Camino Day 36 - October 12

Day 36.. The day we arrived in Santiago.. That still sounds and feels very strange.. It's hard, in fact, to put the day into words, but I'll try..

 

Today, on our last day of walking, we walked 20 km from Arca do Pino to Santiago de Compostela. We started off after a very poor night's sleep, thanks in part to some neighbours close to where we were staying who held a very loud outdoor party into the wee hours of the morning.. To make things more challenging, just as we left for the day, it started raining.. Today's walk again had lots of ups and downs with ascents and descents, and took us mostly through wooded areas. Perhaps because it was our last day, or perhaps because of the rain, we ended up stopping more than usual for coffee and a break..

 

Eventually, we arrived at Monte do Gozo, which is the place where Santiago first comes into view. As one of our guidebooks says, "millions of sighs of contentment have been uttered by people on Monte do Gozo in the course of the thousand year history of the pilgrims - countless moments of the highest pleasure (in Spanish, gozo) at the first sight of the towers of Santiago's cathedral."

 

Seeing Santiago felt a bit overwhelming to me, and emotions started to rush to the surface.. I was ready to be finished walking, I was sad to be finished walking, I was ready to be out of the rain, I was excited to get to Santiago and spend some time exploring the city, I was sad to be parting ways with some walking friends, and so much more..

 

We arrived at Santiago around 2pm, and then spend about another hour walking across the city to the pilgrim's office. At the pilgrim's office, we joined a long line of pilgrims waiting to receive their compostela - the certificate of completion of the Camino. The wait in the cool rain felt long. Around 4pm, our turns came to receive our certificates. We officially registered, and the volunteers there looked through our pilgrim passports, and were satisfied that we had met the requirements of pilgrimage in order to receive the compostela. The certificate came complete with Latin text and Latin-ized names - I was 'Susannum' Reed. We also both asked for the certificates of distance, which name our starting and ending points on the Camino, our ending date, and the distance we travelled, which they indicated as 775 km.

 

Receiving the certificates was pretty emotional for me. After 36 days and nearly 800km, we had arrived at our destination, and our walking was finished. I felt, in that moment, a huge sense of gratitude for the journey, and a huge sense of accomplishment. I tend not to hold up my accomplishments as much as I could, as I worry about crossing the hazy line into bragging, but I was very proud of myself for arriving at Santiago and completing a physically and emotionally intensive journey. I've never done anything like this in my life, and I just proved to myself that I could in fact do it.

 

With profound gratitude to you all for your support and encouragement along the way,

susan

Camino Day 35 - October 11

Something miraculous happened today in Galicia.. It didn't rain!! We had thick fog in the early morning, clouds later on, and at times it looked like it could rain, but it then got very hot and sunny in the afternoon.. It was so nice to walk for a day without rain.. As a result, my shoes are now dry.. Rob's are drying, but not quite dry yet.. Despite wet shoes, though, our feet have been good.. Wet shoes often lead quickly to blisters, but no  sign of blisters yet for either of us since the wet shoe episode.
 

Today we walked 22km from Ribadiso to Arca do Pino. We saw more lovely scenery today, which I enjoyed even more in the sun! We walked through a number of small hamlets, and across dirt paths, stone paths, and through forests. Many of the homes we passed today had lots of flowers and huge palm trees outside. For some reason, it had never occurred to me that there would be palm trees in Spain, but it turns out there are actually lots of them.. I enjoyed holding my head up and looking around today, which I haven't  always been doing in the last few days of wind and rain.. I really enjoyed all I was seeing, and felt very content "just walking.."

This is our second last day of walking, which feels really strange.. Both of us have been feeling what I often do as something of any length comes to a close - I am still trying to be in the moment and take in as much as I can, but part of me is entering into closure mode, and feeling ready to be done. So it is with this Camino for me. I am feeling both ready and sad at the prospect of arriving in Santiago and finishing walking.. The wet weather, my shin pain, and having walked for over a month are all certainly contributing to my feeling ready to be finished, but at the same time, I am so enjoying both the walking and the rhythm of the days. After 35 days of this, it has become my new routine, and I have loved it! All being well, though, tomorrow will be our last day. It really feels surreal..

