THE PEE MONITOR…

The Pee Monitor? Yes, The Pee Monitor. Somewhere during the last few days we had talked about making sure we drank enough water on the Camino. Well, a few days ago we walked most of the day without drinking any water. Upon our arrival in town Patricia said, “Our bottle of water is still closed! We didn’t drink any water today! That’s your job! You have to monitor the color of your urine! You’re the Pee Monitor”

Okay, so now I’m the Pee Monitor. Checking my urine along pee stops to make sure we are hydrated. I joke about it, but the fact is if your are dehydrated that is a bad thing, especially on the Camino.

NOT FINISHED YET…

although we could be.

Today we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. The end of the Camino Inglés, but because, for us, it was short, we decided before we got here, that we would keep walking.

So tomorrow we will start walking to the coast. It will take about four days. We’ve been fortunate to have pretty nice weather so far, but now we are going into a few days of guaranteed rain…and maybe some thunder. The Camino will be both paved and country road? The country road will probably be muddy. Oh well.

Today was a good day. We left about eight in the morning. At that time of the day here, it is still dark outside…and in this case, it was foggy.

 

We walked for about three and a half hours. Like I said it was a good day. It was mostly  through forest and small rural towns. We got to Santiago in time for the Pilgrim’s mass. At the mass, usually on Fridays, they present the mass with the Botafumiero.

It is a large incense burner that is swung very high through the church powered by a few priest. After several trips here to Santiago we finally got to see the ceremony. It is said that it was originally used to help cover the stench that many of the pilgrims in the old days brought into the church. This is really something to see. The church was packed.

After that we went to my favorite restaurant in the whole world…well, if not, it should be. La Taberna do Bispo. We had a few beers and some tapas. Eat your heart out.

Yummy!!

Santiago is packed with pilgrims from all the other Caminos. Our Camino had few pilgrims. You got to know them all…well, at least by hello. Now here in Santiago there are many. It is a traffic jam of pilgrims everywhere, but it’s fun.

Tomorrow we are off to parts unknown. Should be fun…but we shall see.

 

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY…

No, that isn’t me, but I guess it could be…on another day. This day however was a beautiful day to be out walking nice and early.

Today walk was about fifteen miles or so. That is a lot of walking. I think anything after fifteen miles is starting to get really long. Patricia thinks eighteen miles is closer to being really long.

Today was good because it was relative flat. Not a lot of hills. What makes for a good Camino day? Well that would depend on who you ask. If you’re asking me, I’d say, fifteen miles or less. Maybe a bar every five miles or so. In this case a bar is more restaurant than bar as we know it. A good Camino would have a combination of asphalt and dirt trails. It would stay off the highway. It wouldn’t have too many hills. Of course Caminos are what they are: hills, sometimes very long, lots of asphalt, no restaurants at times. Sometimes even dinosaurs.

 

It helps to have someone to chat with and walk with at times. Here are a few English blokes we meet along the way.

 

Not really too much to complain about today until the end. One “so called” 4km stretch went on and on and on…and on. Darn, it was long.

Tomorrow, Friday, we finish the first part of our walk: The Camino Inglés. This will end in Santiago de Compostela and then we will walk to tbe coast . That will probably take another four days. From there we will walk another day up the coast to a town called Muxia. It has been sunny for the last week. Now we will be expecting rain. Let’s see how we do.

What do you think this is for? A handicap ramp? Don’t be leaving or coming home drunk.

 

Some scenes along the Camino…

UP WE GO!!

Looking at the graph from right to left shows our start to our finish on this day. The word on the street was that the hill at 18 kilometers was a not going to be pretty. It was going to be ugly in fact. It was going to be steep and long. One suggestion was to stop at Bar Julia right below the hill and call a cab, and then start the hill the following day, or skip it all together.

Not having much of a choice, we stopped at Bar Julia, drank a nice cold peach juice on ice and hit the trail.

