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a kiwi family with eight kids and a grandpa
chronicle their pilgrimage from Singapore to London and beyond.....overland all the way

that was in 2008/2009....

then they kept on pilgrim-ing....2012....

then the 1,000km walk-for-water in 2014...

at the edge of the world

in Him we live and move and have our being ~ Acts 17:28
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grey

October 2nd, 2012

by MamaBear

Whenever I walk in a London street,
I’m ever so careful to watch my feet;
And I keep in the squares,
And the masses of bears,
Who wait at the corners all ready to eat
The sillies who tread on the lines of the street
Go back to their lairs,
And I say to them, “Bears,
Just look how I’m walking in all the squares!” – A.A.Milne

Tessa, in her eight-year-old wisdom and full of discretion whispered to me this morning, “Today ERgirl6 will find out it’s not true.” She’s been waiting for months,  the day had come, and Tgirl8 was right. It’s exactly what happened walking down Fleet Street – there were no bears; just lots of businessmen in suits with takeaway coffee (and one very underdressed pilgrim family!)

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ERgirl6 had more checking-out to do when we got to Trafalgar Square. Those lions look real enough to a 6-year-old, especially the eyes, and a particular children’s picture book full of fantastic adventures around London on the back of one of the lions has a lot to answer for!

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Books really did come to life when we abandoned plans of wandering over to Picadilly Circus due to the r**n and just turned around and employed R**ny Day Plan Number One: visit the National Gallery. So many pictures we had studied were on display, and reading through children’s journals tonight, I can see that they really were inspired seeing the paintings in real life. I had been concerned that we had reached artist overload point in Paris, but everyone enjoyed the National Gallery more than the Parisian galleries. No cameras were allowed, but we took journals and captured some favourite moments with our own pens and pencils.

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The weather forecast had suggested the clouds would clear in the afternoon. That turned out to be a very optimistic report as our photos testify:

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Full Day One in London: grey and no bears even if you step on the lines.

Posted in 2012, postcard: England | 3 Comments »

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transition

October 1st, 2012

Copied straight from MamaBear’s journal

All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it. ~ Samuel Johnson

Now England is not necessarily better than Spain, but central London is certainly a world apart from the rural countryside we have been traversing. It is at the same time both historically significant and far more modern. Buildings may be old, but they are not dilapidated or crumbling down. Rather, they are restored and grand. Plaques litter the walls telling of past events…..this building burnt to the ground in 1666 and was reconstructed by Sir Christopher Wren….this station saw the passage of thousands of children during the holocaust and now there are bronze statues to remind and inform us. The history of Spain seemed silent in contrast.
Window displays in Santiago shops were unpretentious, utilitarian – a bucket full of mops, a range of functional underwear pinned to a board. From London windows mannequins dressed in fine suits with shiny leather shoes and an artistically placed umbrella stare down into the street below, peering through gilt lettering. Reflected in the glass is a steady stream of black taxis, red double-decker busses, flash cars. Yes, we are in London. London complete with red phone booths and red post boxes, London with bells tolling deeply, London with signs pointing to squares all over the Monopoly board, London with St Paul’s cathedral.

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How will we learn to improve our lives?

Posted in 2012, postcard: England, postcard: Spain | 1 Comment »

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Direct line to Jesus

September 30th, 2012

By MamaBear

Our final day in Santiago captured everything we have enjoyed about the Camino….primarily food and friends and wandering, but also seeing sights and seeking out some special souvenirs.

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The day we arrived in Santiago we had not brought our backpacks as we were returning to the same accommodation that evening, but today we came in to town carrying everything, so we took the required crazy arrival photo:

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…..and we had to take a photo of our completed Credencials, that only three weeks ago were empty with promise, and now carry special memories:

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Desayanos Spanish-style was on the menu – we found those much-sought-after churros:

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There are no pics of our lunch, eaten outside a wee church in a sun-soaked square out of the breeze, but I can make you drool with a description. Ham and cheese empanada, quite different to the other ones we’ve tried – this one was made with flaky pastry and melted in your mouth. Artisan bread hacked up with a pocketknife, carrying slices of that delectable cheese we discovered yesterday – it tastes just like camembert, but is semi-hard and also melts in your mouth. Not having had our fill of cheese, we then entertained the notion of sharing some baked cheesecake too! Delish.

