joining, some bits draining off into the soft sand at the side of the stream, but the bulk arriving safely, but well mixed, in Santiago, where there´s a degree of overflow, as some trickles down to the sea at Finisterra

Quite a few pilgrims do it "the easy way", by having their luggage transported for them between stops, and walking with just a day-sac. As a result they can travel a lot faster! We tortoises, carrying our homes upon our backs, tend to look down upon them. However, whilst the current depiction of the typical historical pilgrim is usually someone carrying just a small bag, a staff and a gourd of water, in reality many of them travelled on horseback, and/or had their goods carried by mule. So who is historically more accurate, us tortoises, or the hares?

Yesterday evening concluded with an hour or so in the company of Tobias, the German surgeon, who had performed some surgery on his blisters and was now happy with how they are healing; he has headed off again today.

Last night, other than Tobias, there were only a couple of familar faces staying here. One of the lessons I am learning on my camino is that from time to time its ok to let people pass me, I don´t have to race to be ahead.

Leon is the next major city, about 5 days walk away, and it is one of my originally scheduled rest days. It is where I´m due to pick up the package of supplies sent on to me, including the chargers for my phone and camera. One decision that I have to make between now and then is whether to get a better rucksac there. This one is too heavy in itself, and I reckon I could lighten my load by about 5 - 7 lbs if I invest in a better, lighter one; that saved weight could make a big difference to my camino, not least it would allow my to carry my electrical chargers and might also allow me to carry a book. That´s one of the big frustrations of my rest time, that I don´t have a book to read.

One of the other lessons of my camino, is that most of the load that I carry is as a result of my own decisions.

Deep stuff, eh?

Well, I finally achieved it ... someone put me in Room 101. Paul Merton isn´t actually here, and in fact he had nothing at all to do with the process. It was all quite simple really, I just turned up at the hotel and that is the room they gave me.

I arrived in Fromista at the ridiculous hour of 10.45 am, having walked 14k in cold drizzle in about 2.5 hours. As I was checking into my room, who should meet me in the corridor but the German surgeon afflicted with blisters (heal thyself!). He´d just walked 4k in about the same time and has decided to have a rest day also. I will do my best to have a proper rest day, doing not much but strolling around and sleeping until the day after tomorrow. That´s the plan at least, and we´ll see if I can stick to it this time. I think I´m about 3 days ahead of my schedule at the moment.

This is, I think the nicest hotel yet, and for just 32Euros. Last nights albergue was probably the scruffiest, but it was (mostly) clean and there were only a few of us staying, so we were four guys in a romm that could take eight. And there were two women in a room for six. Dinner was ok, but served by the husband, who lookwed as if he´d not yet discovered soap, and with the dirtiest fingernails I´ve seen since I last dug potatoes. However the food was fine. Plenty of pasta=fuel for the forst course and then "meat" and chips; this time the meat was a pork escallope fried in an egg batter. The arrangement of the toilet facilities was also quite interesting, there was a separate wc, but the second wc was in the shower room, with three showers, none of which gave you room to turn round. Sorry if this sounds whiney, it isn´t really, I´m just giving a factual report. And I´m not really complaining, at 5 E a night, and with dinner costing just 8 Euros its damn good value.

I had a hot bath when I got here and hung my shirt up to dry, then had a pleasant doze, now I´m catching up. The hotel restaurant seems very popular. I was looking forward to lunch, but I might have to fight to get a seat ... and I can´t fight in Spanish. Not to worry, there´s tapas at the bar, as well as some other establishments in the village that I can try if I want.

My shins are a bit sore at the moment, so the rest and some Voltarol will do them good.

Left Burgos yesterday and trudged eventually up to the meseta, the 700m+ plateau that will dominate the next 100k. The weather was fine and eventaully hot. Went one village further than my original plan called for, and suffered a bit with a sore toe ... blister on its way? Also, one I have a numb patch under a couple of the toes of the other foot, but I´m told that massage is probably the best cure.

Spent the afternoon sitting drinking with a couple of Swedish women, travelling independent of each other, the German transplant surgeon, and an Angelina Jolie look-alike. As well as Margaret, the New Zealand teacher who is, quite frankly, an inspiration. She is built neither for speed nor distance, but has already clocked up 1,100k. she always has a smile and a positive view as she waves people past. I don´t think Margaret has ever walked faster than anyone on the Camino, even those with serious blisters walk faster than she does, but she makes her way steadily and surely. An inspiration.

The German surgeon, on the other hand, is a committed Christian, RC, who is visiting every church along the way, on his Camino. We´ve had some intersting chats, his english is very good. He and one of the swedish women are walking togehter today, both afflicted with blisters.