It turned out to be mostly long, about thirty minutes, and somewhat steep, but not bad really. Four days of worrying for nothing. Was I tired at the top? You bet, but it wasn’t the worst Camino hill we’ve ever done.

This was however a very long day. We walked a bit over eighteen miles. That is a lot of walking. It is considered the toughest walking day. It never seemed like it was going to end. Fortunately it was also beautiful Camino day.

One of the things I forgot about Caminos is that the distances you are given in guides, or by strangers on the street, are never accurate. Well, I’m sure they are once and a while, but really, I have never witnessed it. I mean never. Everything is always further away than you are told. Yet, I still always believe them. Shame on me.

Here are more scenes from today:

Patricia leaving flowers for our parents.

 

Even the sewer department is into the Camino spirit.

 

Just follow the arrows…even if they are made out of nuts.

WHAT HAVE WE HERE?

Today we arrived in Betanzos, Spain and what do we find? A bathroom with counter space. That is a big deal. On the same scale with finding a washing machine? Not sure, but this is one of the few counters I can actually remember finding on a Camino. You can actually put your things somewhere where you can get them. Nice.

Let me clarify, Many pilgrims stay in hostals, or alberques, as they are called in Spain. We usually stay in small hotels where the accommodations are a bit different. In alberques the ability to wash clothes usually exist most of the time, although clothes are mostly dried by the sun outdoors. Since we don’t stay in them, in some strange way we are at a disadvantage. We usually have to wash in the sink, but we have our own room with a private bath and internet. In the alberque it could be 20 to a room. Not my idea of fun.

Entering Betanzos:

A nice surprise. Our walk was about six hours, but with a long hill leaving Pontedeume. It was a good walk, as most of the days are. There seems to be quite a bit of hills throughout the Camino. One always seems to walk up a hill or down a hill when entering a new city on the Camino. Can’t just walk right in. And the last few kilometers go on forever. It is never, “Ah, we are almost there. Just right around this here corner.” Nah, it is around the corner perhaps, but that corner isn’t close. It is a strange Camino phenomenon. (Did I spell that right?).

Her are some scenes from today:

A cool lookout.

 

A restaurant in town.

 

If kids in these small Spanish towns have IPads and cells phones you would never know it. After siesta they are all out playing futbol and running with their friends. No faces glued to their phones. It’s a pleasant sight.

 

Everyone has a different ideas about what makes a house pretty.

PLEASE STANDBY…

Hola everyone. Having some internet technical difficulties along the Camino. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

A PERFECT DAY

I’ll start from the end of the day first. Dinner was at Bar Luis. Mixed salad, chicken, bread and vino. This was one good meal…and it wasn’t too much. While not a foodie I just say can’t say enough about the food in northern Spain. It is too good. Yeah, I meant to write it that way.

Our day today wasn’t very long. About ten mile. The route was a bit hilly but not bad. So far one of  the nice things is how well the Camino it’s marked.

If one can’t follow this arrow, well…what can I say? Imagine walking from Los Angeles to San Francisco and having an arrow painted on a wall, or a tree, or a building, every few minutes or so, for five hundred miles. That’s the Camino. Not that one couldn’t get lost but on this Camino it would be hard to do. Here is what someone had in front of their house. Isn’t that nice.

We finished our walk in a town called Pontedeume. A cool town on a river. We got in about one thirty and went out for our daily “After the walk beer & snack.”

Today was a good day. Slowing getting rid of the jet lag. The walk offers enough diverse vistas to keep one mentally involved in the walk. That was always one of the problems with training. Over the years we had walked all over Los Angeles and were running out of new places to see. It got harder to stay focused.

At the end of the day we also celebrated with our bottles of tequila.

Here’s some scenes from the day:

Walking into town.

 

I thought this was funny…what do I know?

 

No, she didn’t join the Spanish army.

