One part of the Camino that you love is hearing stories from other pilgrims 🙂 after a day of walking you see new and familiar faces at the Albergue you pick for the night… You grab a bottle of vino for €3 and you catch up with your new friends swapping stories from today and your travels so far 🙂

Like the couple who had underwear stolen on their first night in St. Jean only to be reunited again in Roncesvalles when the American he had spoken to the night before about why someone would steal underwear and socks.. Realised he had “accidentally” acquired his…

Or the Galician teacher who joins us around the pool (did you like how I just throw that in there) who is trekking home on the Camino telling us tips and stories of what lies ahead…

We also met Michelé from Italy on our way today who walked with us for some time, in advertising too he is not currently working so he is walking instead 🙂

Though we are all from different countries we all have something in common whether it is language, work, interest or just the fact that we are walking the Camino.

Leaving Santo Domingo early this morning it was looking to be an easy 23km – however with half the trek running along side the main highway it is hard to get into the normal peaceful rhythm you usually find out here – though we did find a toilet and rated it a 9.5 out of 10 which out here is pretty massive. It had a seat which means it starts at a 5…

Spotted along the track were quaint little villages (one with the most amazing warm chocolate croissant) that we were excited to pass thru as it meant we were closer to our destination Belorado… And our Albergue with a pool! Ya, another icy cold pool to soak sore feet and tired legs 🙂 it’s the small things..

Tomorrow sees us on a looong climb up to St. Juan de Ortega or maybe if we can reach the town of Ages instead (let’s hope it’s not too old – maybe just a 15th century church unlike the 11th century one we saw today…)

Who knows, I’ll keep you posted – in a few days as with population of 50 in these towns I doubt there is free wifi…

Buen Camino

27.9km today to a little town called Agés.. Some parts felt like we were walking in Australia 🙂 up at falls creek and at other times trekking thru Nail Can it was very uncanny how much it felt like home….

Today started much like every morning up and packed by 6.30am have a yoghurt and a banana double check we have everything then it’s one slow step in front of the next… It takes about a km to warm up and force your feet in to another day of walking, and then all of a sudden the sticks are clicking and we are admiring yet another sunrise over the hills 🙂

Belorado has a Hollywood type feel walking thru it this morning – it’s own walk of fame 🙂 there bronzed in the Camino path is the boot and hand print of Martin Sheen 🙂 The Way star who so very convincingly made us want to do this in the first place! Very cool.

We stop in Villafranca for a kafé con leché and a supply run at the supermarket – this is the town where Ally made us do a runner… Stopped at a kafé I’m leisurely out the front while Ally orders – I here thru the window “umm Kell, this is not good.. We need to go… Grab the bags” and she makes some excuse in her broken Spanish and we are off! Down the street – apparently the waitress wasn’t up to speed on her cleanliness OH&S – finishing a smoke, emptying garbage and making coffees all at the same time is NOT acceptable… I know we are ‘roughing it’ but you gotta draw the line somewhere!

A much nicer cleaner place was found, refuelled we hiked up yet another mountain – with the Wind Turbines in our sites that’s where we wanted to get to 🙂

We run into new and familiar faces on the way 🙂 loud Italians who I can’t believe can walk up a mountain and still talk that fast without taking a breath! The happy German who doesn’t know much English but with a smile and a wave and plenty of hand signals we think his make is Ern. And Leon the happy Brazilian who floats along the way with such ease it makes us mere mortals jealous.

Following the ridge along the top and eventually heading back down into civilisation we pass thru San Juan de Ortega – with a population of we think 16, and one Albergue, we are feeling good to continue thru to Agés after a stop, some lunch (another ham and cheese roll) and Ally visiting the church (me “take some photos ill look at them”) we head off into our first walk in rain – lasting only 15 mins it was a refreshing change than just sun.

Heading down into Agés Ally and I realise how much we did today and we pretty stoked with our efforts we’ve gotta be close to 300km now…

One of the first things you do when you find a bed is find a power point to charge iPhone and iPod – after that – the next thing is to look around for familiar faces 🙂 Ann & Jon Franceś from France are here and Michelé from Italy! We have a long discussion about films and directors (does that surprise you) and we even convince the Italian to have Spanish Pizza for dinner (don’t tell his friends…) New friends are made from the US – a family homeless at the moment as they move Guam to Washington decided to walk the Camino while waiting to get their house… A new addition to add to our Camino family Mum and Dad Amy & Dave, and their son Zac (who is biking – don’t hold that against him, he has a bell) let’s hope we run into them again 🙂

Heading to the big city of Burgos next… An easy 26km away…

OR SO WE THOUGHT!!!!!!!!