But the day was not entirely centred on food…there were friends too. And that’s where the direct line to Jesus comes in to play. In our email inbox first thing this morning was this message:

Hi New Zealand Family
It’s Jesus, from Madrid. My mother and me send you a very big kiss.
Let me tell you once again that my mother and me are very very happy to meet you yesterday. My mother was thinking about you and told me many times, specially because of the rain and the kids. I’m sorry because of you hadn’t shelter at Santa Irene as I understood….
In case you decide to come to Madrid, please, don’t hesitate to contact me and we can have a walk around the city. You could stay in my own house (on the floor I’m afraid) or divided between the houses of my relatives, my two sisters, my mother and myself.
Once again, a very big kiss from Madrid. It has been a very very big pleasure to meet you.
Don’t forget that all of you have a new friend and a new family in Madrid
JESUS

We carried these kind thoughts with us as we wandered. We also met other newly-made friends from the albergue, including a couple from Israel, who have walked with their 15 month old daughter (yes, the Mama carried her!) And we met an American family with four children, who have been living here in Spain for five years and hope to open a welcome centre for pilgrims and their own albergue at some stage – they sure gave us a warm welcome even on the side of the street, offering to take us to the airport tomorrow! This is the spirit of the Camino right to the end. They also advised us where to find good cheap food for dinner:

DINNER PIC will be added tomorrow as we have not eaten yet!

The final thought for us to take away from the Camino we found as we set out this morning; a stone wall bearing a message:

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GO WITH GOD.

Posted in 2012, postcard: Spain | 1 Comment »

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Changing perspectives from Santiago

September 29th, 2012

How quickly perspectives can change! It was only a few days ago that the thought of covering 17km  in a day’s walk was “not too far” – today we were checking out the airport bus timetable to cover the 10km to catch our flight on Sunday! GrandpaBear also commented that as he watched the pilgrims stagger in to the albergue at the end of a long day’s walk, his only thought was “The poor devils! They still haven’t finished! That was us on Wednesday!” We all have mixed emotions at finishing the Camino – satisfaction at having “made it”, but almost a sense of loss at the same time. We are all still processing what the Camino has been for each of us – perhaps more of that in a later post. For now, we are enjoying having the time to look around Santiago at a relaxed pace, to sample more fantastic Spanish breads and baking at new panaderia, try different Spanish wine and cheeses, watch the muñeiras dancers in the square, wander through the markets, and try and decide what our final meal in Spain ought to comprise of tomorrow! Being back in a big city, it is noticeable how different the pace of life is from what we have experienced the last three weeks walking through rural Spain. Such contrasts and changes! Soon we will be in London to soak up another wide spectrum of experiences.

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Posted in 2012, postcard: Spain | 5 Comments »

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A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

September 28th, 2012

by MamaBear

Day 21: Total distance to finish the Camino! 5kms
Weather: Foggy and cold, then clear and hot.

Four hours sitting at the University Hospital of Santiago waiting to get Tgirl8’s cast removed passed slowly – especially when we knew the others were wandering round town getting to see the place.

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However, we had plenty to ponder and replayed the events of the morning.
Fog shrouded the monument on top of the Monte do Gozo (Mount of Joy) and the sun was just starting to break through sending an orange-tinted hue across the dew-laden grass as we set out on the final stretch down to Santiago and its magnificent cathedral.

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In the distance mountains stood tall above the fog, which blanketted the intervening valleys. Closer to us another ridge emerged from the white, looking like an island in a sea of cottonwool. The whole scene turned spectacular when the sun’s rays streaked across.

Being only 5km from the cathedral, it did not take us long to get there and the mist was still billowing about the spires as we were brought to an awed halt.

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Adding to the surreal eeriness, the call of a lone Galician bagpiper echoed across the cobblestone streets.

