Pilgrims' Progress

Day 14: Total distance 12kms. Total ascent: 267m
Weather: Cloudy and cool. Temperature: 23

Thankfully Hospital da Cruz is the name of the hamlet we are staying in and there have not been any other unplanned visits to hospital. Hospital is just 12km from Portomarin, but it is mostly an uphill trudge – or so it felt! The weather closed in as we walked this morning, and the rain arrived at the albergue just after we did. We were thankful to avoid the rain, although it only lasted half an hour at the most. Having spent the night in a large dorm with three or four finalists for “noisiest snore of the Camino” competition, we were all feeling a bit weary! It is amazing how many people snore! It must be a good 15-20% of the population! And why is it that snorers seem to sleep so well, and snore so much of the night? In fact, I have come up with the idea that each pilgrim ought to have to undergo a “sleeping noise” assessment before being allowed to book into an albergue…. and all the noisy sleepers get a privileged dorm of their own. Their credential (albergue passport) could be colour stamped to indicate the “noise risk” to other sleepers. Ah, how the tired mind drifts!

So the day’s walk was short and uneventful – and yes, still very busy! I am sure you are wondering about the results of yesterday’s quiz. OK, so you most probably aren’t on the edge of your seat over it, but here are the results with our observations that you might hopefully find interesting.

1. When entering an albergue once you have your allocated bed, you should:
b) close the windows and shutters
This is the difference between living in a country where you try to follow the sun (NZ) and one where you avoid the sun in summer (Spain). It was especially evident the other day when we arrived at the albergue. The first thing we did was open the blinds and windows wide… then in came a Spanish couple who settled into the bunks a few rows down, and they immediately closed the windows and shutters completely! We smiled and enjoyed the warm breeze!

2. When parking your vehicle behind another on the street, you should: 
b) park about 10cm away from the other vehicle and don’t worry about how the other car will exit.
In NZ drivers get irate if you park too close behind someone and don’t give them enough room to easily get out of their parking spot. Perhaps it is because we have more parking spaces and so space is not at such a premium, but whatever the reason, we have observed that most Spanish drivers seem to park ‘uncomfortably close’ to the other cars. The other day we observed a van park literally 10 cm away from the car in front (and leave a good twenty metres behind him!) – I have no idea HOW drivers extract their cars!

 3. In Spain, the best place to store food stuffs long term is:
b) in a brick or wooden storehouse two metres above the ground…that is, if you are storing corn!

4. In September the sun will rise about:
b) 8am
Yep, in fact it is still very dark at 8am at the moment. Sunset is at 9:45 approximately, so there are plenty of daylight hours, but it explains the slow start that Spanish shops have at the beginning of the day.

5. When you stop after an hour’s walking you will change:  
b) your socks

6. You will follow: 
b) painted arrows and a variety of shells

7. At the end of the day, you should put your shoes
b) outside the bunkroom on a rack

8. You will eat: 
b) empanada, pasta, olives, bread and chorizo
We have eaten several pilgrim meals, but most of the time we source our food from the local supermarket and bakeries – obviously still eating “local” food, just not from a restaurant. We are loving the olives, chorizo, cheeses and all the seasonal fruit! We have been looking for churros and hot chocolate these last few days but it appears to be more of a city food because we haven’t come across them!

9. You will meet:
b) normal-looking folks who appear to have not walked to their corner store in a long time, but in the past three weeks they’ve walked 700km
c) lots of children NOT UNLESS YOU MEET US – WE’VE MET NO OTHERS WALKING

10. When entering a hospital waiting room in Spain you should:
b) walk into the room and greet everyone with loud “Hola”

Day 13: Total distance 10kms. Total descent: 316m
Weather: Clear and hot. Temperature: 28+

The countryside in this part of Spain is quite similar to New Zealand – rolling hills, lots of ferns and pine trees, and it is green. Even at the end of summer you can see that Galicia gets plenty of rain. As we walked towards Portomarin we could see that the whole valley and town was shrouded in mist – just like being in the Waikato! Portomarin was rebuilt in the 60s because they built a dam down-river and the old town was flooded. You can still see evidence of the old town as you walk across the new bridge. They did see fit to move the church however, and it was rebuilt brick by brick – you can still see the numbers carved into the bricks from when they did this. A Spanish man who was doing his third Camino (one by bike, two on foot) with his 76 year-old mother, who we met at the albergue at Ferreiros, wrote a note to us in the visitors’ book in the church challenging us to find out how many bricks were in the church building. We had to give up on this challenge as the walls appeared to be double or triple bricked, but we estimated at least 14,000 stone bricks per wall.

