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Camino de Santiago
  • Lexie Magill

Camino de Santiago

A 49-day adventure by Lexie Read more
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  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    14Note the subtle lines, you might not be able to see them?My spf 50 trousers are working very well TO MY CHAGRIN

    Puente Villarente

    April 14, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    This albergue is like a ranch? And there's a cat and the owner is really rude but in a funny way. The Austrian couple and I have synced up, we've wound up at three consecutive off stage albergues together so when we got in at the same time today we broke the ice.

    After showers and laundry they stuck their head round and said they were going to try and find lunch, did I want to come? Sarah and Martin. Martin has bought new size 48 shoes so his feet don't rub, he feels like an idiot but it's working.

    Afterwards I headed down to the river to try and remediate this horrific patchwork tan, but it was exceptionally cold in the water and quite hot outside it so I ended up trailing back, excited to sit on a couch, and enjoy a 6.30pm group dinner at the albergue - the earliest yet, what a treat! That's just finished, there's a book in English here that sounds a bit drab but I could be tempted. Anything goes, I'm on a couch!    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    OOH LA LA
    Incredible. Hand for scale. €1.20.1A new player has entered the game and IT MEIt also, possibly, me, but more likely EvaMe flicking these awful burbs the birdYou always know where you're going in a city as there's a dirty great God Garage sticking upHello bus stop! I love you, bus stop.1Very very tempting but I resistedOne should always have 2 loaves of bread on hand at all times. Look, my bag is 1 bread high, 2 deep.Historic city walls, we're here!

    Puente Villarente to Leon

    April 15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    I've got to get out of sync with these blokes. Why are we getting readyyy in the roommm? If you must have an alarm it should be on vibrate under your pillow, CERTAINLY not an Elvis song on speaker with your phone in your shoe? Ampfying it? I nearly beat him to death.

    The French really lean into it, I've met two and they've both been wearing berets. The one today was a fellow cat-enthusiast - coming into a village he stopped to fuss over one so I kept going and hit the jackpot with three. He crested the hill and on seeing them, genuinely exclaimed OOH LA LA! OOH LA LA! which I very much agreed with to be honest.

    It's only 12km to Leon today which should have had me there by like 10am on normal schedule but I slept in, messaged people for a while, and finally schlepped off at 8.30.

    City outskirts towns are always ghastly because they are car shrines - all the petrol stations and dealerships and mechanics that keep that AWFUL MACHINERY going have to live somewhere.

    This stretch was no different, redeemed only by the fact that my coffee came with a simmich tapas and was the cheapest yet! I booked a nice hostel for tonight online last night, it's only the second I'll have stayed at that is not limited to just pilgrims. Splashed out an extra euro to upgrade from an 18-bed mixed room to a 12-bed female room, I'm keen as.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Swine time

    April 15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Well, I've cracked the shits. Which, when you're travelling is sort of a double whammy as not only are you bummed, you feel like an ungrateful swine.

    It all came on very suddenly, and I suspect it's like when you watch drops of rain on a window - occasionally, two or three will band together, and, picking up momentum, race down the pane, gobbling up others as they go.

    My raindrops are probably:

    - weariness from back pain (it grinds you down, and it started 254km ago)
    - self consciousness from tan lines (I feel like a stupid pink fleshy tourist)
    - homesickness (people, vegetables, being understood).

    Soon, this mega-drop will splatter on the windowsill and dissipate. To help that along, I'd quite like to have a cry. Unfortunately, my tears follow a tropical schedule - over the year we have extended dry periods, followed by a build up, and then the wet season. We are potentially in the build up? It's too early to say.

    Instead I have come back to the very nice hostel, rented a proper towel, had a long shower with a newly purchased exfoliating glove and scrubbed myself raw, made tea and toast, and told myself I can put off updating here and dinner plans and everything for a bit and just sit. I don't even have to go out tonight if I don't feel like it.

    I'm very alright, and tomorrow I'll go back to being absolutely in love with it all again.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    AdorableI think when people talk about flying buttresses they are referring to these, they are coolGaudi designed!1Hello bus stop. I love you bus stop. Turns out I gravitate to you when I'm sad, bus stop.

    Leon in the shade

    April 15, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    After my scrubby shower and tea and toast I went to bed - not to sleep but to let fresh sheets envelop me, and stare at the ceiling and let my brain go free range. It went to many areas it's not supposed to, looked back to see if anyone was going to yank the leash, and got a bit suspicious of the freedom so eventually walked back on its own, assuming it was a trap.