I shouyld have spent this night and the next in Castrojerez, but it was a relatively short walk to get there, and it was very uniintersting, so I walked on, breifly in the company of a Candian girl of 19, who has already done about 1,000k of her Camino.

the route climbed up again into the meseta, for some speactacualr views, but I couldn´t capture them becasue the charge in my camera gave out. I have another 5 days before I get to where my charger should be waiting for me.

Yesterday was 29k, today was 21, and tomorrow I´m aiming to do just 15 or so, to Fromista, where there´s a bank so I can top up my depleted reserves. After 2 days of sunshine the forecast is for 2 days of rain

Walked part of the way today with the three Irish people I´d originally met on my first night. They return home today, from Burgos, via Bilbao. We took the bus for the last 8k into the city, and were glad to do so. I bumped into the Camino Twins a few hours later, they had walked the whole way and now couldn´t find room in an albergue. I pointed them in the direction of the hotel I´d found, which at 35Euro for a single room is pretty good. Had it been tomorrow none of us would have got in, there´s a couple of American tours due.

The weather today has been good, a mix of sun and cloud, so no complaints on that front. The route had some pretty hefty rocks on it, and still some mud in places but a lot of the walking has been on roads

The next stage of the camino doesn´t have much in the way of shops and cafe´s, and the guide books recommend stocking up with supplies here, so I´ll be going shopping shortly.

Burgos is home to El Cid, but the statues bear no resemblance either to Charlton Heston or Sophia Loren.

The battry on my camera is nearly exhausted and I have to wait until I get to Leon next week before I have access to the charger for it and for my phone, which I´ve posted to myself there. I´ve posted home the two manuals, for the camera and the voice recorder, as well as the luggage lock that I´ve been carrying - I´ve not really made any use of them, and the few ounces saved will be welcome.

Yesterday I encountered a group of Americans. including a couple of adults and three or four kids, on the camino. Sulky Sue, as I shall call her, was walking in trousers that flapped and wrapped under her trousers, wet and muddy. Unfortuntely - but i think quite justifiably - I jumped to conclusions and labelled her in my mind as ... Sulky Sue.

Imagine my delight, when I arrived at the albergue, to find that she was in the upper bunk opposite. I had overtaken the group on the road, and had checked in quite early, laid my kit out on my bed - sleeping bag liner, etc, and unpacked, then gone for a shower and cleaned my clothes - as best as possible (more of which later). I then went to see if any shops were open in the town. When i got back SS had taken up residence, her kit was strewn haphazard over her bunk (her problem, not mine, I admit) and there was a large puddle on the floor, between our bunks. She had taken a shower and dripped over the floor (its just not done, in camino circles). I tried to take a siesta, just like several others in the room, and was disturbed by her loud voice. She even dropped her toilet bag on the floor ... just in the middle of it, and left it there. OK, i can handle that, but what really pissed me off was when when the whole room had gone to bed her party came in and she then just dumped the stuff off her bunk onto the floor. Right, I can still handle that, but the ultimate piss off was when I quietly exited the room in the morning to get dressed in the corridor - as most folk were doing - leaving SS snoring gently. And as I packed my rucksack it seemed to me that one of the buckles was broken, it didn´t look right, looking again it then seemed that there was an extra bit, on even closer examination I found I had had a sodding nail varnish brush stuck to the buckle. And it wasn´t even mine.

Oh well.

Today was, for a change (yeah, right) wet. Once the day in general stopped being wet, I continued wet ... you´ve heard the story before about how I perspire faster than my waterproofs can expire, hence being very wet on the inside. but it works on the same principal as a wet suit, so long as theres no great change in the water flow everything is fine. but if i stop and take off my rucksack things get suddenly rather cold.

I was also somewhat smelly today, having failed to get my clothes properly washed yesterday, I really didn´t like being around me.

I walked for a bit with The Camino Twins, who will be taking a bus tomorrow andwhom I´m therefore unlikely to see again. They are va pleasant couple of girls. Unlike the bast"rd Italian snorer, who snored non stop last night, well not quite non-stop. He sometimes broke into discussions with himself. Others told me that he has taking lifts between albergues. Yesterday was probably the worst night for snorers, we had three in the room, but i had a not bad nights sleep.

It was quite long day today, 27.5k, but only one steep hill to contend with. I had to stop and attend to one of my feet along the way, rubbing down some hard skin on one of my toes, which mnadwe things a bit mopre comfortable. I should have cnahged my socks, wet my mid-morning, but didn´t, could be bothered digging into my rucksac.

The final 3.5k was very pleasant, over a lush pastureland. Tomorrow will be less pleasant as the last 8k of the route into Burgos is past industrial areas. Some people take the bus for this bit.
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Today´s albergue is excellent. Wonderfully welcoming, smiles all round, proving a dinner and breakfast in addition to nice clean showers anbd toilets. I was here by 2.00pm and have spent most of the afternoon chatting and drinking with a group of Germans, the appreciated the old one .. "Have you been to Germany before?" "No, but my father flew over it a lot in the ´40´s". My, how we all laughed!