After a delicious chocolate croissant and a donated kafé con leché from Zac (we are living on €4.60 till Burgos) we hit the trek only to run into our English film maker Mark 🙂 with a quick catch up we hear about his adventure to see the archeological dig site of the first human! Wow – the oldest site in the world is in Spain – if only we knew….

Mark stops for his morning cup of tea (he is British) and we head up the hill! Boulders – rocks – stones – pebbles – what ever you call them that is our road up – it was worth it! There is a beautiful view and breeze up the top! At this point Ally has a moment – we both do, a feeling you get, a wow feeling, about what we are doing, and that it all seems possible.

It’s amazing how that can all change in a few hours…

Down the other side we go and run into one of the funny sites you see on the way – huddled in a circle in the middle of a fork in the road is a bunch of 6 pilgrims, studying a guide to see which direction to take.. We all laugh and decide to go right – if we get lost we get lost together 🙂

All roads leads to Burgos! Some are better than others and Ally and I took the worst one… A decision made with our Brazilian Leon – as he floats off ahead of us we trudge thru the Indian Jones part of our trek! Lucky we had sticks!

Coming out the other side with the city before us you cannot fathom the dismay when we realise we have only hit Villafranca and Burgos is still another 9km away… Gutted.

Those km are thru an industrial site (Bron your breathing technique came in very handy thru this) a straight hard main road with no shade no scenery no love for the Camino.

Thru the harsh outskirts of Burgos we follow the yellow arrows. Someone needs to buy the Spanish a measuring tape – because at the 2.5km sign to the Albergue is seriously about 4.7km off its mark!!

One does not get happy when seeing these signs – one gets sad 🙁 because one knows it is wrong.

A slight ease of pain happens when you see other pilgrims in the same state as you – what’s better is when you finally see your bed for the night! (Lets ignore the Disney line we had to go thru to get in that joint) We’ve set up – showered – washed clothes – Burgos you better be worth it!

WOW only 10 meters up the road. WOW the Cathedral de Santa Maria – totally worth everything we have gone thru! An overwhelming place full of stunning history and sensory overload! After listening to part 20 on the audio tour it all became a bit much – and Ally enjoyed my refreshing take on what each of the following 7 stages of the cathedral were 🙂 the pictures do not do it justice, you have to come and see it for yourself xx

While your are here you can also check out the awesome castle ruins.. A castle which began construction in 884 (yep no 10th or 11th century here – early days, the year 884)

It took a few hundred years to reach its monumental completion and then the people didn’t like it anyway and used it for storage! (This is the History 101 Kelly version) plus a fire in 16th century gutted it before the French tried to take over Spain… All in all another wow moment. The views from there were amazing – again worth the trip.

On a lighter note the discovering of a bucket of 5 beers for €3 added another fantastic element to Burgos, Ally Mark and I set up on the street and welcome our fellow pilgrims to join us – all amazed at our find – when the rain forces us inside the pilgrims take over the top level of the bar – France, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Germany, Canada, Ireland, England, and more are all represented and of course the Aussies (and how stoked was Ally to lead the crew in the chorus of Aussie Aussie Aussie!!)

One of the funniest things I can remember from that night is that Ern, our German friend is actually Peter our German friend – oops

So it’s back to the Camino and thru Burgos we hit over 350+ km’s done (ya us!) ahead is the Meseta (the desert) and our next stage to the city of Leòn…

How will we go?

We’ll keep you posted.

Until then

Buen Camino!

WOW so much to say and I don’t know where to start… Maybe with the fact that I just beat Canada at an arm wrestle!! 😉

So it’s been a while since I last blogged, and we have been walking still (that bit doesn’t change) some days better than others that’s for sure.

From going to the most strict Albergue where the host is obviously only in it for the money…  to sitting around a large table in an Albergue on top of a hill in a little place called Hermanillos de la Calzada and there are about four of us here all writing in diaries about our journeys so far. ..

