Stella & Robin 's despatches from the Camino

Latest news from Robin and Stella who are walking the Camino de Santaigo de Compestela, and are hoping to send us regular updates subject to availability of an internet connection. The despatches are in reverse order - i.e. newest first. Click here for more details on the Camino pilgrimage.
 
Stella has sent us a selection of pictures from the Camino - click here to view

 

04/04/12

Well, this it.  I am sending this from Santiago Airport before we fly to Stanstead.

When we set out on this trip we wanted to walk from the S coast of Spain to the N coast on the various Caminos de Santiago, where they existed, and to make it up where they did not.  At the last update we were close to Muxia on the NW coast.  It would have been too difficult to walk round the coast to A Coruna and we took a bus to A. Corunia and then walked S back to Santiago.  So, coast to coast but a little bit of it backwards.

A Coruna is an interesting town and is the biggest city in Galicia.  It is mushroom shaped.  The old town is crammed into the short 'stem' and the the mushroom cap is primarily a long protected beach.  Because of its shape the are lots of views of the sea and many harbours and ports.  It is mainly cruise liners and freight that stop here these days but in the middle ages boats from England anchored here to disgorge pilgrims hence the name of this route - the Camino Ingles.  For fashion fans A Coruna is the home of the first Zara shop and the conglomerate to which it belongs is still based in an industrial town just a long the coast. 

The old town is full of plazas, churches and shady squares with little restaurants and bars and we had lunch before setting off. It did not take long to walk through the old core and then we were faced with about 8K of urban sprawl and a further few kilometers of suburban developments.  Even towards the end of the following day we could look back the way we had come and see the spread of the city.

Once back into the country, the scenery was lovely again.  Lots of small hills, pastures and forests and we even saw a donkey pulling a cart. We have seen many donkeys but only two in work mode. 

We arrived back in Santiago on Monday and this time it meant the end of our Camino.  We went to the 'pilgrim mass' in the cathedral where the priest reads out the starting point of all those who have walked and countries of origin.  It is a good ending irrespective of belief, a 'closing' ceremony amongst people who have shared a common experience. 

After the mass we found a hostel.  We stayed in the San Martin monastery, part of which has been converted into a hotel.  It is right by the cathedral. The 4th floor is reserved for pilgrims and the rooms are fairly basic (but cheap) with great views over the city roofs.  The hotel retains the cloisters of the old monastery and the high vaulted ceilings in the dining rooms. There are long stone flagged passages dotted with ancient oak furniture and the sense of history is immense.

For the rest of the day and Tuesday we relaxed, had a beer or two and ate good food.  We also saw our second Semana Santa procession.  Until this trip I had only seen pictures of the hooded (like Klu Klux Klan) penitents as they walked slowly through the streets and the images seemed frightening and sinister.  It is not so frightening when they are really close (close enough to see the bags under their eyes through the cut outs for seeing where they are going!) but strange.  These days those walking are from the Confrada and ties to the church may be quite loose, geographical rather than devotional.  The 'penitents, walk in pairs the width of the street apart and very very slowly with a side to side motion.  The processions are usually at night and they carry large candles.   Some are bare footed.  Their clothes consist of long robes (we saw white, black and green) wide edged in darker colours at the wrist and with bands or cords around the waist and the high peaked hoods covering their faces.  They and the crowds are silent as they walk and it felt quite eerie.  Behind them are drummers that beat out a regular loud boom that marks the time for the steps - the loudness and the regularity adds to the sense of presence of the penitents.  Behind this comes the statue of the relevant church carried on the shoulders of a dozen or so men.  They cannot be seen as they walk inside a Curtained 'box',  seeing their way though a mesh at the front.  The statue is large, at least the size of its bearers, and has the most beautiful Easter lilies and white daisies at its feet.  The bearers walk in the same side to side motion as the penitents, sometimes moving forward in strong dramatic steps, sometimes more gently backwards before going aggressively forward again.  They are led by the band behind them (drums and brass or Galician bagpipes).  The loudness of the music dictates the firmness of step and vigour of the bearer's pace and mood as they move.  There are others that walk too - children (some with angel wings attached to white robes) and church officials in suits and, of course, the parish priest.  Behind the procession come parishioners with torches or candles. A procession can take a couple of hours from start to finish and by the time Easter is finished every parish (about 15in Santiago) will have had one.  

So, this is the final cafe con leche and chocolate croissant and......Buen Camino Stella and Robin
 
29/03/12

We arrived at Santiago on Saturday. There are not that many pilgrims about but a steady trickle arrived over the course of the day.  Mostly they congregate in the main square in front of the cathedral before going to get their 'Compostela' - certificate of completion, and then finding accommodation.  It is a moving experience to arrive at the square for the first time.  The square and the cathedral, in sparkling granite, are very beautiful and provide an impressive end to a long journey.   

