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  • anna-being-annaanna on the caminoanna-being-anna

    ... and home-coming

    3 czerwca 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Day 47
    One last BIG step took me back to Kimpton: home again …

    … smile! And … sigh …

    ... re-orbitting can be tricky, wouldn't you agree? It is beautiful here in this home, village, country, and world where I live, and ‘my’ people are super super people (this is you!). But like the aeroplane’s touchdown at Stansted last Monday afternoon, which left me feeling jarred and upsy-downsy for quite a while, this home-landing has its bumpy moments, and (let me be honest) my belly is churning with ‘and now … who what how?’ and all sorts of other unanswerables.

    I have had SUCH a special time - or what word suits better to describe the now 7 weeks that lie behind me? Amazing, awesome, fabulous, wonderful, beautiful, happy, delightful, super, lovely ... or just plain 'nice'? No word and no words will convey to you truly what this experience has been like for me, my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

    Of course, I realise that no words will adequately tell what has been going on in your life either. One thought that has returned to me again and again is that whilst I live at the centre of my own universe, so too do you; and so each tree, each cat, each splash of each wave, each stone on each footpath. Not exactly profound, is it? Yet how often I find myself thinking that it would surely be better if [x other person] should see things, do things, decide things MY way. Or that this flower is mine for the picking, this dog mine to pet, this view mine, this experience mine. Mine. About me! In each of us lies such complexity and beauty that it is unimaginable by any other, a story lived and a world inhabited only by one individual in all of history. Can I see and love what I experience without needing to claim it, influence it?
    This unattached, unjudging attitude might just be the birthplace of awe. Awe draws me. Oh for more moments of awe!!

    I kinda hope to find a space inside of me where the freedom and happiness I've been - how to express the feeling? - I've been ... bathing in for these weeks can stay safe; not guarded, not held onto, but just 'there'. Available. I want to remember again and again that 'this is what it feels like to be me'. Not needing to reminisce, however lovely the memories are, and not pining to return even if I might love to (with you, perhaps?). It's that I've so enjoyed my own company, and I really don't want to lose touch!

    Sometimes we permit other people a glimpse behind our well-constructed, well-conserved outer shell; sometimes it's cathartic to share our story; sometimes it feels like a gift, to be 'invited in'. With a few words and a few pictures I have told some of the story of my Camino, but it's hardly been a deep dive. For that you are most welcome to come for a face-to-face heart-to-heart! (And will you reciprocate?)

    The Camino is a microcosm of all of the rest of life. You will have perhaps perceived from my daily reports that although I only took a small amount of physical kit on my back, the ‘stuff’ that I carry with me at home came with me: the concerns, loves, fears, delights, anxieties: my own particular ways-of-being-me. And I don’t want my Camino de la Vida to stop! The path that is my life, that is, much more significant than a few weeks of trekking in Spain. I’m sure my reflections on my experiences of the last 7 weeks will continue, and it might be a long time before I understand all of what has happened and what might have changed in me. I hope that you will continue to be a Camino companion along the way.     Czytaj więcej

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    A weekend's rest ...

    2 czerwca 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Day 45+46
    After Fisterra we spent 2 days at a newly opened tiny retreat house just south of Fisterra. Conceived and created by 2 Italian women Ilaria and Nadia, 'daur, the middle door' arose out of the wish to support pilgrims in their reflections and reintegration following the Camino. Restful, generous, welcoming, warm, loving. Mindfulness practices, yoga and movement, and sharing. www.daurthemiddledoor.com

    Jon and Bernadette from Bristol, Anne from US, Angie from Ohio (see Monte de Gozo), Caren, Kelly (with a broken leg!), Nadia and Ilaria.
    Here the sun sets glorious in the western sky.     Czytaj więcej

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    1

    The end of the world

    31 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ 🌬 18 °C

    Day 44 / Day 7 Camino dos Faros
    Fisterra: the end of the world.
    We sent our rucsacs by taxi today so that our 28km path through some tough terrain, including ascents and descents totalling 800m, would be enjoyable. And it really was. It really was! It was the best possible weather from sunrise to sunset: a clear sky, a warm sun but with enough chill on the mounting breeze to keep us comfortable. No grey, no cloud, no rain! At last, a simply beautiful day.