We actually spent a great afternoon talking about lots and not much at all. One of them, a transplant surgeon, is also a keen Christian, and we had an intersting chat. No hope of me changing my views, though.

Happer also today, because the albergue people did my washing for me, So I should smell less tomorrow. The smelliest bit is my rucksac, the straps absorb sweat, but with little chance of getting cleaned. If we have some good sunshine sometime, I´ll let it do the job of freshening them. We actually had about 30 minutes of sun lat this afternoon ... it was very welcome.

So, clean, refreshed, cheered by good company, good food and wine, i look forward to a good day tomorrow.

The day started fine, overcast with no wind, ideal walking weather in fact, however after a couple of hours we´d a light drizzle, still no problem, but then a heavy shower meant I had to put on a waterproof. It cleared after a while, and after we´d had to walk down an impressive stretch of subsided road.

23k and arrived at Belorado by 12.30. I only stopped once, very briefly on the way, having breakfasted on chocolate and Spanish Marching Cake before setting out. The patisserie just a few yards away from the albergue opens for breakfast at 0700 and there were several of us on the doorstep at the time. The cake refered to is a heavy item, made with lots of dreid fruit and with almonds on the top, just the job to get you going in the mornings. I don´t know what its real name is, but the one I gave it seems apt.

Yesterday I met a Dutch woman, a recently retired social worker, who is cycling from home, to Santiago, then down through Portugal, where she will be met by her family. After a few weeks recuperation she´s heading off to Africa to work with the young victims of the (male) belief that if you have AIDS then having sex with a virgin will cure you. Hence lots of very young girls with AIDS. Good for her in committing herself in this way ... impressive.

Still no particularly cohesive thoughts to report. I do have some, develop them for a bit, and then forget them. A bit like the old joke: "why did you join the Foreign Legion" ... I spoke with fellow walkers about this last night and they report much the same thing; no thoughts, just steps on the Camino. And that, by and large, is what the camino is about, steps. I´m currently managing about 120 a minute, on the flat.

The weather forecast was for rain, Monday through to Wednesday, and it hasn´t disappointed. It rained today from leaving the albergue to getting to the next one at about 1.00pm, when it stopped. I tried wearing my longer sleeved base layer today, under my waterproof jacket, but it just collected more water than the short sleeved one. The fine dust that had been on the roads was now a choco-glue adhering to one´s boots. When I stopped for a mid-morning second breakfast at a cafe and went to the toilet I was able to wring quite a bit of water out of my shirt tail - but you´ve just got to grit your teeth and get on with things.

My walk today was only 15.5k and I was one of the last to leave the albergue.

The tour of the bodega last night was pleasant, but since it was in Spanish my understanding was limited, however there was as much wine as one might wish to drink, and it was very good wine at that. All for 1 Euro. There were 10 of us, so you can tell that nobody was making any money out of it, I think it was done out of pride, as a service to "tourists", as a PR excercise, and because its low season, they don´t have much to do for the next few months. The village seems to be very proud (quite rightly) of its albergue, and there was a good community feel about the whole place. I met up with the Irish trio I´d originally met on the evening before my walk started, in St Jean, and we had dinner together, another 10 Euro deal for three course and wine. It would be nice to see more vegetables, though.

I´m in Santo Domingo de Calzada now. Today´s albergue is a very old building, the dormitory is single beds, not bunks, but very close together and the facilities are a bit limited, no washing or drying of clothes, which is a bit of a blow, considering that one of my two "walking" shirts is soaked, however I´ve managed to hang it and my trousers up from one of the old rafters and they should be at least dry, if not fresh, by morning, when my next stage begins. Only one known face staying here, as far as I can tell, a beanpole Dutch(?) lady who looks to be in her late 60´s. On the plus side, whilst they don´t have internet access there, I found this internet cafe which is very reasonable, only 1 Euro for an hour. Some of the internet booths at the albergues are charging 1 Euro for 15 or 20 minutes, and you are always aware there is a queue behind you.

Tomorrow I´m going back to walking a reasonable distance, so I´ll aim to get up quite early, by about 0600 and on my way soon after. The key question is what to do about breakfast. Will I manage to get something on the way, or will I have to have an early lunch. I bought half a loaf of bread this afternoon, and that will go with the sausage that I bought a few stops back. Somewhere in my pack I have some pate, but its hiding at the moment and refuses to be found. I have an orange and some chocolate for "emergencies", but I will try and track down a shop this evening and buy some orange juice and/or fruit - I have quite a craving for OJ.