Many people who walk the Camino de Santiago have done little previous walking.  A lot are overweight (at least at the start!) and many are quite old. Poco a poco they get there, some with much suffering which may be seen as part of the 'pilgrimage' and arrival is a real triumph.  Many people look awed by their achievement and tears are common (along with hugs for those met on the way).  Many will stay sitting in the square for an hour or so  and few are in a hurry to leave.  The square is also the place to which many will return while remaining in Santiago to try and see other people they have met on the route.  Most people spend a couple of days in Santiago to sightsee, relax a bit and to meet with others to revisit experiences, war wounds and amusing incidents.   

For us it was slightly different in that we still had a way to go but we enjoyed it none the less.  Our route (Via de la Plata) was so quiet that apart from ourselves and a Spanish man with whom we had been walking for several days, there was no one to see. It was the end for Luisme and we celebrated with a few beers, pulpo (octopus) and some rather wonderful ice-creams, finishing off the evening with a malt whisky.  It was his first Camino and he was very overweight and so suffered badly for the 400K that he walked. Finishing was hugely important for him.

To get a Compestella a minimum of 100K must be walked and many people walk from a place called Sarria on the Camino Frances which is just over 100k and has good transport connections. For many Spanish and French young people 'doing the Camino' is like doing the Duke of Edinburgh award in the UK.  It is believed that the chance of a university place or a job will be higher.  So, in the summer the last 100K is like a motorway of pilgrims.  

On our way out of Santiago the next morning we met Antonio.  Antonio  was slightly ahead of us for several days.   We would have like to meet him as he seemed to be such an interesting character having walked from his home in Portugal to Santiago, then onto Lourdes followed by Rome and then returning to Santiago via Barcelona and the Via de la Plata (the route we followed).  He exists solely on the providence provided by others.  While very interested in meeting him, we were always thankful that he remained an elusive day or two ahead, a legend rather than a real presence, for he was as much known for his lack of personal hygiene as for his devotion and a night at the same albergue was not an attractive proposition.  Fortuitously we met him early in the morning on our way out of Santiago and were able to hear his story for the price of the 3 bananas we had in our rucksacks. 

And so it continues..   

Walking in Galicia is a real pleasure with lots of hills and greenery.  Spring has arrived quickly and completely in just a couple of days.  One night without frost and its a bosky, verdant spring.  Grass and weeds are high and there are many wild flowers in the verges.  We have also arrived at the sea.  On Tuesday we were at Cea and Wednesday at Finisterre.  For many people, especially those who are not religious or who have pagan sympathies,  Finisterre (the end of the world) is the end of the camino.  People come to stare at the sea and some burn their camino clothes, a long but environmentally unsound (do they really have to burn their boots?) tradition.  Also, sunset at the end of the world is a magical end. 

For others, Muxia a further 30K further on is the end and we will arrive there at the end of today.  

A few weeks ago I described us as 'fitter and leaner' but a few unavoidable long days has put paid to that and we are now falling apart.   We both succumbed to bad colds and I have had blisters; 1300K without a blister and now....  

Our clothes are also falling apart too.  The soles of our shoes are wearing thin and our socks are no longer soft and fluffy so we now feel every stone as we walk. We have had to sew up holes in clothes  where the rucksacks have rubbed and I inadvertently bleached a pair of trousers into a dirty camouflage  print.  Our legs are now a mix of sun tan and ingrained dirt sitting atop lilly white feet and ankles. Robin's beard has passed the aged hippy stage and looks like he needs some assistance with personal grooming. This coupled with the perpetually red and peeling noses from the sun makes us look like the tramps we have become.    

We are not sure what we are doing after today.  We would still like to get further north and hope we may be able to continue along the Costa Del Morte (death) to A Coruna.  We have not been able to find any maps though so it is all a little uncertain.  Whatever,  we have only a week of walking left and will then need to find our way home. 

Buen Camino

Stella & Robin
 

22/03/12

We are nearly at Santiago, only 2 days away.  While this is the end goal for most people on the Camino, we will be continuing, but Santiago is what it is all about. 

We crossed from Castille Y Leon into Galicia this week and it is like being back in Scotland but with some English twists.  It is very mountainous and hilly (which has tested us) with lots of heather, gorse, bracken and broom - but the bracken is ginger and the heather is flowering now. The lanes are very SW England - bounded by stone walls or high banks and so too are the rivers and streams.   

The music of Galicia is just like Scottish ceilidh music,  people wear tartan, play bagpipes and are a celtic race.  So we feel quite at home except for the language.  Galicia is also very wet (and Santiago is famed for the quality of its umbrellas).  

