There Are Places I Remember

I took the bus this morning to Finisterre and Muxia. I had hoped to walk but I don’t have enough time to spend 3-5 more days walking. Next time I will want to plan to finish walking at “the end of the world”.

In the days of the Spanish voyages of discovery it was believed that Finesterre was the west most point in Europe and therefore the end of the known world. It is, of course neither the west most point in Europe or the end of the world,but it doesn’t stop it from being referred to in that way.

It is s beautiful drive there that takes you past s well preserved medieval bridge over the River Timbres and past the highest waterfall in Spain at 40 meters.

The weather today was spectacular with warm sunshine and a nice breeze on the shore. The coast line is in part rugged and marked with big boulders and cliff sides, interspersed with long crescent beaches with white sand and blue water reminiscent of the Caribbean Sea.

I had lunch in Finisterre where there are more seafood choices than you can imagine – the most expensive of which are barnacles because barnacle collection is extremely dangerous and has cost many their lives.  Besides barnacles there are many varieties of clams and squid, mussels, scallops, cockles, prawns, shrimp, oysters, razor clam, clams in long, thin, tube shaped shells, crab, lobster, and many, many fishes. You can see the people in the small fishing villages out chest deep in the water collecting them to supply Spain and many other parts of the world. Many species are now “farmed” and one platform can sustain a family financially.

Finisterre is for many the end of the Camino though some walk on to Muxia. The Camino to Finisterre is the only official Camino that begins rather than ends in Santiago de Compostelo. The marker at the lighthouse on the cape at Finesterra has the 0 KM designation.

I have just two more days in Spain. I will spend them here in Santiago. I want to go back to the cathedral for one more pilgrims mass. I am hopeful they will swing the large incense burner from the ceiling tomorrow – I understand the best hope to see it is on Fridays. Otherwise, just walking the narrow cobbled streets, getting “lost”, and watching the vast array of people streaming in and out of Santiago and continuing to integrate my own experience seems like a worthwhile ways to spend these last days.

Today I arrived in Santiago!  After several overcast days today was bright, sunny, warm and offered another one of the Spanish deep blue skies that almost don’t look real.

My walk into Santiago was about 15 miles. I started out in the dark with the path illuminated by my head lamp. I had my own little following of fellow pilgrims who either had no headlamp, no batteries, or just decided to follow one light in the darkness. It was peaceful and silent with our little pack spreading out when dawn came.

Most of the path was protected from the sights and sounds of the approaching city as we walked on a dirt track through eucalyptus forest – not indigenous of course but introduced some time ago through many areas of northern Spain. At one point we crossed very near the approach runway for the airport here. The big jets just coming in to land are noticeable. The chain link fence that separates the Way from airport land has been adorned over the years with crosses made of sticks placed there by pilgrims. At this point too you begin to see where people have left behind momentos from their Camino – tee shirts, walking sticks, rain ponchos and hiking boots.

I got to the cathedral at 11:30. My hope was to be there for the pilgrims mass celebrated daily at noon and in the evening. There is an English mass at 10:30 each morning as well. I will attend the English one before I leave Santiago. The noon pilgrims mass is in Spanish and very beautiful.

My next stop was the Pilgrims office where a long line forms to get the official certificate or Compostela for completing the walk. To get the Compostela you must walk the last 100km or bike the last 200 km and must have at least two sello per day stamped into your pilgrim credential that you guard like your passport when you are walking.

There are 7 clerks validating credentials and the wait is still quite long but so worth it!  I’m not sure what I should make of the fact that my clerk pointed out that I was his oldest pilgrim so far on the day and had walked the Norte! He seemed to be pleased about that. I’m not so sure it warranted comment ☺️

I really don’t think I can put the feelings of this day into words. It was an emotional, quietly moving experience. It has to do with so many that have gone before (for hundreds of years) and how many in that moment are having their own special experience along side you, and knowing how many more are yet to follow. The cathedral fills every day with pilgrims arriving from Camino starting points in every corner of Spain as well as France and Portugal and from homes all over the world.  They represent every nationality, age, background, fitness level, race and ethnicity you can imagine.  They enter Santiago running, walking, limping, cycling, in wheelchairs and baby strollers. They shout with joy, sing, laugh, weep, and are silent.