I´m pretty fit, no major problems, only minor aches, no blisters (touch wood). My knotted shoulder seems to be settling down, plenty of Ibuprofen gel being used. I don´t think I´m losing any weight - but we´ll see what the next 600k brings.

I still can´t report much in the way of conclusinve or constructive thoughts - its still just "one foot in front of the other"

Yesterday I walked 29k to Najera and did so in recrd time, I arrived by 2.15, found the hotel and checked in and crashed out. I had intended today to be a complete rest day, but after an afternoon and evening of inactivity I was ready to walk again today. But I decided I´d only do 5.5 k today to Azofra, so I had a lie-in and a gentle stroll, not pushing things at all. Arrived here just after this super Albergue Municipal opened at 12.30, and then had lunch. Met up with a German girl I´d originally met some days back, she´s walking with a girl that she met a few days ago, they look so alike they could be twins. Several people have commented already, apparently.

Tonight there is a tour of the local bodega. I bought a bottle of wine here for 3Euro, and it was excellent (we are in Rioja, after all) and it is that bodego we´ll tour. This copmputer is set in a place wqhere its almost impossible to see the screen, so apologies because I´m not goiung back to correct errors thaty I can´t see.

As for feelings (Strontium90), its strange ... my wish was that in this time I should just think about putting one foot in front of the other, and by and large that is just what I have been doing. I´ve not been thinking about much at all, any thoughts about family ande work that might pop`into my head I push - easily - to the side, and just think about where I´m going to put the next foot. It is im`possible to just stroll along and look at the scenery, you really have to concentrate on your camino.

And that is what it becomes. Everyone´s camino is different and personal, although they do, of course, have many elementsi in common. We all suffer or enjoy the same natural conditions, but our expereincss are different.

Last night I had dinner (the best valu and quality yet ... bean and chorizo soup, lamb shank and chips, cheesecake, wine all for 10Euro) I shared the table with a couple of guys, German and Dutch that I´d met before, and a couple of American girls, just graduated from college. We got to talking about belief and I found what the German guy had to say very interesteing. He´d had a personal God experience some years ago and was on a quiet quest to develop his beleif and to - I guess - testify to it. He didn´t shove this down anyone´s throat, but he was an eloquent advocate. He knows that I´m an athiest and wasn´t in anyway trying to convert me, he was simply respondoing to some questions that I´d posed to the table. One of the American´s had graduated in theology and Spanish and the other was simply the "in god we trust" type of person. But it was a pleasnat evening all round and did give me cause for thought.

Afterwards I went back top the albergue with them to try to use their internet connection, but there was a queue, so I just pushed off back to my hotel. But while i was there I said hi to the two Norwegians that I´d first met a few days ago.

Other people have written about the pleasure of meeting and re-meeting people along the camino. Even when you stay two night in one place and think that the others will have left you behind, there will still be one or two people that you´ve seen previously, staying in your albergue. You might just be on nodding/smiling terms with them, but its pleasant to see familiar faces, and to enjoy the comradeship - I guess that is a key element of the camino that has lasted over the generations.

From time to time I must admit I am a bit anxious about the weather, and the suitablility of my clothing. For the last three or four days there has been a copld NW wind accompanyiong overcast skies in the morning, lasting until mid afternoon, when things warm up a bit. I find that if I wear anything more than my "technical" tee shirt I get too hot and sweaty, but as soon as I stop I start to feel chilled. The weather is colder now than it was coming over the Pyrnaees. But thankfully we´ve not had any rain recently.

Passing through the vinyards (ah, so THAT´S how youre supposed to prune a vine) the soil is fine and red, and the deep mud on the roadways has become in turn hard rutted tracks that are now starting to break down a bt into fine dust.

Perhaps later in my camino I´ll find time to properly reflect upon it, but for now I just do it, and as with everyone else who is here, the days merge into each other, we forget where we met each other, where we´ve been and where we´re going ... we are just "on the camino".

Usually eating too much is my problem, but I´m finding it hard to get a right balance. Breakfast isn´t really an option anywhere at 0630, and once I´m underway I don´t really feel like stopping for a proper meal, so I eat fruit or some of the mini wholemal breasticks I´m carrying with me. I thionk they´re a bit like ships biscuits. I´ll probably be knocking weevils out of the in a few days time.

The 20k today was ok, but a bit cold and overcast. Arrived early (midday) anbd the albergue doesn´t open until 1.30. Then the shower was cold. Oh well ... never mind. Yes, Logtojno did suffer a flood at the weekend, and that has put pressure on some of the accommodation (the campsite is closed and there´s a knock-on effect

I´m off to find a decent meal tonight, and to spy out where I´ll stop for breakfast. Aiming for a 29k day tomorrow, need the fuel. Feet and back fine, although one of my toes is starting to curl downwards in a rather intersting manner, I think I´ll strap it up tonight.