    Fisterra, the place considered for centuries to be the far edge of the world. The zero point marker proves this! I walked 1000 kilometres over 6 weeks to be there, only to find - as Luca pointed out - that I'm always only ever, in all of my life, at the boundary between the known and the unknown. I know what's behind me, at least my one little perspective onto the experiences I have had, but I know nothing of what's in front of me. Only ... if that view of the seemingly endless sea is anything to go by, anything to take encouragement from, it's going to be beautiful. Very beautiful indeed.     Czytaj więcej

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    1

    Quieroso

    30 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ 🌬 17 °C

    Day 43 / Day 6 Camino dos Faros
    Muxia, where we had breakfast before starting walking, is one of the 'zero points' of the traditional Caminos: many people don't finish their pilgrimage in Santiago de Compostela but walk on, to Muxia and/or to Fisterra. Our Camiño dos Faros joins these routes for the last few days.
    Although we relish taking the edge-est edge cliff paths, which increases each day's overall distance, we decided to reduce today's miles by chopping off a couple of headlands (with their lighthouses) so that we could enjoy every step we did take, and arrive at our accommodation with time to nap, wash, chill out. Another dull day of weather, but that gave a comfortable temperature for walking. There was a windy swish swash swosh at the top of the mountain range, most unexpected and puzzling: was it the wind dancing deliriously through the treelines creating a peculiar vortex, or perhaps actually an alien spaceship hovering there in the cloud? ... the sun burnt off the cloud very suddenly and the more ordinary explanation - another row of powerful wind turbines - proved to be correct. I wonder who thought to suggest that?

    A hamlet with a few dilapidated buildings, a few inhabited ordinary-looking homes and a few immaculately restored holiday places. And a gorgeous ancient mama-dog who came a-calling and a-begging for attention. Our accommodation was beautiful.

    Wonderful surprise menu for dinner, a shared bottle of wine with another guest; a happy end to the penultimate day of walking.

    Tomorrow we will go to the end of the world.     Czytaj więcej

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    Moraime

    29 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Day 42 / Day 5 Camino dos Faros
    A dull start in terms of weather ... is a serious understatement! We walked in mist or cloud, with no panoramic views although we were in the heights again and again, until well after lunchtime ... but doesn't it feel wonderful when the sun breaks through, the perspective expands, and temperature begins to glow, and everything, absolutely everything brightens up?
    We visited the lighthouse museum at Vilán, still in the mist so no distance view, but were able to have a nap at the chapel at A Virxo da Monte just as the sun was beginning to clear the cloud and warm everything up. So a hop and a skip down to Camariñas, where we took the bus to skip the next stage and arrive at the posh Monastero de Moraime hostel. Should have been the best stay of my whole Camino, a big treat, but they somehow failed to communicate that the restaurant is not open this early in the season, and we had to get a taxi into Muxia to find food. I was sooo tired I nearly cried.
    But it was, then, actually, the superb-est meal I've had here, with gooseneck barnacles (extraordinary experience!) followed by a seafood risotto (was it not paella? It wasn't named as such) which was awesomely delicious. Relief, good wine and good company help, no doubt.

    Don't you think the wild nasturtiums on the beach look like a beach fire ... at least just a little?     Czytaj więcej

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    11

    Arou

    28 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Day 41 / Day 4 Camino dos Faros
    Lighthouse, lighthouse, yes we are passing by every possible lighthouse on the Galician coast. It's the Camino dos Faros' , the 'Path of the Lighthouses' after all. But none of them permit visits up to the tower!

    Today's most impressive feature was the enormous rock forests. That's my word for it. I have always absolutely loved leaping from rock to rock, learned on the beaches of Wales in childhood holidays, and I'm very happy to find that I can do it again, now I've become strong in my legs and hips and back. And even with my heavy pack on my back!

    I also love a quick dip in the cold sea on a hot day. After a grand climb climb climb in the heat of the day we were suddenly presented with the fabulungus view you see here, and although the currents were strong and the outgoing tide's pull out to sea palpably dangerous, the far end of the beach was calm enough to have a quick dive and a splash - both of us! - before trudging on.

    Accommodation in a little apartment with sea views, hosted by a gorgeous little old lady who seemed utterly delighted to have us in her home.     Czytaj więcej

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    Laxe

    27 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Day 40 / Day 3 Camino dos Faros
    Today was really challenging with its rock-clambering heights and depths, not a path for the faint-hearted in terms of precipitous steepnesses and vertiginous edges, but I guess we must be tough-enough cookies. To be honest, at times I just don't look. At others I look, see, and judge that I can just lean left a little to make myself feel a little easier!
    And a little earlier on the route than planned, because of the creaking knees after the challenging terrain, we took a bus to our hotel - yes, today a 'proper' hotel, not something I've seen much, despite being accommodated daily in guesthouses throughout Northern Spain.
    Too tired to even notice much of the town we were in, but a delicious dinner of fish and new favourite side of padron peppers, with my go to 'radler' (European shandy) restored some verve. We could hear distant bagpipes and drums being played well into the night.     Czytaj więcej

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    Niñons

    26 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Day 39 / Day 2 Camino dos Faros
    This is wild, rough, rugged ... and GLORIOUS. The paths are narrow, and in places one step to the right (the sea is always on our right) could be fatal; we chamber up and down over huge rocks, and stumble in places, but oh it's wonderful!
    It helps that the sun shines nearly all day!

    The homestay accommodation was sweet, alongside Brian and Nicole from Philadelphia, US. Home cooked tortilla a speciality!     Czytaj więcej

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    Malpica

    25 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Day 38 / Day 1 Camino dos Faros
    Malpica is the start of the 'Camiño dos Faros' which I will be walking with Luca for a week.

