Life's a Stitch

Morning at Jean and Bruce's in Bordeaux:

Our friends have a connection in the next village, Saint-Fort-sur-Gironde, who was able to get us into the bell tower of the church, Eglise Saint-Fortunat.

We walked up a very narrow winding stairway, outside, to the very breezy top. This is not an activity for those who are claustrophobic of afraid of heights. 

I liked the gargoyles peeking down at us:

We heard the story, from not too long ago, about a wedding at the church. The guests were outside as the bride and groom waited for their horse and carriage,  when one of the huge bells crashed down into the church, missing wedding attendees by minutes. 

Bruce picked some grapes for lunch and we found this tiny escargot hitching a ride on a vine.

Tomorrow: an afternoon in Cognac.

The sun was rising when we arrived at our gate at the Santiago Airport. 

Our 3.5 hour layover in Barcelona was spent in a pleasant outdoor courtyard, still within the security zone at the airport. We indulged in tapas and a last bit of Spanish wine and beer from our favourite vineyard. Oops, airport pricing.

In a short flight we crossed the border into France, landing at Bordeaux, and met by our friend, Bruce. He took the scenic route home to La Rit, through rolling hills of vineyards and stopping at the citidel in Blaye, a Unesco World Heritage site designed by military engineer, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. Vauban had his hand in fortifying 300 locations in France.

Bordeaux is story book lovely, neat little towns, stone buildings, and manicured vineyards.

We arrived at their home, a renovated combination of stone barn and old house, to a dinner of moules and more good bread, rivalling that of Portugal and Gallicia. 

We are determined to lighten our load for this year's Camino as opposed to last year's:

– We shed some weight by omitting the sleeping bags, as We were ending a few weeks earlier. It's amazing how warm silk sleeping bag liners are.

– We also left behind the extention cord, something we read was a must have.

– We each took one microfibre towel as opposed to the medium, small and washcloth sized ones we packed last year.

– I didn't bring the sarong that I swore by last year and managed to live without it. 

– This year I didn't insist on toting 13 oz of watercolour supplies that remained untouched. You were right, dear. 

– Although my right ankle is still technically fractured, I did without the ankle braces and opted for light weight Salomon hiking boots. They provided lots of support.

There are items we added this year that I'd take along again:

– my lightweight umbrella, my new must have.

– a mini tens (muscle stim) machine

– a larger supply of protein bars, our emergency rations when food wasn't available. We like the Solo brand pineapple/coconut nut free bars.

The saving grace of both Caminos were our New Zealand made Aarn body packs.

 

Tomorrow – blogging from France

Thank goodness we accomplished so much yesterday, this morning we awoke to rain. On our way to breakfast we watched soggy pilgrims, still joyful, arriving at the cathedral. 

 Lunch was a generous portion of tapas in the garden room at Cafe Bar Recantos, the jazz bar from yesterday.

We picked up some souvenirs and magically connected with four pilgrims from this Camino plus Helen, the woman I met on the trail in Vancouver. We had hoped to meet up in Santiago.

C ran into a pilgrim we met while waiting in line for our compestelas, who recommended a restaurant owned by a friend, located just two blocks away on the Camino Finisterra/Muxia route. We decided for our last night on this Camino pilgrimage we'd wait until 9:00 and eat in a real restaurant. 

Santiago in the evening:

Most Spanish restaurants we've been to have their specialties, but menus are pretty consistent. Obriero was Gallecian nouveau cuisine at a reasonable price. The menu was only in Gallego, so we prepared with some Google translating. We had a good laugh over what translated to "corn scum." 

Not that hungry, due holdover snacking to get us to 9:00 p.m. we ordered two entrees, no starters. One was lamb, roasted, deboned and re-assembled, the other was fish tempura on a bed of guacamole.

The fish was so delicious we split a second order for dessert. That brought back memories of many years ago when we first met, after a day of hiking, we stopped for Chinese food. When it came time for dessert I surprised C by having wonton soup. My salty tooth has a reputation for odd ordering.