There are some things you read about or see pictures of and when you arrive you are underawed at the reality. Not so with this cathedral. When we walked a short stretch of the Great Wall in China it was “more than we expected”. So too with Santiago. We had seen photos, but none of them showed the intricacy of the carvings, none of them captured the massiveness of the structure, none of them were anything like actually BEING here. This was in no way “just another church”; it was more than we could ever have imagined a building to be.

I had read of people catching up with “old” Camino friends at the cathedral and our experience was no exception. Standing there by the south door, the Canadian triplet we shared a few days with arrived, and the Spanish man walking with his elderly mother, and the Spanish guy who gave us language lessons the other night, and the father of five children who wants to bring them back to walk with him some day, and the sister of a lady, who apparently is reading this blog! When we arrived at the Pilgrim’s Office to retrieve our Compostelas they asked, “Are you the Kiwifamily? We’ve been expecting you!” The Camino grapevine is active! We wrote a truncated version of our story in their book and posed for yet another photo.

We had arrived, but not yet really seen. We had walked right round the building, heads tipped back looking upwards, but we had really only glimpsed. However, it was time for Pilgrim Mass and so we tiptoed in the side door and were fortunate to get a couple of pews – there might be seating for a thousand, but there were many more who had to stand. There was still half an hour until starting time, and we used every minute looking, looking, looking….a knight on a horse, the towering dome, solid grey stones, the golden altar, statues, sunlight streaming through high windows, the giant incense burner, other people. And before the service began a nun with an angelic voice taught us some key lines that we would later sing.  
A service in Spanish is obviously a good part incomprehensible to us. We could work out when to sit and when to stand, we understood the reading out of the pilgrim’s who had arrived that morning and heard ourselves mentioned, we could pick out random words from what sounded like a fairly evangelistic sermon, we felt the rhythm of the Lord’s prayer being recited, we exchanged handshakes with those around us at the appointed time, we joined in the nun-led singing accompanied by the booming organ. But the highlight had to be the swinging of the Botafumerio. If that word looks like *fumigate* to you, you have hit on the original purpose – to fumigate the sweaty and often disease-ridden pilgrims. Although we brought our bedbug bites, we have been fortunate to shower each evening. The burner was set alight and hoisted up by a team of half a dozen men pulling on ropes. That doesn’t sound very impressive does it? But as the silver urn swings from one side of the church to the other, gaining more and more height with each pull, and swaying as it drops suddenly to fall back the other way, it is a breath-taking experience. The first time it passes just over your head and quivers, hanging for a moment in the air, you are awestruck. You are also hoping the rope will not break! I am not overly excited by ritual for the sake of ritual, but this was an awesome experience – you had to be there to understand it! And perhaps it was made even more meaningful because we had walked to see this, it had cost us something, it had hurt us, and was not merely a tourist attraction to tick off some list.

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Even before the incense burner had stopped swinging, before the incense fog had cleared, some of the younger children were asking to return again tomorrow. And we will. We did not have time to walk up the main steps and enter the cathedral the “proper” way, we did not have time to see the fingerholes made in the solid marble column by the millions of pilgrims who have preceded us, we did not see the carved Jesse tree or descend into the crypt. So we will return tomorrow, God-willing.

Today I had to get Tgirl8 to the hospital and a taxi turned up right when we needed it as if by divine appointment! And at that point the awesomeness of the day disintegrated. After our hours of sitting expectantly, we were informed that the cast could not be removed and would have to stay on “minimum more two weeks”. To my admittedly inexperienced eye, the x-ray appeared to show perfectly straight bones – no sign of the fracture that was clearly evident two weeks ago. I begged for removal citing the need to fly in a couple of days and pointing out that we would be on a boat in two weeks, but to no avail. The nurses refused to talk to me and called in the next patient. I requested the documents, both from this hospital and the ones I had brought from Lugo and they outright refused and showed me the door – figuratively speaking, that is – we were actually left to find our way out, away from their turned backs. It looks like FatherBear will be turning DoctorBear with the aid of a pocketknife on a canal somewhere near Oxford in a fortnight! And in the meantime showers will continue inconveniently with a plastic bag from the Panaderia covering the cast.