As we walked, we discussed some of the ways in which Spain is different to New Zealand… at least our experience of walking in rural Spain (which we are sure is quite different to life in the big cities like Madrid!). Here is a short quiz for you. Answers tomorrow – another chocolate fish up for grabs to whoever can answer these all correctly!:-)

1. When entering an albergue once you have your allocated bed, you should:
a) open the windows and shutters wide
b) close the windows and shutters
c) don’t touch the windows or shutters at all

2. When parking your vehicle behind another on the street, you should:
a) leave at least a metre to allow the other vehicle to easily drive away
b) park about 10cm away from the other vehicle and don’t worry about how the other car will exit.
c) park at least a meter our from the kerb so you block the road

3. In Spain, the best place to store food stuffs long term is:
a) in the pantry in the kitchen
b) in a brick or wooden storehouse two metres above the ground
c) buried in a hole in the ground

4. In September the sun will rise about:
a) 5am
b) 8am
c) the sun never sets

5. When you stop after an hour’s walking you will change:
a) your direction
b) your socks
c) your mind

6. You will follow:
a) the guidebook
b) painted arrows and a variety of shells
c) road signs

7. At the end of the day, you should put your shoes:
a) neatly under your bunk 
b) outside the bunkroom on a rack 
c) you shouldn’t take off your shoes, someone might steal them!

8. You will eat:
a) pavlova
b) empanada, pasta, olives, bread and chorizo
c) Chinese takeaways

9. You will meet:
a) elegant women in high-heeled shoes
b) normal-looking folks who appear to have not walked to their corner store in a long time, but in the past three weeks they’ve walked 700km
c) lots of children

10. When entering a hospital waiting room in Spain you should:
a) sit down quietly and wait for your turn
b) walk into the room and greet everyone with loud “Hola”
c) talk loudly to your friends and ignore everyone else

Day 12: Total distance 14kms. Total ascent: 258m 
Weather: Clear and warm. Temperature: 25

Over 100,000 people walk the Camino every year. That is an amazing number of pilgrims to shelter and feed everyday, and explains the fantastic network of albergues, refugios and pensions that are regularly scattered along The Way. Even in the smallest of villages or hamlets there is typically an albergue – in fact, some of the hamlets appear to consist solely of an albergue and a ‘bar’. Our destination today falls close to this category – Ferreiros is just 14km out of Sarria, roughly halfway between Sarria and the town of Portomarin. We had decided to camp here partly because we didn’t want to do a full 23 km to Portomarin, and partly because it had a municipal albergue – that is, cheap (5 Euro) accommodation! However, some of these smaller villages and albergues have limited facilities; there may be a bar where you can buy a meal, but there may not be a food shop. Eating out quickly becomes too expensive for the Bear tribe, so we had done a big shop and were carrying all our provisions for the day – lunch, dinner and breakfast for the following day. The information we had also indicated no kitchen at the albergue, so we would be eating simply! In actual fact, it appears that many of the municipal albergue actually DO have kitchens, but you will be lucky to find a pot or any other utensils in it! Given that we aren’t carrying pots or pans with us, the kitchens become redundant.

Today began at a leisurely pace. Being in our own dorm room the previous night meant most of us had slept well last night, and we were rested and full of energy; even excited by the prospect of a walk after a full rest day! GrandpaBear complained that we did the 14kms too quickly, and that the leading group were a good half kilometre ahead of him because of the fast pace. Part of the reason for our haste was that the Camino was noticeably busier today, and the albergue we were planning on staying at only had 22 beds – so we would require 50% of all available beds and therefore wanted to arrive as soon as possible!! Such are the realities of travelling as a horde :-)! Despite the faster pace, we had time to enjoy the walk which was again through varied and wooded sections, but we especially noticed it was definitely busier on the trail. Heading out of Sarria was like walking through the mall on a Saturday!

Here are some of our fave shots from today.

The reason for the greater number of walkers today is because Sarria is the closest place to Santiago that pilgrims can begin the camino and still receive a compostela (a certificate of completion). It is evident that large numbers of people start their Camino from here as the trail was downright highway-like this morning, with large groups of walkers at every corner and stretching out along the track. It is also evident that many of these walkers are “fresh” as they do not appear to be as generous to return the Camino greeting “Hola! Buen Camino” as we have experienced in the last week. Perhaps this will change in the days ahead as we get nearer to Santiago. They are also fresh in the sense that they have perfectly clean shoes and stay up late at night, clearly not suffering from the tiredness that eventually hits even those like us who do not tackle exceptional distances each day! They also typically walk normally – and don’t display any signs of the “camino hobble”.

A significant milestone today for us was passing the 100km-to-go marker. Normally walkers would chew through this distance in 4 days – we will take a far more sedate 7 days. The slower pace means we can stop for pictures, stop for extended lunches when we want to, and still arrive early at the albergue and give the younger children time to play. It also means, on days like today, we can go blackberry scavenging. Blackberries are everywhere along the Way at this time of year… so in half an hour we managed to pick about 4kgs – which we combined with our nuts and raisins and had a fantastic afternoon tea, and still had about 3kg to offer to others in the albergue. They made a welcome addition to our “trail ration” dinner of only baguettes, chorizo, olives and cheese! 🙂 Another happy day on The Way!