On our way back to the monastery/hotel we heard joyful singing outside the building opposite the Cathedral. "Viva ESPAÑA," a fitting end to a wonderful Camino  experience.

This year's pilgrimage is over but we have so much to look forward to. Tomorrow we fly to Bordeaux to visit the French country home of friends from home. Although it is so close to the Paris route of the Camino, it's time for a rest.

In a couple of weeks our plans include going to Morocco where we've arranged for an overnight camel camping experience on the Sahara. The blogging continues.

What took us four days to walk was accomplished by the slow bus in two hours. I think I'd rather walk as it was at 6:45a.m., cold, and headache provoking due to perfumed riders. The sun rose as we re-entered Santiago. It was a glorious day to do the post Camino drill, starting with a chocolate con churro at a peaceful jazz bar. If you want to get out of the fray of tourists make a stop Cafe Bar Recantos, located near the church of San Martin Pinario, a quick walk from the cathedral.

We checked into the Hospederia San Martin Pinario, the renovated monestary where we stayed last year.

After a short nap we left the hotel in time for noon pilgrim's mass. We noticed many police officers in full dress uniform so knew it would be a special one, increasing the chances of seeing the botafumiero (giant incense burner) swing. It was once done to fumigate stinky pilgrims, now it's a celebration that only happens sporadically.

This mass played double duty, to honour pilgrims as well as the national police force. Works for me, especially since they opened up previously reserved seats at the last minute and we were able to sit with a fine view of the bishop and the botafumiero in action. 

Lunch was at one of our favourite Santiago restaurants, Casa Manolo, three blocks from the cathedral.

 

Last year we missed the cathedral's rooftop tour, but this time we lucked into tickets with an English speaking guide. What an experience walking high up on a concrete roof, 60% from the 12th century, learning about Saint James, the cathedral, the Camino, and Spanish history and architecture. 

We followed that with the tradition of hugging the statue of St. James, in gratitude for a safe pilgrimage and saying a prayer in front of the silver reliquary that holds his remains.

Finally, after three attempts at the pilgrim's  office, we found a short wait of about an hour to receive our compostelas and distance certificates.

We split a sandwich for dinner in our room and that was the end to a full day of pilgrim activities. More tomorrow.

October 2 

A well earned rest day at the westernmost point of Spain. We walked the last kilometres to the ancient end of the earth. On our way we collected beach glass close to the alburgue.

 We did the pilgrim ritual of ducking under the famous healing rock.

Then another seafood lunch, this time najares, Spanish razor clams grilled with garlic and olive oil. 

 

We finished with a nap above the beach.

Took some time to compile the stats:

The combined distance of the Camino Portugues Coastal and Camino Muxia routes was 386.5k (252.9 miles). We averaged 20.34k, slightly under last year's 22k. The fact that most days we walked a half marathon in distance still surprises me. Did we really do that last year for 40+ days? Sometimes it seems unbelievable. 

There were no blisters for either of us. I think we have that figured out. Blisters are caused by rubbing and pressure. Our Injinji toe socks take care of any possibility of  toe blisters and we do a good job of padding and mole skinning our feet at the very first sign of a hotspot.

The final two weeks of last year's Camino were very painful. From the time I came out of the boot from a broken ankle, just weeks before starting our pilgrimage, I had painful swelling on top of my left foot. Finally saw a specialist just days prior to leaving for Portugal. My foot has it's very own disease: Freiburg's disease, which only attacks two of the metatarsal bones of the foot. The bone died due to injury and lack of circulation. It started in the boot and continued in my brace/shoe combination on last year's hike. The bone finally collapsed and is very clearly gone on X-rays. 

A shot of cortisone into the joint and a bar under my insole made this year's Camino possible. A more permanent fix may be necessary.

Enough of that.

Other stats: 

C lost three hats! Bryant, Dad apologizes to you for giving you a hard time in high school when you lost various items of clothing. 

We met pilgrims from 22 countries as compared to 32 on the Frances route.