    Heike popped up again (from Basel) this weekend, after I took a day off (Day 37) to rest and explore the city, to help celebrate my successful Camino! She heroically hired a car so we could fetch Luca from A Coruña airport (only 5 hours delay, flying in from Milan (grimace)) and take us all to Malpica for the night.

    The cherubs in Santiago cathedral, which we whizzed through in the morning after breakfast, have a very unfair division of labour. Some have to prop up a huge ceiling decoration for all eternity - doesn't it look uncomfortable? - while some get to play with garden hoses and have water fights! How is that right? Apologies to those reading this who take cathedral decor seriously. I find it both intriguing and uncomfortable, and have to seek out things that I CAN enjoy: often what others wouldn't notice, and rarely what gets praised in the guidebooks.
    On the other hand, finding evidence of a different subculture - the members not walking on water but apparently flying on broomsticks - is always most entertaining and never incongruent at all.

    I liked the house-higglepiggle in Malpica.     Czytaj więcej

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    3

    Santiago de Compostela

    23 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Day 36
    I have arrived.
    It feels ordinary, a lot like most of the journey has been: I'm me, I'm here, this is what I'm doing right now, nothing special to say!
    Probably the reflections will follow on behind (or do they await me ahead?). Perhaps the emotions too.

    I'm glad, glad at it all. Glad about it all. Aren't I lucky?     Czytaj więcej

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    Monte de Gozo

    22 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Day 35
    I'm nearly nearly nearly there ... but I've purposely stalled at the -5km mark so as to arrive early tomorrow morning before the hubbub of city life erupts. I want it to be a quiet entry before the celebrations begin.
    Very mixed emotions.
    Sharing a room with Angie from Ohio, perhaps the person most on a wavelength with me from the whole adventure so far ... a gift of a roommate! Our conversation is a series of 'me too's which is most wonderful.
    So, here I am at the last stage ...     Czytaj więcej

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    1

    Santa Irene

    21 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Day 34
    Joining the French Camino route has been a really interesting experience: we walk in groups, ones, twos, and overtake or are overtaken by others continually. Every cafe has tables filled with detritus from the previous users, and there are queues inside for the toilets. The prices of food and drink have risen, and the cosmopolitan range of food increased significantly. And the quality. There are many many day walkers - not carrying their kit - and more Spanish speakers, more US, UK, Irish, and 'other' nationalities (that I've met fewer of until now, like Danish, or South African, or Argentinian). It's busy busy busy.
    But actually very pleasant.
    It feels like I'm being funnelled gently towards the Big City, where there will likely be a huge hubbub of pilgrims, ordinary tourists, locals and who knows who else? I'm remembering the hilarious TV clip I saw in the breakfast bar this morning. Take a look at the photos: are the nuns who are thronging the Pope thinking they have a chance at winning the offer in the top corner of the screen? (Apologies [2 days later], I just realised not everyone understands Spanish... the ad is for "Who wants to be a millionaire?"!! ... (I think it's funny)).

    Met 4 fun Irish women at lunch, Cliodhna and Máire from Galway, and Michelle and Siobhan from Dublin. Lots of Camino gossip (in the nicest possible way), lots of laughing, a really nice vibe between them; and I walked on with Michelle and Siobhan. At the cafe ours was the only table with flowers: I noticed that the other tables were bare only halfway through the lunch. A pilgrim must have picked them and put them in the table cutlery container, just for anyone lucky enough to follow on. And talking of flowers there were - astonishingly - about 8 new species on today's walk, including a marsh orchid, and two plants I've never seen before (as opposed to not yet identified): grey everlasting, and jersey cudweed. Using an app to identify flowers is amazing! It helps differentiate between similar-looking but actually-different plants in a way I could not have done any other way. It's also very quick.

    A sweet hostel, small, well off the beaten track, and once again I was given the bed around the corner from everyone else and near the window. My perfect space!

    Cat who sat on my feet to get my attention, Gill and Nick from Kent, birthday girl from Denmark, 6 Italians, a morose Norwegian. And a message from Dorien, Netherlands, whom I met on day 15. How lovely lovely lovely is that?

    People are wonderful!     Czytaj więcej

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    Ribadiso

    20 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Day 33
    Feeling under pressure for time - I want to arrive in Santiago on Thursday and have a couple of days to rest and enjoy the city before setting off with Luca again at the weekend - and rather threatened at the prospect of therefore having to walk up to 30km a day feeling as weary as I was yesterday, I skipped a day's worth of walking by taking a bus. Happy cheat! It's only me (...and petty, competitive people, you know) who take any interest in the 'purist' completion of the Camino: the unspoken rules of the road include always carrying your own bag, never taking public transport, going completely offline even for finding the way, not taking any days off. Now I have broken them all, hooray! (I call it 'grace'!)