Posted in 2012, postcard: Spain | 6 Comments »

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Only 5km to go to Santiago!

September 27th, 2012

Day 19: Total distance 16 km. Total ascent: 263m
Weather: Cloudy, showers and cool. Temperature: 16

There is a sense of expectation and excitement as we approach the end of our Camino adventure. Even though we will spend a few more days travelling out to Finisterre, looking around Santiago, chasing out to the hospital to get cast removed (hopefully) – everyone has a sense of light relief and possibly even slight euphoria at the thought of arriving at Santiago cathedral tomorrow morning. We walked past the airport on our way to Monte de Gozo today, and there was no real excitement at the thought that in a few days we would be back there flying out to London, but there was an eager anticipation of seeing Santiago as we crested the hill. Perhaps we are starting to appreciate the accomplishment of our walk – even though we have not completed the whole Camino (we will have to return again one day to do that!), we will have covered almost 300km over the past three weeks. We have had good days and we have had bad days. Blisters have come and gone, and remained for others! We have laughed, we have argued, we have held hands, we have walked in companionable silence, and we have enjoyed the space to think and “be”.

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The scenery here in Galicia has been wonderful, and the forests look like a set out of a fantasy movie. Between the twisted and gnarly mossy trees tower arrow-straight eucalyptus and strongly-scented pines. The path winds its way through, over the undulating hills and through river valleys. Colourful bracken contrasts against the dark green moss and the glistening eucalyptus trunks. The Camino is full of continual contrasts, five days ago we were walking in 29 degrees, yesterday it was 12. The dry dusty straight trails have given was to muddy winding paths, and just as the puddles this morning reflected the landscape around, we have had plenty of opportunity to reflect over the past three weeks. Perhaps three weeks has been too short a time? 🙂

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Wet, wet, wet.

September 26th, 2012

by MamaBear

Day 18: Total distance 22 kms. Total ascent: TBC
Weather: Raining, windy and cold. Temperature: 12

An adventure may be worn as a muddy spot or it may be worn as a proud insignia. It is the woman wearing it who makes it the one thing or the other. –Norma Shearer

Quite possibly today will go down as the most memorable for us in Spain…and days do not become memorable by being easy. It was a day of adventure and many muddy spots, but we will wear it as a proud insignia and in years to come will refer back to it…..do you remember the day we walked in the rain? Do you remember how we started in the almost-dark trying to avoid puddles on the track? (if only we’d known what was ahead we might not have bothered!)

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Do you remember that as the day progressed and the rain drove down we watched trickling rivulets turn into fast-flowing streams? Do you remember how Grandpa missed the turning and I had to pick my way through mud to call him back and then trudge through a river of mud to see if the others were also ahead? Do you remember how freezing cold we were, how our fingers would not work when we stopped for lunch? But wasn’t that shelter a welcome sight?

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Remember how we got so cold because we stopped, and when we set off again our feet ached, but no-one said anything, because we knew if we didn’t go on to the next village we would only have a bag of snacks for dinner. Remember how we laughed full of “that’s how I felt” when we all realised later we had all been the same.

As miserable-ish as the walking was, it was great to experience the famed Galician rain that sets in steady and doesn’t stop. It was fascinating to see the ruts in the track, ruts which we had earlier remarked must really run with water when it rains – and they do. As do the stone gutters down the middle of hamlet streets.

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I suspect we walked through some pretty places today. Judging by the eucalyptus leaves, spiky chestnuts and pine needles underfoot, there were tall trees towering above us….but we didn’t look up much. Head down, eyes on the path picking out the least treacherous option for foot placement, we shivered on, only vaguely aware of the greater surroundings. Fortunately Jboy16 stopped occasionally to snap a picture so we could, at the end of the day, see where we had been.