    I then got dressed and took myself to an Asian fusion restaurant, once it opened at 8.30pm. Leon is the last city before Santiago so it was my only chance before Portugal for something not Spanish. You stand absolutely no chance in the villages.

    This place was very cool, it had good reviews and I did a really good job of doing it all in Spanish, actually. The waiter could see I was trying and kindly didn't switch to English, I think that might have pushed the last bit of air out of me.

    I splurged on more food than I needed just because it was going to be crunchy and fresh and a different flavour and I wanted cheering up. The ssam spring rolls were excellent without qualification - no 'for Spain' or anything, it was amazing. The bun itself was nice but the sauce was innnnncredibly salty. The gyoza were fine - he was very excited to explain the sesame sauce injections, I thought it was darling, if odd. As a package, the variety was a relief. Good move, if my most expensive meal yet by far.

    I walked around like my own ghost for an hour afterwards, winding up at a bus stop of course, which are like mini-airports in a way, you see all sorts of lives in all sorts of conditions. I leaned on a wall watching it all, feeling lonely, before making my way back with astonishing accuracy. I am genuinely really good at directions in old towns now. I'm like a bat.

    As much as I gave myself the night off from updating this, writing is an outlet rather than a burden on trips with a language barrier, particularly when travelling alone. I've made a personality out of being articulate so when I can't do that verbally it upsets me more than I think I realise, and I need to redirect it. Even if it's just my own echo, these entries make me feel I have made myself understood.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    More than one sign here, to be honest

    Faith in graffiti

    April 16, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    In the country and small villages it's pretty easy to find The Way as there just aren't too many variables, and competing signage is scarce. It's another story coming into, through, and out of cities. The most useful, without fail, are spray painted arrows on the ground, gutter, poles, and low on buildings and fences. It makes me feel like a hobo Nancy Drew and I LOVE IT.

    You walk like you know exactly where you're going, no map, no phone, because you're scanning constantly and always, sometimes right when you think you're done for, but usually earlier, your eye rests on a reassuring yellow arrow. I am sort of amazed nobody a) messes with or b) seeks to formalise these, but I am pleased for both.

    I took some photos of them heading out of Leon today so you can see - I imagine if you aren't looking for them they blend right in but they are great friends to us pilgrims. Play along why don't you, would you find your Way?    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    A donation based pilgrim refuge!1Look mum I'm a pilgrimVeryyyyy interesting church I shall be looking it up laterCome backkkkAren't I just the worst 🤸‍♀️

    Leon to Villar de Mazarife

    April 16, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    I'm in love with it all again. I had three breakfasts, that probably helped - a free coffee and cereal at the hostel, a pastry and an empanada from the supermarket, then a bit of french toast as a tapas with a coffee.

    It's an interesting trend emerging that if I plot all the valleys of my mood, they're always in cities - Pamplona, Logrono, Burgos, Leon. I have theories but I need to chew on them longer.

    A grubby and uninspiring 10km to leave Leon but then the path split and you could take the southern, slightly longer but more rural route or the northern one which follows the highway. They coalesce in about 45km so unless you're up for an extremely long day, whatever you choose informs where you stay tonight, or vice versa.

    I obviously went southern, and the landscape change was instantaneous compared to the Meseta (which some would argue I'm still in for another day but eh). It was beautiful in a new and different way.

    I stepped off the dirt road for a tractor to pass and he stopped, opened the door and asked me something. I apologised I didn't speak Spanish very well, at which he, continuing in Spanish, said nonsense yes you do, and then I miraculously did sort of understand what he repeated. He was telling me, I think, that if I wanted he could give me a lift to the town 10km away.

    I explained that no as a pilgrim sort of the whole point was to walk. As he was driving off I ruefully wondered if he'd have let me sit in the scoopy attachment bit on the back and thought about waving him down. Then I remembered one probably shouldn't get into vehicles with strange men in the middle of nowhere, even if you could outrun both of them if you need.

    About an hour later he passed me coming back the other way, tooted the horn and gave me a big wave. I bet he WOULD have let me sit in the scoopy bit and not murdered me even a little bit. What a waste.