Many blessings from Northern Spain to wherever you may be,
susan
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Camino Day 34 - October 10

Day 5 in Galicia, and day 5 of rain.. (Are you noticing a trend here?)

 

Today, we walked 27 km from Palas del Rey to Ribadiso da Baixo. It was much like the past few days.. It rained off and on, and we saw lovely, green scenery as we wandered up and down the hills.. What was different for me today, though, was that it felt like a normal walking day for me, for the first time in many days.. The pain in my shin is gone, the discomfort and strain is minimal, and I have been able to increase my walking pace a fair bit. I'm still walking more slowly than I was, but I'm sure both injury and fatigue have contributed to that.. I felt good to have my walking back to normal, finally..

 

We had actually considered walking further than Ribadiso tonight.. The next town along isn't too far down the road, and is considerably larger. Ribadiso is also said to be a popular place to stay, so our guidebooks cautioned that the albergues are often full early in the day.. But, as we approached Ribadiso, it felt like we were ready to stop, so we decided to stay there if we could find accommodation, and we did.. We settled in to a private room at the albergue, and were even able to get outside and sit in the warm sun for a while in the late afternoon when it emerged from behind the clouds.. After not seeing or feeling too much sun over the past few days, this felt really good!

 

One funny part of the day happened as we were heading out (two doors up the road) for supper. We heard bells.. Now, I know I have written about the church bells, but there is also another kind of bell we've been hearing a lot of, especially recently.. What is the expression? "We need more cowbell"? Many of the cows here - and there are a lot of them - wear cowbells, and the bells ring every time the cows move their heads, including to eat, which they seem to do a lot.. It is funny sometimes how much noise comes from a field full of bells constantly on the go.. Sometimes, the bells are especially loud, which tells us that a cow is very close, as they have been on a few occasions, separated from us usually (but not always!)  by a fence. And not only do the cows here wear bells, but so too do some of the horses and many of the sheep.. There are a LOT of bells ringing here in Spain..

 

So, tonight, as we were heading out for supper, we heard bells. Ribadiso is a very small town (population 10), with one main street running through the middle of it. And there we saw a herd of cows, ambling down the street, right in the centre of town, with the farmer behind them, guiding them into a barn right across the street from where we were staying. It's not everyday we share the street with a herd of cows.. Seems like they were more used to it than I was.. Quite a racket of mooing and bells.. Definitely made me smile! Also made us watch our step extra carefully as we walked down the road behind the cows..

 

I hope you have had at least one moment in your day which brought a smile to your face, as the cows (and their bells) did for me..

 

Blessings,

susan

 

 

Camino Day 33 - October 9

Day 4 in Galicia, and Day 4 of rain..

 

Today, we walked 24 km from Portomarin to Palas del Rey.. It felt like a pretty regular day today.. The scenery was again lovely, and made extra lush and green by all of the rain.. And it was another up and down day in terms of elevation.. Lots of climbing up and down the hills in the area, but nothing too strenuous or extreme.. Painwise for me, things were alright today.. I still have some discomfort, and can still feel the strain in my shin, but the pain is less.. What I have noticed now is a swollen ankle, perhaps from how I've been walking due to the muscle strain.. There is no pain or bruising in the ankle, so I'm not too worried, but I'll keep an eye on it..

 

After the pouring rain of yesterday, and thanks to the large room with lots of space to spread things out, I am happy to report that our gear is mostly dry. Our backpacks and sleeping bags had dried out (both got just a little wet from seepage around the edges of our pack covers). And it felt SO good to put dry clothes on this morning, even though we knew the rain would come again and the clothes wouldn't stay so dry.. It felt a little anticlimactic after the dry clothes, and a little disappointing, however, to put on wet shoes.. Our shoes had dried out a fair bit overnight, and mine were drier than Rob's, but both pairs were still pretty wet. My only other pair of shoes, though, are flip flops, so wet hiking shoes it is..