We had rain just before we came into Galicia, after 6 weeks of waterproofs lying at the bottom of the rucksacks.  Light rain turned to hail as we climbed over the pass into Galicia and we awoke to snow the next morning.  While Leanda was sunning herself with 17 degrees in Aberdeen we were 'enjoying' sub zero temperatures in Spain. Since then however it has been sunny and from mid afternoon, hot.  The rain has made such a difference to the countryside and we could see this as we crossed the border (GalicIa always having a surfeit).   We saw our first grass for 6 weeks and there is such a quantity of grass that animals are fed hay (rather than straw as we have seen elsewhere) here during the winter.  We have also heard the sound of running water in streams and rivers and gurgling drains which we have not heard since arriving in Spain.  Mud, rather than baked clay the consistency of concrete has provided a change too.  The spring flowers are still slow to emerge from the winter cold but there are a few and those that come through survive rather than die overnight from drought. 

The walking this week has been beautiful, climbing tracks over gorse and heather or lanes running between stone walls and through woods.  At times the top of each climb has ended in a further 20 kilometres of purple, grey and green mountains  with lower hills between.  Occasionally there is a fertile plain as there was at Ourense and the towns and villages in these areas clearly benefit from the farming and wine income this brings.  Elsewhere the villages are deserted and largely derelict and there is a whole derelict village for sale in Galicia with a price tag of 120K. 

Life seems to be very simple here.  The fields and vineyards are small, allotment style and the range of vegetables grown (and eaten) is very limited as far as we can see.  Cows (and sometimes sheep) are still kept under houses even in substantial villages or in the same building alongside the house.  There are few young people around.  However judging by the appearance of many of the older people and the funeral notices pinned to telegraph poles, many people are living to an enviable old age (people in their 90s) and working on the land well into their 80s. 

Life is simpler for us too.  We can often get food in the local bar and they will cook for us happily but it is whatever is to hand and there is no choice.  We have not had a bad meal yet.  The meal will usually consist of local soup (some sort of spaghetti soup in Castille and Leon and here it is veg with a cabbage type plant forming the base), fried meat or fish with chips, fruit and plenty of bread washed down with generous amounts of very good local wine.  There is little by the way of 'service' but plenty of encouragement to 'eat up' and have more.  I don't know how the bars make any money.  The meals we get cost about 9E and we are usually the only people spending any money.  Almost all the other customers seem to be domino players who do not drink.  

The days have been long - simply to get to accommodation and we were at Ourense on Tuesday which has rather lovely old quarter (cathedral, plazas and a few public buildings) but 10K of road to get into the city was disheartening.  We stayed at a converted convent which was well adapted. 

The level of pilgrims (walking and cycling) has varied.  We were in step with a German couple and Two German sisters for a couple of days about a week ago but since then there has been just the 2 of us and a Spanish man who walks with us. Tonight though there are 4 cyclists as well as us at the albergue.  We are frequently told that there are few people on the road this year because of the 'crisis'. The dogs continue to provide a 'welcoming party' at each village or farm but we are getting a bit more used to them - maybe.  

We are not quite sure of our next steps.  We had hoped to get to Muxia on the E coast, Ferrol on the North and then try to make our way to the most Northerly point in Spain but we seem to be running out of time - decisions, decisions. 

We will be at Santiago on Saturday and. from there we think we will be going NE to Finisterre and Muxia and possibly Laxe. 

Buen Camino 

Stella and Robin
 

15/03/12

Another week, another 200K or thereabouts.  The days are beginning to blur into each other.  For most of the past week we have been walking across the high central plateau of Spain.  This is the 'bread basket' of much of Europe with vast wheat farms, some maize, grapes and (we think) sugar beet.   

We have been walking at about 800 metres for several days and it has been very cold.  The winds have been icy and the frosts don't clear until late morning.  On these days we put on our hats, shrink into our jackets and pull up the hoods averting our eyes and faces from the wind.  We think of the next warm bar (usually several hours away) and defrosting  our hands on a hot glass of cafe con leche.  But in the last couple of days the wind has dropped and it has been warm from midday and hot from about 2 pm.  On these days we lift our heads and feel the breeze through our hair and enjoy whatever the landscape brings.  The day's pleasure is while we are walking and much of it is lovely - fields of crops or ploughed land interspersed with woods and rough grazing with gentle hills and perpetually blue skies.  The drought is being talked of everywhere and some of the wheat fields are dying for lack of water. 

We have passed through Salamanca and Zamora.  Salamanca is my favourite Spanish city.  It has numerous squares, two cathedrals (which are built into each other like Siamese twins) and many notable university buildings, palacios and conventos (which were for monks as well as nuns).  The colour of the stone ranges from cream to dark terracotta and, overall is a warm golden yellow making the city seem welcoming and comfortable.   