    Hilariously, I missed the intended bus stop and had to wait for another bus to go back 20 minutes so I could start at my intended town at 4-doable-days' distance. We pilgrims collect 'stamps' at every overnight stay and often in restaurants, cafes and churches, did you know? It is part of the Camino culture that every sleepery and eatery has its own logo, so the collection serves as proof of where we have been; at the end, in the Santiago pilgrims' office, the well-stamped 'Credential' enables us to receive the 'Compostela', a rather super certificate of completion. In the last 100km we have to have at least 2 stamps a day over the distance we have walked; that was why I needed to go back and not just double-cheat!

    I managed then to walk over 25km, feeling bright and perky all day ... perhaps I needn't have taken the short cut after all! It was pretty flat terrain today, and the weather was mostly dry and even a little sunny, which of course makes every step feel a little lighter.

    Lugo city centre was much nicer empty and in the bright morning sun than yesterday, when it was full of TOURISTS (those pesky people!), noisy and busy. The other photo subjects just took my eye. The more the days and the distance pass, the less I'm interested in the landscape, it seems. Perhaps it just seems to be 'normal' now; I wonder if I will regret in future taking so few pictures. But I still found several new flowers today! The number of flowers I have identified has is nearing 200: YES IT'S TRUE!

    Ginny and Martin, Orlando. Jenny, Islington. 2 couples from Boston. Dora, Hanover. Laurence, Sandwich.

    It's so good to be here     Czytaj więcej

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    Lugo

    19 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Day 32
    Rain. Even the town sculpture in Castroverde suggests that it rains a lot here and that we need to support each other when everything is grey.

    I felt very weary today, and emotional. The old chestnut tree was one of the loveliest encounters this morning. When the churches are all locked, as if we are disapproved of, as if to fend us off, the natural beauty feels all the more sweetly welcoming and wonderful. A tree like this might predate any of these buildings; it might have seen more comings and goings, might have witnessed a huge variety and number of human, animal and plant life-events never usually taken indoors! I still knock on every locked church door, a symbolic act of request and protest: this Camino is for at least some of us - for me, yes, for me - intended to be a spiritual pilgrimage experience: we pilgrims should be able to enter designated religious buildings to pray along the way, or what's the reason for their existence? It seems to me that if I can't do that, then I could be better off not wasting my time approaching the church buildings (I passed perhaps 6 locked chapels today, and knocked at each one) but letting nature communicate the presence and strength, the faithfulness and peace that I seek. After all, nature was there proclaiming everything good long before humans created philosophies and structures intended to contain and direct our behaviour.

    Still finding new flowers I haven't spotted before, but it takes an eagle eye to spy anything new among the greens and colours of the wayside. Or to notice that this little flower head, whilst being very similar to whatever-it-was the other day, is actually probably a different plant or even species. Spotted rockrose, southern camomile, sweet spurge.

    I am enjoying the Galician stone and slate cottages; I could almost be in the Cotswolds! It's a gentle grey, comfortable, homely. The landscape has reduced from mountains and heathland to hills and fields, and again feels familiar from home.

    Lugo, a walled city with a wealthy feel obviously of historic significance (although I have no desire to explore its story), is grand, and the Cathedral grander yet. I met with Petra, the pilgrim I've most enjoyed catching up with again and again, and we ate lunch together before finding a central hostel. Joined in a Pentecost mass. Although the cathedral art is impressive, I find much more pleasure in the quirky bits of decor than the grandiose, like this little cherubic guitar maker (Luca?).     Czytaj więcej

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    Castroverde

    18 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Day 31
    It rained all day. All day it was either actually raining or just-finished-just-about-to-rain.
    My feet were wet within about an hour of leaving the hostel, but - hey did you know? - merino really does keep you warm even when wet. The goretex shoes impress me less.

    One friend, known for her speedy pace, raced past me with an audiobook on loudspeaker, saying that listening to a distracting story helps her feel the day is going more quickly ... and as she dodged a muddy puddle groaned 'ich hasse es!'. She hates what?! This glorious opportunity to spend all day walking, yet again, in idyllic Spanish countryside, with today's particular views (admittedly limited in distance), these flowers and this birdsong, these companions, this destination? At that moment it felt like I had fireworks going off in my chest, I was so HAPPY: Happy to be here, now, with these conditions, all of them, and happy that somehow I have come to love what some others experience as suffering. Isn't that wonderful?

    Met Anne and Steve, brother and sister from Peckham. I was taking a food break in the porch of a little chapel, and playing my fife, when they came to see if it was open, and her 'ooh' was SO English (a disappointed sort of sound, when she saw it was locked) that I had to comment: "that's definitely an English 'ooh'!" We walked and talked for an hour or so, until we all stopped at a -hosted cafe for coffee, and walked on then separately. I enjoyed a bit of British chat for a change!