Tomorrow it's goodbye to Muxia, which we preferred to Finisterre. It turns out that the pilgrim rituals at Finisterre, such as the burning of one's clothes, was a marketing ploy in recent years that they are now trying to undo. In reality,  in old times pilgrims didn't go beyond Santiago. Historically Muxia was the location where pre Romans believed souls departed for heaven.

We're going back to Santiago for two nights, where we will collect our compostelas for the Camino Portugues and partake in the post Camino rituals, then onto Bordeaux to visit friends. A few more stops in Spain and a trip to Morrocco are planned prior to returning home. The blog will continue.

 

October 1: 21k

The last day of our 20 day walk on the Camino. Although I'm sad, but we're sorely in need of a rest day. This year we did 19 days of walking, and one rest day, just under half of last year's Camino Frances. I had forgotten how much work it was. Not just the walking, but the daily organizing.

 The Santiago to Fisterra/Muxia routes are quite hilly and somewhat strenuous at times, but it is a peaceful pilgrimage. If you wanted to experience "Camino light," a four day pilgrimage, it would be perfect.

We started out on a morning so cool we could see our breath. What a difference from a couple of days ago. It was still early enough for long shadows.

 The morning was ideal for walking, sunny and cool. Not a pilgrim, but a local woman who gave me a warm greeting:

We started in the woods, then on to the farms and old towns, and back into eucalyptus forest.

 

C can't ever resist feeding the horses apples. We always have a spare in our pack, an apple, that is.

We stayed a few steps ahead of developing thunder storms. 

The latter half of the day was a succession of steep hills. The first glimpse of water happened at 8k to go. 

 

Once at the bottom of what we thought was the last hill, we found the Camino wasn't yet done with us. The last 6k were steep ups and downs. For the final 3k we were serenaded with amplified music from a festival in town. We made our way down a difficult decline to the tune of Strauss waltzes and the Nutcracker Suite. It was a bit weird. 

 Landing in town, with 1k to go, having hiked 20k with only morning coffee and noon ice cream breaks, we were ready for a meal. The area is famous for fresh seafood, so we indulged in clams and sole before heading to our Alburgue. 

 

Upon entering the restaurant I was greeted effusively by a man who declared in Spanish "Peregrina! (female pilgrim) This is the end, you can stop now!" I gave him a hug wondering if this was typical. Nope, it was an enthusiastic customer under the influence of more than this dedicated weary peregrina.

We headed to our alburgue at the ancient end of the earth where they issued our compestelas (certificates) for the Muxia route. 

Once Again, we are in peak condition and it's a little disconcerting to think that we won't be able to keep it at this level. C says I said the same thing last year. I wonder where our next pilgrimage will take us?

I was thinking about a woman we met from the Netherlands, a lawyer between jobs. One of her work benefits was pilgrimage support. If you decided to use vacation time to walk the Camino you were subsidized at 25e per day plus provided with pre and post pilgrimage coaching. What an interesting benefit to support the work/life balance.

Stay tuned as we complete our walk tomorrow, as the post Camino ritual requires us to go a little bit farther.

 

As yesterday we made our decision at the split in the road, we are now on the Camino Muxia. This post is dedicated to the many horreos we saw.

Horreos, are garnaries built on tall legs to keep out the rodents. If there are stairs on the side, there is a gap between the steps and the door, wider than can be jumped by a mouse or rat. I mentioned them last year, but in this part of Gallicia  they are especially predominant. 

Initially those that we saw were made primarily of bricks or cinderblock.  In this region, there are some older ones made of stone. 

You know how towns boast roadside attractions such as the world's largest? The world's largest ball of string, ox, axe, etc?  There was a Caminoside attraction – the world's  longest horreo at 35 meters.

Want to know what's inside? Mostly ears of dried corn for feed, some stacked neatly, some piled in.

So, this morning just past sunrise we passed our first horreo.

Tomorrow: we arrive in Muxia. The posts are delayed due to issues with wifi, so technically we've already been there, but on a positive note I can give you a preview of future blog posts including the rooftop tour of the cathedral in Santiago, the joy of receiving our compostelas, our visit to Bordeaux and Cognac, stops in Spain including Tarragona (a facinating major Roman Empire settlement), Reus (the birthplace of Gaudi), a festival where we witnessed a Castell competition (that's a human tower, feet to shoulder nine people high) and plans for a visit to Morocco including camping overnight on the Sahara, our current ear worm being Midnight at the Oasis.