It has one of the most important (since the 12C) universities in Europe and it seems that most of the current students are rich foreigners speaking English! (Americans, Japanese and Europeans - but not British). They sit in the main square in the freezing weather picnicking or eating from the only MacDonald's we have seen so far.  

One of the university porticos is famed for its stone carvings but especially for the frog that is 'hidden' amongst the regal and religious motifs.  Below it stand tourists and new students for hours searching for the frog and we joined them unsuccessfully (we did this 10 years ago with similar results). 

The Plaza Mayor is beautiful, arcaded all around with richly, but incredibly delicately, carved sculptures and facades on all sides.  It is also the main city thoroughfare (pedestrians only) and the city's most important meeting place so it is a hive of activity, even in winter and many an hour can be spent people watching at different times of the day and night- it rarely quietens down before midnight.  We once spent New Year's Eve here eating a grape at every chime of the 12 O'clock bells, supping champagne and being frightened out of our wits by fire cracking students.  On a cold March evening it was much quieter. 

Zamora is also lovely with the same warm stone work but it is on a much smaller scale.  It did however have the most spectacular walking entrance into the city.  Most Spanish cities, like most cities the world over, have long sections of trading estates and suburbs before reaching their heart by which time enthusiasm for sight seeing is severely tested.  In Zamora (if walking in on the Camino route) you leave fields to be directly confronted with a wide river and the cathedral and citadel high above it perched on plunging cliffs.  The climb up to the old town at the end of a day's walking with a rucksack is less thrilling though.  Zamora seems to have more churches than people to attend them.  I think building churches must have been the 'conspicuous consumption' of the wealthy in the later Middle Ages. Some of the church ruins, mixed with glass and rusting steel make exciting new buildings though.

This week marks our first criminal activity since our youth.  We arrived at an albergue, having been told that it was open by the bar owner from whom we were to get the key, to find that it was locked.  It so happened that there was a downstairs window open and I climbed in - 50 something and my first burglary!  I'm not sure whether I'm more pleased with managing to climb in or having the nerve to do so!  2 Germans, more law abiding and with much better Spanish than us, arrived, left their rucksacks and set off back to the village to find someone 'in authority' to let us use the albergue legitimately.  They were unsuccessful and so they, with a Spaniard, also climbed through the window. 

A highlight of this week has been coming across an old shepherd with his flock (and well behaved dogs) in a scrubby pasture set amongst the woods - with his donkey slowly following on behind.  It seemed like something out of the old testament; all, animals and human, moving at a slow leisurely pace, going only as fast as the sheep could  browse.  A day later, early in the morning we came across sheep being guarded by 13 dogs with no shepherd present.     It (thankfully) quickly became apparent that if we did not cross the ditch, they would stay on their side of it.   

At some point today ( Thursday) we will have walked 1000K (625 miles) and it is beginning to show.  We have largely got over our injuries and have been able to increase the daily mileage - sometimes we have to because of lack of accommodation.  We are a little tired (when your legs ache within 2 hours of starting rather than within 1 hour of finishing you know it's time to take it easy for a day or two).  On Tuesday we had a short day (26K) after a number of 35K days and finished walking at about 2.30 and lazed around for the rest of the day in the sun, which was much needed. 

We are a bit leaner than when we left home and there has been a slight fat:muscle shift in a positive direction and we are fitter- when not injured or tired!.  Our faces and hands are brown (somewhat leathery) with the rest of us remaining the usual dishcloth grey.  Robin even looks slightly S. European but is about 6 inches too tall to be a Spaniard of his age.  I still look like a Brit who has no sense in the sun (i.e. Blotchy red). 

The route is beginning to get busier with new people starting at Salamanca and further on (many people do the route in stages) and we have been up to 8 in an albergue at night which is a vast change from the days without seeing a walker. 

We are now in the North of Spain. We have been travelling, for 6 weeks, always going north. Today we turn left! Wednesday night at Rionegra del Puenta and after that:  Mombuey, Palacios de Sanabria and Lubian in Castlle and Leon.  We are then in Galicia. At A Guidina, Laza, Banos de Molgas and, perhaps, Ourense.  We can already see the mountains of Galicia. 

Buen Camino 

Stella and Robin

 

08/03/12

This week has been characterised by solitude (duotude?).  For over a week we met no one at all when walking and only encountered people when we dipped into the towns for the night.  We met no other peregrinos and have had albergues to our selves. 

The walking has been lovely, mainly pasture (cows mainly) and cork oak trees.  But the land is very dry.  There has been no proper rain since September and so there is no grass for the animals (it should be knee high by now).  The pastures are silver grey from the wintered remains of last year.   