    Continuing the theme, I've certainly felt safer in an albergue, but I'm sure it'll be fine, I'm on a top bunk and I do think I'll have notice if anything goes sideways. If needs be, tell Interpol it's the Jesus one, first on the left as you come into town.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    480 down 300 to go!This guy? If we had lockers he'd be pushed in one by now. Nerd.Little field kip, well played

    Villar de Mazarife to Astorga

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 3 °C

    As I've non-sequentially announced, today probably wins overall Best on Ground to date, so it lends itself better to a series of vignettes better than one big post, and that's what I'll do. Here are the landscapes without stories, just appreciation.

    33km, started at 7 so at 5km/h I should have arrived by 2 but I got in at 4.30 - I never know how I manage that but I also never mind. I took two alternative paths to keep off the roads and what a good call that was. Stunning.

    For the first few hours I enjoyed the mental dillydallying a long straight road in dawn affords, daydreaming about life's barefoot moments.

    I asked Mum, Dad and Branna to all give me album recommendations given I have nothing but time at the moment. I listened to Harvest by Neil Young today (Dad) which suited the morning walking through corn fields so well.

    At one point I walked around what I was positive must be a waste treatment plant because it smelled seriously terrible. I don't tend to be dramatic about stink but I was holding my nose. Imagine my horror to discover it was a Mondalez factory - the parent factory of many a snack food here, including Philadelphia cream cheese. I'll be researching why on earth that smell is involved.

    An old man in a small village asked me if I was going to Astorga and proclaimed it was 15km away, so three hours, and wished me well. Unfortunately that prick in Burgos has ruined advice like this so I had to double check - he was telling the truth.

    In that same town I had coffee and sat with Sophie, the Danish girl I've seen everywhere. VERY reassuring to hear her say her big toes are numb, I don't mind now that I know it's not just me. Nine years ago she did the Camino from Astorga to Santiago so as of today, when she arrives in Astorga, she'll have done the whole thing.

    Doing it in bits is common, and it seems like in every city with a train station or airport you get a rush of newbies. They are easy to pick, and I am consciously welcoming of them - I have had many conversations with Camino regulars who gets frustrated by the influx of people in Sarria for the last 100km (the minimum to get your Compostela). I can appreciate that they're a bit annoying in that they don't know the etiquette yet and bring an astonishingly different energy, but we were all new once. If you can't show grace here where can you.

    There is one complete green nerd though. I would bet the farm he's American and boring. I'd go out to bat for him if I had to but oh my god he seems lame. Get it together mate.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler

    Ur jousting me

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 8 °C

    Compared to the Meseta, towns are beautifully spaced now, and I came, in time, to Hospital de Orbigo and its wonderful bridge.

    I was completely in my head until I got here, and it pulled me into the moment where I stayed the rest of the day.

    I was looking at the wooden stuff on the grassed side, making another Knights Tale joke to myself when I realised, later confirmed by a sign, no that is an *actual* jousting set up. Brilliant.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    Note the kangaroo on his necklace

    Shed meat

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    Every now and again you come across a Camino angel who has set up a rest spot for us. It's usually a stall or a shed, sometimes, such as this, someone's garage. There are chairs, sometimes there's a stamp for our credentials, often there's some food and drinks, very occasionally a bathroom, and everything is donation based. I wandered in looking at the photos, not looking for anything else as I'd only put 50m between me and my last bathroom break, disguised as a coffee break.

    A man came out from his adjoining kitchen and settled himself behind the table with the stamp and ink pad on it, ready to receive my credential. On learning I'm Australian he took me slowly around the space pointing out every skerrick of Australiana he'd amassed, including postcards (kookaburra and Mt Gambia), $5 and $10 notes, and on his necklace, a wooden kangaroo.

    He imitated a kookaburra and noted it was a long way away, then scurried into the kitchen telling me to wait there. When he came back out he was holding a slice of cured meat he'd clearly just cut, gesturing excitedly to his thigh. I made appreciative noises which incited him to go back, get a big knife, and open a different door off the shed, again telling me to wait.

    After a minute or so he came out and beckoned me in with the knife. Proving the point that white women die first in horror movies for a reason, I was too polite not to, so followed the man with the knife into the dark, wondering if that meat I had before was maybe from a human thigh?

    I was reassured, therefore, to see the trotter on what he was now carving me bits off. On showing me its severed, eyeless head, he explained it was a boar he'd shot himself. I successfully advocated for the cat circling both our ankles, and it was given a small amount too.

