Day 48 - it's Santiago, but its not the end...

Day 48, Saturday, on to Santiago. We'll get into the hotel this afternoon, go to the Pilgrim office and get our Compestellas tonight or tomorrow morning, go to the Sunday noon mass, book our return train to Paris for next week, and then depart for the 4 day walk to Finisterre early Monday, 3June.

Last night in Arco was fun with Camino friends overs good dinner. The 20 km walk today will be pretty relaxed, especially because its not raining and there are bits of sunshine!!!

Day 47 - it's not warm, but its not wet either...

Friday 31 May. Another cold, cloudy day but its not wet. And you can tell folks are entering the home stretch; there is a certain lightness of spirit that is peeking through just as the sun does every few minutes...
Pix from a"biker bar" with Irish folk music playing in the speakers in the tree out front and messages scrawled on every inch of the walls and ceiling...

Day 47 - Wont it Ever Warm Up???

Friday, 31 May. We are so tired of being cold and it is making us irritable. The so-called pensions or hostels we have been staying in dont turn on the heat until late and then only for a few hours. We have a hotel in Santiago that should be heated. That is now our priority, to get warm. Looks dry for today!!!

Day 46 - Less than 60 km to go...

Day 46 - Thursday; cloudy and cold but dry. We will arrive in Santiago on Saturday afternoon. Walking onward. It's what we do now; our identity. What will our identity be when we no longer walk everyday? Will being French students be enough? The task of learning French seems bigger now. A French speaking friend out here who lived in Paris for years and went to the Alliance says that 6 months will only be a beginning. But it will be enough for now. A lesson from the Camino: what is, is enough. Pix from the day's walk; we saw the tremendous lilies all day.

Day 45. - If it was easy, everybody would do it...

Wednesday in the cold rain. All day. Never stopped. Never warmed up. And the flood channels in the rocky Gallician lanes just got deeper and the rocks more slippery. Trish's feet slid out from under her once but no injury and we both had several more almost-falls. In a Casa Rural - with heat!! - at 4pm after 20.5 km for the day. Expect these conditions for the rest of the trip.

Day 45 - the last stage begins

Day 45. Wednesday. Celebrated our wedding anniversary last night in a little village bar with a bottle of decent champagne that the barman dug our of his storeroom, covered in dust, to our great surprise. More intermittent rain today that we expect to be the rule for the rest of the journey. More climbs today - not big ones but at this stage we are so worn down that any up is a climb. Motrin in the morning is becoming our standard. 20 km for the next 4 days does it. The second pix is a neat statue outside of Palais de Rey, pointing the way to Santiago...

Day 44 -Rain in Gallicia -Corrected!!!

Tuesday, 28 May. our 29th wedding anniversary. Well, after our hard day yesterday, today is the rain Gallicia is famous for. Fortunately we have only 13 km to go today.

Glad folks are reading the blog to correct 20 to 29!!

Day 43 Sarria to Portomarin

Unexpectedly hard day - only 22 km but lots of hills, warm and coming after our long detour day to Samos and late arrival to Sarria. By the end of the day we were really hurting with sore feet and everything else! Then we were greeted with The STEPS after the bridge into Portomarin. So day 44 will be a short one - 13 km - and a semi rest day. We are too close to risk injury now.

Day 43- the Slackpackers are here!!!

Coming out of Sarria for the last 100 km. surrounded by folks - mostly older French and Spanish groups- who have a tour company or taxi move their bags between booked hotels and are just doing the last100 km of the Camino with a daypack. Brits call them Slackpackers. There are dozens of them so the trail is crowded in the morning. Since we are going slowly, they are soon ahead and in the afternoon the trail is quiet again.

Day 42 - end of Week 6

Yes, Sunday again. Went to a Pilgrim Mass in Triacastella last night before sangria and late dinner with friends. This morning woke to the Gallician fog we have heard about. 648.4 km as of Triacastella -less than 150 to go and we will take our time and enjoy unless weather turns bad. It will be interesting to see what these last days - and the 5 days after to Finisterre and Muxia - bring us. Many things are more clear. The walk today through Samos, brought us through lovely country lanes in the pix.

Day 41 - Prayer of the Pilgrim

In O Cebrerro, we found a prayer in the church that struck a chord as the pilgrimage is inevitably ending after more than 40 days on the Way...

"Although I may have had food and water each day;
And enjoyed a roof and shower each night;
Or may have had my injuries well attended,
If I have not discovered in all the love of God , I have arrived nowhere.

