Category: Camino 2022 The WHOLE Way

Morning has broken on a new day.

Today is the day. Hoy es el día.

Continue reading “We Arrive.”

Memorize the Moments

Do you ever have a day or an experience in which you think, “I have to memorize this moment”? I remember saying that to myself on my wedding day. (And on my daughter’s wedding day, which was Sept. 18 last year. It’s also the day we’ll walk into Santiago tomorrow.)

Today, the day before we walk into Santiago was one of those days.

Will this be the last babbling brook we hear on the Camino?

Another “cathedral forest arch.” Will there be more? I don’t remember.

Will we see the 4 Hermanos (Brothers) again? The Denver Sisters? We had better get photos. (We actually got phone numbers so that we can connect in Santiago tomorrow.)

Click HERE for the answer via video.

Our morning selfie included a new friend.

Continue reading “One More Sleep Before Santiago”

Hills and dales and forests, oh my. Trees that created cathedrals with moss-covered rock walls lining the center aisle. Stunning two days of rugged walking.

Continue reading “Catching Up Via Captions”

The walk out of Sarria was busy and crowded as predicted. Donna and I chuckled at how spiffy and sparkly the “new people” seemed. All you have to do is look at someone’s shoes to know if this was Day 1 for them. Mine used to be an olive green, but now are embedded with beige dirt.

Continue reading “Under 100k to Go Now!”

We were checking weather forecasts frequently and knew we needed to be prepared for rain. Here’s our morning selfie for Tuesday, Sept. 13.

The scenery is stunning these last couple of days.

We spent the night in Tricastela, which is a village nestled in the mountains. From O’Cebreiro there is a lot of downhill walking. A lot. Knees feel it the most, but thankfully there was beautiful scenery to distract us.

Room with a view.

In the village of Tricastela, we had a second floor room. And in Spain, the ground floor is numbered zero, so to the California Chicas, that meant three flights of stairs to climb.  The view from our window was an interesting mix of old and new.

Nothing special about the room, but for you fans of Donna’s collection, here’s last night’s, below.

And the night before’s, also below.

Sarria is a big deal. That’s where we are tonight.

In order to get your Compostela certificate, you have to walk at least 100K. (Bicyclists have to ride at least 200K.) Sarria is 111K from Santiago, so it is the starting point for hundreds of people.

Last time, I let the crowds get to me, mostly when perky Pilgrims practically ran ahead of me that first day. But now, I don’t compare myself. I remember Teddy Roosevelt’s quote, instead:  “Comparison is the thief of joy.”

This time I’m actually looking forward to seeing, greeting and maybe even meeting a few new people.

Here are a couple of video clips to enjoy from today.

(I have no idea why one looks like a video and the other is a link. Working from an iPad is a challenge.)

Donna loves bridges.

And a few fun photos.

 

Five more walking days left. Wow.

Ultreia!

Background

Last time (2019) we tackled this climb after having already walked 22K. In fact, we stopped to “fuel up” with lunch at a charming B&B. We left the B&B in the late afternoon and didn’t arrive to the top until 7:30 pm. I melted down, almost literally, from the exhaustion and heat.

So, that’s why this time we purposely planned to tackle the mountain in the morning. In fact, we actually stayed at the B&B that had served us the lunch before the 2019 ascent.

 

 

 

 

We got an early start the next morning and walked about 2K before the trail started to climb. Here’s the “before” video:

The bottom of the climb video.

And here’s me trying to show you how far up we had to go.

Ya kinda had to be there to see how steep it is.

Donna’s turn to film me doing great.

Terri trucking strong.

We made it.

Turns out our lodging reservations got changed, so we are in an Albergue, albeit with a private room and bath. Walking around, we discovered the town we’re in is known for cheese making. “Cow cheese” as our host explained.

This gal was ready to retire for the day.

There’s a cow at the window!

Off to sleep now. We’re both feeling joyful, accomplished and blessed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a video of the El Bierzo wine district that we walked through on Friday, 9/9. I butcher the pronunciation in the video. Should be Bee-air-zoh. Brain boil after 22K of walking in the sun.

The El Bierzo Wine Country

Tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 10, we walk to the foot of O’Cebreiro and spend the night. O’Cebreiro is Latin for “Oh, so steep, you think you’re going to die.”