    One hand full of boar, I shook his with my other, and chuffed off.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    This baby was SO smoochy but that paw is broken, was really hopping around which broke my heart
    Hallo friend, I thought you were dead for a bitThere's a cat in there

    Number 14 and a broken paw

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    It was also an excellent day for small friends, with dogs in particular redeeming themselves. I've caught up with the mother and daughter walking with their dogs, and they let me know that the little one keeps walking with me because he's trying to herd me and keep us all together. God bless him.Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    Luca in the background, far more important things in the foreground
    The view on approach

    La Casa de los Dioses

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Those donation pilgrim rest stops I mentioned? This was by far the best and coolest yet. It was at the top of a hill, about 6km out of Astorga, and like an actual oasis. Approaching, a man from the table stood up and started hustling down the road towards me - it was Luca! Haven't seen him since Zubiri, when he didn't have a beard, and assumed he'd be long gone by now. A nice surprise.

    The place is run by three predictably alternative guys (one Jason Momoa impersonator and one Italian in Thai fisherman trousers with a bird on a leash) who live behind it. There's no running water but there is a yurt and I suspect a fair amount of recreational drugs. I stayed there drinking coffee and eating boiled eggs for like an hour. What a blessing.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    I can admit to feeling smug when I see people carrying packs like this, I'm only human

    La mejor tortilla

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    You need to go to a bar (the catch all word for cafes etc) to use a toilet, and I need to do that more times in a day than I can reasonably have a coffee, so in the afternoons it's often a snack I don't really need but am quietly fond of being *forced* to have.

    On this occasion I picked a bar and my snack at random - a bit of potato tortilla, given apparently my egg thirst is unquenchable today.

    Tucking into it at the bar a man approached me - que tal peregrina? Was I enjoying the Camino? Did I like the tortilla? He made it! Pleased to have got through all this in passable Spanish, I was beaming off into the middle distance as he shuffled off to resume his place at a table of about six card sharks.

    My eyes landed on this. It's him, wearing the same shirt. It actually looks suspiciously like the Mercury, are they buying stock templates? Well done anyway, very tasty.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    A very good antique shop - these were highly impractical buttttt temptingAnd this - scallops, very relevant2These are getting unreasonable

    Astorga

    April 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I'd been leapfrogging Maritza (who will only say Yugoslavia as a place of origin but I think modern day Croatia?) and Stefan (French) all day, and trying to put a bit of wind in their sails as they are struggling today for some reason.

    Having a coffee together at 16km to go, we decided that was actually just six, twice, plus a bit. Eight? That's two fours. Six? Three twos. And so on. In the last kilometre I caught up, them crossing a very elaborate foot bridge over a railway and me approaching it. VAN TO GO she cried out, and we punched the air between us.

    We checked in to the municipal (€7) together, so were assigned the same bunk - she gave me the bottom and took the top so I owe her. After the customary shower, laundry, and explore, I found them at a bar, joined their table, and looked incredulously around a town square full of pilgrims I thought were long gone. Mr 4.5 was there! Haven't seen him since leaving Roncesvalles on day two.

    We went to the supermarket together, cooked together, and ate together on the terrace, lingering over a bottle of wine and watching the sunset before going to bed in our bunk, one of only TWO in the room. What a totally magnificent day. How lucky I am!    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    2The light leaving Astorga was just beautiful
    1I'll be beyond that snow capped mountain by this afternoonI decided to break for lunch in the second last town750m of elevation today, a shock after the Meseta but enjoyableJob done2Dinner involved singing and I didn't even kill myself

    Astorga to Foncebadon

    April 18, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    I'm rarely still around late enough to know (BRAG) but I think the blasting chants after 7.30 might not just be a Roncesvalles thing? Astorga was certainly keen on it today. In what I'm sure is an innocent mistake, I left without my freezer brick because SOMEONE TOOK IT but it doesn't matter, I'm close enough to my last dose it can be at room temp.

    Been a total break-slut today - coffee, orange juice and toast, coke, lunch.
    I honestly don't mind though, I think taking my time on the walk is part of adjusting to the pace and routine. Getting in at 2 versus 4 makes no difference. Rolled in at 4.30pm after walking up a hill we continue to climb tomorrow to reach the highest point of the whole Camino. I can't wait to see the sunrise from here in the morning.

