Monday, 31 October 2011
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Thursday, October 27 - Day 38: Bad News, Good News
The bad news: the rain continues, sometimes torrentially, making for soggy feet, dampened spirits, and few pictures of the green Galician countryside and the eucalyptus trees that line our path.
The good news: We´re sitting now looking out the window at airplanes carrying pilgrims home from the Santiago airport. Yes, we´re that close. Tomorrow should do it.
stand by
Rick
The good news: We´re sitting now looking out the window at airplanes carrying pilgrims home from the Santiago airport. Yes, we´re that close. Tomorrow should do it.
stand by
Rick
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Tuesday, October 25th - Day 36 in the rain
And somebody was very happy to be able to get hold of her kid on the phone again.
anon
Rick
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Saturday, October 22 - Day 33
Well, finally, a working computer - albeit with no SD drive again, so no pictures. We´ve been back in the mountains for days and mostly in small towns where both internet and telephone service are either non-existent or out-of-order.
But the great news is that the pilgimage is going very well. We´re into Galicia now. The countryside is beautiful - lots of up and down through green mountains. The weather continues to be great, with sunshine every day, but accompanied by a cool breeze. Days are getting shorter but its still like early September in Ontario. Trees are green and gold, and the sky is clear and blue.
Our new friend Penny from Australia has been walking with us for a couple of weeks, and other folks we´ve come to know along the way re-appear daily, so the companionship has been wonderful.
Our legs are strong and we´re quite easily covering the required twenty kilometers per day. Looks like we´re only six or so days from Santiago now and the end of our walk. This gives rise to very mixed feelings - excitement about the thought of reaching our goal, sadness because our walk will soon be over, and looking forward to seeing everyone at home again.
But for now, its time to pack up and get into the sack, so we´re ready to go in the morning.
Rick
But the great news is that the pilgimage is going very well. We´re into Galicia now. The countryside is beautiful - lots of up and down through green mountains. The weather continues to be great, with sunshine every day, but accompanied by a cool breeze. Days are getting shorter but its still like early September in Ontario. Trees are green and gold, and the sky is clear and blue.
Our new friend Penny from Australia has been walking with us for a couple of weeks, and other folks we´ve come to know along the way re-appear daily, so the companionship has been wonderful.
Our legs are strong and we´re quite easily covering the required twenty kilometers per day. Looks like we´re only six or so days from Santiago now and the end of our walk. This gives rise to very mixed feelings - excitement about the thought of reaching our goal, sadness because our walk will soon be over, and looking forward to seeing everyone at home again.
But for now, its time to pack up and get into the sack, so we´re ready to go in the morning.
Rick
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Sunday, Oct 16 - Day 27
No posting of pictures this time - no SD drive on this computer.
Set off this a.m. in pitch dark at 7:15 with empty stomachs because the only bar (cafe) in the town simply failed to open as scheduled for breakfast.
So, six kilometres through the countryside and then, just as the sun was coming up, a roadside cantina: A young man, living in an abandoned farmhouse with no electricity and just a well for water, had set up a roadside stand with hot coffee, juice, biscuits, and fruit, all available for whatever amount one wants to donate. Apparently that´s his life twenty-four seven, 365 days a year, serving peregrinos.
And along come three German women pilgrims, one of whom happens to be humming a Taize tune. Next thing you know, Pauline and the three of them are standing in a circle singing Taize hymns together, with warm stomachs and warm hearts, in the countryside in the first light of Sunday morning.
Another minor camino miracle when it was most needed.
R
Set off this a.m. in pitch dark at 7:15 with empty stomachs because the only bar (cafe) in the town simply failed to open as scheduled for breakfast.
So, six kilometres through the countryside and then, just as the sun was coming up, a roadside cantina: A young man, living in an abandoned farmhouse with no electricity and just a well for water, had set up a roadside stand with hot coffee, juice, biscuits, and fruit, all available for whatever amount one wants to donate. Apparently that´s his life twenty-four seven, 365 days a year, serving peregrinos.
And along come three German women pilgrims, one of whom happens to be humming a Taize tune. Next thing you know, Pauline and the three of them are standing in a circle singing Taize hymns together, with warm stomachs and warm hearts, in the countryside in the first light of Sunday morning.
Another minor camino miracle when it was most needed.