Since we last left I’ve seen one of my most beautiful daily sites : fields and fields if sun flowers 🙂 the Meseta (desert) was not going to hold a lot for us but it was definitely a surprise. Yes it has the hard hard way of unending roads if white gravel that seem to lead to to nowhere… A harsh sun above, but a welcoming breeze just when you’ve had enough. Some days where paved with what seemed like the bottom of a dry creek bed others the soft red dust… Just walking to the horizon in front was what we set out to do because unlike before there are long stretches of road with no villages in front to set your sights on.

It’s the people you  met on the road that make this journey and we’ve met some new friends and caught up with old ones again 🙂 it’s so exciting to see someone again! We’ve only known them for 24 hours and then 5 days down the track you run into them again! Our Dutch friend Erik has kept us entertained for the last 3 days 🙂 God love him cause we do!!! We caught up with the pommy Jim who is still soldering (his knee is better but now his shin is bad…) and Michelé from Italy has got every pilgrims worst nightmare the mother of all blisters on his big toe! He is suffering 🙁 the locals are so friendly and at each Albergue they pull out their first aid kit and fix you up… Give you instructions in Spanish on how to care for them and send you on your way.

We’ve heard some horror stories, a girl who got 14 blisters!! She had to rest for 2 days. A guy whose shins were so swollen they became infected and he had to go to hospital – he is still determined to finish the walk thou…

Then there are the other type of stories, there’s a chick from Lithuania who did a mammoth 47km one day, she was going to sleep for 3 hours and then start again!! She wants to get home to see her peppermint bloom??? The Dutch couple who quit their jobs, walked out the front door of their house and have been walking to Santiago since, 3.5 months down and another month to go…

We’ve been happy with our 26 – 28km days with a few 30+ days thrown in – and the absolute pleasure of a 19km day thrown in soon….

We’ve had so many experiences over the past few days its hard to keep track!

I got a marriage proposal!!! We are going to get married in Santiago. Michelé from Italy presented a gorgeous ring pull from his juice carton in front of all our friends, it was a special moment for all – and Ally is excited about planning the wedding – But we have not seen Michelé since then, so i might already be divorced…

I also got us lost on an adventure! It involved a major highway crossing much like that old arcade ga

me froggy where you tried to cross the multi lane highway without getting squished (we looked more like turtles thou with our backpacks) and parents don’t shake your heads at this story – we survived! There was also laying on a fence so that Ally and Eric could climb over then Eric so generously volunteered to hold the sticks so Ally could help me get over too… 3km off track and ripped pants later a farmer stops his tractor in the middle of the road to stop us turn us around and tell us wrong way wrong way wrong way!

Alex the gorgeous college student from America introduced us to “hiking dating”. Eric being the romantic he is has adapted this to the Camino way and since its inception we have all been on many hiking dates 🙂 no second dates have occurred so far but only being half way, there is still plenty if time… Unfortunately one thing about this dating technique is sometimes you get stuck with a dud – and the heckling happening behind you from Eric and Ally does not help the situation – thank god for loose shoelaces or an approaching town to interrupt such occasions 🙂

Another highlight is our community dinner at the Albergue in Hermanillos where Matt from Canada volunteered me to cook (there were no restaurants in the town to eat at) so what started as a pasta dish for 8 people turned into a dinner for 18!! That’s how it works – more pilgrims turn up to stay so you ask them to join in! Trip to the shop for some ingredients or a bottle of vino and that’s their contribution 🙂 what a great night! Best thing about cooking is I didn’t have to wash dishes (thanks Ally)

After dinner we attended mass at the local church (shocked I know) it was Saint James Feast Day so it was appropriate plus as pilgrims we all wanted to pay our respect to those on the Santiago train crash.

Witnessing the holy communion in Latin and Spanish was pretty good experience 🙂 Our host at the hostel gave us a local experience where he made us a fire drink with vino and some sort of spirits coffee beans and lemon rind… We all got a glass and it was like warm honey and whiskey going down your throat with a bit of a kick at the end 🙂

To top off a fantastic night it was brother Shawn’s birthday (we have 2 monks traveling along the way that we run into from time to time) so brother Shawn had happy birthday sung to him in 7 different languages! Completely fantastic 🙂

From Hermanillos to Mansilla de las Mulas for a 25km day with the hope of an Albergue with a pool the only thing keeping Eric in good spirits (that and ABBA on his iPod) we passed houses built into hills and stairs to cellar doors leading to nowhere scattered in villages to reach a walled town with the perfect afternoon activity – a gorgeous river with a rope swing!