We have continued to follow the Roman road through Extramadura and we are now in Castille Y Leon.  The route went under the roman arch at Caparra which is a 4 pillared arch creating a cross road within it.  It is the symbol of the route so we have been seeing its engraving on granite blocks for hundreds of kilometres and it felt quite special to eventually walk under it.  It is only 1 chariot width wide but the height of a 4 story building.  Other than the arch, the site was closed but we went through a gap in the fence to sit amongst the old walls and pillars for an hour in the sun for lunch - and saw no one; no sounds other than the breeze and the birds.   

One day the absence of human company was made up for by 4 stray pigs.  They could clearly smell our food and made a direct approach to us, snouts to the ground and not looking up.    It was the snuffling and grunting that alerted us- somewhat gradually and they were very close before we realised what the noise was.  They got a fright when they became aware of our presence (we got up from our picnic spot in a hurry!) and they trotted off, only to come back and repeat the process 20 minutes later.  I think pigs must be very short sighted!  They seemed not to see us until upon us.  

In terms of wild life, we are seeing lots of storks and vultures (along with a couple of dead cows which the vultures will quickly dispatch).  We have also seen red kites, a couple of black vultures and a lizard. We have seen no eagles, deer or wild boar or the Iberian Lynx even though we are walking at quite a height just now - about 1,000 metres and there is snow on the higher ridges. 

We have had one bad day.  Part of the route had been re-marked (officially or by a disgruntled land owner, we do not know).  This resulted in an extra 8K(on top of 22, all on a road and Robin now has shin splints - so both of us are hobbling with elastic bandages and sticks!  Though my sprain is definitely on the mend. 

The most interesting stop this week has been Hervas where we stayed in a converted engine shed of a defunct railway.  It has been well redesigned into a hostel making good use of the massive openings as windows overlooking the town.  The town is predominantly 17c  with large houses, convents, churches and cobbled and colanaded squares but it also has a 14C Jewish quarter(supposedly the best preserved in Spain).  The Romans, followed by the Christians and the Visogoths all persecuted the Jews across Europe, and especially in Spain.  From here the Jews fled to Portugal, leaving a sizeable settlement behind.   

The houses wind up hill from the river on narrow streets and channels only a person wide.  The first floor overhang the streets and nearly meet their neighbour in the middle. Not much light penetrates but enough to cover house walls with pots of flowering plants.  It would have been very dark (and cool) but also noisy.  The occasional star of David carving remains on some of the door lintels and current occupants have also put up some new ones.   

The past couple of days has been through 'old' Spain.  If there were boom years, they did not happen here. Many of the villages are semi derelict and people are still living in what appear to be one room cottages in need of TLC. There are few people about, especially young people and children.  The old people are often very old and although most have lost all their teeth and shuffle carefully along with sticks or sit on hard chairs at their doors, they are very much involved in what is going on,  the conversations remain vigorous and noisy!    

The friendliness is unsurpassed.  People are used to seeing people walk through their village and we are constantly stopped and asked about where we are from - people expect us to be German or French, GB walkers are rare. One elderly couple explained to an even older man that we were on a pilgrimage - 'mucho sacrificio' and we wondered what size our sins must have been in their eyes - muy grande, no doubt. 

We are quite taken with the  local fashions for strolling. The men are dull, various shades of mud but the women wear brightly coloured dressing gowns over day clothes .  To see them, arms linked, supported by sticks, chattering away in vivid red or blue is like seeing exotic birds on the road, lovely.

We have also met more walkers in the last couple of days, all Spanish and so our Spanish is improving a little. One is in an even more decrepit state than us and so we are keeping pace and have seen him over a few days (and nights in the bar) 

Since Caceres we have passed through Canaveral, Galisteo, Aldeneuva del Camino, Hervas and Banos, Bejar and we are at Morille. We are due to be at Salamanca in a couple of hours. 

Buen Camino 

Stella and Robin

 

01/03/2012 I am sitting in the sun at 6.15pm doing this - with a beer.  The weather has changed considerably and it is hot from about 11 'till 6; sometimes it is too hot.  It is due to get cooler again though.  We are the only people staying in this albergue tonight so it feels quite private.  It is the best yet.  It is a new concrete building over looking a reservoir (pretty empty) and in a very isolated position.  To my right as I sit on the terrace I can see the remains of a very long roman bridge that had to be moved when they flooded the valley. The dormitories here are 4 bedded and the top 'bunk is accessed by climbing stairs onto another platform.   There is a huge eating, sitting, and bar area with big glass windows overlooking the valley and the hills beyond.  The shutters are grey metal and swivel so can partially screen the windows as the sun moves around. Excellent modern design for a hostel.  