    For the last 7km I happily coincided with Steve from Oxford/ now living in Maine. Intriguing how conversation topics develop, and how it's possible to invest trust in a stranger to tell one's personal story in a way perhaps many friends haven't heard it. It seems to me that some of my pilgrim companions are letting their guard down more at this point, and making use of each others' ready ears and open hearts to explore and express important personal issues. I like this dynamic.

    The hostel here is nearly empty, but one friend (actually the mud-hater above) has the bunk next to mine, so we've enjoyed a meal together, gone shopping to prepare breakfast to share, and played a game of dice. She bought a bottle of wine in the last town, but her two Camino buddies gave up today's walk early and haven't shown up here, so she and I glugged some of it down in the early evening. Not bad, not bad.

    Older Italian couple, also from Lake Como! Brazilian couple, very friendly.

    Few pics; it was not a day for stopping.     Czytaj więcej

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    O Piñeiral

    17 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Day 30
    The hostel common room was busy last night, especially with a group of 8 or so youngsters eating together, and another group of 3 Italian men plus one Dutch guy: Italian men know how to look after themselves, don't you know?! They were cooking a superb spaghetti carbonara together, which made my individual vegetable omelette look measly (but it was delicious, and just as well as I had been schlepping the already cooked vegetables for two days in my rucsac, waiting to find eggs!). Sometimes, I think, it would be nice to be part of a meal group, but somehow I end up eating on my own. Am I too self-sufficient? Or too shy to invite someone to join me? Or too 'something' to be invited by others?

    I then took a walk into the village and sauntered into the Museo Etnografico, just at the same time as Alfonso from the Netherlands. The lady assumed we were together and mentioned the entry price for two, so he paid my ticket; in return I bought him a beer later. These easy get-to-know-you relationships are great, no complications, lots of simple openness and of course lots in common to talk about, even if only about sore feet, or the rain, or 'yes it's my first Camino' (or, '... my 4th' ... or, 'I have been coming every year since 1972'). I'm tending at this point to ask straight up what someone's 'Camino story' is, and mostly people answer something very ordinary like 'it's just a sport holiday', but sometimes I get to hear something more personal, and that is of course what I love. Jason, 23, Netherlands, rubix geek and self-taught/ self-motivated social researcher in their field of expertise, children's mental health services. Awe-inspiring personality and a lovely energy. Alan, US, second wife, downsizing, ' I have come to realise I like my life just as it is, simple, ordinary'. Dieuw, Netherlands, 'I want to be a mum, and I'm considering being a single mum'. Petra, Germany, 'I nearly packed it all in today ... hug?'

    Slept rather restlessly and woke before 6, so decided to walk with the dawn and left the hostel before 7. Not that there was any sun to see; a day of cloud and rain, almost all day. Wet feet. Dry everything else, with my lovely umbrella (hmmm, do I need to give her a name? Suggestions please). Happy everything.

    Entered Galicia! Ate lunch in a restaurant, a super delicious fish soup, with white wine, and shared a Pastel de A Fonsagrada dessert with Frank and Jürgen. Jürgen's dessert, that is to say, with three forks. (I'm gonna try that recipe at home; will you come and share it? Basically butter, eggs and almonds, with a splash of cognac. Soooo good.) AND Jürgen paid for my meal!

    Upgraded to a single room at the hostel/ hotel, so I'm in bliss. I've put the heater on so I can dry my shoes out properly. That's about the level of interest in life for a pilgrim after a month of walking and a day of wetness. Bare necessities!

    I'm very aware that I will arrive in Santiago in under a week. Walking 25km a day is normal, now, and 30 easy enough. My back is strong again. The journalling and painting has not done what I'd hoped, but that's okay. Perhaps another time? I've had no great revelations along the way, but I'm content with what is.
    It's just me. This is it. Easy.

    Just thankful.     Czytaj więcej

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    1111

    Grandas de Salime

    16 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Day 29
    Started in grey and wet bluster with lots of complaints from the walkers but none of them from my mouth! I love weather. I love the changeability of temperature, atmosphere ... of the feel, the challenge of it all. And it really really helps that I have great kit ... I even sang a little song to my super yellow storm umbrella. You are my sunshine ...

    Stumbled across a friendly Italian gent, Eduardo, while he was sheltering from the rain under the decrepit roof of the porch of a tiny chapel, and we walked most of the way together. He's carrying his tent and everything, impressively for a 73 year old, and - can you imagine - even including 'Prince of Wales' tea, which he then brewed up for me in his billy can at a little lunch stop we made. And he granted me a sliver of his precious parmigiano reggiano, brought with him from Italy and obviously the biggest treat of his hike! All I could offer him was black chocolate.
    Yes, he's smelling the moss (see pic). I like weird.

    A short day, 17km, essentially one huge up and one long down, followed by a little up-down. Now you know. All remote. The reservoir is (or was) the biggest in Europe, Eduardo told me, built in 1948, and villages up and down the valley had to be lost to the water. Isn't it a remarkable decision to do this? A bit like the HS2 project, at least for those who lose their homes, but there's something that feels really ancient and archetypal about this, intriguing, haunting, romantic even.