For me it felt peaceful really. I felt physically very good; I felt strong; and my steps were light and easy. I had no pain at all. I felt happy to have reached Santiago and admittedly sad that my Camino was ending ….. for now. I felt grateful. I felt blessed; fortunate; whole.

I felt like I would be happy to begin again tomorrow.

I really loved this time; this opportunity to be present without distraction; to be unencumbered by responsibilities and expectations; to reacquaint myself with me – what interests me when I’m free to explore; what catches my attention; what does my eye and the camera lens find; what flavors excite me; what do I choose to eat when no one is watching; what sensations do I feel in my body; what thoughts come to mind and how do they flow with time to let them run as they will; what is silence really like; what do I notice in others; I became aware how little I have taken the opportunity to seek and accept the kindness of others and understand how really deep and wide and enveloping human kindness can be. While I have always valued being dependable, I haven’t understood that depending on others is the other part of this beautiful symmetry that is the human condition; the human order of things. So many, many discoveries in only a little over a month. It has been very special, as inadequate as that word or any other is to describe it.

So tomorrow brings another day in this adventure. My walking companion for a brief time, Brigitte, who was with me when I got hurt, finished the Camino several days ahead of me and went to visit a cousin in southern Spain.  She is coming back to Santiago tomorrow to get an evening flight home. I will meet her bus in the morning and we will enjoy Santiago as we had once envisioned we might had we finished at the same time (she finishing on the Norte and I on the Primativo). It will be nice to see her.

The wifi here in the albergue is iffy and pictures are downloading very slowly so I will hope it is better at my airbnb tomorrow. I will add some photos then.

I left Melida yesterday but not before learning first hand why it has the reputation it does for pulpo – octopus. I went to a small restaurant said to serve the very best and, while I have no comparators so can’t be certain, I’d say it is probably true.  It was delicious and the owner was very nice and proud of her reputation. I asked how it came to be, that Melide, so far from the ocean, is known for octopus. She said very long ago a man became legendary for the special way he prepared octopus using certain spices and oils and the tradition grew.

From Melida I made my way to Arzua and experienced first hand the change that takes place on the Camino as the various routes converge. Instead of walking quietly along, in solitude for the most part, on either the Norte or the Primativo, now there is rarely a time someone (or many someones) are not within view. There are frequently groups, guided or otherwise, and everyone’s pace quickens as the Camino markers are now indicating the number of kilometers remaining to reach Santiago. Perhaps they do that the entire length of the Frances but had not noticed it on the routes I walked – but then I wasn’t perhaps looking for it either. Where there was silence there is now almost constant conversations overheard but rarely understood.  I have, however, heard more English in the last 36 hours than in my last 31 days.

I now see many more people putting the first few sellos (the stamps you add to your credential unique to each albergue, monument or cathedral,  or pilgrims bar or cafe you visit) in their credentials. If you are walking the last 100 km you must have two sello per day to assure you have walked and not taken a bus.

I see more young children and even toddlers in strollers. I see groups of people wearing matching shirts, and know there are support vans nearby on the larger roads following along for the groups. It seems like quite a change. The other very noticeable thing is how many people are stopped at each cafe and bar and how much more “stuff” is sold at each one.  This is in no way meant as critical – it is just observation. Each is here and experiencing his or her own  Camino. Many begin with this experience and come back to the Camino again and again. It has a different and often special meaning for everyone and for many different reasons. Everyone seems to have a certain excitement about them as Santiago is so close now,

Many people almost race into Santiago from here. I am taking my time. I stopped early today at a private albergue. I will have one more night tomorrow on the Camino and then will walk the last 15 miles or so into Santiago on the 18th. Even at that I am a day ahead of my revised plan and only three days later than I had originally thought. The time has gone so quickly.

It feels wrong to me to rush it to its conclusion. Despite the many people, I still enjoy the beauty of the surroundings and imagine the weariness of long ago pilgrims without all of the infrastructure that supports the modern day pilgrim. I also enjoy seeing so many others from so many places and stages of life all sharing this common experience.