0km on The Way, a few round town this rest day….by MamaBear

Are we not incredibly blessed? I couldn’t help but think this all day yesterday. For a start we are here in Spain walking together as a family, enjoying each other’s company, eating good food, feeling healthy, loving the sunshine which brightens our spirits, finding a good bed every night, making wonderful memories. We are blessed to be having adventures, waking up not knowing what the day will bring, enjoying the challenge of using different languages, seeing new sights, eating olives, being stretched, avoiding the rain and forest fires (the one we saw beginning two days ago made it to national news on tv last night).

I was contemplating that we are blessed to have an eldest daughter, who is keeping a gorgeous journal (everyone is journalling, but hers is especially artistic). We are blessed to have an eldest son, who ordinarily is a serious meditative type, but who last night at dinner in his extreme exhaustion, laughed and laughed and laughed out loud. We are blessed to have a second son, who gives us laughs at his descriptions of things – let’s not say your ankle is sore when you can say “foot hinge”. We are blessed to have a second daughter who shared her awe and respect for her younger siblings: “I don’t know how the little ones are doing it! I’d have had a paddy if I’d known at the beginning of the day we would go so far.” We are blessed to have a Levi, who takes the lead most days, racing out in front, walking on his own, forging the path. We are blessed to have a youngest son, who cannot walk unless he talks and when no-one will converse with him he will walk for half an hour making up a story out loud that rhymes and would rival Edward Lear for nonsense! We are blessed to have a smallest daughter, who gives us giggles-a-minute for most of the day and opportunities to practise patience and offer encouragement usually for about half an hour on the long-walking-days;-) We are blessed to have a Tessa, who walked 21km to Triacastela with an undiagnosed broken arm, who has plodded on stoically every day without ever complaining. She also slips her hand into yours as she walks sometimes, just to let you know she’s there. That’s blessing.

And that broken arm is a blessing too. For E-Rgirl6 it was a huge bonus when she realised she would get a taxi instead of walking…….although after a few hours of sitting and waiting, she declared, “I prefer walking.” Tgirl8 pointed out some of the blessings: that it was not really sore after the first day, that the swelling went down before we got to medical help so they could put the cast on straight away, that we got to see the monastery at Samos even if we couldn’t stay there as we had planned, that someone helped us call a taxi, that we found the medical centre at Triacastela, that the accident happened not too far from the medical centre (the 21km walk seemed to be fading from her memory already! – but she’s right; we were relatively close to help), that we met lots of kind people in the medical centres/hospital (everyone greets everyone when they enter a waiting room and it feels so friendly in comparison to kiwis who would walk in and take a seat without so much as raising an eyebrow at anyone else), that on three separate occasions when we were asked for passports this formality was overlooked (I suspect my adulterated Spanish explanation accompanied by many hand movements about father having passport and walking from Triacastela to Sarria was more painful than pursuing proper beauracracy), that I understood the forms we had to fill in, that I knew how to catch the bus…….little did she know. I had no idea. But I was blessed by the thought that just as she put her trust completely in me, we have a Father who cares infinitely more for us. I was thankful for the doctors who walked me to the right department instead of giving verbal directions (especially when later we would be given verbal instructions and would end up wandering from department to department down long wide corridors in an enormous sprawling hospital with no idea where we were going but always ending up in the wrong place!) I was thankful that right outside the medical centre in Sarria was a map, and that the first thing I saw on it was Estacion Autobus….exactly where we needed to go. I was thankful at the incredible calm I felt about purchasing tickets to go to a city that I didn’t even know the location of on the map. I wished I had looked at places other than Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and the Camino route, so that I might have had some idea how to answer E-Rgirl6’s question “How many hours will this bus take? Is it overnight?” (the tiny cost was the only clue that it would not be more than an hour). I was thankful we passed a supermercado on the way and could purchase provisions. I was thankful that the bus did not leave for 45 minutes and so we had time to sit down and eat. When we arrived in Lugo, I was thankful that I somehow understood the directions of the bus ticket seller who sent us to the other end of the bus station to “Informacion”. I was thankful I understood the directions to go straight back where we’d come from and find an urban bus stop just round the corner….and that when we did that there was actually a bus stop right there and a timetable which indicated the right bus would arrive in a few minutes. When it hadn’t come in half an hour, I decided to hop on the next bus and ask (you may choke over the use of the word “ask” if you like… what I really mean is I intended to show the hospital name written on paper and gesticulate wildly). But the man behind me in the queue saw the paper and prevented me from boarding and asked the driver exactly what I wanted to know and with fingers, showed me the next one would not be for another hour. I was thankful for him, and the driver who took the time to consult his timetable. We took another taxi. And what a wild ride that was….stop signs are only to be obeyed if you think something might get round the corner quicker than you. If you can make it first, you have right of way. We were all thankful to get out of that taxi alive! As we traipsed around the hospital trying to find the right department I was thankful the girls were happy to follow without complaint and to think it was a bit of an adventure. When they wished the long waits were shorter, we gave thanks for the break from walking! Eventually we found ourselves sitting in a corridor in the “traumatology department” to await a “consultacion”(at least that’s what it sounded like!) Beside us was an old man on a stretcher, who looked near death and his weeping wife, an ancient lady with shaved head and falling-off-hospital gown, an assortment of others, all wearing hospital gowns, looking ill and holding their personal belongings in enormous white and blue plastic bags……some appeared to complain at the waiting time and a very officious white-uniformed lady gave them an animated talking-to, frequently including the word “urgenxia” (emergency, perhaps?) Suddenly a door opened, and although we had been the last to arrive, we were called in by a young lady dressed in green….within 15 minutes the arm was in a cast, the lady had confessed she spoke poor English and I had asked her in English how or where we should pay. She had no idea, but wrote the question in Spanish for me to show to someone at admissions…….which we thankfully found again without any problem. Tgirl8 sighed emotively as we exited the hospital….she was glad it was all over. Only it wasn’t! The others were still walking and didn’t know where they would end up, we still had to get back to Sarria and find them. With thanks again, I texted FatherBear, who had all the information about where we might find an albergue and he replied with a street address. Although the girls were doing perfectly well, I didn’t want to push them over the edge by making them wait another two hours for the next bus and then have to walk all the way back to the map we had used earlier in the day and then somehow get to the street FatherBear had sent, so I approached another taxi driver. He was the friendly sort who made sure I knew that it was 35km back to Sarria and explained how much it would cost – I was thankful for his honesty. And when we arrived in Sarria, he turned off the metre while he looked for the location on his GPS….no matter which spelling he used, he could not find the street. He drove on, refusing to restart the metre, asked men on the street, who could not help and for some unknown reason drove up a no exit street. I turned my head and who should be coming down the road, but FatherBear with some exhausted-looking kids in tow!