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From the vantage point of our first “pension” (our preferred albergue was closed for two days and the remainder were completo before we made it to the head of the queue), having had warm showers and facing the delightful prospect of sleeping without snorers, the memory of sodden stick-to-your-legs-shorts and wet undies is starting to fade, the memory of 30*C days just a week ago is warming up the 20 degree temperature drop and we are wearing our adventure as a proud insignia.

PS We were all surprised at the GPS reading today…..although wet, it was not a difficult day and we *easily* walked the distance and could have gone on further (even Grandpa reckoned he could have)….if only we were just beginning instead of nearly finishing – imagine how far we could go!

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Spanish lessons in Arzua,Spain

September 25th, 2012

Day 17: Total distance 14.5 kms. Total ascent: 249m
Weather: Raining, windy and cool. Temperature: 13

“gato, cat…”
”perro, dog…”
“dos pies, two feet…Good!
The children sat around the table attempting to twist their tongue around the sounds for over an hour and a half. One of the young Spanish pilgrims had offered to teach them some Spanish in exchange for some English. I am not sure how much English he gleaned in between the cackles of laughter and amusement as the children attempted to expand their Spanish vocabulary. Soon several others were hanging off the stairway joining in the conversation.  Language acquisition aside, what was precious was watching our youngest children (and eventually the older ones too) interact with this young Spaniard, learning a few words, the difference between Galician and the other three dialects, and a fair bit of cultural insights to go with it all (the main ones relate to food…….churros that we have been looking for are mainly found in the south; paella must be eaten at lunchtime, not dinnertime as we requested; gazpacho turns into something else if you add bread to it – and always add olive oil to everything; pork from pigs eating acorns is absolutely the best…..) This is the beauty of travelling like this and staying in a smaller albergue – the serendipitous meetings and relationships that come together. Pilgrims staying in a smaller albergue generally tend to be more interested in the other pilgrims and their stories than in the larger albergues. It is surely no different to what often manifests in small village life compared with city living – the smaller communities just seem to more easily encourage relationship and interest in your neighbours. A gross generalisation, yes… but is it not so often true?

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Another illustration of this occurred at dinner. Tomorrow (by the calendar) is Jgirl17s birthday – soon to be Jgirl18! We managed to find an ice-cream and sponge gateau in the supermarket, so we decided to celebrate her birthday early… or as Jgirl14 noted, “it is already her birthday back in New Zealand!”. We  started to sing “happy birthday”, and everyone else in the dining room stopped, started to join in, clapping, and then cheered loudly at the end of the song. As people left the dining room, they came over and wished Jgirl17 a “happy birthday”.

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This closer sense of “togetherness” even extended to when one of the men lost a pair of socks off the communal washing line. He started to ask FadaBear a question in Spanish, which quickly resulted in the young Spanish teacher being called in to translate. When news got out that a pair of socks was “missing”, the whole dorm was involved in a conversation as to who was most likely to have mistakenly acquired said socks. There was also a fair bit of joking with the poor guy who lost his socks, MamaBear joining in offering him a “spare” pair that we had. All good natured fun, over the simplest of situations – but indicative of the comfortable feeling amongst the pilgrims that we often did not experience when staying in the larger albergue. This was evident today even as we queued to get into the albergue and we were engaged in a range of conversations with Spaniards, Brits and Canadians. Sometimes, small is good (as long as it is not your serving of birthday cake!). Adios.

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The rain in Spain…

September 24th, 2012

Day 16: Total distance 17.5 kms. Total ascent: 164m
Weather: Raining, windy and cool. Temperature: 19