The people in the hamlets along the way still go about their  rural-based routines that make up their lives. They walk the paths we walk that are part of their daily lives and offer a warm “hola, buenos dias” or “buen Camino” when they pass.

The last picture in this post is a bar just up the way from my albergue. I waited there for the albergue to open its doors. The proprietress is a friendly, warm women who has honed her language skills over the years and serves some of the best (and biggest) bocadillos (sandwiches) I have seen. It is a tradition in this place that everyone leaves their personal graffiti either on a table or wall, or very often, on a Camino-worn tee shirt that they are ready to leave behind as they are about to end their Camino. The photo doesn’t show it very well but there are well over 200 or more shirts with their personal messages written on them hanging from the ceiling of the bar. You can’t even see the ceiling.

While this albergue offers nothing to eat, it is unique in my experience in terms of the quality of the showers. The water, like most, is deliciously hot, but these are fancy hydro massage showers with jets coming from everywhere – a shower massage. What luxury in so unexpected a place. This albergue also serves “tourists” in addition to “authentic pilgrims”. As an authentic pilgrim I paid 10 euro for my room. A tourist pays 55 euro.

Well, I’m about to wander up or down the road to find one of the two nearby cafes for some dinner. Tomorrow I will walk slowly – no longer catering to my injured leg, but rather savoring my last 2 days on the Camino.

Yesterday marked my second day since I have resumed walking. I was clearly overly cautious and reached my planned destinations for the day 2.5 hours before it even opened! While that would normally not be such a problem (tea in a cafe, a stroll taking photographs etc), the albergue was literally 12 miles before the next albergue (or even a bar) and the albergue before it, I had just left only a couple of hours before and it was raining quite hard and had been all day with no promise of a break.

The albergue had a chain across the driveway with a sign saying  “while pilgrims walk, hospitallers rest. We will be open at 1:30″…..I wasn’t going to knock on the door!

I found a bus shelter about half a mile up the road and decided to just wait it out there reading a book on my kindle app.

The albergue turned out to be one of my most favorite of the trip. It was beautifully  restored and the hospitaller and his wife were really great – take being hospitallers very seriously and work hard to enhance the pilgrim experience.  He was very disappointed that I hadn’t come to the door because, in his words, “the sign should be ignored if you need us”.

They operate a small bar out of the albergue and have room for 20 pilgrims. They provide dinner for 9 euro and breakfast in the morning for 3 euro for pilgrims staying the night. They have a dining room separate from the bar for this  communal dinner.  They have a special large coiled burner that is specifically designed to cook a large pan of paella …. enough for more than 20 hungry pilgrims. I had been told that you must always eat paella with a group because the best  paella is prepared in this manner. It was proven to be true last night. They made a beautiful seafood paella served with salad, bread, wine (as always, unlimited) and dessert.

A couple of us mentioned an experience earlier in the day of a very aggressive German Shepard that was not leashed and came after walkers as they passed a house. I am a bit wary of dogs anyway and this one really was scary. I held it at bay with my walking sticks but it kept charging at me with its teeth bared and snarling in a low crouch. I really thought it would get to me despite the poles and my shouts. My heart pounded for quite a while once he backed off.

The hospitaller took this very seriously. He drove a couple of us back on the road to identify where it occurred. He will let the police know. Some people (rare actually) apparently don’t have much use for the pilgrims and this kind of thing can happen but the police put a stop to it. People like the hospitaller depend on and support the pilgrim’s walks and want the Camino experience to be safe and positive.

I left after an early breakfast this morning and walked 20 kilometers to Melide, the town for tonight. It is the most famous place in Spain for pulpo (octopus) but I’m not sure why – it isn’t by the sea. Maybe I will go try to find out. I managed the 20 km ok- just some discomfort in the left leg but manageable by managing my pace. Lots of climbing today reaching the highest point of elevation between Lugo and Santiago.