This week has been a Roman week.  We have been following an old roman road.  For much of the time you would not know it and there is nothing of ancient interest to see but then, like buses, 3 Puentes Romanas come along at once.  We also spent time in Meride, the old Roman city that was built for war on colonial veterans who were unmarried. (Wonder what that meant for the female population).  Meride has the most extensive remains in Spain.  There is a teatro, an amphiteatro and a circus as well as a temple to Diana and a huge (height and length) aqueduct remains.  These are all viewable and have their own 'sites'dotted around the city.  Additionally the city has built new buildings on stilts so that other remains such as streets, baths and shops are protected but visible underneath.  Other than the Roman sites Merida has nothing much to note of interest and it is strange to see them beside modern apartment blocks and ordinary streets.  

It seems that the ruling class in Roman times built teatros for the education of the masses putting on worthy productions of great philosophical and moral merit but the populace preferred the contests between gladiators or christians/ criminals and wild animals in the amphitheatre or the chariot racing in the circus.  We have seen a few theatres and amphitheatres over the years but not a circus - (which was oval with flattened ends not a circle) and it was far bigger than we expected.  It would be big enough to have formula 1 racing round it and could accommodate 60,000 spectators sitting in 7 rows.  Most of the rows are still there and the central area around which the chariots raced.  I could envisage silky racing taking place there, very exciting.

We also spent time in Carceres which is beautiful.  It is a 16C town (though built on Roman ruins) sitting on top of a hill.  It is completely enclosed by later developments which are also attractive.  Most of the buildings are palacios, churches and towers and no one seems to live there.  They are built from large blocks of granite.  The buildings are very large, solid, angular, plain and on a grand scale but very simple and with lovely delicate stone carvings around doors and under the roofs and beautiful stone balconies.  The streets are cobbled and narrow and there are no cars.  There are also small squares and steps every where.  The Plaza Mayor, (19C?) is colonaded with lots of bars and we whiled away an hour or two in the sun there.

We have seen a couple of ' cultural' events.  The first was the fiesta de Sardinas  in Zafra.  The town 'buries' a sardine which this year was a large stuffed black net bag.  A coffin was placed on a stage in the Plaza Mayor  and a procession of town folk in mourning clothes carried the sardine through the town accompanied by a very jolly band.  The mourners wept and wailed before finally stuffing (rather unceremoniously and with too much vigour and enjoyment, I thought) the sardine into the coffin accompanied by a good many plastic flowers.  This signalled the start of the food which consisted of sardines (no!) and a maize dish which I think is a bit like bread crumbs toasted and mixed with sea food.  While the mourners had been mourning, other good folk from the town had been cooking the maize in a mammoth cauldron over an open fire (taking 6 men with long shovels to stirr it) while others had been barbecueing the sardines.  I'm not sure about feeding the 5 thousand but there must have been several hundred to be fed.   We don't know how it all ended as we had to go to bed.

The second event was a horse competition.  A bit of rough ground at the edge of town was the arena. The competitors hàd to cut strips of card (or similar) from a rope with a sword as they raced under it. No idea what led to a 'win'.  It seems all the town horses and riders were out, dressed up and with dressed horses.  It seemed serious enough and really fast but at the same time a bit rough and ready.  Spectators consisted of locals (and us) and there was a bar.  

It has been a great week for waking too. We have had to be careful as my ankles is not healed although a lot better and we are doing fewer kilometres than we expected.  We have been mainly walking though cork woods, vines and grazing.  The hills are gentle and there is not too much flat land.  The landscape is attractive but is very dry - there has been no rain for a month.  There are fewer pigs this week but plenty of cows and sheep - and donkeys.  The tracks are really dusty.  We are walking on Via Pecuariares which are drove roads.  The farmers still have rights to drove their stock along these tracks and must keep the stock within a strip of about 45 metres (and there are signs up stipulating this).  We have yet to see anyone droving animals.

We have stayed in a mix of hostals (rooms), albergues (hostels) and we spent one night on the changing room floor of the local sports ground. We had a night in a monastery this week (in an old cell) and a communal meal.  It was so cold we put on all our clothes to go to bed.

This week we have been through: Torremejia, Merida, Aljucen, Alcuescar, Valdesalor, Caceres (and somewhere beyond that).  We think we have walked about 580K (365 miles).

Buen Camino


 
22/02/2012

We started walking again last Thursday.  It all seems very different after the enforced rest.  The weather has changed and it is a lot warmer.  It is ideal walking weather - warm enough most of the time to go without a jacket but not so hot as to wilt in the after noon sun.  The mornings are still frosty, until about 10am and the nights are cold but manageable.  

