I’m going home

I found a few of my pilgrim friends and we decided to have dinner and drinks on my last night in santiago de compostella. I had to get up 4.30 am to catch a bus to Madrid. So I’m thinking 9.30 pm in bed, remember, we are all knackered pilgrims. We were having a ball, pumpkin 🎃 time of 9.30 came and went. 10.30, then 11.30 and 12.30, and finally by 1 am, my head hit the pillow. By 5 am I was dressed and pack on my back, walking in through the square, past the cathederal with only one other pilgrim in my vision. Probably a little hung over, it was a special moment being able to reflect on the last few weeks. I walked through the small cobbled lanes in pitch darkness, until I finally walked out of the old town and into the the new one. By 5.45 am, I was on my rocket to Madrid. I slept a bit. At 2.30 pm, I arrived in Madrid and walked two kilometres to my hostal and relaxed after a shower and spoilt my self to a hair cut and beard trim. Finished the day sipping on beer in a sunny outside bar watching the world go by. Tomorrow my last day in Madrid, I might join the other thousands of tourists,and then fly home to my sweetie and catch up with family. Gayle and I will travel up the coast and laze around before getting back to the serious side of life. Maybe not. Life’s a beach. Love you people for sharing my journey. Your support spurs 💙 me on.

Relaxing

Today I stayed in bed till almost 9 am.I then lazily had a shower and lumbered to a cafe for bacon and eggs for breakfast. After breakfast I was casually walking around like other pilgrims and ran into black eye and friend. We hugged and took photos. Maybe catch up for a drink later today. Her eye 👁 looks much better. I said I will have to find a new nick name. I then proceeded to the cathederal early to get a front row seat, for the midday pilgrims mass. With the huge organ and usually many priests and nuns, it is a showpiece service. Today, only two priests and one nun completed the service. However there was a special treat at the end. They loaded the Botafumeiro. What is that?you ask. You need to google. It is the most incredible experience you can have going to a church service. It is a large thurible that hangs on a rope driven through pulleys, and it takes eight men to get it swinging. It then swings from one end of the roof top to the other. It weighs 53 kgs and measures 1.5 metres. It hangs from a height of 20 metres and can pick up great speed. Apparently,it is only performs when someone pays a lot of money. The experience is impossible to describe. This afternoon I am lazing about in the garden of the albergue chatting with other pilgrims. Some look battered, especially the ones with multiple blisters on their feet. I personally feel great. Apart from very little pain now in my left shin and the side of my ankle, and very little pain in my left knee, I’m almost ready for some more punishment lol. Well!!maybe I rest a bit more.

I made it

The sun was so good yesterday afternoon I lay outside on a lazy boy listening to music and drinking estrella from 5 pm to almost 8 pm. The sun just hangs there in the evening this time of year. I then had galician soup withcrustybread, veal and french fries, vino 🍷 naturally, and chocolate flam. Amazing food. After a good night’s sleep, I started on my last 22 k journey. There are now many pilgrims. Lovely day, plenty of sunshine now. I stopped at cafe, had hot chocolate drink and a galician sanga, not as good as yesterday, but still very nice. Rang my sweetie to say I will ring you later if you are still awake as I wanted to share my coming into santiago de compostella. Spoke to American pilgrims I met last night. Their pilgrimage is a holiday as most time spent on bus or cafe. They can’t believe that people actually walk carrying their belongings. I arrived, and as always, very excited and proud to have achieved another incredible feat. I sat and watched pilgrims arrive for the next three hours, just to reflect how wonderful the camino really is. I thought I might stay in a beautiful hotel for two nights and live like a spoilt pilgrim.But even with pilgrim’s discount, seven hundred and fifty euro,like eleven hundred dollars, nice, but no thanks, I went down the road to an albergue for forty euro. The funny thing is, the unfriendly woman pilgrim I met days ago, happens to be in the bed next to me. Maybe I will eat lots of onions tonight. I will rest and celebrate for the next two days and catch up with pilgrims who are not far away.