The day was not yet over. Blessings were to continue. The council albergue we had hoped to stay in was full – later an elderly French couple we have been passing on and off would tell us it was cramped and not nice. We found another in a lovely stone building with a delightful garden, which everyone was too tired to enjoy and a kitchen no-one had the energy to use! But just up the street was a lovely restaurant offering a wonderful pilgrim’s menu….and Grandpa insisted it was his shout!

After the events of the past few days we decided it would be prudent to try to take a rest day and to spend another night in this albergue if possible (general rule is one night only). The hospitalero went out of her way to accommodate our request and even to move us into a 12 bed dorm this morning (a huge blessing after the snore-chorus of last night in the bigger dorm). So lunchtime saw us eating simple tomato sandwiches and fresh melon here, pondering aloud what we have recently seen and heard:

Day 10: Total distance 25kms. Total ascent: 258m Total descent 394m
Weather: Cloudy and warm. Temperature: 27

It does seem that whenever we plan a “short rest day” that events conspire against us! Today was no exception, as we had originally just planned a short ‘recovery’ 9km to the monastery at Samos after a ‘quick’ check-up of Tgirl8’s arm at the local medical centre. The monastery has an albergue which is supposed to be well worth staying at, and you can also take tours of the monastery. We managed to arrive at the medical centre in Triacastela just after 8am, and despite the staff not speaking any English we managed to communicate that Tessa’s arm was needing to be seen by a doctor. Just like a Kiwi doctor’s office, it wasn’t until an hour and a half later that we actually got to speak to the doctor, who was friendly, and after a quick consultation with a second doctor who thankfully spoke some English, it was confirmed that Tgirl8 would need to be seen by a doctor at the paediatric centre in Sarria, which was the closest ‘big’ town. This meant that our daily plan needed a quick reorganisation.

We decided that MamaBear would take Tgirl8 and ERgirl6 to Sarria….she’ll write about that tomorrow, and for now I’ll tell you the rest. As previously mentioned, we had planned to walk to and stay at Samos at the monastery there. That was only a 9km walk, however with MamaBear and Tessa now needing to head to Sarria, we decided that the best option would also be for ERgirl8 to accompany mum and sister in the taxi to Sarria and for the rest of us to walk there to all meet up in the afternoon. The only issue being that Sarria was a 19km walk, and it was now 10am! Getting to Sarria before dark was not the problem, but getting to Sarria in time to find eleven spare beds at an albergue was! Typically, most of the albergue we have stayed at have been complet (full) by 3pm. We would therefore need to walk to Sarria via the direct route (19kms), not via the monastery at Samos (24kms). Decision made, we headed to the nearest ‘bar’ to order a taxi for the three girls, and then the rest of us hit the road.