    Some homework I've done tonight to satisfy questions raised when walking:

    1. Earwax DOES hold DNA but you have to get it within 30 days.

    2. The tallest cow on record is 6'3 and quite frankly I saw one a few weeks ago that could take that, I should write to them.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    Picture perfect laundry continues
    111Climbed up there for the view

    Foncebadon to Ponferrada - part one

    April 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C

    I'm growing increasingly concerned that I'm in the Matrix and this is all AI generated. Which wouldn't be so bad, I like laying down and leather jackets.

    The 20km from Foncebadon to Molinaseca, mountains carpeted in wildflowers, might be the prettiest stage yet. Just incredible, not a single photo does it justice. Unfortunately Molinaseca to Ponferrada was the pits, and the currency my body runs on appears to be beauty because it was on fumes those last 7km.

    At one point, just because it felt good to say, I squeaked "help" a few times. Nobody did but I got there in the end. 500m away from the albergue I walked past a bar filled with copies of exactly the same fat Spanish man in his 70s and one of them closest to the window called out holaaaa guapaaaa which I've since confirmed is a cat call, and I was almost immediately beeped at by an appreciative van. Thank you sirs! Choke.

    But back to Foncebadon. I hung around to watch the sunrise given the town is apparently known for it and the elevation profile bears it out - I won't be able to get meaningfully higher early enough to beat this as the best spot. I slept in, packed up in the dawn, and ordered a coffee to cup in my hands as I climbed up on a hill of ruins to see it come up. I've seen the sunrise almost every day here, but it doesn't get old, and this was worth the wait.

    Today is a wonderfully spaced walk, with a highlight of the whole Camino coming a few kilometres in with the Cruce de Ferro (Iron Cross) at which thousands before me have left stones carried from their homelands. Originally, apparently, you carried one of a size correlating to your sins, but now I think JC is ok with travelling light so I brought a pebble. It's more about the symbolisism of carrying a weight you then leave behind on the path. It got a bit gulpy. It came earlier than I was ready for but that's probably one of the lessons isn't it. I arrived at the cross with an American woman I've actually grown fond of, and she said she took some photos of me up there in the early light, when I get them you'll see them.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    Ah fuck there it is, I said, serenely
    1Hey Siri remove boomers

    Cruce de Ferro

    April 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    I never saw that American woman again, so the pictures she took of me and my wobbly chin in a quiet moment alone with the cross will live undisturbed on her phone.

    The cross came reasonably early in the day so when I left the albergue after the sunrise I tucked the pebble I'd be leaving into my palm. We held hands until we reached it, where I gave it one last squeeze and let it tumble still warm, onto the pile.

    I'm sure it came as quite the shock to this little stone, to have been plucked from outside my home front door, plunged into the dark recesses of a backpack and then dropped into a crowded group of its peers halfway across the world.

    As I scrambled back down and saddled up my pack again, the different department leads in my head got together and argued about whether now was the time to cry. I politely gave them a moment, holding onto a fence and avoiding eye contact, but they couldn't reach a consensus so on I went.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    11

    Coffee with friends

    April 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 5 °C

    Some liquid courage after the Cruce de Ferro. She was piping calming music out across the hills, overseen by a dog I can only assume is a 500 year old shaman. Very wise vibes.

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    I've been gifted 2.5 mandarins today

    Foncebadon to Ponferrada - part two

    April 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    What followed was a bit more climbing, to the highest point of the whole Camino, then a 1200m elevation change coming down over the next 10 or so kilometres which was humbling on the knees but truly breathtaking. The buildings in these (to borrow from Yates) 'bee-loud' villages show, as much as the landscapes, that we have travelled to a different region. Rammed earth is out, stones and wooden balconies are in. They are beautiful and quiet and half for sale. It swells and bruises your heart.

    The whole thing actually felt like I was in one of those videos you can watch on the gym treadmill, which made me realise I could probably have made mad bank by strapping a Go Pro to me and hocking the footage for that purpose. Speaking of under-explored revenue streams, there is SURELY a market for Camino feet pics and dare I say, undergarments. I can't really be bothered, but it might be lucrative. I could sell my socks?    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    Coke pit stop!
    It's just Always FunnyA new wildflower!This curtain rod fell down mid shower, who could have seen that coming?Yes? Speaking.Pardon

    Foncebadon to Ponferrada - part three

    April 19, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    I'm staying in a donation based albergue tonight, the last (top bunk) bed in the female only section which is for the best given my shower rod packed it in mid rinse and I'm sick of men again.