I can’t believe a month has passed since I started my walk. I would be arriving Santiago tomorrow had everything gone as anticipated. While it wasn’t my expected path, it has probably been in almost every respect a richer one. I’m looking forward to really favoring these last few days. Tomorrow I reach Arzua where several Camino routes converge with the Frances. I will prepare myself for the mass of people that will appear. I know I want more time walking the pilgrim paths where it is quiet and the pace is easy and contemplation comes without effort or distraction. I am quite certain I will come back again. There is something magical about walking in Spain.

Today I tested the leg with my first point to point walk on the Way without the safety net of a town and infrastructure if it didn’t go well. My fit bit registered almost 15 miles and I am settled in at the albergue I hoped to reach and just finished a celebratory beer!

I can’t even describe the joy of being back on the Camino walking  toward Santiago.

I am happy I made the decision to bus to Lugo and rejoin the Camino Primativo, my originally planned way to Santiago. It is so quiet with so many fewer people. The landscape is rural; the routes are small country lanes and the original foot paths taken by early pilgrims. It is quiet, peaceful and beautiful.

Over the distance since Lugo there was just one bar. Otherwise just hamlets, small churches and rural scenes.

This albergue is one of only two options for places to stay for quite a distance. I emailed Lali when I was unable to communicate with the hospitaller here on the phone in an effort to reserve a bed. Lali called him and emailed me back and said I should ask for Niko on arrival ( felt a little “godfather-esque”). But, when I arrived and told him I was Katherine, you would have thought I was his long lost daughter!  What a greeting I received! Thanks yet again to Lali!

i know as I get closer to Santiago, especially at Aruza where so many of the routes converge, it will get busy again but over the next few days I will go slow and drink this in. This is the way I want to feel when I think back on my Camino!

Since leaving Leon I have basically been meandering through the Camino Frances by bus. I last wrote as I completed my time in beautiful Leon and then on to Astorga and last night Villafranca del  

Bierza. The top four photos above are in Astorga. The omnipresent Gaudi designed and built a couple of homes here. This one is now a museum and the other is occupied. His style is so identifiable and very “out there” for the times. He used a lot of nature elements in his design and the roundness of angles and surfaces so different from the linear angularity and sharpness of other buildings of his time. I am sure Gaudi went where s client could afford his services so, while his influence is primarily seen in Barcelona, there are Gaudi structures others places in Spain.

Much of Astorgas Roman wall is still intact. The albergue where I stayed has been restored and modernized but is on the site of an original “hospital” ministering to the needs of midieval pilgrims making their way to Santiago. Over hundreds of years there have been a countless numbers of pilgrims who have made this journey. I like staying in the old albergues that are former convents, monasteries, or “hospitals” (obviously cwhere our current use of this word originated). Many of the “hospitallers” still feel this deep commitment to serve pilgrims. In Astorga, there are physical therapy students who come to the albergue each evening to minister to the sore and injured pilgrims.

Yesterday I arrived to Villafranca del Bierzo. Of course there were the cathedrals and monuments harkening to the long rich history and tradition. My albergue pictured above with the square tower was formerly a church and monastery. Part of it is now a hotel but one section remains reserved for pilgrims at 8 euro per night for a three bed room with bath. There is a communal kitchen and laundry. The last picture is the view at sunset from my room.

I had dinner at the small restaurant in the photo. It was recommended in trip advisor and did not disappoint. Often the nicer restaurants are very busy at the midday meal and reticent to offer a table to a single diner. I could tell the waiter was advocating for me with the chef who he had to check with before permitting me a seat. The previous day two restaurants had said they were full with obviously vacant tables. An occasional nice meal is good. They are relatively not much more expensive than the inexpensive three course meal available at most bars and restaurants (10 Euro including wine, bread, and coffee). These meals however are usually not fresh things like salads and involve potatoes in any number of ways.

So, now I have been wrestling with the decision about what to do next. I am not doing well with riding the bus past people walking the Camino. I see the tired and satisfied walkers come into the albergues after I am settled and showered and finished with my laundry. I feel bad to be taking a bed though I know many have to bus segments for various reasons.