The scenery has changed drastically too. The huge industrial farms are behind us.  This week's farms are smaller, much less land given over to arable crops and many seem to be primarily livestock.  The land is undulating, even hilly at times, and the tracks twist and rise, making it much more interesting.

This (N Andalucia and Extramadura) is pig country with some of the best jamon in Spain coming from here.  They seem to be outdoor pigs in the main, black with a smaller number of brown ones.  Their snouts are ringed and so they do not dig up the fields.

We have seen a number of herds of cows, goats and sheep.  All are outdoor reared but in small fields of rock and soil rather than grass or are left to fend for themselves amongst the oak woods.

There is very little sign of farmers or farming.  Occasionally a tractor will pass or we see someone pruning vines or olive trees way in the distance, yet there is much evidence of activity.  The land, animals and crops are well tended and productive - seemingly without much visible effort.

We have spent a few days walking though cork oak woods which are lovely. They are evergreen which contrasts strongly with the parched earth.  Some have been recently stripped others look as though their main purpose is to provide shade for the livestock. In the last few days there have been fewer orange groves and more olives and vines which are being pruned and have yet to begin to bud.

The almond trees are in blossom which is very pretty.  These plus daisies are pretty much all the flowers that are out.
The storks have taken up residence on all the church towers and are already paired up for breeding.  The smaller birds nest in the stork's nest so there is lots of activity on the top of the churches if not inside them.  We have also seen some huge birds of prey and grey parrots which we assume are feral rather than indigenous.

We see very few people during the day and the paths are deserted.  If we stay in an albergue in the evening we might see some one else on the road (we shared a dorm with a Spanish cyclist last night)We have also met another English person and no doubt our paths will cross as we walk northwards.  At present we are doing the minimum distance needed to get somewhere to stay - usually around 22K while others who we have met (we have not met many) are doing some longer stages when they can.

Last night we stayed in a converted convent (the room seemed to be too big to be a cell) and the night before in a 'palacio' (mansion) which was E15 - an amazing bargain.  The owner showed us around the building.  Architecturally is was very beautiful with high curved ceilings and huge windows.  It had a number of internal and external courtyards and extended back from the street by about 50 metres.  It had a building/room for parties and a huge garage type of area with a massive collection of old farm implements and machinery including a chorizo making machine. It was a bit like staying in a comfortable and homely museum.

Dogs continue to be a bit of a problem but none have done more than bark.  Generally, if they are out and about they are safe but we cannot be sure. Given the high number of guard dogs and the extensive use of high barbed wire fencing, you would think levels of agricultural theft or house burglary must be extremely high.

We have now been walking (with a break) for 3 weeks and apart from the sprained ankle, we are in good shape and the rucksacks feel lighter by the day.  Robin estimates we have walked about 430K - 270 miles maybe - only another 800 to go!  

Buen Camino

Stella and Robin

 

15/02/2012

It is now 2 weeks since we set off from Tarifa and the first flush of excitement has well and truly been exhausted.  

This week we have passed through Jerez and Seville (where we stayed 2 nights), both lovely places.  As it is winter they are very quiet and it is easy to see everything - if only because we need to keep moving to keep warm.

One of the benefits of this sort of route is that it goes through whatever it needs to go through to get from a to b.  This means we see much that is not on the tourist radar.  The downside is, of course, that there are good reasons for some of these places not to be.  We had 2 days of slog following canals.  Forget any images of leafy canals with sun being filtered by over hanging trees with pubs at 'just right' intervals.  Andalucian canals are primarily diverted rivers for irrigation.  They are concrete and continue across flat land for miles - 20K does not seem so long!  The tracks beside them are hard baked clay and gravel and there is no vegetation other than that grown in the fields - not a tree or a bush to break the horizon.  There looks to be some early wheat growing in a few fields but most are recently ploughed.  The landscape is of unremitting brown.

The scale of the farming is also something unequalled in the UK.  Single fields that can be measured in square miles with mobile water sprays that extend to several hundred metres or more. One day, in the middle of the day when the sun was at its highest, the water from the spray froze immediately it touched the crop which was about 9'' tall making pretty white frosted corn field of hoar frost.

Much of the walk has been lovely too and is invariably interesting.  Andalucia is a land of horses and a good few donkeys too.  We have passed the odd goat and one had climbed a metal stair case to sun himself on a patch where the stair turned. There are lots of hens and cockerels, even in urban areas and dogs everywhere.  There are two types of dogs - small dogs, usually on leads and close to their owners out walking and long haired monsters behind fences or on a chain that scare the life out of you as you pass.  Sometimes there can be half a dozen dogs snarling barking, growling and jumping to get you as you pass 50' of fence.  Occasionally aggressive dogs are on the road in which case I hide behind Robin! And we pick up a stick. Often the best we can do is a dried out cane which has only symbolic value.  People say dogs are treated badly here and having a stick or picking up a stone is understood very quickly by them. Certainly, some turn out to be more afraid of us than we (OK, Robin) are of them.   