Now, it may appear a strange co-incidence that the first time that we were walking without master-navigator MamaBear, that the signage out of town would be erroneous, but it IS true! At the first intersection, as expected, the route to Samos was signposted to the left, the route to Sarria via San Xil was to the right. We duly went right, down the the main road and started walking. However, FadaBear’s sense of direction does sometimes work, and after a couple of kilometers I pulled out my phone to check the map, and to our disbelief and dismay it confirmed we were on the road to Samos! The casual reader may well ask why this simple check wasn’t performed twenty minutes earlier – my only defence is that in the previous ten days of walking the Camino the signage had been fantastic. How were we to know today the signs would play tricks on us? 😉

Given we had now gone 2kms down the road, we decided it would gain nothing to retrace our steps back to our planned route, so we set our sights on what would now be a 24km walk instead of a 19km walk. As GrandpaBear joked..”silently they trudged on, each to their own dark thoughts…”!! On the bright side, we would get to see the monastery after all!
In actual fact, the walk to Samos was fantastic – heavily wooded sections of the camino with some lovely small villages. However, it was soon evident that the previous days long treks had taken their toll on Mboy8 and Jboy16’s legs. It would be a long day!

We arrived at Samos in good time at 12:30 pm and had lunch across the river from the monastery, which was a magnificent sight as you crested the hill and looked down into the village; it dominated the centre of town.

The camino from Samos to Sarria goes cross country and we decided to try and save time by following the main road instead. In the end, this did (we think) save us a potential couple of kilometers but it did mean that the afternoon’s walk was hot and uninspiring. Unfortunately, Mboy8’s legs had given up on him, his calves were cramping and he was in a fair bit of pain for most of the walk. To his credit he kept pushing on despite the pain and did not grumble at all. Jboy16 was also suffering from sore feet but also battled on. One vivid memory is finding a vending machine, literally on the side of the main road, at the 18km mark and scrabbling around between us for enough loose change to get one bottle of lovely COLD drink that we rationed between the eight of us! The rest of the afternoon was a blur – but eventually we did walk in to Sarria just after 4pm.

FadaBear and Mamabear had been keeping in touch through the afternoon via TXT, and had planned to meet up at Rua Maior where a number of albergue were located. Freakishly, just as we were walking up the road, MamaBear drove up in the taxi and spotted us. The taxi driver had not known where to go as the street did not show up on his GPS so he was driving around trying to find it! The municipal albergue was complet as expected – the only cheap albergue in town. Thankfully, we managed to find an albergue with eleven free beds just 50m up the road – at the exorbitant rate of 8 Euros per person (the cheap albergue had typically been 5 Euros)! We even managed to communicate that we wanted to stay an extra night to have a rest day and the proprietor agreed – many albergues will only allow one night’s stay for pilgrims. You get a fair bit more comfort in an 8 Euro establishment it would appear, as this place is lovely. A welcome haven at the end of a LONG LONG LONG day!

To celebrate, GrandpaBear shouted us all to a pilgrims meal at the local restaurant! Mboy8 needed to be carried home from the restaurant as his legs had totally seized up on him and in addition exhaustion had overwhelmed him. I know some distinct and deep memories will have been forged today! Tomorrow WILL BE a rest day!

Day 9: Total distance 21kms. Total ascent: 234m Total descent 760m
Weather: Cloudy and warm. Temperature: 25 degrees

We were unsure about today for a number of reasons – firstly because we had scheduled in our longest walk yet – 21 km to Triacastela, and secondly because we were unsure what Tgirl8’s arm was going to be like after she fell heavily and awkwardly on it yesterday. Although clearly still painful, in the morning the swelling had reduced and Tgirl8 declared herself fit to walk, albeit with a heavily strapped arm. ERgirl6 had dictated into her journal that she was going to “try very hard not to grizzle at the long walk”, and to her absolute credit she managed this for 19 of the total 21kms which was a sterling effort as all our feet and legs were feeling yesterday’s climb.

Today was Sunday, so we knew that all shops would be shut apart from the odd “bar” or restaurant. This mean lunch ended up being a collection of plain bread (what else! :-)), half a piece of fish pie, half a cupcake, and half an apple. Adequate, but not substantial! So by 4pm, once we had arrived at the albergue and managed to snaffle 11 of the last 12 beds (whew!), had showers and done our daily hand washing… EVERYONE was famished! The general consensus was quickly agreed upon to head out for dinner – and given all the “supermarkets” were closed, a ”pilgrim meal” was on the menu. It only took ten minutes to preview the range of eating “bars” close to the albergue, and the first establishment we chose was a small bar twenty metres down the road. However, when we walked in, the owner made it very clear that a) he wasn’t really interested in serving us, and b) he didn’t have enough food for eleven hungry pilgrims (given he didn’t speak English at all we think we got this right!). So we quickly got up from the tables and walked out… and up to the restaurant opposite our albergue. Here our experience was completely different. The Spanish proprietor could not have made us feel more welcome, and quickly rearranged tables and umbrellas (it was still HOT in the sun!) for us. She set the table as if we were eating at a top class restaurant… and delighted in serving the children with humour – as well as being totally amazed that all our younger children finished all three courses of our simple pilgrim meal. What do you get for a 6 Euro ‘pilgrim meal’?:
Macaroni con carne (a huge dinner plate of macaroni in meat sauce)
Fried eggs and chips (same sized plate)
Ice-cream
Four baskets of bread
7.5l of cold water
Oh, and we also got a tortilla (omlette with ham) and two mixed salads and two beers for another 12 Euro.
Simple? Yes? But ohhhhhhh so tasty, even more so after a hard day’s 21 kms!
In fact, the meal ranked as the best thing of the day for most of the children!