 

 

September 30: 22.6k

Managed to leave a half hour earlier at 8:30 a.m. It was a mizzly morning, heavier than mist, not quite drizzle, and the temperature significantly lower than in previous days. It eventually burned off.

We split our usual protein bar on the trail and stopped for second breakfast, this time not until after 12k. 

The first section was mostly farmland.

 

Then lots of Galician inclines and downhills, but they are becoming easier. There were spots, although only at 420 meters, that felt like hiking in much higher mountains. The higher we went, the rockier it got. 

 

We arrived at the point where the path split in two. We had already made our decision. Although most pilgrims go to Fisterre, which translates to the end of the earth, the real Western most point in Spain's Camino is Muxia, also the supposed location where the Virgin Mary travelled by stone boat to encourage St. James' (Santiago's) preaching.

Last year we visited Fisterre by bus, so this time we decided to walk to Muxia, a difference of 2k. For today, though, our stop is at Dumbria. 

 Just short of town, the stones lining the sides of the path looked like living walls. 

 

And this was a "living" car, not that old, but covered and lined with ivy and moss.

 

We stayed at Meson do Argentino, a plain restaurant/bar with rooms for rent and a little grocery and small appliance store. This was the most interesting meal of our Camino experiences.

On the Camino the term "menu" refers to a pilgrim menu or the restaurant's three course menu of the day, usually in the vicinity of 10e including wine. If you want to order from the regular menu, you ask in Spainsh for the carta. 

 Let me back up. We went to the wee grocery store to buy water and fruit for tomorrow's walk. Lo and behold, C discovered something that he couldn't resist. On the bottom shelf of their wine selection was a substantial collection of dusty cobwebby wines in the 22-32 year old range. C was in his element. He picked one out for dinner and one to carry along to our next stop. If we lived closer he would have cleaned out the entire shelf.

 

We went to dinner and asked for the carta, but the owner told us "No!" The choices for the day were steak or fish. Period. And with our wine choice she insisted we order steak, a good choice. We thought we had ordered a steak and large salad to share. She came out with two huge prime rib steaks. It was delicious, but way beyond our ability to finish and might I add, considerably above our Camino budget. But it was a meal to remember and the 25 year old tempranillo reserva was worth it as an exception to our routine.

 

 

 

 

September 29th: 22k 

Woke up to a foggy Galician morning. The uphill of 236 meters over 9.5k wasn't too bad. Thought it might be starting to rain, but it was just drips from the forest canopy.

 

Stopped at a tray of bags of fruit by donation. We chose pears.

Met up with Julian and Paco from yesterday. Paco was doing much better after a night of rest and arranging for backpack transfer. He remembered us from the previous day asking for the German hikers as well. Turns out Paco speaks perfect English as well as Spanish and German.

Today's walk changed to totally rural: meadows, rolling but sometimes steep hills, wind turbines, and a dairy farm. It was hot but breezy hiking through bucolic countryside.

 We had booked in at an Albergue, nestled between a cow barn and a cemetery. The hospitaliera offered us a double bunk room for the price of a private double. The shared bathroom ratio is a bit high, but all is clean and comfortable. They have all the bedbug precautions in place, mattresses and pillows in zipped industrially plasticized covers with disposable linens.

 Had a lively dinner with an Irish mom and daughter, Bunny and Hazel, along with Paco and Julian. Those two remind us in a way of don Quixote and Sancho Ponza. The dinner orders were a bit mixed up and C ended up with two huge bowls of lentil soup for dinner instead of soup and salad. At least it was very good lentil soup.

Tomorrow we'll try for an earlier start, and after that only one more day of walking for these pilgrims. It's hard to believe that last year we did double the amount, but by the time we arrive in Muxia, it will be ten days since our only rest day on this Camino trip.