Spiritual day

Dinner was great. First course, salad with tomatoes, olives, cheese, onion, smothered with olive oil. Second course, large fish fillet, potatos and a beautiful sauce all over it. Third course, cheese cake, oh,and a couple of reds ,fifteen euro. Then after a good night’s sleep, walked straight into sunshine. No wind, no rain, no fog,no runny nose, no fogged up glasses and no frozen fingers. Wow, and no real hills to speak of. I walked mainly through woods and forest for the first five ks, and didn’t see a pilgrim. Then I entered a village and found a great cafe. The sandwich I ordered, the bread was warm,crunchy great taste. The cheese was delicious, and the ham was even more delicious. I called this my galician sanga. It was that good, I decided to save half for my picnic lunch later on. I finished my hot chocolate, and walked out to see about twenty pilgrims with day packs. By the time I got up the first hill leading out of the village, I had manouvered to get past all of them, even with dicky knee along for the ride and a full pack. By the time I reached the next woods, I was thankfully alone again, listening to the tune of all the birds. Amazing, a bit of warmth, and all of a sudden, lots of 🐦 birds. Actually, yesterday was the first time I had heard cuckoos. From memory, I heard them for days on end, not this trip though. I saw many pilgrims, but no familiar faces. At about one pm, I found a nice shady spot with picnic table and seat, and finished my galician sanga and a cup of tea. I took my socks and shoes off to cool them down, then walked for another couple of hours before my weary body found an albergue in a very small village. There is a restaurant only one hundred metres from here. I’m hoping they will have galician soup. I am going to pig out on galician style food this week, as I know how much I will miss it when I return home.

Getting busy

Met and had dinner with some new pilgrims last night. All women. That’s ok. Two germans and one frog. Another from I don’t know where, but unfriendly, so who cares. One of the germans had a black eye. Must have been lucky, as she fell and hit her head on the ground. When I suggested her friend did that, she tried to punch me and we laughed. Funny thing was german lady said, shit happens. I thought that was very funny. Had lentil soup, huge chicken leg, salad and french fries, vino and flam for dessert. Also later after dinner, my Spanish friends from inje’s dinner party arrived at the albergue. Now at 9.30 at night and everyone is going to sleep 😴 This morning I was last to leave the albergue. Including myself, there were eight people. I left under a foggy sky thinking that I would descend from the mountains. I was wrong again. The climb was straight back up to, you guessed it, more turbines. I hate them. They are not supposed to be where scenery and nature are the only beautiful things we still have. The human race is really dumb, thinking that these monstrosities are going to save the world. In their own way, they’re doing more damage than any individual does by spraying graffiti on buildings. You can clean the paint off. You can’t hide the turbines or stop the ugly noise they make. I walked fifteen kilometres before I saw another pilgrim. By now, the fog has lifted, and the sun is shining big time. It was black eye and her friend. Her friend laughed when I yelled out, hello black eye. I walked with them for a while and then took off. After twenty kilometres,the scene changed as primitivo now joins up with camino Frances, and many more pilgrims to contend with. It takes a bit of getting used to. A lot of the day was on country roads, but the bitumen got hot and made my feet very sore. Twice I had to stop and rest and change my socks. At the first stop, I had a sickly feeling, as I thought I had lost my wallet. Thankfully,I found it in my back pack. After twenty five ks, I saw an albergue and decided to stop here. They offered a washing service for eight euro, I thought great idea, as I have been hand washing an item or two each day. Now I get everything washed properly. As I was relaxing watching the pilgrims pass, black eye and friend passed. I said hi, but they decided to walk to the next village. I’m sure I will catch them tomorrow. Must be time for an ale. I love this place. A half litre stein of icy cold estrella two euro fifty, that’s less than four dollars. A very new modern albergue that also has a small swimming pool. I could live here. Can’t wait for dinner.