Day 8: Distance travelled 13kms. Total ascent 606m
Weather: Cold morning, another clear hot, hot afternoon. Temperature: 33+ degrees

We had been told that the walk to the summit at O Cebreiro was tough but rewarding, and it certainly was both! From Vega de Valcarce it is only just under 13km but the ascent is over 600m (according to my GPS!), which with our possibly-too-full packs we felt keenly! The walk begins with a gentle 3km climb up the valley and through some picturesque villages where there were more signs of well tended gardens, men harvesting potatoes, cattle grazing in green fields.

After the 3km mark things get serious, with the grade increasing from Level1 to Level 4 in parts (for those familiar with cycling grade climbs – for everyone else… it was steep!). Vivid memories of the climb include the constant ringing of distant cowbells, the strong smell of well naturally fertilised fields and gardens, and the harsh contrasts of light as the sun broke through the heavily wooded canopy from time to time.

Closer to the top, the tree cover gives way and offers up fantastic vistas of the surrounding countryside. It truly is a magnificent sight, and given that many walk this part of the Camino and see nothing but mist, we feel very privileged to have crystal clear skies with almost unlimited visibility. It reminded us of the conversation the previous night with the Italian man who had walked another Camino in May of this year and had fourteen consecutive days of rain! Today we also entered into Galacia – which is also know for its changeable weather and frequent rain, neither of which we have yet encountered thankfully! We have been truly blessed with the weather we have experienced so far.

The village O Cebreiro is known for its Galacian palozzas and its 9th Century church building. The pallozas are the Spanish version of Italian trulli, and only found in this part of the country – round stone buildings with straw-thatched rooves. The church, O’Cebreiro Iglesia, in part dates back to the 9th Century and is the oldest church associated with the pilgrim way. Unfortunately, we missed the museum of ethnology which documents life in the town and the palozzas, but did enjoy looking around this quaint village.

The other excitement of the day involved Tgirl8, who in her excitement of reaching the albergue after the walk, tripped while running to the building on the rough stone path and fell awkwardly on her arm, which immediately started to swell and was clearly very painful for her. Thankfully it just so happened a nurse from NZ that we had met earlier in the trip was passing by and confirmed our suspicions of either a severe sprained wrist and elbow, or a possible broken wrist. Kyle actually knew the Spanish work for ice so we managed to get it elevated and iced very quickly. Tomorrow will tell if we have a bus ride to the nearest medical facility or if we will be walking. Tgirl8 has been dosed with painkillers and antiflam and hopefully will get a decent night’s sleep.

The other minor adventure of the day involved trying to find the”food shop” – which in a town of only a dozen or so buildings you would not think would be all that hard! It took us a while, and finally, having disturbed what turned out to be the storekeeper from his afternoon siesta, we found the small stone “store” which had a very limited selection for our lunch, dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. Dinner ended up being tinned beans and sausage mixed with a jar of chickpeas. Hmmm. Basic cowboy meal – we should have been in Mexico! Still, we were thankful to find the store as we were all hungry, and the thought of having to buy dinner for all eleven of us at elevated tourist prices was too painful to contemplate except in a “real” emergency! 🙂

All in all, an eventful day!

Day 7: Distance travelled 18kms. Total ascent 71m, descent 85m (level!)
Weather: Cold morning, clear hot, hot afternoon. Temperature: 33+ degrees

It is day 7 on the Camino, and as a metaphor for life’s journey there are striking parallels. Our time on The Way has been short, but full of wide ranging situations, scenery and surprises. We have been showered with hospitality, engaged in various interesting conversations with a truly international range of pilgrims, and been enchanted with most of the small Spanish towns we have wandered through. We have had hard days, and we have had easy(ier) days, at times we have been sore, and at other times we have been full of energy. We have shivered with the cold, and we have also been wilting from the heat. We have laughed together, we have been frustrated with each other, and some little ones have had the odd meltdown! The full range of emotions and physical states – all in one week!

