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Camino

September - October 2023
A 52-day adventure by Sarah Read more
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  • TravelerCamino

    Alert to bunions

    July 26, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 9 °C

    I am trying out this travel blog to document our
    travels on the Frances Camino which we begin on the 13th September.
    Hopefully after each day I am not too tired to write up the day!
    I am sure it will be an adventure for better or worse. At present we are trying to do as much walking as we can but life has a habit of getting in the way! Most days on the Camino we walk an average of 25 km so its not a doddle for our aging feet, knees and hips.
    So how did I talk Brian into this adventure! After years of a bad knee Brian finally had the knee replacement which has been hugely successful so hopefully the knee not a problem. Then this year after 45 years of Optometry Brian retired so after hearing about our good friends Jane and Lee were doing it this September, we thought lets do this! Are we crazy , well possibly . But one thing we sadly learnt last year with the loss of our Jack ,is that you never know what life will throw at you.
    Its not long now and lets hope the heat waves and the fires in Europe are well over.
    I havent used a travel blog site before so this is a dummy run but if anyone out there is interested in following us on the way then this is the platform I will be using. Today it is blowing a gale in Waikanae and we were to walk Hemi Matenga but the weather was so atrocious I came home and made chocolate self saucing pudding! A great alternative occupation.    Read more

  • TravelerCamino

    Pengi on the Camino

    August 21, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    It is 2 weeks today that we leave for Paris with 2 nights in Muscat enroute.
    Our 3 year old grandson Ollie has kindly given me his little penguin toy "Pengi" to take on the Camino which is fitting for our finding Penguin blog! I just hope Pengi is not lost on our travels as he is very well loved.
    The walking regime is going ok but August in NZ not a great month to entice us out into the muddy outdoors !
    We are now just looking forward to letting the adventure begin!
    Next stop Muscat!    Read more

  • TravelerCamino
    1
    Day 1

    Off off an away

    September 4, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 15 °C

    Waiting to board plane to Sydney . All very exciting and lovely to be with Pilgrim 1 and Pilgrim 2. Let the adventures begin!

  • TravelerCamino
    1
    Day 5

    Muscat to Paris

    September 8, 2023 in Oman ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    We have had an interesting couple of days in an exotic city and a far cry from Palmerston North .
    After a wonderful spring day in Sydney wondering around the Rocks and harbour /Manly Bay area we boarded the plane to Kuala Lumpur with a few hours stop over and then on to the Mystique of Muscat in Oman.
    Oman is like UAE in that it is very wealthy due to oil and gas. Muscat the capital city is surrounded by jagged rocky hills and the Arabian sea. It is late summer here and incredibly hot as in 35 degrees.
    It is run by the Sultan of Oman who is worth an estimated 1 billion American dollars. Yesterday we had a great tour with Mohammed a devout Muslim and who was very handsome in his spotless white Omani traditional long tunic. Don't think I could cope with all that white!
    Mohammed was great and we saw the amazing Grand Mosque with a 9 ton chandelier made in Italy of 600,000 pieces of crystal. Not your everyday dining room light fitting. We were very pleased that the mosque was air-conditioned and I am sure the worshippers are too ,as they are called 5 times a day for worship. We were taken to meet an Imam after seeing the mosque and had an "interesting discussion" about the Islam faith. Lee the lawyer amongst us added quite a bit of light hearted debate to the chat which the Imam enjoyed. All the while we were eating delicious fresh dates and sipping on their wonderful coffee.
    Other highlights of the day was the beautiful opera house built and gifted by the old Sultan. We went to the market with of course a very exotic array of stuff so have bought my been to Oman pashmina ( from India) We saw the Sultans 2 ships berthed at the harbour and ended the trip in a great Omani Cafe having a lunch of lamb biryani. We were thankful for the hotel in the afternoon and out of the heat.
    We ate in at the hotel for dinner and realised after we had ordered that there was no alcohol allowed which certainly didn't hurt us. The previous night we had had cocktails at an amazing hotel Chedi on the shores of the Arabian sea watching the sun set. The joy of it all was slightly diminished by the costs of the drinks. $25.00 for a beer! For the first time ever I had a mock tail!
    We leave today for Paris and are hoping to catch most of the rugby game. Let's hope it's not quite as hot as here but it's been a great stop over and not a place on your normal radar. The people seem to be gracious gentle and friendly.
    Go the All Blacks... hopefully they won't be gracious and gentle!    Read more