What I have decided is to give it a try walking again. I am taking the bus today to Lugo Spain which will put me back on the Primativo, my original route plan. Lugo is beyond the mountain crossing part that is most difficult and puts me 103 km from Santiago. I will have 8 days starting the 12th(tomorrow) to make my way over that 100 km. While that seems like a reasonable number of miles per day, the accommodations, unfortunately,  don’t space out evenly. The first leg will be the longest but I am hopeful. I can go slowly. I have tried to identify the slightly more expensive (8 vs 5 euro) private albergues that take reservations and have emailed to try to secure them. Without the pressure of getting somewhere in time to get a bed, I think it will help. The Primativo has fewer albergues than the Frances but the sheer numbers of people walking and filling the towns at night somewhat diminishes the experience for me. I don’t think I would feel that way if I hadn’t had my wonderful experience of the Norte – the solitude, the peacefulness, the personal feel of it. That is there to be found on the Frances as well but I think just because it has become more of a business (small villages have become minor towns serving Pilgrims), it feels a little different.

I can still take a bus from Lugo to Sarria and try the last 100 from there on the Frances with more of a safety net but I will test my leg some more today and make the decision. One way or another there are 9 days left of my Camino and I will immerse myself in this truly special and singular life experience.

As I have moved on to the Camino Frances and into the Provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Leon, many changes are evident.

There are many more pilgrims and the evidence that this is the Way are much more ever- present.  There are many more pilgrim accommodations; much larger (and in some cases – but certainly not all –  less personal). There are shops catering entirely to the needs of pilgrims and a bit more “commercial”. I think part of it is that until I can walk between stops again, I am relagated to my lens being from the perspective of a town at least big enough to have a bus stop.

I had time yesterday to walk in Carrion de Los Cantos before my bus departed. It was Saturday and starting early the town was preparing for a traditional element of their fiesta – decorating the town’s main plaza with floral designs on the plaza stones. They work from a plan, draw the design on the stones and then use only flowers and natural elements; seeds, dirt, petals, nuts and flowers to bring it to life. It is reminiscent of our parades where the floats have to be all made from flowers.

Everyone joins in and has their task to do.

I also walked to the monastery (like many now a hotel) and had my much looked forward to morning trip to the bar for tea, a croissant, and the ever present fresh squeezed orange juice. I think I want one of the juice squeezers used here in most bars – the oranges are fed in at the top whole. They are halved and squeezed and the empty halves discarded in the blink of an eye. The results: delicious. Spain has the best oranges!

I arrived to Leon – another magnificent cathedral (this one rightfully heralded as having the most magnificent stained glass in Spain and perhaps in a cathedral anywhere in the world) in a much larger more urban city. I found the albergue with little difficulty and was soon seeing the sights. The monastery, the Parador here, is now a 5 star hotel. The religious of its day would be astounded by the splendor that has replaced its more humble beginnings and the monastic life.

Today I will go to Astorga – a smaller town with a very interesting history and culture.

I put about 7 miles on my Fitbit yesterday – the most since my injury. It was slow and spread out over the day but I feel good this morning!  The weight bearing is the issue – not much tolerance for longer distances without resting it and the added weight of the pack is immediately felt in the area of my tibia that is the source of the problem.

I am still hopeful that if I get to Sarria by the 13th  or 14th I can slowly make my way the last 100 km on foot doing shorter days slowly. We shall see.

To say I was impressed by the cathedral in Burgos would be an understatement!  There are three cathedrals considered to be the most splendid in Spain (and among the finest in the world) and this is one of them. Construction of this cathedral began in 1221 and work continued until the middle of the 1500’s as new parts were added or parts were redone to pay homage to rulers and religious leaders. Like most in this time, it is in the Gothic style but later additions reflect renaissance influences. It contains the tomb of El Cid. The domes are beautiful. It is enormous and took about 2 hours to go through. The audio guides are very informative and interesting. The photos did not load in the correct order so the second and third are from today and the rest are the cathedral.

I made it through the cathedral on my leg but not easily. I sat when I could and moved slow and carefully. It’s been a week and a day since my injury and the course seems to support my initial diagnosis of stress fracture. My leg looks so much better and I am completely pain free at rest but weight bearing for even a short time is painful and it’s very clear that getting off of it is the right thing to do. The pain is very localized over one place on my tibia. I think the PT really helped with the inflammation in the supporting soft tissues but I really don’t think this is fundamentally a soft tissue injury. So, it is one day at a time. Do what I can do and keep the long view in mind.