Saturday is my birthday. All I want is to kick some O’Cebreiro ass the next day.

Stay tuned.

A Series of Photos and Captions and Here’s Why

As we have walked these last 24 days (24 DAYS!?), I’ve looked forward to what Donna and I call “library hour,” which is when we Air Drop photos back and forth and I write my posts.

On the trail, I often think about what I might write later that day, and I look forward to doing so. (Words are my love language, remember?)

Today, Day 24, we arrived in Rabinal del Camino, a hamlet 21K from Astorga, which is where we stayed last night. Where we met Sue, Sue and her husband Chris, all from England. They told us about Steve and Carol from “somewhere in Southern California.” We met Steve and Carol this morning at breakfast.

We’re all here together in the same lodging tonight and we plan to eat together.

But when we walk into the lodging, we see Marie and Hilda, the fast-walking, delightful sisters we had dinner with four days ago. They’re from South Africa. This is their fourth Camino, and they plan to do 10 full Caminos. Perhaps one a year. We had a snack with them for more than an hour and invited them to join us and “the Brits” at 7 p.m.

And here’s what went through my head:
OK, I want to post. It’s been 2 days, and my almost-90-year-old Mom looks forward to each and every one. I love that! But I don’t want to miss being “here,” in the moment, with new friends I may never see again, but whose memories will last forever.

So I decided to just post some photos with captions. (And look how much I just wrote without a single photo! I know.) Here goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll post when I can. Buenas noche!

Sunday, Sept. 4

We managed to arrive early in Leon because we remembered how much we loved our day off here in 2019. No days off, this time, however.

CaminoWays booked us at a different hotel, a Parador. We couldn’t believe it.

 

More later, when I get a chance and good WiFi.

Ultreia!

Pretty Close to Perfect Walking Today

Donna kept remembering and talking about the “tree-lined trail” in the Meseta. Over the past few days, there were plenty of snippets of that, but she kept saying, “No, there were crops on the left, the trees, our trail and a road, but not a highway.”

Today was the day. Of the 18K we walked, at least 16K was lined by trees. Like this.

If you look closely, you can see even older, shadier trees in the distance.

The sun was on our left, so we had dappled shade the whole way. We have established a trifecta of walking conditions, by the way.

1. Flat.
2. Shade.
3. Breeze.

Today we had them all, almost all the time. Cloud cover counts for bonus points if it’s hot. Today was cool in the morning, warmer in the sun, but with the shade trees, it was absolutely delightful.

The Morning Selfie

Every morning we take a morning selfie. I don’t post them all, but when looking through them last night, I thought we need to get a little more creative.

Here’s this morning’s, as we left Sahagun.

How Fast Do We Walk?

Not very, if we compare ourselves to most of the other people we encounter. But we don’t compare ourselves. We walk our own Caminos.

My Apple Watch will announce each kilometer and the pace. We started out being happy with 3K an hour, which is around 20 minutes for 1K. (Stop snorting and laughing!)

Turns out that we were tracking around a 20-minute kilometer when we were, I don’t know—climbing the Pyrenees or carefully crawling downhill.

Now, for the most part, we average 13-15 minutes per K, which means 4K per hour. A 20K day = 5 hours. Every now and then we hear my watch say 13:05, or 12:40. Our “record” was 12:15.

This morning we decided to see if we could beat our 12:15 time and get it down to 12 and a single digit. (12:09, for instance.) When my watch announced 2k, we quickened our pace.

We didn’t talk.

We didn’t change lanes to smoother terrain.

We kept to one path, and right before the path started to go uphill a bit, my watch announced, “Kilometer 3. 11 minutes, 15 seconds.”

We stopped and cheered and were dumbfounded that we cut an entire minute off our previous record.

And that was that. We wanted to focus on the path, the trees, the Meseta.

Beauty is in the iPhone of the Photographer

We came to a vast hay field that was freshly cut, not yet baled. For as far as we could see, there was nothing man made. Donna took a picture of me taking pictures.

And here is the picture we voted the best.

We decided we love the Meseta.

 

 

About 400K Down and About 400 More to Trample

23K in Great Weather this Time

It was this segment of the Camino three years ago that taught us the hardest lesson we were to learn.  When you put on your raincoat, put on your rain pants, too.

Why?