Wonderful day

Last night,I had a quiet night. I left the bunker for a walk, couple of beers in different bars, and had doner kebab for dinner. A good sleep and felt like I was running on seven cylinders this morning. With a bod like mine, eight is never going to happen. But better than the three I was running on two days ago. I left the bunker able to walk in my tee shirt and shorts always as the weather was a mild seven, no wind, no sun,but more important, no rain. As I sang my way out of Lugo, the river that I followed was beautiful, the bitumen became gravel and listening to the live football game essendon belting Melbourne I was on cloud nine. It is incredible, that walking across Spain in the middle of nowhere, and I am able to listen to a football match on the other side of the globe. And for those of you that don’t know me well,I love my red and black bombers. It was a great win. Melbourne are a big force, so the victory was sweet. I stopped and made a cheese and salami baguette and a cup of tea from my flask at a lovely waterfall. I’m so sorry none of my photos are not loading. I then continued on my merry way. I must admit the day got harder, as the afternoon included a couple of hard climbing,up and down. I made it to Ferreira,still in the mountains. Nothing here. Only an albergue. They have a bed,estrella galicia,(good beer)and they cook a home made meal,what else do I want?Nothing.I have had a nice hot shower, the sun has finally come to visit, and I am writing my blog drinking estrella. What a wonderful day.

Need to rest

Every part of my body was aching last night. Hugo also had problems with his feet. I got a message from Inje, inviting us to the albergue where her and Ilona were staying. She had gone to the supermarket and bought ingredients for a tomato thick soup. I bought a bottle of vino and we headed over. She is an angel. I got my plate of hot soup I was hoping for.There were two other Spanish pilgrims, and the soup and bread with vino was delicious. I am lucky to meet lovely new camino family. I slept well, but my body did not want to leave the bed this morning.I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I guess the fact it hadn’t stopped raining all night and snow predicted at the wind turbine level, wasn’t helping wanting to walk thirty kilometres. Hugo had decided to catch the bus to lugo and go home from there. I decided I too, need to catch the bus and rest today. If I have to, I will rest again tomorrow. The forecast for tomorrow is sun returning. This is the first time I have caught the bus. I must say, sitting in a warm, comfortable bus watching the rain tumble down does feel good. I do feel a bit guilty, but I do need to be fit to finish my camino before the end of next week before returning to Australia.I have slept a bit today and will go for a beer and a meal and have another good sleep. See how I pull up tomorrow. I’m amazed at how the weather changes so quickly. Less than a week ago, I was baking, treading on scorched ground. Now I walk through freezing cold and wet conditions. A bit like Australia

Tough pilgrims walk here

When I woke this morning, i was lucky I didn’t cut myself in the shower. The soap provided was in a glass jar. As I picked it up off the floor by the lid, the rest of it dropped to the floor and smashed.I left a note of apology, but pretty dumb using glass container. The weather looked OK as I left the comfort zone, things changed quickly for the worse. The sun never came out once. The first half of the journey was quite pleasant apart from heading back into the clouds amongst the wind turbines. I’ve never seen them go as fast as they were going round, I guess that explains why my finger nails were bending backwards. Before the weather deteriated completely, I was enjoying a forest walk and my phone rang. It was Emily,we had a nice chat until I walked out of the forest into a raging blizzard. From there the weather only got worse as the day went on. This afternoon heavy rain did not let up.I couldn’t believe my eyes when I came across Hans and Nada from Austria. I thought they would be still hung over from two days ago. I saw and passed other pilgrims. I finally found a cafe and had hot chocolate and a sandwich. While I was in the cafe, I met Hugo, a spanish pilgrim. We walked together in the miserable weather for the rest of the day and got a room together in a pension for 20 euro each. I hope to find a plate of hot soup this evening