    Joy (China/ London) shared a room with me at the monastery on Day 12; she just turned up at this hostel. Surprise!
    Everyone else seems to be new. I find that also surprising, almost more so: I might meet no-one all day, or, as today, leapfrog many others (Danish, today, for the first time, and Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, don't know what else), but there must be a finite number of people on the trail!
    There's just one week left of the usual 'stages', the last 160km or so before Santiago, and I've been planning accommodation a bit more in advance than before. When we join the Camino Frances a few days before Santiago, there could be several hundred pilgrims in any one town, all simultaneously wanting a bed and food! Some of these will have walked a similar distance to me, from St Pied de Port in the French Pyrenees, but others only 100km, the distance that justifies receiving the Compostela certificate from the Cathedral.

    My application for Italian citizenship has at last at last at laaaaaaaaast been accepted, after months of hassle and anxiety about all the hoops to be jumped through. I've had to deal with additional elements of it several times in the last month, for hours in fact, on the road, when I was wishing I could be paying attention to nature and beauty and la-la-la ... (Thank you Luca for all your patient help). One of these days I shall be accepted as an Italian/and therefore also as a European. That day there will be beers all round, whoever I'm with!     Czytaj więcej

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    11

    La Mesa

    15 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Day 28
    I actually overslept this morning, unbelievable, right, in a dorm, but felt so good when I woke up! The terrain was the hardest yet, with a huge ascent for the first half day, and a rain-wind storm at the top; tough going. But it was familiar mountainous walking, like the Alps perhaps, and I was alone ALL day ... apart from the moment I missed a turning, walked way down a forest path, and heard a voice shouting all sorts of things of which the only thing I understood was 'chica'! It was the forest ranger who had watched me wander off, came after me in his vehicle and gave me a lift back to the road. Rescued! Then I walked with an elderly Australian man for several miles until he stopped off at his accommodation; I sang my way downhill to my hostel. The cows are always intrigued when I sing.

    I was loving the patterns, tones and textures today. Fewer flowers but more lichen, moss and ferns. Loving the cloud, the sudden low visibility, the spit and blast of the changeable weather, the subdued light into the distant hills, the loneliness. Loved the ‘taixu’ tree. 1000 years old. Warm, there, safe.

    Just before bed I experienced a hostel classic. Three friends at one end of the 24 bed dorm opened the window, creating a draught; the two ladies beyond me but 4 beds away from the window area went to close it. Twice, both. Or was it three times. The 'Openers' objected, loudly, in bad English, the 'Closers' responded in similarly bad English, neither listening to the other of course, and no 'please can we... because..'. To and fro, voices raised, shouting, foreign incomprehensible aggression flying over my bed as each expressed their anger; the Closers went to get the Host who marched in and clapped it shut, muttering and tutting. The window-hoggers whose German I understood then worked out that if they lowered the external shutters the draught would be less noticeable, so plotted to open up again later ... which they did, I'm glad to say. Hostel muff is awful.

    It was a cartoon, would have been funny if it were not a really uncomfortable caricature of people's inability to treat each other as humans sharing the planet. Isn't it just like life? Sigh...     Czytaj więcej

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    Pola de Allande

    14 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Day 27
    Another day without the rucsac, and what a difference it makes to walking a long distance! Today was incredibly changeable in the weather, with no half hour constant: spitty rain followed by glowing warmth, and wonderful wind, then wet rain, gentle breeze, chop and change, and, at the very end, one half of the sky blue and the other covered in raincloud (two photos show this below). No rainbows, but I kept looking for them. Marvellous, all of it.

    It was lovely walking with Simon and Denise/NZ at several points, chatting about random all-sorts, as you do. It's very easy to be together for a short while with another pilgrim, perhaps meeting up at a cafe when you stop for a coffee, and then leaving together, but then to go your separate ways if someone needs to stop and put a coat on, or if your pace is different, or just because you wanna walk alone. Nice to not have to excuse yourself or be embarrassed. Everyone knows we all have to go at our own best speed and take breaks independently.

    I was playing my little fife at one point, wandering down an idyllic woody pathway, and failed to take a critical turning. Found myself way off the route, but at such a simple parallel distance from the right path, I thought, that I decided to brave cutting across the wood/ field/ fence/wall/ undergrowth/ stream ... a bit of a hack, to be honest, but I do like a challenge!

    Took another alternative path (shorter, and on purpose this time) and wandered around an abandoned monastery a little, but it felt a bit creepy so didn't stay long! My practice now with all the churches and chapels we pass is to try the door; mostly they are locked. Then I knock, to show I'm requesting entry! If the door is open - yesterday, unusually, there were three open churches, all explicitly welcoming pilgrims - I go in and kneel to pray briefly, or even lie down on the stone floor. Just a symbolic action of open-handedness, and open-heartedness (a bit dramatic, but no one else sees me so it's only me who finds it weird!). I want to keep reminding myself to welcome whatever offers itself to me on this Camino, without pre-determining what that should see or feel or sound or look like.