Days 40 & 41

We made the climb to O Cebrero on Friday in good order and continued to Hospital. After our night in the unheated bedroom of our pension we were both coming down with colds! Saturday Day 41 is sunny and cold and we are charging onward to Tricastela. The day after we will reach Sarria where the last 100 km and large numbers of new pilgrims join the Camino. Pix are of the gorgeous scenery.

Day 39 - Starting the Climb

Thursday, going out of Villefranca and starting the long limb to O Cebrero that we will complete tomorrow. Although we took the flat unscenic route running beside the road and a river, it was plenty scenic enough for us!!

Day 40 - up the hill

Fri am. Up the last mountain today after good evening in casa rural last nite. Pix is the cows coming home last nite...

Day 38 - towards the next mountain

Wed am; leaving Ponferrada for Villafranca for a flat day. Tomorrow we start climbing towards O Cebrerro, the last mountain between us and Santiago. Galicia and its unpredictable weather are ahead as are the crowds of the last 100 km of the journey...
Midday-sunny but with a cool breeze. Pix is of our lunch spot at 2p. 9.5km to Villafranca so must get a move on, but a gloriously beautiful day.

Day 37 - Ponferrada

Tuesday. Got down off the heights this morning and to Ponferrada this afternoon. After last two nites of Albergue experience, we checked intro hotel that did laundry! Coming down put of mountains, we had snow capped mountains on both sides of us.

The Albergue Experience

In the previous post realized we had not really said much about the experience of the alburgues, the bunk rooms run in many towns on the Camino and that make the whole enterprise possible by providing cheap places for pilgrims to sleep (with earplugs), get a shower (maybe with hot water, maybe not), wash their clothes (by hand usually) and generally survive on the trail. They tend to be noisy and fairly uncomfortable, especially for older folks who can afford a private room in a pension or hostel. But others are very good and all generally are run by volunteers or as small businesses by owners. When there is no room at the inn as there was for us, Sunday afternoon in a hailstorm, you learn a lesson in humility and gratitude for what really counts: being out of the rain; having hot water; having a place to lay down and get your boots off. Sharing two toilets with 34 other people no longer seems so important. And the risk of bedbugs becomes an acceptable hazard of the journey, given the alternatives..

Start of Week 6 -Cruz de Ferro

6am Mon. In a cold, noisy, Municipal Albergue bunkroom with 34 of our closest friends in Rabinal, the traditional jump off for MT Iriago and the iron cross, Cruz de Ferro, that stands on its summit. Today we will climb and add our own stones, carried from the railway station in Lourdes, to the huge pile at its base, and pray the traditional prayer that was heard in the movie, asking that the stone as a symbol of our efforts during this pilgrimage, one day weigh the balance in favor of our good deeds when we render the final accounting of our lives. THAT is a sobering thought. An outlandish idea to some perhaps, but one that becomes very real if you look at the physical effort and discomfort out here as a spiritual undertaking rather than as a mere adventure.

Day 35 - five weeks and counting

Day 35. Five weeks since we started the trail. Starting the ascent to Cruz de Ferrro, highest point after Col de Leopoeder at start, 1505 meters and will be there tomorrow (Monday). Fatigue is starting to set in again after 20+ km days. We may have to schedule one more rest day before the Camino is done. 500+ km as of day 34 yesterday. Weather reports are iffy.. Maybe rain, maybe sun for the summit tomorrow. Snow on peaks- see the pix.

Day 34 - there is an epic poem here somewhere...

Saturday, day 34, en route to Astorga. Another cold, windy day as we finish the plains and head for the hills beyond. As we crossed the historic bridge at Hospital and then the windy fields beyond, the idea began to form that this journey is the stuff of which dreams and epic poems are made. Perhaps ours should be called "the Lay of the Peregringos" or "the Song of the Affluent Unemployed".

Like so much else on this journey, it will come to us...

Day 33 - the Old Mill Hotel

Cold, windy day coming out of La Virgen Del Camino so we stopped at a Hotel Rural converted from old mill. Quite wonderful with good conversation and great dinner meal. A real highlight of our travels. Wish my Spanish was better to have enjoyed more conversation w/ our host and hostess. Perhaps that will be the next learning trip after Paris...

A new meaning of 'Miraculous'

Thursday 16 May Day 32. Before we left Leon today we went to see the cathedral. One of the early Gothic cathedrals started in the mid 13th C, it has a wonderful history of being in danger of collapse and rescued by genius architects in the 19th C. But the stained glass - can only be described as miraculous. The only place we have seen that rivals is the Sainte Chapelle in Paris which is tiny in comparison. Scaffolding obstructed part of the view - so we must return in 10 years to see the entire church uninstructed.