  • TravelerCamino
    Day 10

    Beautiful Bordeaux

    September 13, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We arrived in Bordeaux yesterday and it seemed a nice change from Paris and not quite as hot!
    The trip to get to Bordeaux was not for the faint hearted as we had to navigate the metro at peak hour in Paris and then try and understand the workings of the Montparnasse train station..a major challenge and began to wish I had concentrated more in my french classes at school as not a word of English to be seen. We caught the fast train down to Bordeaux and it only took 2 hours so it was a very relaxing ride.
    We had done the day before in Paris a 4 hour cycle ride through the so called off the beaten tracks part of Paris but it didn't always seem that off the beaten track and we decided our bikes were quite wobbly..of course nothing to do with the riders. We did see some amazing places including a beautiful park Place des Vosges where Victor Hugo lived. We wobbled our way over the Seine and biked through the Botanic gardens. It is design week in Paris so masses of beautiful design and antique stalls. The heat was intense and cold beers were very much appreciated. The poor Notre Dame is still under repair and will not be ready for the Olympics but all the usual sites looked magnificent even in a heat wave. All the french are so gracious when they know we are kiwis and half apologise for beating us. You certainly know the RWC is on and the Irish nearly drank Bordeaux out of beer last weekend. By chance we banged into Sam Whitelocks parents in Montparnasse station so had a coffee with them and tried not to talk too much about the rugby!
    Today we went on a great trip out to St Emilion with a young french guide, gorgeous accent, twinkly blue eyes and red curls with an incredible knowledge of wine. The town of St Emilion is so old and so pretty and like Bordeaux ,all the buildings are made of sandstone. The wine harvest is to start in 3 days and we had a wine tasting of course! An acre of land in St Emilion costs approx 1 million euro so there were no life style blocks out there just rows and rows of grapes.
    So tomorrow we head to St Jean Pied de Port and start the walk on Thursday, walking 24 km with a climb of 1500 metres so no doubt the next blog will be from a very tired walker with 3 very tired walking companions.
    We have loved our time in France even if tres expensive and hot but so so chiq and stylish.
    Photos of the Chateau Montlabert where we went through the winery. Even the cellar was designed by an award winning architect and some of the walls were made of cork. Brian who loves Cathedrals saw his first one inside today at St Emilion
    Due to user malfunction and wonky wifi more photos coming separately!    Read more

  • TravelerCamino
    Day 11

    St Jean Pied de Paul to Roncesvalles

    September 14, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    So today was our first day actually walking the Camino.
    26 km with a climb of 1400 meters. It was tough hot and amazing! Easy to say that when we now have had a couple of hours to rest in our quaint hotel with a rose and beer under our belts! We were up at 6am and breakfast at 630 consisting of a baguette jam and a coffee. Hard case proprietor who thought we all crazy and wished us luck as he crossed himself!
    It was dark and cool when we we set off and was a steady and steep climb. But in the words of our Jack you just have to walk at your own medium pace! You just climb into the mist with the noise of cow bells and sheep bells and the odd horse! It reminded me of the land around Wanaka where they filmed Lord of the Rings. The border between France and Spain that we walked through is signified by a cattlestop and an overflowing rubbish bin!
    Onward we slogged meeting all sorts of interesting walkers, a whole contingent of Irish from Galway, a lovely Sth Korean man who wanted a photo of Brian and self! An American couple who now live in Equador in a fishing village and a hard case Welshman who was worried he wouldn't get a beer at the monastery he was staying in! Lots of baby boomers walking and although we got in at 3 pm some were still walking in at 6pm! Beautiful day here and off soon for a pilgrim dinner. So so pleased we have the first day under our belt and in the words of Ed we knocked the bastard off! Buen Camino    Read more

  • TravelerCamino
    311
    Day 12

    Roncesvalles to Zubiri

    September 15, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    After a fun pilgrim dinner last night with copious spanish wine and feeling very pleased with ourselves to have day 1 under our belt, we were up early for our pilgrim breakfast. As someone who loves muesli yoghurt and fruit in the morning it's a bit hard to adjust to big chunks of bread, croissants and ham and cheese. The coffee is pretty good though.
    We walked 21 km today and was not nearly as tough as yesterday. We walked through countryside with cows horses and even a couple of donkeys. We passed the hotel where Earnest Hemmingway stayed probably writing his morbid book on the Spanish Civil War! It's fun to walk through little villages all offering food and drinks to the pilgrims. We all felt our calf muscles today and although we walked through pretty beech and pine forests the descent into Zubiri was pretty slippery on grey slatey rock. Thankgoodness we have poles as I surely would have been a over k.
    As I write this I can hear cow bells ringing in the distance and a little stream flowing outside our window. For $60.00 per couple we have just had a 3 course meal and a bottle of red wine so we at the late time of 8 pm are heading to bed. We continue to meet interesting people as we walk along and talk for awhile then they or we move on. It's never boring!
    Tomorrow we walk to Pamplona.
    Buenos noches    Read more

  • TravelerCamino
    Day 13

    Zubiri to Pamplona

    September 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    So I awoke to this morning with my dearly beloved slapping himself and hearing the words of " take this you fkn bastards! I thought oh dear this is a very aggressive way to start a new day on the Camino but it turned our he had been attacked by the Zubiri mossies all night and had had the worst night ever with no sleep. Anyway we started our walk in the semi dark and climbed out of Zubiri with bells ringing , horses grazing and the Arga river running beside us. We could have been walking up the Hinemaia river.
    However it's day 3 and our bodies were starting to feel a little weary. I got my first blister at the base of a toenail but my fellow pilgrims were doing OK. Main problem was tight calf muscles
    Anyway the walk of 21 km proceeded in pretty warm conditions. We walked 5 km before we had breakfast and the hard case cafe owner wanted to know when he heard we were kiwis how the ABs were going...this is in Spain! We then met a German couple whose son didn't suit the "" German schooling "so sent him off to Otaki college in NZ. He loved meeting us, especially when we said we had a house at Waikanae.
    So on and on we walked the 21 km but it seemed a long way walking into Pamplona especially going through the poorer areas but then the old walls of Pamplona appeared and we walked through into the buzzy old city part and was amazing. It's Saturday night here and the town is humming. Have had an amazing meal of tapas in a bar hanging with parma hams.
    We will certainly sleep well tonight and thankfully have a rest day tomorrow.    Read more

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