    I'm singing a lot when I'm on my own. Easy, fun, la-la-la, unambitious, funny how I can remember words of songs sometimes and not at all at other times. Lots of childhood songs coming up into my memory! When the road is rough and steep, glad that I live am I, I'll sing you one-oh.

    A nice short day tomorrow, 12 miles perhaps, but with a very big ascent at the start. Looking forward to it!     Czytaj więcej

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    2

    Tineo

    13 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Day 26
    My back was really badly in spasm last night, but this morning I felt well enough to walk, slowly, having sent my rucsac on to tonight's hostel by pilgrim taxi. It was tough in places, when I was feeling drained, especially when it was also raining. But remarkably the landscape felt really English today, and therefore kind of homely, with green green fields spreading out gently in every direction, woodland paths, stony and muddy, and almost every flower the same as at home: foxglove, daisy, dandelion, aquilegia, bugle, honeysuckle, bluebell, greater and lesser celandine, campion ... you get the idea.

    I met some great people, the slow ones who saunter along at the back end of the day's flood of pilgrims, like José Luis (apparently the most popular name in Spain, I've met three already) with whom I sheltered from the heaviest rain alongside Isabelle from France and the local magazine delivery lady. He made really nice jokes the whole time, the sort that make you really laugh because they are so silly, in Spanish-plus-hands; we were all made to feel as if we were part of some big warm huggy friendship thing together, in all spontaneity. My conclusion is that this man is simply fluent in communicating - the language being relatively irrelevant. Three weeks ago all I knew in Spanish was hasta la vista (didn't know what it meant) and vamos a la playa (only useful in some locations), but now I'm able to laugh at jokes and understand when someone is talking about the deeper meaning of the Camino. Jose Luis, that is, when we walked together a short distance later in the day; surprising, in a way, after all his joking around.
    Google translate helps when ordering food or wanting to take advantage of a two-for-one offer in the supermarket, otherwise I can now proudly claim to 'get by' in this language, mostly of course because of my Italian.

    I'm sending my bag on tomorrow as well. Hooray.     Czytaj więcej

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    1

    Salas

    12 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Day 25
    So many more people on the Primitivo, more than the Norte and more than I expected. It seems likely that I'll be able to see someone else for most of the day while walking, although today I stole away to use some other smaller (if perhaps longer) tracks I could see on the map. Took an hour's lunch break under the shade of an oak tree, and could watch other pilgrims in the valley trogging along a horrid hot road, and felt pretty smug. One local lady stopped her car and tried to convince me to go back the other way: she didn't like it all that I insisted on continuing! But another man who was working in his garden and greeted me, to question my path, accepted my halting Spanish explanation that 'este camino es mas bonito': 'this path is more beautiful!'

    But in general this route is much more rural than so far, with proper footpaths and tracks through woods, alongside streams and rivers, through hamlets and villages, as well as the town roads, these being unavoidable as they lead to the hostels. Birdsong all day, frequent river noise and no traffic noise at all. Lots and lots of flowers, with new ones for my collection again and again. Sharp-eyed flower-spotter I am!

    All delightful and charming.

    Today my back went into spasm so I'm feeling fragile. Need to sleep properly again tonight.

    I still have little clarity about the 'why' of this pilgrimage, and I'm going to try a different tack from now on.
    I'm going to open The Noon Meditation Room every day at 12noon and 5pm UK time, if anyone would ever like to join me. It's just a zoom space for 20 minutes of silence, which you can use in any way you wish such as meditation, reading, praying, journalling, painting... Up to you! Let me know if you would like to join in; we have a whatsapp group for the zoom links.

    Love y'all!     Czytaj więcej

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    Grado

    11 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Day 24
    Took three wrong turnings today and walked miles off course ... helped back, in the suburbs of Oviedo, by this ginger Guide-Cat, who walked nonchalantly down the steep hill I was bustling up and looked back at me as if to say 'oh my dear, it's not that way!'.
    ... but what a way to spend an evening! The atmosphere was buzzing, and the ladies got me to join in the dance. Despite my pilgrim foreign-ness and scruffy-ness. One lady, Maria, got me to film her dancing. Hilarious, fabulous!     Czytaj więcej

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    Oviedo

    10 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Day 23
    I've been humming and hahing about tomorrow's decision, a silly amount of energy spent on a simple-doesn't-even-really-matter question, namely whether to continue on the Norte route (which I declared my intention to do a couple of days ago) or to start the Primitivo. Preoccupation gets in the way of really living.