I took the bus to Carrion de Los Condes today. It is a very small town today of 1500 or so but historically it was much larger and at an important cross roads between the river and the Camino de Santiago for those making the early pilgrimages. Tomorrow I will walk out to the large old monastery that used to care for the pilgrims before I take the bus on to Leon.

Riding here on the bus I was very aware of how much difference there is from region to region in Spain. This area is a huge, higher plateau area 800-1000 ft above sea level of gently rolling hills and flat lands. It’s a wheat growing area – primarily agricultural with some other crops and livestock. Right now the fields are littered with big rolled bales of hay. It’s very picturesque. The dryer land areas are mixed with some bright green areas of irrigated crops all set against the bluest sky imaginable. Such a changes from the mountains and the mixed terrain moving back and forth from the rugged sea coast up into the areas of hillside farming and range land and forests and back to sea level of my first two weeks.

I rode through miles of sunflower fields interspersed between the golden hay fields today. Wow.

It is hot here and dry but the nights cool down some. I have my own room tonight in a private hostal – still only $20 or so for the night. There is one municipal albergue here but given my bus arrival time and the location of the alburgue I decided I wanted to have a reserved room. There is also a parochial albergue run by the church but I knew I would be inside resting the leg so wifi becomes an important variable for me. I have to make bus plans and can’t really walk 2-3 km from the bus to the albergue as I was doing before.

I am on the third floor and I have a large window that opens over the roof tops with a big view of the sky and setting sun. Nice.

It is Saturday night and festival time so there are fireworks and people are up late celebrating.  It’s okay though as I have adopted the siesta – this is a survival tactic really given the meal hours in Spain, the afternoons closure of all of the shops, and the night time sounds until the wee hours and early departure times required from the albergues.

I’m looking forward to my morning stroll (and my 11 am checkout) to the Monasterio- hope it goes well. Then, back in the bus at noon and on to Leon.

Today I begin Camino, take 2; a somewhat revised plan but it is the one that makes sense. My time in Gijon with Lali was so restorative in so many ways. She is an incredibly kind, caring, and generous person. I am so grateful.

Physically I am feeling better.

My leg doesn’t tolerate much yet but every day that goes well gives permission for a small bit more the next. Yesterday Lali treated me to a wonderful drive up into the Pico de Europa mountains. We stopped at a famous viewpoint and then went on to a beautiful spot high in the mountains with a small chapel in a cave on the side of a mountain and a large gothic Basillica – the place where years ago Lali was married. They were tuning the huge pipe organ in preparation for a concert coming up. The acoustics were unbelievable.
  

Lali and I enjoyed another Asturian meal. There are many special dishes, food, and drink items unique to Asturias and I think with Lali’s guidance, I tried them all.

Our final stop after lunch was at two high lakes that must be accessed by bus because the narrow road with its steep drop offs isn’t safe for bus drivers and motorists to navigate at the same time. There are mountain trails and Refugio’s just as in the Dolomites. How long can a bucket list get???

Today I reluctantly said goodbye to Lali and took the 4 hour bus ride to Burgos. I am going to complete the Camino on the Frances for several reasons but mostly because there are options to bus for now when walking isn’t an option and there is more infrastructure if I need it. There are wonderful things to see this way. I had chosen differently because of the much larger number of Pilgrims on the Frances and I am so grateful for the 16 days I had on the Norte. This will be different but I’m excited for the experiences to come. the first difference to note is the loss of the sea and its influence of the weather. It is 90 here.

I am about to visit the cathedral but am having a cold drink and wifi moment at a cafe across from the Albergue. I was surprised to discover how comforting it was to settle into my bunk and feel like a pilgrim once again. I felt right at home and went through what has become a practiced routine arriving at a new Albergue.

My hope is that I will be able to walk the last 100 km. time will tell. If not though I think I will have my own special feelings on arrival to Santiago.