We started this seventh day in the semi-dark, having eaten our museli, yoghurt and fruit in the pre-dawn gloom at the albergue. Today we all wore fleece jackets, some had gloves on, others had trousers that had been dug out of the bottom of packs. Others just wished we had brought gloves to wear (at the time it sounded like a good idea to leave them at home to save weight!). Our breath punctuated the pre-dawn air like frosty white exclamation marks. The first two and a half hours we walked in the shadow of the valley, the path snaking its way beside a clear but cold-looking river, past the occasional well-tended garden. Jgirl17 was so tired she walked almost in a trance for most of the morning (check out the pic below!). The cold didn’t help either, and FadaBear spent much of the first two hours warming small gloved fingers in his only-slightly-warmer (ungloved) hands! Jackets stayed on until after 10am, but the going was relatively easy so we peeled off 12kms before a morning-tea break of magdalinas (muffin-like cup cakes that are sold everywhere).

Once the sun’s reach extended to the valley floor the temperature quickly rose, and with not a cloud to be seen we anticipated the temperature to easily reach the forecast 33 degrees. Which also meant we hoped to reach our destination of Valcarce before 2pm when temperatures would make walking just too uncomfortable. At the 12km stop we also stumbled upon a food shop so we bought four large baguettes – supposedly for lunch. However, by the 15 km mark there was no bread left – all this walking sure makes you hungry!

signs of the bushfires evident..

Today we also met several different people. Many groups passed us as they were obviously going all the way to the top of this uphill section, which is a 30km walk. We met people who recognise us from our questions and postings on the Camino forum, others who have stayed at Rabanal and heard about the crazy large family from New Zealand, and been told that they will soon overtake us. We met a South African lady who is on her sixth Camino. She has been tending to her sick husband and has “been through hell this year”, and is walking the Camino to refresh her spirit.  She had already covered more than 2,000kms and knew the walk would revive her. We also met a loudly encouraging American man, who was very complimentary, and could not believe that GrandpaBear is 80! An Italian man, who had spent time in NZ years back, intending to return, but had since found a wife, is extremely friendly and interested in sharing stories about the Camino – we are sharing a dorm with him and his wife, as well as a young Canadian lady, an older lady from Denmark, and an older American lady who delights in engaging the little girls in conversation. This is what the Camino is all about… the people you meet. We are starting to understand what that means!

As we walked on, ERgirl6 started to wilt at the 15 km point, having walked strongly for the previous four hours. FadaBear was not feeling up to his piggy-back All-Black antics today, so it was with relief that we finally came upon Vega de Valcarce at just before the 18 km point. The municipal albergue is a simple and clean set up with friendly helpers. The village at Valcarce is small but pretty and has an ancient Saracin castle up on the overlooking hill. We engage in the normal routine of showers and washing – and gratefully receive the free load in the washing machine offered with instructions not to tell anyone else – later the volunteer helper also makes the children nutella sandwiches which are devoured. The supermarket is 30m down the road so lunch and dinner area easily fixed. The older children elect to cook up a huge vege and chorizo soup in a very large pot. We think we will have half a pot to give away to other hungry pilgrims, but by the end of the meal there is only one bowlful left (which does get given away!). It has been a simple, but memorable day on the Camino. What will our travels bring us tomorrow as we round the next corner? Without doubt, a different set of experiences to make our lives all the richer …. buen Camino!

Day 6: Distance travelled 9km. Total ascent 110m
Weather: Cold morning, clear hot afternoon. Temperature: 30 degrees

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” ~ Fitzhugh Mullan

It would have been good if FatherBear had noticed the pothole…and then he might not have tripped in it! Of course, being the All Black that he is, he barely stumbled and walked straight on. A little bit of road walking today (not a favourite with vehicles screaming past) soon gave way to a path through vineyards and orchards. We celebrated the warm summery weather, the lack of rain, and the abundance of seasonal fruit available at this time of year. One orchardist perched up a tree with his wicker baskets rapidly filling with green apples called us over and urged us to take handfuls from him. Before we had even finished them we came across a path-side seller with produce and walking sticks for sale. We bought plums and then he gave the younger children even more. Soon we were finding the most enormous blackberries we have come across so far, and grapes too, all growing wild. Is that not an easy journey to celebrate?

Not feeling quite so celebratory about the blisters that developed. Hoping Compeed will work its magic and limited today’s walk to a very modest 9km. Celebrating the fact that we have our own Compeed and additionally were given four big patches of it this morning.

While BlisterMama stayed at the albergue, which has a “feel” to it (initial impressions were of a random eclectic hippy commune where you might lose your stuff but find something to smoke!…can any of you seasoned walkers who are reading guess where we are?), everyone else wandered round town. Look at what they saw:

First stop was a local paneria (bakery) they were just finishing the day’s bake and pulling fresh slices out of the oven. Lunch was some bread sticks and delicious sweet pastries.

It was also the start of the Festival – Fiestas del Cristo del la Esperanza. Time for celebration for the locals. This festival runs over several days so we just caught the beginning of the celebrations.