R
Thursday, 13 October 2011
Day 24 - Thursday the 13th
Leon, and signs saying we´re now only 300km from Santiago. Safely across the dreaded expressway, thanks to a newly constructed footbridge for peregrinos.
Continuing sunny weather - still not a drop of rain. We´re doing some long days, some not so long - always trying to look ahead and judge how much time we´ll need to cover what are some pretty long marches in the guidebook. Shooting for Santiago on Oct 31st.
Walked most of yesterday on a Roman Road that was used by, among others, Ceasar Augustus, St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi and of course Saint James (Santiago).
I´m gaining a new perspective on the expression,¨Where the rubber meets the road¨. We use it as a metaphor but after 24 days of walking it has a very literal and immediate meaning. One learns that the quality of the rubber on your feet - and of every material between the rubber and your feet (insoles, layers of socks, bandages, moleskin, vaseline) - is critical.
And it really matters whether ¨the road¨ is in fact flat or up and down, straight or curving. And most of all, whether it is the pavement of a city or asphalt of a country lane (rarely), a path in the woods (also rare) or a dirt road. And, if a dirt road, is it in fact earthen, gravel, or rocky like the Roman road? Is it flat or rutted, are there clear tracks to walk in or must one balance on the centre or a cambered shoulder? Are there patches of shade or is it in full sun? Is the wind blowing the dust from the fields in your direction or away?
For hundreds of years and thousands of pilgrims, these things have mattered.
Continuing sunny weather - still not a drop of rain. We´re doing some long days, some not so long - always trying to look ahead and judge how much time we´ll need to cover what are some pretty long marches in the guidebook. Shooting for Santiago on Oct 31st.
Walked most of yesterday on a Roman Road that was used by, among others, Ceasar Augustus, St. Augustine, St. Francis of Assisi and of course Saint James (Santiago).
I´m gaining a new perspective on the expression,¨Where the rubber meets the road¨. We use it as a metaphor but after 24 days of walking it has a very literal and immediate meaning. One learns that the quality of the rubber on your feet - and of every material between the rubber and your feet (insoles, layers of socks, bandages, moleskin, vaseline) - is critical.
And it really matters whether ¨the road¨ is in fact flat or up and down, straight or curving. And most of all, whether it is the pavement of a city or asphalt of a country lane (rarely), a path in the woods (also rare) or a dirt road. And, if a dirt road, is it in fact earthen, gravel, or rocky like the Roman road? Is it flat or rutted, are there clear tracks to walk in or must one balance on the centre or a cambered shoulder? Are there patches of shade or is it in full sun? Is the wind blowing the dust from the fields in your direction or away?
For hundreds of years and thousands of pilgrims, these things have mattered.
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Day 20 - Sunday
Still more meseta, but back to full sunshine, with more seasonal temperatures that lighten somewhat the last few hours of the daily trudge.
Lunch yesterday on a bench beside this hermitage, no longer in use:
Along the way we occasionally see what we understand to be bodegas (wine cellars) dug into the hillsides by farmers to keep their homemande wine cool:
And today, for the first time, buildings made of mud, stone and straw:
And in the distance now - mountains! Which means the end of the meseta in a few days.
We´re at about the the half way point in days walking and distance, so I suppose there´s no turning back now ;-)
R
Lunch yesterday on a bench beside this hermitage, no longer in use:
Along the way we occasionally see what we understand to be bodegas (wine cellars) dug into the hillsides by farmers to keep their homemande wine cool:
And today, for the first time, buildings made of mud, stone and straw:
And in the distance now - mountains! Which means the end of the meseta in a few days.
We´re at about the the half way point in days walking and distance, so I suppose there´s no turning back now ;-)
R
Friday, 7 October 2011
Day 18 - The Meseta continued ...
Third day on the plains, 25 kilometres covered and ... clouds! No rain yet on the plain in Spain, but a break from the heat, which I grant we may miss soon enough.
Rick
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Day 17: The Meseta
Walking from morning cool dark until mid-afternoon under full sun - relieved slightly by an occasional cool breeze. Sore feet and legs, but oh what joy when we finally spot the destination in the distance ...
And then, after an hour or so of resting, showering and laundry, we set out to explore and we see, for example, in a city that was officially incorporated in 884 a.d., this church where, six hundred years later, they feted Columbus upon his return from discovering America!
cheers
Rick
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