Because without rain pants, the water runs down your leg and into your shoes. Outsides of the shoes are Gortex, which is waterproof. Not true for the insides.

From 2019:

The Rain in Spain 2019

From today, Sept. 1, 2022:

Sunny and Dry in 2022

Australian Friends from Adelaide

We’ve been enjoying Paul and Jenny from Australia, and tonight we encountered them again, here at the half way point. We may not be in the same towns again, so we were excited to ask a local to capture a pic.

Buen Camino to all!

 

Castrojeriz to Fromista to Carrion de Los Condes
Monday/Tuesday 8/29 and 30

We knew what the morning would bring first thing—a steep climb that felt like it went on f o r e v e r three years ago. We had to stop three or four times back then. In fact, it was on that part of the trail that Donna “invented” chanting something in a rhythmic cadence to get ourselves to the top. More like a prayer, though. Not ala the Marine Corp.

Below is the sign that tells us peregrinos what we’re in for.

Zoom in on the triangles and you’ll read that it’s 1050 meter elevation gain. That’s 3,444 feet.

Because setting and keeping your own pace is critical on segments like this, Donna and I agreed, “See you at the top,” and set off.

Surprisingly (to me, anyway), we stayed within a car length of each other and only stopped once to catch our collective breaths.

We left several of the “grateful for” shells at the very top.It’s probably one of those “you had to be there” moments, because it’s difficult to capture the dramatic elevation gain with an iPhone.

Donna said, “It’s as close to heaven as we’ve been so far.”

The “Aha!” Revelation

As we walked around at the top, we high fived each other, and agreed that “it wasn’t as bad as I/we remembered it.”

And then we did some more math and realized that three years ago, this climb occurred on Day 3 of our Camino because we started that one in Burgos. This time, it was Day 15.

We. Are. Stronger.

Downhill From There

What goes up must come down, and that applies to the Meseta. Click the link below to hear and see what lay ahead of us down that hill.

The Other View from the Top (The Meseta)

The Rain in Spain Fell on Our Plain

Remember the 47% chance of rain I mentioned in the last post? Dead on. We made it up the hill and quite far in cool cloud cover, for which were most grateful.

But we didn’t out run the rain.

Another friend of mine told me once that “there’s no such thing as bad weather. Not if you have the right clothing.”

We did. Rain coats, rain pants and backpack covers got us through. And then, poof. The rain stopped and we were in sunny skies.

The last 3K of our path was delightful with shade trees on the left and a canal on the right.

Short Day Tuesday, With the Last 5K Not So Enjoyable

We had 20K to walk Tuesday, and most of it was along side a highway. No shade. Crops on all sides. And no shade.

We were so happy when Yonicka (yawn-i-kah) caught up with us. We met her Day 1 and saw her again in the rain on Monday. She walked with us a short way and told us about a fork in the Camino that would take us a little longer, but it followed a stream and had plenty of shade trees.

Our HERO!

 

The last 5K were back on the highway. Did I mention that there was no shade?

The mental game (for me, anyway) was, “OK, this is like walking to the gym in Long Beach, and doing a workout. I can do that. Except I don’t sweat this much walking to the gym. OK, so it’s more like a HIIT class. (HIgh Intensity Interval Training). Except that it’s only a 50-minute class and air conditioned. OK. I used to do 90 minute Bikram yoga in 105-degree room for 90 minutes. Yep. That what this is. Except I have long sleeves, long pants, a hat and 10-pound pack on my back. Other than that, pretty much the same.”

And here’s how we celebrated after getting to our lodging. (A monastery converted into a hotel.) We crossed a river on the way to the monastery and saw families enjoying a swim in the river.

We checked in to our room, donned bathing suits and waded in the cold, fast running current.

And pay no attention to my silly water tossing antics in the video below. Watch the dog in the background. (I miss my Rusty!)

Terri Splashing, Dog Fetching

I’m having trouble uploading the room photo, and it’s 11 pm. Time to say buenas noche, and I’ll try again on Wednesday.

 

Hornillos de Camino to Castrojeriz: Stage 14

The calm before the storm. Actually, there’s only 47% chance of rain tomorrow, Monday. The “storm” I refer to is the Meseta. Google “Meseta Spain.”

Today was only 20K and we were treated to hills and dales and sunflower crops that went on forever.