We can not fault the hospitality at this albergue, as we were returning from our dinner shopping excursion, one of the older men gave us two cold and perfectly ripe water melon. Then as we were eating, he brought out a bowl of plums, as well as a plate of biscuits. We had more food than we could eat so managed to give away some of our remaining dessert to hungry looking fellow pilgrims.

According to our guidebook, pilgrims who couldn’t make it to Santiago could get absolution at the church we are staying next to. We have not hobbled over to the Door of Forgiveness, and as we agree with Augustine who tried to convince his fellowmen that pilgrimages were unnecessary for salvation, we are not walking for this purpose. We’ll just keep on walking, celebrating (God-willing) to Santiago!

Day 5: Distance travelled 18.7 kms. Total ascent 28m
Weather: Clear morning, clear hot afternoon. Est: 28+ degrees

I guess it’s only fair that I write today…it was supposed to be a short day to give our almost-blistering feet a chance to recover. It was my job last night to establish the intended route and it’s all my fault that our five or twelve kilometres turned into very close to twenty for the majority and then another few for Jboy16 and me as we headed back into town to purchase food. Feeling somewhat exhausted, we voted to do the dinner-and-breakfast shopping before taking showers, before taking shoes off, before stopping to relax. So as we arrived at the supermarket at 3pm to discover it would not reopen until 6, it seemed an appropriate time to quote Clifton Fadiman:

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you feel comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.”

It was the second time today I had quoted it! We had approached the Templar Castle in Ponferrada soon after 7:30am, excited that entry would be free and we would see some amazing manuscripts copied by monks centuries ago. We knew we would have to wait a while, but we were only going to walk 12km at most, five if the castle was really great, and so time was on our side. Unfortunately, opening time was not until 11 and so we made the decision to take a leisurely walk around the outside and press on.

Wriggling our way out of town, we wondered why we didn’t see the promised albergue at 5km. By the time the 12km mark was well passed and we were just entering another town, starting with C as the one we were looking for was, but not looking exactly the same (Camponaraya instead of Cacabelos), I started wondering if something was up. Not fully realising our predicament, we took a long lunch break, visited a Pharmacia to replenish lavender oil and plaster supplies and stock up on more antihistamine for the bedbug afflicted and slowly wandered on, half-expecting to stumble across the albergue very soon. To the dismay of those who saw it, a roadside sign announced we were 6.7km from the town we were heading for.
There’s only one thing to do: walk and ignore the almost-blisters that were making themselves felt. E-Rgirl6 just couldn’t make it. After a week of walking 10km or so each day in Paris, and now being day five of Camino walking, with each day being longer, she slowed to an eventual halt. Thankfully her father is an ex-All Black and had the physical prowess to carry not only a backpack, but an additional 20 kilos as well. You didn’t know FatherBear used to play for the All Blacks? Well, a Dutch man he bumped in to the other day insisted and would not be convinced otherwise that he was definitely an ex-All Black; he’d seen him on tv. Pictures offer proof:

Plenty of people here walk much further – two ladies have done over 40km to get here tonight – and so 19km sounds insignificant. But for a group who wanted an easy day and who has a six-year-old and an octogenarian, it was a good effort. Tgirl8 is the real star at this stage. She is tired, sore and loses interest in the scenery, and yet she just plods on. Not once has she so much as murmured. Not one grizzle, not  the smallest fuss. When we were discussing what we could give thanks to God for, she added to her long list, “that I haven’t complained at all”. And she’s right.

So how did such a mistake occur? We are using both a guidebook and a spreadsheet compiled by someone which shows where albergues are, how much they cost, how many beds there are, how far from the last one, what facilities are around in terms of food, banks, pharmacies, fountains etc. This Very Useful Spreadsheet declared it was 5km from Ponferrada to Cacabelos. We are also using a guidebook, but I failed to check any details from that as it didn’t seem necessary for such a short leg! I am pleased to announce that, while I accepted full responsibility, no-one blamed me, and they even prepared dinner while I finished off yesterday’s blogpost! Mark Twain once observed, “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.”
After today, I’d say we’re all in love!

PS Some shots from today:

after treatment!

PPS Little story from the day: We sat down at a fountain this morning for a break (incidentally our friends Emilio and Mercedes were there too) and a couple of cyclists flew past. They turned and retraced their steps to ask if we were the big kiwi family….they had been told about us and were looking out to stop and say HI from someone we had met earlier! Cool camraderie.

PPPS Educational notes from the day: we have been intrigued with the irrigation systems in fields, and enjoyed watching folks harvesting the produce from their abundant garden plots…..three worked in one field piling potatoes into huge containers and then dumped them into sacks, others picked beans and lettuces and tomatoes, still more roasted newly-picked peppers over a charcoal grill, an old man hoed cabbages a metre tall….for our part, we sampled more wild blackberries and grapes, and purchased the most amazing nectarines and peaches.

PPPPS Mboy10 declared, “My favourite food is water, and then these peaches.” I’m guessing it was hot at the time.