 

OFF WE GO…SORT OF

Here we are at the start off the Camino Inglés. Today we walked only about eight miles. We really had planned to start the Camino tomorrow, but since we had all day today with not much to do. We walked…a little. We started at about nine and walked till about noon. It is going to be warm out for the next few days, so a short day today and tomorrow helps. Plus we are dragging  a bit from the long journey here.

Today despite some heat it was a very nice day for a walk.

 

Looks like they are having a drought too, though I doubt it. Not sure what going on here.

We had a big lunch got back to Ferrol and took a nap. Many Spanish towns close during the afternoons so there isn’t much one can do. I mean like almost everything is closed. We also used the afternoon to sink wash clothes, put minutes onto our Spanish phone and catch up on some missed sleep.

At night, although not really hungry, we decided to go out for dinner. Unfortunately most places were closed. Not sure if Ferrol is really a big tourist town because everything was closed. The nice restaurants we saw on Saturday were closed. So we stopped at a small restaurant bar to eat. Not really hungry we ordered way too much food. Calamares, cuttlefish, yes it is very good, tortilla, which is potato and eggs cake like, shrimp and cheese croquettes, and each dish came with a large plate of fries. We left the place stuffed. I mean stuffed. We were not even hungry in the first place. From this point on we will try on cut back a little.

My new Jawbone said we walked 19,400 steps today.

Does anyone know what this represents? I’m afraid to guess.

 

I wonder if the original pilgrims had to deal with detours?

 

On the Caminos de Santiago one should always only follow the yellow arrows and not ones of another color. Those are different routes going to different places. I learned the hard way.

ARE WE THERE YET?

We arrived in Madrid bright and early.

Everything was going smooth…then somehow the day got long…very long. How long is very long? Real long. As in 25 hours long. Door to door: 25 hours.

A car ride, three plane rides, a taxi, a bus, and finally a twenty minute Camino to the hotel. Were we tired and angry? Well, we were certainly tired, but sometimes travel takes a long time. If one wants to travel, long and complicated days are part of the process. We survived. Checked  into a nice hotel in the town of Ferrol, Spain and begin the second part of the day that never seemed to end.

Despite the lack of rest, we headed out into the town to check it out. Ferrol is the northern home of the Spanish Navy and a major shipbuilding center. It is also a pretty city with some good restaurants. It is also the hometown of general and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Oh well. This week may be unusually warm for Ferrol. Not what we were expecting. We were hoping for cooler weather to walk in. There isn’t a cloud in the sky.

We took a walk around town. Stopped for a cold beer.

Bought some fruit. Then waited for dinner. Dinner around here doesn’t start until around 8pm. By this time we were starving. We stopped for some calamare, octopus, mussels, a little bread, and some vino.

On Sunday, tomorrow, a day we planned to take off, we will do part of the Camino. We will walked for a few hours to make Monday a much shorter day. On this Camino we are not really going to kill ourselves if we don’t have to. Plus I think there will still be a few long days.

 

 

PAPER OR PLASTIC?

Well, plastic of course. Or should I say baggies. Baggies of  all different sizes.

On the Camino being organized is a good thing, as one is packing and unpacking everyday. We need to be organized when we do a Camino. It is easy to lose things. In the evenings before going to bed, or in the morning, one wants to be able to gather their stuff and be ready without too much of a fuss.

We don’t want one or two big baggies with everything, because day after day pulling things out, and putting them back in becomes old…fast. I like just pulling out the bag I need that has only the stuff I need. I like knowing where things are without wasting too much time. Sometimes it’s those little things that make a big difference. Walking and washing is, most of the time, enough to worry about.

As we walk Caminos it is always good to know that your documents and electronics are dry when everything around you is wet. We don’t mind walking in heavy rain. We have done it many times. What we do worry about is keeping the necessary dry things dry.

Another good thing about having enough baggies is they take up very little room in the backpack. You can squeeze them into anywhere. Most of the one that carry documents can be used again on other trips and Caminos. The stay clean.

We are just about all packed and ready to go. We leave tomorrow. Cool.