People often ask if we are sisters. So, that’s me, Terri, above, and Donna below.

On the way, Donna snuck in a video. Click the link below. (Mom, you wanted to hear her voice, too!)

Donna Does a Video

14th Century Ruins of a Pilgrim’s Hospital

Just when we were ready to huddle around the trunk of a tree by the side of road to get some shade, the road turned and we both said, “OH! I remember this place.”

You can get a bunk bed in the “albergue” room, but there is no electricity. We sat in the shade a while, cooled off and tried to imagine what the full hospital must have looked like in the 1300’s.

A caretaker was inside what looks like double doors in the photo above. I went in and looked at some of the photos on the wall, made a donation. He thanked me and wished me “Buen Camino.”

I joined Donna again on a bench in the shade and noticed that a man we’d seen off and on all day had taken a seat in another shady spot. Donna and I smiled, asked him how he was doing (Que tal? Esta bien?)

He was gingerly taking off his hiking shoes, which we had seem him do before, when we encountered him earlier in the morning.

Next thing I see, the caretaker is walking across the courtyard area with a small plastic tub of water and a towel. He knelt down and helped the man wash and soak his feet.

Gulp.

Camino angel in action.

 

Electric Fan!?

Awesome  Let’s do laundry

And now, we turn it around to cool us as we sleep.

Buenas noche.

Surprise!
Your Lodging is 6K Past Where You Thought Your Day Ended.

We knew it would be a 24K day, which is long enough. When we checked the map profile against our lodging reservation. YIKES. We are in for a 30K day. (18 miles)

This is when the mental game kicks in. We instantly readjusted our mindset and took off. We voiced our gratefulness for clouds, wind, even a light drizzle, dense forest trails that took heat out of the equation. We arrived to our lodging at 6 pm, which is late for us. But we did it!

Now comes shower, dinner, crash.

Tomorrow, Friday, is the last day of new territory for us. We arrive in Burgos, and from there on, we’ve walked the path before.

That also means we will have walked a total of approximately 300K by end of day manana.

 

 

 

Here’s our little code.

You chat with someone along the way, and you don’t learn their name, so you give them a label. So there’s Miami Man. Or Red Shirt Guy. New Zealand Gals. If we could keep up with the Boys in the Band, we would have. But they are three student-age looking guys carrying fully loaded backpacks and each one has what looks like a violin case strapped on, too.

Once you encounter someone again, maybe then you chat enough to ask the person’s name. Three years ago we forgot so many names that we promised each other that we would take pictures and capture names, too, this time around.

We said goodby to Bernard and Mrs. Bernard from France in Los Arcos. They were “only” walking as far as Logrono because the had to bet home in time for their daughter’s wedding.

Monday Night Made Merrier.

Monday night our lodging did not have a kitchen for serving dinner, so we had a voucher to a nearby place. Donna and I sat down early, which in Spain means 7:45 p.m.

A few more tables started to fill and we heard English being spoken at each one. New Zealand Gals were at one table (Sue and Michelle) and Aussie Couple were at another (Mark and Brooke). By the end of the evening we asked Man Bun the waiter to take our picture.

(L to R): Brooke and Mark (Melbourne), Sue (NZ), Donna, Me, Michelle (NZ).

Our room Monday night also got a nickname the moment we opened the door. Red Room. Not R E D R U M, I clarified to Donna (and for the benefit of any Stephen King fans.)

How hot was it Monday?

Very. Heat rash is an issue we hadn’t anticipated, but one trip to the Farmacia and we had relief cream.

Tuesday Morning Delight. 

Turns out Sue and Michelle were staying our hotel. We saw them at breakfast and the introduced us to Mark and Margaret (M & M) from New South Wales. 

We know that Sue and Michelle are staying in the same town we are Tuesday night, so we are hoping we see them again and perhaps can eat together. 

As for Tuesday’s walk, I took a couple of videos to show the contrast. I’ll do a separate post and see if I can get them to upload. If not, I may have to resort to Facebook. (Sorry, Mom. I’ll email them directly to you if that happens.)

 

The day started beautifully, from a little rural cottage in which we were the only Pilgrims. (Others were couples and families on vacation.)

Thankfully, the hostess said she would see that our luggage was taken down the stairs for the transport company to retrieve in the lobby.