 

One of the things I have found fascinating throughout this journey has been the history of some of the communities we have stayed in or passed through. Portomarin, our starting point this morning, is one such place, with a really interesting more recent history in particular. Portomarin is said to have once been one of the most flourishing and one of the richest places in the region of Galicia. The old town, however, was sunk under water in the 1960s to create a dam and reservoir. But before the town was sunk, the two old, large, and beautiful churches were taken apart brick by brick and piece by piece, and rebuilt in the new town. The new town is on the top of a hill, with the water below. The water looks lovely, and it is a bit wild to think that the remnants of an old town lie beneath.

 

So much history on this journey, and so much I'm learning about centuries past.

 

As always, many blessings to you all,

susan

 

Camino Day 32 - October 8

A bit of info about the Camino before I talk about today..

 

Those of us who travel the Camino as pilgrims are required to carry a document called a credential (pron. cre-den-see-al) or pilgrim's passport. It is a little booklet with our name in it. We are required to get at least one stamp a day in that passport. The stamps are available at the albergues, hostals and hotels, at restaurants and bars, and at many churches, museums, and other places, as well as at local Red Cross and Police stations. Once we arrive at Santiago, if we choose to check in at the Pilgrims' Office (which we will), we have to show our credential, and if it checks out, we will receive a compostela, which is a certificate of completion of the Camino. In order to receive the compostela, pilgrims must walk a minimum of 100 km. For that last stretch, at least two stamps a day are required - from different communities - I guess to prove that we really did walk from place to place..

 

Sarria is 113km from Santiago, so is considered the starting point for this minimum distance of 100km. Statistics show that throughout 2013, about 25% of pilgrims began their pilgrimage in Sarria.

 

Today, we walked from Sarria to Portomarin, which our books said was around 22.5 or 23 km, but which we figured was actually a bit farther (according to the concrete pillars every 500m marking the distance remaining to Santiago). There were a lot of pilgrims on the road today, including many just beginning their pilgrimage. There was a bit of a strange dynamic of new, eager pilgrims, and others of us who had been walking for a while, and were pretty tired.

 

Day 3 in Galicia.. Day 3 of rain.. It was spitting rain in the morning, then started raining fairly hard around 1:30pm. But mid-afternoon, the heavens opened, and it POURED. For about 45 minutes, the rain came down in sheets. We were in a treed area, but there was really no shelter, so we kept going. I don't know that I've been so wet in my life. My pack cover kept my pack mostly dry, and my rain jacket kept the top part of me mostly dry, but the rest of me was soaked through. I could actually feel the water pouring down the inside of my pant legs and into my socks and shoes. My shoes were full of water and sloshed and squished with every step. When we walked uphill, the water poured down towards us, and when we walked downhill, the water poured down from behind us. The path was mostly dirt, so it was turned to mud. At times, the water covered the whole path, so our only choice was to walk through it. At times, it was several inches deep.. Our shoes then became full of mud.. The rain eventually cleared..

 

We got into Portomarin in the late afternoon, and had already decided that we would opt for private accommodations if we could. We found a room, and it ended up being quite large, which meant we could spread out all of our wet things to dry out. The folks running the pension (pron. pen-see-own; like a guesthouse) also did our laundry in their washer and dryer, which was so great.

 

Another exciting day.. Plus side - very little pain today.. Or maybe I was too distracted by the downpour to notice it.. This rain is definitely a new kind of challenging from the blazing heat, especially at this stage in our pilgrimage.. But again, the scenery was really beautiful, and the people we met (who were all in the same wet boat that we were) really brightened my day..

 

Hope it is warm and dry where you are,

susan

Camino Day 31 - October 7

First of all, today marks one month since we began walking.. Hard to believe!

 

Today got off to another rough start for me.. We set out from Fonfria and were planning to walk 9 km to a larger community and stop there for breakfast. But as we walked, the pain in my shin got worse and worse, especially during downhill stretches. By the time we got 5 km to Filloval, I was in a lot of pain and in tears. I wasn't sure how far I could walk, or if I could even keep going at all. We stopped at a lovely bar in Filloval. Between a really good breakfast, a rest, and some more painkillers, I felt much better. I still didn't know how far I could go, but I knew I could keep going.. (It seems as though this pain is an every second-day thing..)