    The German couple that joined me in that odd ranch are here, really leaning into the stereotypes. Wrapping up our conversation as I waited to check in, she was going to the supermarket, so I said 'enjoy' as a synonym for bye and she paused for a long time, gave me a strange look, and insisted there was nothing about it to enjoy, they just had to eat.

    Woman, my knees hurt, I am covered in dried salt, my lips are tight. I could not care if you live or die, have a terrible time then and go away. I've just seen them at dinner and they've given me a big wave. Must be very freeing to be that straight up and down. Picked a table outside to avoid them and am currently getting roasted alive, when the sun moves down a scooch it'll be lovely but I might be dead by then.

    I came to this restaurant because it was recommended by the hospitalero, it's run by an ex-pilgrim so concerned by the lack of nutritious options available to us that he figured he'd do something about it. The menu is completely different to what was at the albergue and when I ordered I was told that's not possible but we have cordon bleu...or cordon bleu with asparagus! I smiled and handed back the menu I'm not sure why I was given in the first place, and eagerly await my cordon bleu with asparagus.

    Christ the Germans have just came out saying the cook is off but the guy hopes he'll come back, and walked away. The waitress has come running out after them and convinced them to come back. I'll pop this meal in the 'good for the plot' category I reckon. A guy with shopping bags did just walk in. Can he move the sun? I'm not bothered, some food will turn up eventually.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    The first and last thing you do at every albergue
    Which one of you has the quest11A slow but relentless Kamino Killer

    Ponf. to Villafranca del Bierzo - pt one

    April 20, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    We're in a basin, which produces a microclimate DONT YOU KNOW? It's wine and olive country again, it feels like an age since Rioja! Speaking of regional differences, something I've been meaning to pop on the homeschool syllabus for a while is why in Spanish it's mantequilla but lots of other languages it's butter/burro/beure/b-something.

    In looking for the answer I scratched some other linguistic itches, loosely organised around why my Italian sometimes helps and often just gets in the way. The gist of it is while they're both rooted in Latin they developed quite separately, with Italian having "serious contact with languages from across the Alps, including Germanic dialects such as Langobard, Gothic, and Frankish. Spanish, on the other hand, took on a good deal of Arabic influence from its Moorish occupiers during the same period."

    So this is why we get big differences in key areas, for example verbs like (Spanish/Italian) comer/mangiare (to eat), mirar/guardare (to watch or look at), guardar/conservare (to keep), bajar/scendere (to go down or get off), salir/uscire (to go out), subir/salire (to go up or get on), and such Arabic influences in some spellings. Tomorrow's lesson will be investigating why everyone leaves big water bottles outside their front doors - what do they know that I don't?

    Approaching 400km of a sore back, so I'm sort of beyond sick of it now and potentially turning into some sort of Wolverine character. That this is all so wonderful despite the pain is, I think, a testament to the Camino. And to be fair, in all other respects my body is being top notch ally. Talk Valentina! Ally! Others are suffering more. I remain grateful.    Read more

  • Lexie MagillCamino de SantiagoTraveler
    41Yoo Hoo! Big summer blow out!By far the first to go, one of them on the plane somehow

    Q3 review - one million steps!

    April 20, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Three quarters of the way through the Camino Frances, let's update our stats:

    Days on Camino: 26
    Days walking: 24 (have not taken any rest days since Burgos on 8 April)

    Total distance walked: 729km/1,024,009 steps
    Camino distance walked: ~600km
    Camino distance remaining: 185km

    Average daily cost: €34/$54.40 (accommodation €11.60/$18.50, eating and drinking €22.40/$35.80, rising as I have developed a mild caffeine addiction and started eating out more)

    Least used item: head torch. Ive only started walking pre-dawn a few times, and I don't use it in the dorm because I'm not a disorganised psychopath, so unless you were walking at a time of year when the sunrise is significantly later, I'd cull it. Everything else is in either constantly rotation or for a period, it was the most important thing but I can't ditch it now (rain gear and medical canister).

    Shoe update: we've had a blow out! Noticed it yesterday, whoever had front left of right shoe in the sweeps please make yourself known, and for double or nothing pick which of the two hot spots will be next to fall. Tread has been fairly trodden but is holding on, that tear will compromise the waterproofing but I haven't had rain in nearly two weeks so fingers crossed, and the heels are holding on. I reckon we can do this easy.    Read more

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