Poetry for the Camino

We now have poetry to contemplate as we depart Leon and its glorious churches for the climactic stages of our journey. Courtesy of friend Vielka, we think this wisdom was written for us, the wanderlust-driven; those who look ever for the new horizon and the distant shore for all our years, however long or short they may be...

The natural end of this journey is not Santiago, but Finisterre, Land's End, where perhaps we too will 'wake upon the sea...'

“Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road, and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path
that never will be trod again.
Wanderer, there is no road—
Only wakes upon the sea.”

from "Proverbios y cantares" in Campos de Castilla. 1912
Poems of Antonio Machado

How can it be a month already???

Realized it has been a full month since setting out from St Jean and more than that since John departed his job! We love retirement!! We are starting the last third of the Camino; 320 km and two high mountains lie between us and Santiago Compestella - and it doesn't matter. We are here for a reason; all we need to do is keep going to the end.

Day 31- Rest Day in Leon

Wednesday 15 May Day 31 rest day in Leon. Hotel breakfast was wonderful after a month of cafe con leche y pan (strong coffee cut with hot milk and bread) -the standard Spanish breakfast. We love the coffee and often fresh-squeezed zumo (orange juice) often available at bars in Spain, but after a month, hotel bacon and eggs are a treat! Our hotel is next to the Church of St Marcos and we got to go to noon mass there. Also saw the stunning Church of St Isidore. Pix of both dont do justice. Will visit Leon Cathedral this evening after siesta and do a bit of shopping to replace unsuitable clothing but otherwise this is a day to sit with wine in the sun and reflect on how blessed we have been to a) make this journey and b) remain unhurt! God is good.

Day 30 -At Leon

Tue 14 May. Today we went into Leon. We were going to stay at the Benedictine Monastery, but when we were told that married people were housed in separate dormitories , we decided we needed a hotel,so we checked into the Parador. FYI, that's the 5-star hotel that is featured in the movie, The Way. It is luxurious and we will stay 2 nites to recover from past 4 hi- mileage days. On way into town, we encountered that icon of US cultural imperialism, as shown in the pix. (We have not yet succumbed to a Big Mac Attack, yet , but John is definitely in danger...)!!

Day 29. On the downhill...

The last 3 days - Sat. Thru today, were the physically toughest since day 2 over the mountain. High mileage ( for us): 26.8; 20.3 and 26.4. - over 70km in 3days. 447.7km total as of Monday night at Mansilla. About 340 km to go. It's been hot and clear for past 3 days but allegedly cold/rainy is to make a return visit this week. Pix show the 'big country' we have been going thru, complete w/snow capped peaks on the horizon.

Saturday in the Sun

Day 27 was our longest day yet, 27 km,on a mostly sunny day, down a mostly flat trail. Had a long 17.5 km part if it without a town but we got across it carrying extra water with no problem. Not sure where we will wind up tonight, probably Sahagun, one of the larger towns along the Camino. We are at the halfway point of the journey both in mileage and in time. We may pick up a little speed in order to have time at the end for Finisterre; we'll see...

Sunshine on Day 26

Friday, day 26. Stayed at a wonderful Hotel Rural in Problacion last night. No rain and the sun came out today - intermittently - during the day. Pix is us rnjoying the first dunshine st a cafe in Villalcazar. Staying in the Poor Clares monastery hostel. With all due respect to the good sisters, it's overpriced and under-heated. But we have a double bed. 25+ km tomorrow as we approach the halfway pint in the journey.

Day 25 - In the Rain Again, just can't wait to get in the rain again...

Thurs, 9 May. 17.5 thankfully flat km in a pretty constant rain. No sunshine in prospect, not that it matters. The Way is the Way and the weather becomes irrelevant after a while. But a nice Hotel Rural with your own room instead of the communal Albergue makes a big difference at the end of a long, wet day. Had dinner with Germans, Swedes, Spanish and French couples. With the third and fourth bottles of wine, their English got better as did our German. A much more pleasant and informative discussion than the night before and we learned a lot about new parts of the world for us.

Day 24 - it's the trail that never ends...

From Wed, 8 May. 20.4 km today on the meseta in a couple of hills and valleys that the pix don't do justice to. Practiced a couple of songs to see if we could get all the lyrics instead of just snatches, Dinner conversation with some Canadian teachers was an education in different ways of seeing the world. We will thankfully continue to march to our different drummer...