As we waited in line for the albergue to open, we first smelt the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread, then we observed a steady stream of Spanish folk walking past the albergue holding large, round wrapped packages. Judging by the shape and aroma of the circular white and red packages we knew there had to be a panaderia close by selling empanadas, and judging by the number of customers it had to have a good reputation. Is it a Spanish custom to buy empanadas for Sunday afternoon? As soon as we had checked in to the albergue we headed up the road in search of the source of the delicious smells. We didn’t need to go far; just a couple of shops away was a small unpretentious-looking panaderia, which inside was a veritable treasure trove of empanadas and bread. Actually, the range wasn’t huge – two or three types of empanada, and several types of bread – all freshly baked, still warm and it all tasted as good as it smelt. We bought one large, crusty and brown empanada for lunch which was so good, we decided to race back to the panaderia and buy another for dinner. By the time we returned to the bakery, there were only two left, and one was obviously reserved for a customer, but we were allowed to buy the final bonito empanada. Then a couple of huge loaves of fresh crusty bread. What a welcome to Melide! In fact, it was just as well we bought these as we had foolishly forgotten that from 2pm on a Sunday everything in Spain shuts down – including our supermarkets! We managed to buy some red peppers, tomatoes and strawberries from a lady at the local market who was packing away her produce but graciously let us buy from her still.

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The day had started dark, cool and wet. In fact, we were all woken during the night at various stages to the sound of the thundering rain on the albergue roof – it is quite something when you can hear the rain falling over all the snoring! We had a 17km trek today, and for the first time we pulled out the storm covers, jackets and made sure all clothes were in plastic bags in the packs. Thankfully the rain was patchy, and within the first hour had cleared, although it continued to threaten and sprinkled a little while we walked and then finally set in late afternoon. No wonder this part of Spain is so green! The wind was blowing a gale, but mostly from behind so we were pushed and buffeted along the path – it is surprising how much windage a pack on your back creates! The forecast for the next few days is rain – but hopefully we can dodge the showers like today! Galicia typically has 12 days of rain in September, so we expected to get some wet weather and are thankful for the two weeks of beautiful sunshine we have experienced up till now. It appears the rain in Spain does NOT fall on the plain, but primarily in Galicia!

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… rain, rain… go away!…

The pine trees also gave way to eucalyptus forests today. You could smell them as we walked through dense glades of the tall slender trees, the wind blowing the leaves down the path, and the children enjoying playing football with the fallen chestnuts, still in their prickly green cases. This is what memories are made of!

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Surprise on the road to Palas de Rei

September 23rd, 2012

Day 15: Total distance 17.5 kms. Total ascent: m
Weather: Sunny and hot. Temperature: 28

How often is it in life that the unexpected changes to our plans often bring the most rewarding of experiences? Our journey today started in the pre-dawn darkness again; we did not have any breakfast with us (the promised food shop turned out to be non-existent) so it was an early start, hoping to find a bar to buy sustenance en route. Despite the hunger pangs, walking in the quiet early morning is a fantastic experience.

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Today we were ultimately heading to Palas de Rei, and our walk included a detour off the main path to an ancient national monument – the Vilar de Donas, that was well worth the effort. We had not definitely planned to do this unless legs somehow felt energetic enough to allow us this 5km diversion. As it turned out, the two youngest girls elected NOT to take on the extra kilometres, so MamaBear stayed with them at a ‘bar’ with some fresh orange juices while the rest of us walked to the church. There is nothing to indicate how worthwhile our diversion will be – a small simple printed sign was all indicated the way to Vilar de Donas off the main Camino route – just an opportunity for the curious pilgrim who may have read the couple of lines in the guidebook that suggested this as a possible option. Most pilgrims today walked on past the dusty side-road – their attention on other goals. Our slow pace today allowed us the opportunity to explore.

The Church of El Salvador dates back to 1435 primarily – although it also has links with a 10th Century nunnery. Remaining are a range of stone effigies of knights – the church was the ancient seat of the Knights of Santiago. There are also remnants of unique frescoes which are extremely expressive and sorrowful, and while it is unclear exactly when these frescoes data back to, there is no doubting the mysterious sense of history that the church buildings exude.

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on the way to the church…

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The Camino landscape appears to have consistently changed to beautifully shaded, tree-lined pathways and stream valleys which are wonderful to walk, and are mostly sheltered from the fierce heat. We are also now only 68km from Santiago – plenty of opportunity for more surprises and detours to the main Way, all part of the journey!

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Posted in 2012, postcard: Spain | 1 Comment »

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