    Most of the issue was to do with how to best use the week that Luca will be here at the end of the month. Inspired by Petra, (German, sharing a twin room tonight) I have chosen to do the 'Camiño dos Faros' with him, which takes 8 days and follows the north west coast of Galicia, southwards, past its many lighthouses (as the name suggests). A perfect path to do in the time we will have together. https://www.caminodosfaros.com/

    So, with so much coastline ahead with Luca, I have now decided-decided to walk the most mountainous, most remote, most natural, and arguably most challenging path. Starting tomorrow. Take a look at the map: I've followed the green route so far, to the tip of the triangle where it meets a yellow and a pink line. The Norte continues northwards (duh) with quite a lot more coast before turning down towards Santiago; the Primitivo, in yellow, goes directly through the hills and joins with the 'Frances' (pink) for a couple of days before Santiago.

    Oviedo is a super city, grand, smart, beautifully laid out, although it was a very long hot horrid trafficky road into the centre. It's a noisy city: how to stay whole, open? The city festival this weekend made exploring the streets all the more interesting, especially the many stalls with artisan foods and crafts, and local music performances. Lots of free cheese and meat samples!
    I didn't pay to enter the cathedral, but the Iglesia de San Isidoro El Real provided enough overblown decorative intricacy, glorified Madonna statuary and dead Jesuses to satisfy me for another long while. Isn't the icon with the three hands sweet?

    I wondered today about how I usually make decisions, and how some things are perhaps best left to routine ... the simplicity of the daily process here is a relief: every day all I have to do is get up and go out, making sure I have enough food and water to keep me healthy. Arrive, wash, eat, sleep, repeat.
    I'm not as routinised in home life; I like spontaneity and flexibility. Very much. But it can become lazy, so that I end up with a slower, easier, more indulgent outcome. Mightn't it help me to be a bit more consistent? To let a daily rhythm carry me? Living alone for most of the last 3 years has really shown up my inertia, and my previous reliance on the comfortable assumptions that develop in shared living. I don't have answers. Just a wish to be simpler, to be content, to be free.     Czytaj więcej

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    1

    Pola de Siero

    9 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Day 22
    Does it matter whether one has grand or special thoughts, rather than little or ordinary ones? Isn't it often true that trying to think about something ("important") leads more to contortion or stultification than freedom and progress?
    I had kinda thought I would spend a week or two settling in to the rhythm of the Camino days, and then my thoughts might have become quieter, or freer, or I might gain clarity or inspiration. Or something. That's not how it is.
    And I'm loath to force anything different.

    Today was another day of happy walking in gorgeously gorgeous wide broad hills full of unspoilt nature, with villages and farms freckling the view. Found a lemon tree by an abandoned house, picked one and bit into it and discovered it to be an orange! Took several more for juicy moments along the way. That's a sure way to encourage a pilgrim. And came across a funny old fashioned everything-shop in the middle of nowhere, where I had a coffee, and bought salami, coconut biscuits and nuts for snacks. Walked briefly with a German man until he told me he was heading for Gijon and I pointed out that the path we were on was 10km in the wrong direction; there was a critical junction of two Camino routes that he had missed...
    Lay on the chapel floor in Vega, prostrate, cool, peaceful, and felt as if my posture was “just my body” whereas I remained “just me”.

    There was a lot of roadside walking, but that made the woodland track for the last 3km or so seem all the more fabulous. Enchanted. And the gift of a freshly cut rose and a lily from the elderly man who called out to offer me water all the more charming and heartwarming.

    I voice-noted:
    I feel free
    I feel safe
    I feel calm
    I feel content
    I feel excited
    I feel proud
    I feel satisfied
    I feel protected
    I feel thankful
    I feel surrounded

    And was reminded of St Patrick's prayer:
    Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ above me, Christ below be, Christ within me, Christ without me

    Yes.     Czytaj więcej

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    Carda

    8 maja 2024, Hiszpania ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Day 21
    Been slipping off the official route as often as possible in order to be closer to the sea, but didn't quite fancy swimming at 8am as I walked across the beach for the last time for a few days. Heading inland now towards Oviedo, before returning to the Norte in Avila. Many people go on to the Primitivo route from Oviedo onwards, instead of continuing along the coastal path, but perhaps I can come back another time (with Luca?) to do the whole Primitivo. It's around 300km.

    My flower count has increased again, with another orchid on the list and a superb so-called 'three bird toadflax'!! Common flower names are so great in English ... I've also seen brass button, tiny shepherd, spotted medick, clustered bellflower, cutleaf cranesbill; what a privilege to see them all (and many more!) in this place.

    Met up with John again at a pilgrims' rest stop, my morning walking buddy a couple of days ago.
    Sandra, Poland; Petra, Germany; Shu, China (but now lives on a narrow boat in Northampton UK!).
    Heather and Dave, Glasgow.

    It's so lovely to find those places where someone has created a welcome bench in a shelter, or is offering food or drinks, or a colourful Camino painting, or even just a cheery 'buen Camino!' sign. We are operating in a sort of undercurrent below normal Spanish life, but we are not unnoticed nor unwelcome. In places we are really appreciated and celebrated.     Czytaj więcej

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