No I didn’t do it – the water was freezing!! But many countries joined us at the river and most braved the cold to test out the swing! Jim from England set the bar (or should I say swing) high, Benz from Hungry gave it a red hot go and Brittany from the U.S I think got the most air!! Ally from Australia with the promise of a bottle of vino caved to the pressure and joined the crew who swung – if only I captured her attempt on camera… You’d all be so proud!

Meeting old and new friends at each stop always leads to impromptu adventures and our night here was no exception. My night started as another joke cliché an Aussie, a Pom, & a Spaniard sitting at a bar….

Ally’s started with a trip to the ice cream shop and the pastry shop…. Meeting at a local restaurant where I had complete food envy of ally’s 3 course sumptuous meal of squid ink black risotto, then, amazing meatballs in delicious sauce. Followed by a triple chocolate cake! I on the other hand had ham and eggs – I also lost the Ashes Noughts & Crosses series to the Pom 🙁

But the vino flowed as did the conversations and there were 7 countries sitting at the one table telling stories and creating memories. PLUS there was an exercise bike in the toilet. Don’t ask me why… It is Spain.

I woke up the next morning and was greeted with a site that one can only describe in person… The only thing that made me feel better is that others witnessed it too (it wasn’t a mirage)

My head a bit sore (I do not know why ?? 😉 ) I was wondering if I was going to survive the 20km to León? With Ally and Eric to keep me entertained 5km down the road my head cleared and the 3 of us motored on.

Stopping for coffee and WiFi while listening to Beethoven, i rated the toilet a 1.5 (ewww) – it was a change to see hills and traffic again.

It wasn’t long till the strange site of a big city appears – we start to feel the unnerving sense that we are going to hit a horrible industrial part if town to drudge thru (Burgos comes to mind with a spine tingling shudder) but before it got too much and we lost our sanity again (that happens often out here) a 12 km delayed toilet stop for Ally & Eric as I scared them away from the 1.5 rated one came just in time.

Finally the old town wall appeared (these big cities have an old town right in the centre – always the place we head too) and with relief we found the centre. You couldn’t miss it with the 12th century massive gothic cathedral – another beautiful site!

The nuns took care of us at their place with a €5 bed and a very unacceptable 9.30pm curfew… Probably needed after last night thou…

León is a beautiful city full of stunning architecture beautiful pastries and good times. Except the 9.30pm curfew.

We met up with fellow travellers

And the bonus of a local (thanks Victor) and sampled the drinks and tapas at a few bars – a great thing in Spain is that you buy a drink and get a tapas plate for free! Yum! Plus one bar had a chocolate fountain with mash mellows to help yourself, go figure…

After a chat and catch up with the crew we’ve hung out with the last few nights (Jim, Emlie, Victor, Benz, Victoria, Mr Lee) we farewelled them with the hope that we will see them another time along the way (we are going in different directions) they had a few laughs about our curfew but with our vino and plastic cups we spent the night in the court yard swapping stories and welcoming our new walking buddy Michelle who just arrived, until the nuns yelled VAMOOC!!! (away quickly) and it was time to go.

Sunday in Leon meant mass in the cathedral an experience that one can not pass up – wow. Even better is that one of our favourite monks Father Emanuel assisted too!! All pilgrims that went felt pretty chuffed that one of our own was up their 🙂

So the non practicing Christian and the Jew have been to 2 catholic mass’ in one week! I think our quota is done till Santiago 🙂

Leaving León meant another big milestone and that means its the start of STAGE 3!!! The last leg of our journey…

The mountains await…

Buen Camino!

The thing with being in a different country with a language barrier, is when you see something amazing or some funny sites with descriptions on a sign beside them, you can not read to know what it is – you are only left with your imagination to think what or why that is there or happening… This can be useful at times especially as my interpretation of church or museum history is so much better than the audio tour – just ask Ally 🙂

This also happened in Astorga, a large town in its last days of a medieval festival! Sounds exciting I know 🙂 We were! But when you walked thru the tents and site with nothing happening except people standing around in traditional medieval attire doing nothing… you start to wonder what exactly is going on?? And I guess we will never know 🙁 even after the excitement of seeing our Spanish friend Fran again and with his little to no knowledge of the English language he couldn’t understand or explain it to us either…