Menacing day

Last night I met Hans and Nada from Austria in the bar I spotted from my window. I had seen them on the camino only to say beun camino and keep going. I think while I drank a beer, they polished off a decanter of wine. Nada told me that if it rains tomorrow, they would have a rest day as she didn’t have weather proof shoes. By the time I had more beers and Mario joined us,and left, they were scoffing down that wine like it was going to rain for forty days. I had my dinner of pulpo a feira(octopus and potatas),a dish famous for galician cuisine, and that’s where I will enter tomorrow, leaving the province ofAsterious behind.Inje dropped in for a wine. I was surprised the inn keeper still had some. By now Hans and Nada were singing and having a great time, so was I. But I knew I must leave, as a big day ahead, I needed sleep. As I said my goodbyes, I was convinced,should it be a fine day, they wouldn’t have a hope of walking anywhere. Woke up this morning, and the gods answered Hans and Nada’s prayers. It looked like it had been raining all night, and didn’t look like stopping for a while. I dressed accordingly, with my gators and poncho. The first section was ok on a paved surface. It was bitterly cold. I couldn’t feel my fingers. With my head pointing at the ground, I missed a turn. Luckily I realised my mistake after only 500 metres. What’s one extra kilometre amongst friends. When I rejoined the camino I joined Mario who had just appeared from nowhere. He told me he would walk along the highway, as he was worried he might slip on the slippery stones and mud that lay ahead. I told him I would follow the way as the highway frightens me any time, and now cars zooming along at high speed in rainy and foggy conditions was not for me. Also being splashed from the water on the road and spray did not appeal to me one little bit. The walk through the woods was nice except for the fact it was turning to mud and I couldn’t grip my walking poles properly as my fingers were numb. As I then started a huge ascent back to the wind turbines, with my numb fingers, my nose constantly running, and my glasses continually fogging up,you can imagine how good a time I was having. When I finally arrived past the half way mark,I found a cafe in the middle of nowhere. I removed my wet poncho and pack and had a hot chocolate. With my white fingers wrapped around the mug, I finally started to feel and move my fingers again. When I redressed my self, and walked outside, I felt it had actually warmed up a bit. Mind you, the thermometer wouldn’t have reached double figures. The fog had lifted, and the sun was trying to show itself. Less than ten minutes later it was raining again, the wind back to freezing and my fingers numb again. The day did improve slightly as the day wore on. The weather was teasing me. As the sun came out, it would disappear and start raining again. It did stay sunny long enough for me to eat some of my lunch. Yesterday I bought a ham and cheese sandwich. It was the size of a dinner plate. I reckon I will get three lunches out of it. When I finally saw my destination, A,Fonsagrada,I didn’t realise the last kilometre would be straight up and raining again. I found a pensione and headed straight into a screaming hot shower.

Easier than yesterday

But I am knackered. I don’t normally quote from the guide book, but I will today. It reads,following yesterday’s difficult stage, a shorter walk is certainly in order. Be advised, however, that this walk drops 800 metres in six kilometres. It has the potential to devour your knees. It doesn’t tell you you walk straight up hill for the first two kilometres rising 150 metres. And the final six kilometres you’re rising 350 metres. And some was actually on soft gravel and earth,and through woods. The wind was at it again howling cold. As you got to lower ground, the wind was quite gentle and nice with the sun shining through. The view of the river Navia down below in the valley was quite scenic. As I decended along the steep zig zag track it was always in view. Eventually I crossed the dam wall where hydro electricity is produced. And then after crossing the river,it stayed in view as the ascent towards my destination began. Talking about electricity I have to say, the only thing I don’t like about Spain is the wind turbines. They do wreck the scenery. Right away from the fires now, so that is a relief. Last night the municipal albergue had about ten people so I chose the next one about 50 metres further. There was only one other pilgrim there. His name was Mario from Brazil. Mario had spent his second night here as he was suffering from the previous day. A nice quiet night. Mario left early this morning. I was still snuggled up in bed. After he left, I got up, and after a nice hot shower, had breakfast in the local bar of toast and cup of tea. Inje, my dutch camino friend joined me from the other albergue. After breakfast we joked and had fun as we struggled up hills and down again. She is normally a snail, but today she walked faster and I walked slower as I needed to rest my knee. My foot is a lot better than three days ago, so I’m taking a lot less voltarin. Not letting up on the beer pills. When there was seven ks to go, we parted as Inje went to a restaurant while I picnicked alone. I then caught up with Mario, we walked together for a while before I found another gear and took off as the last six kilometres were climbing ones, and I now just wanted to get to Grandas de Salime and find accommodation. I have had a nice hot shower, so I am ready for a beer. I can see a bar from my window, I think that’s where I should go. Hopefully there will be other pilgrims. I saw Ilona this morning for a short time but haven’t seen her again. She and Inje met on the camino and have become friends.