In the charming city of Viana, we were treated to a walk down Calle Mayor (think Main Street in any Spanish town) right as 12:00 mass was letting out of the massive stone church.

Like salmon swimming upstream, we went into the church for a look around. The place emptied out pretty quickly, and I saw the priest exit through what looked like a private door to the left, let’s call it 9:00 on an old school clock. We were behind the altar (at 12:00 if you’re still with me), went past where he exited, and poof, the lights went out.

”I think we better head for the exit or we’re going to get locked in here!”

As we strolled to the exit, out comes the priest in his casual attire and says in Spanish, “I am happy you are here, but you are lucky that I am here, too.”

He had already locked the exits and escorted us to one he unlocked for us and wished us a Buen Camino.

The Calle Mayor was filled with people having lunch, beer, wine, bocadillos (snacks). Here’s what it looked like as a selfie from the end of the street.

Then, all we did was turn around and here’s a 900-year-old building behind us.

We then headed out of town. 

And missed a turn.

We had walked at least 2K on a paved road through a vineyard (in the heat, sans shade) and were starting to be concerned. We hadn’t seen a single other Camino walker or biker in an hour. Finally a car approached us and I flagged him down. 

I told him in Spanish that I thought we might be lost, and he said in Spanish, “Yes you are. This is not the official Camino.” 

He (and his son in the backseat who spoke broken English) redirected us from whence we came. 

As he pulled away, wishing us Buen Camino, I muttered to Donna, “I would have jumped in the backseat if offered.”

Donna said, “I would have stood on the back bumper and hung on for dear life.”

All in all, we added about 5K to the day and an extra 90 minutes in the heat. I ran out of water in my “camelback” with 4K left to walk through the city of Logrono, and there, like a little Camino miracle, appeared a water fountain in a park.

We arrived after 5 p.m., but we arrived. Here is the happy photo we took long before being almost locked in at the church and then a little bit lost after that.

 

Today, Saturday, Aug. 20 was Day 6 of walking, and we’ve covered more than 100K to date. Today’s “mileage” was 22K to our lodging. We knew it would be a tough one because of anticipated heat (93 degrees at the end of the trail), and the last “services” were at 9.5K.

That means no water fountains, no towns, no nada for four hours (or more?). And, did I mention the heat?  In preparation, we decided to take the risk of leaving our rain coats, rain pants and backpack covers in the suitcase to make our backpacks lighter.

We filled our “camelback” water pouches to the brim, 2 liters.

Water or Wine?

Look what we found at the Monastery at 3K mark—la Fuente de Vino. The fountain of wine. One tap is water, one is wine.  We didn’t bring cups, so we had to improvise.

Until two Italian bicyclists showed up and offered a tin cup.

Yes, it was bueno. Donna and I each took a sip and called it Camino communion.

(It has taken me more than two hours to create the above post. It’s getting close to bedtime, so I’m going to try and post the picture (I have a great video that I may put on Facebook) that captures the dramatic, albeit somewhat desolate scenery.

And we realized how precious our Camelback water reservoirs were when we stepped to the side of trail for a passing car.

“It’s the police!” I said. “What in the world are they doing out here?”

The car with two uniformed officers stopped beside us, rolled down the window and asked, “Esta bein? You OK?”

I answered yes in Spanish and the officer driving knew enough English to communicate that they were patrolling the Camino with the sole purpose of helping peregrinos (Pilgrims walking the Camino). He asked if we had enough water, we said we did by wiggling the spigot of our water bladders.

Then he told us that there are no water fountains in Los Arcos, which was our destination. And nothing between us and Los Arcos.

OK, we’re OK.

“If you need help, you call 062,” he said as he pointed to the outside of the driver’s side of the vehicle. “We here for peregrinos.”

When we truly looked at the vehicle and read what was on the side, we got so excited and touched by the focus of these men and their mission.

”Can we take a picture?” I asked in Spanish.

“Si, si,” he said, and took my phone from me.

And then Donna said, “We want YOU in the picture!”

Kojak of the Camino!

We ended the day in good spirits. That’s a win, trust me. The last 2 or 3K is when the mental game comes into play. Horse-to-Barn mode is not the best, but Grumpy Town is worse. Today was “Hot and Bothered, but Proud and Powerful.”