It rained also (thank god once we had stopped for the day) but the coats came out because with it came the cold wind… We are entering the mountains again, new tracks for our feet (which continue to argue with their punishment some times during each day – but it’s getting less and less so they are obviously getting used to it) I’ve joined Ally with sandals on today and my feet went well 🙂 this maybe a boring part of our story for you, but to us we can have a good hour conversation about them! Even spending time inspecting closely to see what has changed fearing for blisters… Priorities change on the Camino and our top 3 each day are:

• Water
• Feet
• Sunscreen
• & another is – Ice Cream – God help us if our stop for the night doesn’t have ice cream (or vino)

So as the terrain starts to change again, trees appear, mountains appear in the distance (great that means we have to climb them) and our attitude changes also. Reaching the half way point of our journey (not in distance but in time) we’ve both begun to saviour every moment as it is all coming to an end too soon 🙁 let’s not dwell on that – we have Santiago to get too!!!

Saying that, it seems possible now – there have been times over the past few weeks where we have doubted if it could be done – we were told right about the physical pain you feel, the metal games that go on in your head, it’s all true but each day you get up strap on your bag and go because it is what you want to do – need to do.

Looking forward to the next few days 🙂 More milestones to achieve:

• The Iron Cross is coming up where we leave our thoughts, hopes and stones we’ve been carrying with us since the beginning.
• Castles to visit with a grand history of the Knights of the Templar
• Crossing into the Galicia region of which the capital is Santiago de Compostela!

We will keep you posted

Buen Camino!

All you need at the end of the day is big beer, good food, and wifi 🙂 that’s what Eric has just proclaimed and all of us laugh and agree.

Eric has just appeared in Froncebedon!! (I have seriously spelt that wrong – I haven’t the guide book with me) He has walked a mammoth 57km in one day to catch up with us!!! Well maybe not just us, I’m pretty sure Fran had something to do with that…

So we’ve had a mammoth time walking over 52km in the last two days we’ve initiated Michelle into the Camino way all at once! She is coping well 🙂

Last night we spent in Froncebedon (again spelt wrong) in this Albergue that provide a communal meal – too tired for anything, we joined the group for a delicious paella!! OMG the best we have had! The photos do not do it justice – so good. We’ve decided we won’t loose wait on this trip we are enjoying to food and vino too much 🙂

With Eric surprise walk in to the Albergue (he said he was just listening out for 2 loud Aussies in each place he stopped – umm so not us) and an amazing meal, we settled in to listen to our host set up and play fantastic local music as the night came in.. Such a great night (although Eric wouldn’t agree – being so late there were no beds.. He was stuck in a tent next to a donkey…)

Morning came at 6am with our start to the Iron Cross – we were both very anxious about this part, as our expectations had been set – as this would be one of our highlights of our adventure. It came into view as the sun rose, a moment that neither of us well forget. I left a bit of myself at that place – and a bit of my family. Ally took a moment with both her professional and personal family. It takes a lot to bring Ally to tears…

It’s strange to watch other pilgrims react to this monument – some so unaware of its significance, others taking a quiet moment to search for the perfect spot for their stone… A very natural emotional environment for this journey.

If you get the chance to do this – I say do it. And look out for pink, blue & orange pebbles clumped together at the base. Then you’ll know i’ve been there too.

Our Italian friend Marco warned us on the hard trek down we’d face today and how bad it was (his words were The Worst!) – Marco was right. After making it up up up to the highest peak of the Camino at (1550m) the sharp declined slowed us down sooo much 🙁 very little conversations happened as we had to concentrate on what we were doing!

The false sense of hope you get when the path flattens out is quickly gone when another steep decent appears full of sleek rocks and pebbles and gravel to overcome – If I haven’t said it before I love my stick – it gets me out of some hard times (especially today)

We have headed into Pomferdom (again don’t trust my spelling) with the Knights of the Templar Castle to explore…

Tomorrow sees us doing over 30km again in heat that will be 30+… But let’s not dwell on that now, we are just sitting here enjoying our big beer, good food & wifi 🙂

We will keep you posted!!
Buen Camino

We are spreading the word of Chicks Walk for a Cause 🙂
Last night after another fabulous dinner cooked by Kelly (no dishes for me!) and shared with our new Italian and German friends we sat around talking about the reasons we are walking, our FB likes jumped a few more with Ruth getting on to check us out (thanks Ruth Tina & Marco)

You soon loose time when you are making new friends, and we got rushed off to bed when curfew had arrived – looking forward to a good nights sleep in a room with just 4 beds (OMG the luxury) our room mate proceeded to tell us in sign language and sound effects (she was Spanish and knew no English) that she seemed to snore… And she offered us ear plugs… Not a good sign…