 

Well, this turned out to be our longest walking day yet, and was quite fine for me after the breakfast break.. We walked just over 30 km from Fonfria to Sarria. We had considered stopping before Sarria, but Sarria is a larger centre. Rob thought that if I needed a doctor or other medical help, Sarria would be a better bet. And, being a larger place, it would have more options of places to stay, and we were hoping for a private room, which is what we ended up finding fairly easily. By the time we arrived, I was feeling good, and didn't go to a doctor, but did go to see a pharmacist, and got some cream to relax muscles and ease pain..

 

The other challenge of the day was the ground condition. More specifically mud.. And added to that, we were walking past a lot of farmyards, and past a lot of cattle.. In these areas, there are often farms right in the communities, and animals are walked right through the streets of town from pasture to barn. (Warning: explicit content ahead..) I told Rob that the game of the day was called "Dodge the Droppings," and especially in the muddy stretches, where we really weren't sure if the soft brown stuff we were stepping in was mud or something else.. It was kind of gross, but also kind of amusing..

 

Aside from the pain, the mud, and the weather (rainy and very windy at times), I actually really enjoyed the walk today. We wound up and down paths in the forest, past farmyards, and a bit alongside the road. We walked through one wooded area that looked to me like an enchanted forest. It was closed in on the sides and overhead by trees, and the tree trunks were all green with moss. The whole area seemed to glow green, and there was something magical about it all.

 

Today felt a bit like a marathon, and had lots of ups and downs (elevation wise and emotionally), but we got through it just fine.

 

Hope all is well where you are..

Blessings,

susan

 

p.s. - Day 2 in Galicia ("The rainy region") .. Day 2 of rain..



Camino Day 30 - October 6

Today was a big day, as it contained our last major climb of the Camino. We walked just over 25 km from Vega de Valcarce to Fonfria. This walk included about 700m in ascent, which was at many times very steep. We also entered the region of Galicia today, which is the last of several regions of Spain which we will be walking through on the Camino. It is the region we will end in, so this day felt like the first day of the last stage of our pilgrimage. 

 

Galicia is known for a few things, including rain.. Our guidebooks said that rain was not only a likelihood, but pretty much a certainty. We have only had one two-hour stretch of rain in the first 29 days of our Camino, and we figured that would soon change.. We figured right.. Indeed it rained today.. The rain started a couple of hours into our day, and continued for the rest of the day and through the night. It made the dirt paths very muddy, and the steep climbing on dirt paths a little more treacherous and a lot more sloppy. We were careful to watch our step and tried our best to dodge the puddles..

The first high point we reached was the town of O Cebreiro, which as a town has been declared a Unesco Heritage Site. We arrived there tired and really wet, to find a town full of tourists, as we should have expected. I think I counted 8 tour buses parked at the entrance to town. There were people everywhere! We were going to stop there for lunch, but decided to keep going and get away from the chaos and busyness. Before we could leave, though, one of the tourists stopped me and asked if she could take my picture. She turned me so that my backpack would be visible.. It was a bizarre experience, but I didn´t say no.. Funny that I might be in someone´s holiday album..

 

After O Cebreiro were had some up and down climbing and descents for a while, and then started the descent. The rain was still really heavy, the clouds were low, and the wind was high. I think the views were lovely, but we couldn´t see much of them..

 

We arrived in Fonfria wet, tired, and ready to stop for the night. We stayed in the one albergue in town, which offered a community meal (with vegetarian option). We signed up, and had a lovely supper with about 25 others from our albergue. We had a Galician vegetable soup to start, and the main dish was rice with a meat and vegetables. I got my own dish or rice with vegetables, eggs, and cheese.. We ended with the Tarte de Santiago (an almond cake). So tasty, and so nice to share in with other pilrgims. It was a great end to a long day..

For those of you wondering, my leg pain was still there today, but less, which is encouraging..

 

Blessings to you all,

susan