An observation that occured to us on the walk is that it is like a parallel universe: we walk on paths hear traffic but rarely see a car, we walk into towns and villages and apart from the odd dog we rarely see any people, windows and shutters are shut and no music, laughter or voices are heard. The only people we meet are other pilgrims in cafes, or walking along the Way. I guess they have very long siesta here.
That all changed this morning when we went along to get our coffee and pastries for breakfast and were confronted with a full on party at 7.30am in the town square, lots of music beer being drunk and laughter and singing...it was fiesta time!
After the part we had another beautiful day of scenery as we wandered through vineyards, trudged up hills and picked our way gingerly down them again. An early finish and a treat at a nice hotel in Viana - where we are about to join another fiesta! Only 19kms today - a rest day....
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Day 3 (May 29)
We had another beautiful day´s walk which was testing during the avo as there was no shade or water available for the last 12k stretch, but we were well prepared having had a picnic lunch of crunchy bread stick, ham and cheese washed down with a small amount of red wine compliments of the Monks...see greedy Nikki!We are meeting some lovely people along the way and those of you you have done the Camino know only too well the different shapes and sizes of the pilgrims who come from all over the world. An aussie girl who specializes in mental health in Elizabeth in SA, a danish guy who has walked all the way from Copenhagen, a delightful Swedish lady who is battling away with a 16 kilo pack!! and a cute little terrier who was doing the whole walk with his master- for the second time.
The bird life is exquisite with their songs lifting ones spirits as we scoot along at 4.5 k per hour, we walked through vineyards, groves of almonds, and were amazed at the many types of wild flowers (honeysuckle,bluebells!, roses, cowslips and other stuff which I dont know the name of).
The weather has been warm with constant sunshine we look odd as we are tanned on one side only as we are heading due west, Nikki is walking backwards tomorrow to even it all up.
Enough of this blathering we are off to get a beer!
Michael the sticks are fantastic.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Camino Days 1 and 2 (May 27 and 28)
After a brief stay in Barcelona, we arrived in a very cold and wet Pamplona the day before we were due to start our walk. We excitedly purchased our pilgrims passports from the Archbishop´s Palace and looked around before experiencing our first rather disgusting Menu del Dia.
The next day we set off in the blustery wind which continued well into the evening. Not surpisingly the whole area is covered in wind farms! The morning was an uphill stretch through cornfields scattered with beautiful wild flowers - poppies and gorse. (Q and A we thought of you at Alto de Perdon!). We managed 16kms before breaking for lunch and stumbled through our last 6kms full of chorizo and cheese and we fell into out hotel in Puente La Reina. The town was abuzz with the footie game especially when Man U was beaten!
Day 2 was glorious as we hiked through vineyeards, cornfields, orchards and olive groves - not much shade though but only a 25 C (compared to a reported 47C in Dubai!). The birds twittered all day and we saw some beautiful little foals - not much canine life yet though....
We reached Estella at 3pm after 22kms with Nick asking - "Do your feet start feeling better after a while?" Off to find some vino and pinchos now -yum.
The next day we set off in the blustery wind which continued well into the evening. Not surpisingly the whole area is covered in wind farms! The morning was an uphill stretch through cornfields scattered with beautiful wild flowers - poppies and gorse. (Q and A we thought of you at Alto de Perdon!). We managed 16kms before breaking for lunch and stumbled through our last 6kms full of chorizo and cheese and we fell into out hotel in Puente La Reina. The town was abuzz with the footie game especially when Man U was beaten!
Day 2 was glorious as we hiked through vineyeards, cornfields, orchards and olive groves - not much shade though but only a 25 C (compared to a reported 47C in Dubai!). The birds twittered all day and we saw some beautiful little foals - not much canine life yet though....
We reached Estella at 3pm after 22kms with Nick asking - "Do your feet start feeling better after a while?" Off to find some vino and pinchos now -yum.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Santiago de Compostela
May 25th 2009
Well here we are in Teddington waiting for our taxi to arrive to take us to the airport. Barcelona tonight and Pamplona tomorrow....start of walk: the day after tomorrow - nothing like procrastination.
We are sure that we are carrying too much - you always do as the rucksack weighs a lot after 20kms no matter how much you have in it.
Other minor anxieties are surfacing, will the new socks be ok?, what about the walking boots? will they last the 700 kilometre walk... we shall see.
Ok taxi is here, so off we jolly well go!
Well here we are in Teddington waiting for our taxi to arrive to take us to the airport. Barcelona tonight and Pamplona tomorrow....start of walk: the day after tomorrow - nothing like procrastination.
We are sure that we are carrying too much - you always do as the rucksack weighs a lot after 20kms no matter how much you have in it.
Other minor anxieties are surfacing, will the new socks be ok?, what about the walking boots? will they last the 700 kilometre walk... we shall see.
Ok taxi is here, so off we jolly well go!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)