For the last 24 days I’ve been completely jealous of Ally and her amazing ability to sleep solidly every night – until now. Not happy Jan. Even worse as I sit here after walking 25km today in the hot hot SOL the same lady has turned up here!!! Eric scouted the place and we have strategically hid our selves on a corner probably the furtherest corner away from the Snorer! Vino a necessity tonight to help us sleep…

So as I said today saw us walk 25km heading to Villafranca del Belizo with temperatures reaching 35+ we are pretty excited we made it without collapsing…

We must have been delirious as we sung Mary Poppins in English, Spanish & Dutch… The scenery has turned into vineyards again and the relief of shade is spotted along the way (thank god) the breeze is hot – but it’s a breeze so lets be thankful for that.

The after walk necessities can be found in Villafranca, cold beer, good food and wifi (Eric is happy) made new German friends and Sebastian from France who we have seen along the way joined us for a long over due catch up over pizza and sangria and a lot of laughs.

We opened the guide for tomorrow’s trek and one sentence reads:
“This stage represents one of the steepest of the whole pilgrimage…”
So of course we are so excited about that! Early start because its gonna get hot again and 30+ km’s up a mountain us going to take awhile.. Wish us luck!

I’m laying in a hotel room. There is only 2 beds, and our own private bathroom – oh and towels 🙂 towels can you believe it!!!!

We have trekked to the highest point on the Camino they were right when they say strenuous day.. But spectacular views! We actually care about that part now we have a bed for the night (wait not bed – but room!) we hiked into O Cebreiro and were met with the dreadful call at the Albergue Completo (full!) As were all the hostels… I proceeded to walk into each place seeing if they can fit just one person… Eric ran down to another hostel to see their verdict, Ally has phoned ahead to see if the next town can fit us (no – Completo) then she asked at the pub – in broken English she heard double room €40… So when in Spain with no bed, no town centre & no tent – splurge! €20 ea got us a room, bed, private bathroom WITH towels and no snoring 🙂

The SOL shone on our walk today with most of it being flat until the last 10km where it goes from up up up.

Eric does what it does best and picks up the pace and forges ahead with his  disappearing stick (it’s getting shorter and shorter with each tap – but the connection has been made, I don’t think he can give it up… Unless there is a really short person he can pass it on too) Michelle got a taste of what we had 20 odd days ago in the Navarra country… And Ally and I thanked Ranier again for telling us to get sticks 🙂

We thought of stopping at La Faba (but I couldn’t find the Albergue) plus the steep ascent wasn’t too bad… So we move on to Laguna another 3km where the ascent got worse and the Albergue full… So no choice but to head to O Cebreiro – and we know that it had a happy ending 🙂

With 2 of the 3 after walk necessities met (sorry Eric no wifi) we check out the church & mass was happening so we didn’t stick around. Saw the monument for the man that every pilgrim loves Don Elias Valiña Sampedro – he is the one that came up with the yellow arrows along the route – if they weren’t on the trek I think there would be still pilgrims trying to find their way out here from 50yrs ago… (Thanks Don) and then there was the view – beautiful xxx

So another day comes and we are now starting to wish they would slow down (sorry gang loving it over here and we are not wanting it to end) morning can hardly be seen with the mist that blankets the mountain peaks, positive people would say its a fresh morning – I’m realistic I’m saying its cold! And here is Eric walking in a singlet – don’t worry he said once we start ill warm up…

Once we start the wind follows us across the trek whistling in our ears and howling thru the fields – it’s strong and you start to wonder if anyone has been blown off the mountain before??? As light appears the view is beautiful again our photos cannot do it justice 🙂 it’s funny that you take one pic walk around a corner and the view is better so you take another… We will bore you all with them when we are back.

A looming grey statue appears thru the mist this morning a pilgrims monument… Ally and I take it in – another moment in this epic adventure.

After about 10km we start to go down… Something we have all been anxious about because we knew it was coming. Talk about anti climax, yes it was steep and went for 7km but we must be getting hard because I thought it was going to be worse (flashes of Roncesvalles come to mind). You wanted to get down quick as in the rural area the spell was not the type you wanted to keep around…

We made it to our stop in Triacastela (the town of 3 castles – none of which we have seen yet??) necessities have been met and the supermarket for supplies needs to be found 🙂

Another day awaits with yet another hill to climb over and more of this gorgeous country to be seen…

Until then
Buen Camino

Today starts early with the benefit of everyone in our room wanting to get up at the same time… We are heading to Barbadelo – our guide says to stop in Sierra but the Dutch guide says 5km after that so today we are following the Dutchman (boy).