From Cadiz to Seville we were on a recognised route and had the benefit of a schematic map (real progress) but we still continued to get lost, usually at new junctions or road works so we have still been reliant on Google maps in some places.  From Seville we have instructions on a well marked route and we did not get lost on our first day out of the town which feels like a breakthrough.

Unfortunately 11k out of Seville and 11k from our destination on Monday I (Stella) twisted my foot and sprained my ankle.  It occurred as we were negotiating a number of motorway slip roads with very fast moving traffic.  We had to get across a couple more before we could stop and assess the damage by which time the swelling had grown from egg to orange size.  We bandaged it up (thankfully a bandage is one of the few things we carry in the first aid kit) and broke a tree branch to use as a stick.  4 hrs later we hobbled into Guillena and got some medical attention.  

The hostal warden - a secondary duty to that of being the town 'seguridad' (similar to being a community police officer we think (a truncheon but no gun!) and the local bombero (fireman), was fantastic and took me to the hospital.  I'm bandaged up and unable to walk for a few days.   We did think of Robin walking on and me following by bus but from here there are no buses so we have to wait or get a taxi (if there are any of those).  Thank goodness we have Kindles as there is absolutely nothing to do - though I do believe Robin is finding the evening trip to the supermercado the highlight of the day.

The local hospital/health centre was excellent.  Bright and clean with very few patients. I was seen straight away (I think by paramedics) who were very helpful and very efficient.  My Spanish coupled with the dictionary app on the phone was just enough to understand and be understood.  Peter Vetch's email about the e-petition to protest against Lansley's health plans seemed very timely.  I got excellent health care for free as an EU citizen from skilled and efficient practitioners and I am extremely grateful.

The 'crisis' as it is referred to here is on everyone's minds and is the major news item.  In Spain Angela Merkel seems to be the most powerful person in the world - move over Obama.  Youth unemployment is over 50 percent.  There are beggars here but no more so than we saw in Edinburgh.  What is more noticeable are the advertisements every where for buying gold and the small scale selling of things on the street (a few nets of oranges or a handful of garlic) that suggest people are struggling.  Also older men worrying that they will lose their jobs to younger cheaper labour while still having to support their work less children at home.  In contrast and in the bigger cities the older women are still wearing fur unashamedly and there is no shortage of people filling the 'salon de te' for Saturday evening patisseries, the prices of which would make a 'Betty's' aficionado blench.

Now that we are on an established Camino route we are staying in the pilgrim albergues.  They are quiet at present.  Normally you can stay only one night but we are here 3 because of my injury.  On the first night there were three Madrellinos.  Last night we were ourselves plus a male Romanian living in Austria, a female Korean, a female Belgian woman working in Paris and her young French male charge.  In many European countries 'doing the Camino' can be an alternative to a prison sentence.  In this case, most likely as an alternative to a secure unit or because all other options have been tried.  They had been on the road since Nov having walked the Camino Frances to Santiago and now south to Seville.  It was their last day.  The lad (15) looked great - clear skin, bright blue eyes, engaged smile and able to carry a rucksack that equalled his weight.  I am assuming (from some experience) that at the start he was in a mess, physically as well as mentally and socially.  His 'educator' looked very happy too.   It would have been a long 3 months for her and probably very anxious at the start.

Today is, as usual, bright, sunny and very cold.  The weather is due to continue the same for the next week. The weather remains exceptional but we are optimistic it will be followed by a warmer spell - at least at night.  If we walk and wear all our clothes at once we are warm enough in the day.

We are hoping to be walking again tomorrow and the route over the next few days (from Guillena) is Castilblanco de Los Arroyos, Almeden de la Plata, El Real de la Jara, Monesterio. Fuente de Cantos.

Buen Camino

Stella and Robin

 

01/02/12

Hi

This is a slow painful process as I have just worked out how to send this via a Kindle.

By train, plane and bus we have now reached Tarifa and are ready to start walking tomorrow. Technically we have already done the first few hundred metres. Africa is so close you feel that you could almost jump across.  It is windy and cold here once you are out of the afternoon sun. Heading for Bolonia tomorrow along the beach which is only about 20km but could be hard going if the sand is soft.  It looks like accommodation could be difficult over the next week as out of season most hostels appear to be shut.

Wi-fi access may be difficult from now on but Stella may manage some communication with her Blackberry.

Bye for now