With a banana to fuel us till our coffee stop 9km down the road we hit our first decision 1km in – left or right??? Right it is (it’s 5km shorter…) and that also means up up again. The over hanging trees and the lush green fields around us make you think how the Meesta seems so long ago… The trek thou stony and rough is not dreadful and the path snakes up the mountain till its time to snake down again – The crew from Mansilla have caught us and we chat about what the Camino has done to us…

Blisters, snore knees (no, not mine – touch wood) shin splints, mine games, sun bur
n, lost weight (again not us) friends, family, happiness and disappointment – it is strange that everyone doing the same thing has such different views – but that is humanity isn’t it…

Sierra came quickly and a quick shop left me feeling very happy with my new non walking sandals 🙂 the planks i got 2 days ago now belong to the camino. My boots a heavy burden were ‘forgotten’ a few days ago.. We have somehow managed to overtake Fran which doesn’t seem right as the man is a jack rabbit on this trek!

And we have landed on our feet again with the Albergue in Barbadelo 🙂 we are sitting on lounge chairs with an amazing view of the Galicia country stretched out before us sun shining cool breeze cold beer (literally as i just typed that Ally announces that she might do dry September when she is back… Too funny) and Eric is on a date – not a hiking one (I’m coming back in my next life as Eric) dinner is the hardest decision we have to make at the moment 🙂

I’ll let you know how we go…
Until then
Buen Camino

I want to tell you about a strange occurrence that has increased to an epidemic level over the past 2 days…

The Disney Camino – these peregrinos (or better known as turisimos – tourist peregrinos) you can spot them on the trek the following ways:

• they travel in packs of 5 or more
• they have day packs on – NOT BACKPACKS. You know those string backpacks you get that only hold 3 things
• they have no Camino tan (white legs all round!)
• they stop after 4km and have a beer.. Now some of you might think there is nothing wrong with that, but when you are walking 25+km for the day there is a big problem.
• they wheel their bags in to the Albergue that their tour guide just booked out (so no beds for us!!)
• they put make up on in the bathroom in the morning….
• there is a mega bus waiting for them after 12km to drive them the rest of the way if they are too tired to walk…

Can you feel the distain in my fingers as I type this???? Hmmmmmmmm

Jim the Pom said it a few days ago “it doesn’t feel the same” and we were wondering what he meant. We now know. The high of reaching only 100km to go is quickly squashed by the increase in traffic on the Camino..
Now I don’t want to sound like a Camino snob but – you gotta start further back and get the true experience than just the last 100km….

We would stop at for our morning break and see familiar faces or catch up with our Camino family again.. But alas, now we don’t 🙁 we have scattered across the trek with different dates and needs to make it to Santiago…

We are only 3 days away, doing 22 – 25km a day now trying to stretch out our Camino as long as we can before our flight deadline… Eric left us this morning with a 42km day ahead as he needs to finish before us to make it to his Madrid holiday to follow… It was strange to wake up without our pace car. His gorgeous smile and random comments and thoughts to keep us laughing or contemplating along the way. (we miss you Eric!)

Spending 3/4 of the day on the road has not helped – and the feet & ankles are wishing for the nature trek again. (No its not the knees – I’m wearing braces as a prevention as it’s better than a cure!)

But the rise and fall of the trek is calming and with each village we pass and the familiar sight of the yellow arrow pointing the way brings thoughts of what is waiting for us in Santiago de Compestella…

Until then it’s messages and FB with our Camino family to see who is at the same stop?? Dinner last night with Ruth Tina and Dr Marco (Marco as risen to Doctor status after his diagnosis of my rash and supply of pills to stop the itching!!! Thank god for Dr Marco!) and of course our little brother Eric was a fabulous memory made, sharing stories and paying way too much for a gin and tonic, enjoying the view and
laughing at our adventures thur far are just priceless.

We’ve stopped in Palas de Rei for the night -the Albergues have been booked out by bloody Disney Camios so we have found a hostel with a room for 3 – we’ve also found cold beer and wifi so now the hunt is on for good food 🙂

Until tomorrow
Buen Camino

100kms to go!

Bloody Disney Camino!